That brings me back to those classic 1990 hair bands! Hold on, I've got to fetch my "Skid Row" tape out of the deck!

When i was younger I used to love Rock 103.5 (remember before that it used to be The Blaze?). mancow single handedly killed that station by jumping over to q101 (which is one reason why i still despise q). I was really depressed when that went off the air, but my music tastes have changed since middle school. Now I'll usually either listen to 97.1, or XRT (even those dont really play what im into, which is basically alt-country and indie). However, I find more and more I just plug in my iTrip and listen to my iPod in the car. In any case, q101 is better now that it went onto the "shuffle" deal than it was before. That sucks about the zone there, really surprising too since i thought they were really the only game in town if you wanted hard rock type stuff. I'm shocked there was no warning or anything, especially with some of the staff they have there. sure enough tho, their website is gone. weird. <a href='http://www.947thezone.com/uc/' target='_blank'>http://www.947thezone.com/uc/</a>. i dont get the suntimes here at school, but maybe someone should check out feders column either today or tomarrow, im sure hell cover this.

This kind of garbage has been going on forever in radio. In the 70s someone thought it was a good idea to automate stations and lose the personalities. Obviously that didn't last, but does anyone see the possibility of that returning. I mean the Drive already keeps the chatter down and the iPod influence could be the next step. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. Regardless radio has pretty much always sucked. There have been stations that have had their moments, but nothing seems to last. My sister had a friend who worked at the Zone when they changed from alternative to rock. He gave me all the company line about why they switched but you could just tell they were missing the point and didn't really get what the consumer/listener really wanted.

Anyway, I'll scan the drive, the loop, and a number of other stations for something decent, but for my money, I usually keep it on 93.1, WXRT. By far the best station in the City. While they've been able to withstand the impatient corporate giant and retain their format, they have taken some hits though. I mean, Matchbox 20 occassionally makes and appearance and that's flat out wrong.

Quote: I usually keep it on 93.1, WXRT. By far the best station in the City.

i agree, although i think theyve gone down in quality in recent years too. they were always considered one of the crown jewels in the industry, but now theyre pretty much doing the same sort of thing everyone else is, although they do seem to have a little bit more freedom.

Quote:Last song to play on The Zone today: "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica

i still remember when 103.5 went off the air and changed to oldies, i though i was gonna shoot myself. however, their last song was an unedited version on metallica's "so what" (and if youve ever heard the song you know what im talking about). kind of a fitting up yours to the industry. i also recall the entire radio staff crammed into the booth for about 2 days while on the air and all went on drinking binges and trashed the offices. its like what were they going to do, fire them? kind of ironic that many of those same people wound up at 94.7 the zone.

If the Zone is going oldies, they've obviously recognized a opening in the market (that was vacated by 104.3) and are now stepping in. I miss having an oldies station in town, but all this flip flopping is crazy. One company doesn't think it's needed anymore and they want to make a change to homogeneous crap and another says wait theirs a need in the market place, so they switch. Next another company will see the need for a rock station now and someone else will ge the ax. It's viscious. Much like the radio industry.

My wife is friends with the promotions director at 100.3 (a station that has had 3 identities in the last 4 years) and she is worked like a dog for little pay. She took a second job to 1. Pay the rent and 2. to have an excuse not to work 80 hour weeks at the radio station who pays here a piddly salary. She likes the job itself, but the way she's treated is extremely poor. The shame of it is, she has two choices: 1. Work like a dog for the radio station, or 2. look for a new job. If she doesn't like her job, there's someone ready and willing to step in for meager pay and crappy hours. It's a crappy industry.

NIU27 Wrote:There is nowhere to go to hear new music in Chicago.

Friggin Sucks!

Bring back the Blaze!!! That was the best station EVER in Chicago.

I wasn't a fan of Rock back in the day of the Blaze, but I am sure that if it were around today I would have it on all the time!

Best station now is 95.1 WIIL Rock out of Wisconsin. Just found out they have streaming broadcast on internet as well.

<a href='http://www.95wiilrock.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.95wiilrock.com/</a>

It's happening all over, guys. My '80s station in the Cities went to a Jack format.
Maybe it's a good thing my new truck has XM, but it's no match for 'real' '80s.
Blaze Girls, I remember that!

hey mobileman, i thought you might enjoy this. theres some cool clips from 103.5 on there too. i think at the time they were rated as having one of the best promo depts in the country too. some of their on air adverts were absolutely pee your pants hilarious.

<a href='http://www.chicagoradiosucks.com/TOC.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.chicagoradiosucks.com/TOC.htm</a>

HuskiemobileMan Wrote:

Huskie'82 Wrote:Some of us old guys actually like oldies!!!

I appreciate that, but I don't know why 104.3 was dropped and now 94.7 has taken its place. There is too much changing of genre in radio these days. It won't be long till another station changes to Rock from something else.

