The real CTA sued them over their unauthorized use of the name, so they went by Chicago afterwards.
There was a legend named John Records Landecker was evening DJ on the blowtorch AM 890 WLS out of Chicago in the 70's and young-uns and some old-uns too all over the Midwest would listen to him every night, whilst drinking beer and dragging Main Street and looking for the ever elusive true love or something that briefly looked like it. "Records" was in fact his real middle name, it was his mother's maiden name and not a stage name. The show was a Top 40 format, but he hated bubble-gum pop music with a passion and one night he blew a gasket and launched an epic rant about how bubble gum music sucked and if you people out there wouldn't buy it, then he wouldn't have to play it and went to commercial break. After the break, Chicago's South California Purples came on, without introduction, followed by their version of I'm a Man. Full album versions, too, and when I'm a Man ended, he went straight to commercial break; didn't say a word thru the whole segment. It was glorious, it was righteous, it sounded the way real rock radio ought to be.
Crusty Old TV Tech here. I listened to Landecker et. Al. on WLS ("Double-U Ell Ess, CHICAGO!") all the way South in Shreveport, LA as a kid. WWL at 870 on one side, XEW at 900 (1/4 MW blowtorch) on the other, that's how I knew I had WLS. Radio back then was groovy! Heard "Mama Told Me Not To Come" by Three Dog Night on WLS for the first time, then later on, KEEL played it. That's the way it usually worked, WLS played it before it got airplay where I lived.
ZZ Top's "I heard it on the X" immediately came to mind.
I feelz sorry for kids today not knowing the joys of late-night AM radio. We couldn't get WWL or any of the X stations where I lived but we could get nighttime KAAY from Little Rock and would tune it in when Landecker's show ended. They had a late-night DJ ran what amounted to an underground radio program named Bleeker Street and once in a while, he'd play this definitely not top-40 radio song:
W3, you were listening to Beaker Street, and that was truly the start of AOR radio. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaker_Street. I don't remember being able to hear KAAY reliably. I heard they had a deep null to the southwest to avoid market overlap with another station owned by Tri-State Broadcasting in the 1940's-1950's, KTBS (later KEEL). Too bad, I missed out on Beaker Street. Overnight AM radio was an amazing medium, and no, streaming and discovering new music is not the same.
Thanks for the clarification, Tech. The Beaker Street wiki you provided linked up to https://www.arkansasrocks.com/ where apparently the originator of the program live streams Beaker Steet Friday nights; I'll have to check that out. KEEL, by the way, is still around as a talk radio station, which you probably already know.
13 comments:
Terry Kath ripping it, as always.
The real CTA sued them over their unauthorized use of the name, so they went by Chicago afterwards.
There was a legend named John Records Landecker was evening DJ on the blowtorch AM 890 WLS out of Chicago in the 70's and young-uns and some old-uns too all over the Midwest would listen to him every night, whilst drinking beer and dragging Main Street and looking for the ever elusive true love or something that briefly looked like it. "Records" was in fact his real middle name, it was his mother's maiden name and not a stage name. The show was a Top 40 format, but he hated bubble-gum pop music with a passion and one night he blew a gasket and launched an epic rant about how bubble gum music sucked and if you people out there wouldn't buy it, then he wouldn't have to play it and went to commercial break. After the break, Chicago's South California Purples came on, without introduction, followed by their version of I'm a Man. Full album versions, too, and when I'm a Man ended, he went straight to commercial break; didn't say a word thru the whole segment. It was glorious, it was righteous, it sounded the way real rock radio ought to be.
Crusty Old TV Tech here. I listened to Landecker et. Al. on WLS ("Double-U Ell Ess, CHICAGO!") all the way South in Shreveport, LA as a kid. WWL at 870 on one side, XEW at 900 (1/4 MW blowtorch) on the other, that's how I knew I had WLS. Radio back then was groovy! Heard "Mama Told Me Not To Come" by Three Dog Night on WLS for the first time, then later on, KEEL played it. That's the way it usually worked, WLS played it before it got airplay where I lived.
ZZ Top's "I heard it on the X" immediately came to mind.
I feelz sorry for kids today not knowing the joys of late-night AM radio. We couldn't get WWL or any of the X stations where I lived but we could get nighttime KAAY from Little Rock and would tune it in when Landecker's show ended. They had a late-night DJ ran what amounted to an underground radio program named Bleeker Street and once in a while, he'd play this definitely not top-40 radio song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XFYMjkFYPg&list=RD4XFYMjkFYPg&start_radio=1
W3, you were listening to Beaker Street, and that was truly the start of AOR radio. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaker_Street. I don't remember being able to hear KAAY reliably. I heard they had a deep null to the southwest to avoid market overlap with another station owned by Tri-State Broadcasting in the 1940's-1950's, KTBS (later KEEL). Too bad, I missed out on Beaker Street. Overnight AM radio was an amazing medium, and no, streaming and discovering new music is not the same.
Right on, Anon.
*It was glorious, it was righteous, it sounded the way real rock radio ought to be.
Wild, I may have to quote you.
Didn't know that about CTA.
Tech, we've clearly devolved from then. And what a great video!
Thanks for the clarification, Tech. The Beaker Street wiki you provided linked up to https://www.arkansasrocks.com/ where apparently the originator of the program live streams Beaker Steet Friday nights; I'll have to check that out. KEEL, by the way, is still around as a talk radio station, which you probably already know.
Right on, Wild, and nice one.
Sorry, Anon, got confused there for minute. Beaker, not Baker.
I know this is late but CKLW Detroit, Windsor, The Big 8, Motor City Rock and Roll
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