Recorded 29 years ago this month, this is a sample of Chicago’s heritage WLS-FM near the very end of its 2nd era with those famous call letters.
Specifically – according to a promo heard near the end of this montage, the station would be rebranding to “Z95” on “Monday”. This aircheck was recorded on a Sunday, so the aforementioned switch presumably took place the next day. (I don’t know if the call letters actually changed to WYTZ on that day as well.)
Left intact in its entirety is the entertaining and uptempo hit “Super Bowl Shuffle“, performed by members of the 1986 Super Bowl-bound (and eventual champion) Chicago Bears.
Two other items of note:
- At the beginning, you’ll hear a series of jingles that were most likely recorded prior to this date. In particular, one jingle mentions “The Big 89” (in reference to WLS-AM 890) and another states “WLS AM & FM”. This WLS History site implies that the simulcast (and music on WLS-AM altogether) had ended prior to this point.
- According to the same site, WLS-FM had branded itself as “Hit Rock” in 1985. This matches the logo shown above, but the “Hit Rock” approach had apparently ended by the time this aircheck was recorded.