I know. I was just teasing. I don't live in Chicago anymore so I don't know what's going on on Chicago radio. I mostly listen to jazz nowadays but one of our two jazz stations here in St. Louis recently switched formats to oldies. Now we have about 6 oldies stations and only 1 classic jazz station (very weak FM signal from SIU-Edwardsville) and one sort of jazz-lounge vocal Sinatra-type station that I listen to if I get desperate.

niuhuskie84 Wrote:hey mobileman, i thought you might enjoy this. theres some cool clips from 103.5 on there too. i think at the time they were rated as having one of the best promo depts in the country too. some of their on air adverts were absolutely pee your pants hilarious.

<a href='http://www.chicagoradiosucks.com/TOC.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.chicagoradiosucks.com/TOC.htm</a>

Very nice 84! I checked out the whole site. Good stuff on there. 94.7 info:

[quote]
Starting out in late 2002 as twin of Q101 (like we needed that right?), the Zone has emerged of late as a true rock station (plus or minus a few songs). With midday Metallica, occasional spins of Anthrax, Iron Maiden, and Dream Theater, Freak now on in the morning (along with airheads Brook and Jill) and an rather improved Brian the Whipping Boy, it seems as though rock might be making a comeback. The true telling of what might come is the almost awesome ‘Extreme Zone

HuskiemobileMan Wrote:Rock On Chicago!!!

The true quote, according to Wesley Willis, is "Rock over London, Rock on Chicago!"

Huskie'82 Wrote:Some of us old guys actually like oldies!!!

Do they play any Wayne King???

HuskiemobileMan Wrote:

NIU27 Wrote:There is nowhere to go to hear new music in Chicago.

Friggin Sucks!

Bring back the Blaze!!! That was the best station EVER in Chicago.

I wasn't a fan of Rock back in the day of the Blaze, but I am sure that if it were around today I would have it on all the time!

Best station now is 95.1 WIIL Rock out of Wisconsin. Just found out they have streaming broadcast on internet as well.

<a href='http://www.95wiilrock.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.95wiilrock.com/</a>

Very Nice!

I remember back when Will Rock was on 96.7

Then they changed it to Star 96.7

I was pretty pissed that day :mad:

niu85alum Wrote:The only station I listen to anymore is 97.1 The Drive. I used to like 104.3 too until they shockingly shifted to that crappy Jack format. I guess this the radio industry's way of saying you better shift to satellite radio. Trouble is I don't have satellite radio and can't stomach the thought of paying for music.

Sounds like we have the same music tastes and disdain for Chicago radio. I got sick of listening to th same crap over and over again. So, I switched to satellite radio (XM) over a year ago and have not looked back. I no longer listen to music on regular radio. It's not all that expensive, Alum. It's $12.95/month and you can get it for less than that if you pay for a year in advance. The quality is incredible. The music is all digital CD quality. You can listen to the same station anywhere in the country. There are over 120 stations fitting every conceivable music/talk taste. And, the best part...most of the stations have no commercials whatsoever! It is WELL worth the few bucks a month. Think about it.

FM Radio? Is that still around?

The only FM I listen to is WONC Naperville, cause it cracks me up to hear the college kids read the news, and mispronounce everything. Like Jacques Chirac, Gerard Shroeder, or Dick Gephart.

I never realized that The Who was funded by the UN.

They used to have this traffic reporter named Rebecca, who would read the traffic report in this valley girl accent.

"This is Re-BEC -aaaaaa with the TRA-fiiiiic, on the Eisen-HOW- errrrrrr it will take you an HO-urrrr, to get to Chi-CA-gooooo."

Between 11:00am and 2:00pm, I listen to Rush Limbaugh on WLS. Everyone else on this board should listen to him too, because YOU PEOPLE NEED TO HEAR THE TRUTH!

BlueFlash Wrote:What about 97.9 the loop?

Anyway, my favorite radio station: IPOD :D

The Loop was advertising yesterday about there Rock prowess over the past 30 years ... and had a special segment welcoming all former zone listeners.

The Loop is just like the zone minus a bunch of loud obnoxious crap....No its not as hard as the zone or the former 103.5 blaze / fire...

Long live the Loop

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!

Best line in movie, ever!!

I found myself reaching for the presets on my radio on the way to work this morning to turn The Zone on because there was nothing else on the other stations. I still can't believe that it is gone.

:crying:

May 94.7 True Oldies burn in hell!!! :mad:

If you live in or north of Grayslake try 97.3 the Brew. It is a Milwaukee station but they play all 80's rock. Not even close to 103.5 the Blaze, but they do play some good 80's hairbands. Unfortunately nothing too heavy.

Oh well, no more heavy metal on radio. Time to go put my Dokken, Skid Row, Krokus, Judas Priest and Crue in the CD player and hit repeat

Wooohooo!

I was looking for an oldies station. I mean...how can there not be a proper oldies station in all of chicago?