WLUP 97.9 FM Chicago - Comiskey Park Demolition 1991 April 3rd 1991 - Join Bruce Wolf, Buzz Kilman and Jonathon Brandmeier in the studio at WLUP 97.9 in Chicago during the morning showgram with Jimmy 'Bud' Wiser on location at Comiskey Park as he tries to save the historic ballpark from the Speedway Wrecking Ball The original Loop air staff included O'Toole in mornings, William "Captain Billy" Martin in middays, Les Tracy in afternoon drive, Gregory "Greg" Budell evenings, and Don Davis overnights, alongside was WLUP's first ever Rock Girl Lorelei "Pow!" Shark as the official spokesperson and as the face of The Loop in 1978. Lee Abrams was hired as consultant. The rock format was kept in place, but emphasis was put on harder-edged rock. Lee Abrams became the consultant, and Jesse Bullit the program director. Steve Dahl, who had been unemployed since WDAI (94.7) went to a disco format in December 1978 - and who would become the basis for one of the most infamous promotions in sports history, Disco Demolition Night - was hired for mornings in March 1979. Overnight disc jockey Matthew "Mondo" Meier was teamed with Dahl to do news; he would eventually start to use his real first name, "Garry". Garry became Steve's full-time sidekick when Buzz Kilman was hired as the newsman in 1980. Chuck Swirsky provided sports reports. Russ Albums became the Image Voice (The Don Pardo of WLUP) and later followed Sky Daniels on the air. Chicago rock veteran Mitch Michaels held the afternoon shift known as "Mitch is doing the cruise". Matt Bisbee became the Production director after Russ Albums was escalated to on-air. Steve and Garry were fired in 1981 for "assaulting community standards". A series of morning men including Matt Bisbee, Mark McEwen (who later gained national fame as a CBS network TV weatherman), and the team of R.J. Harris and Pat Still tried their hand until Jonathon "Johnny B." Brandmeier from KZZP was hired in April 1983. Kilman remained as newsman and Bruce Wolf replaced Swirsky when he went to WGN in 1981. Steve and Garry returned in 1986 to host afternoons. In 1985, Heftel Broadcasting bought AM 1000 WCFL, which was once a powerful CHR (Top 40) station, but then became a Christian music and teaching station. In April 1987, that station became WLUP as well, making the FM station WLUP-FM. The religious format was dropped from 1000 WLUP and the station simulcast WLUP-FM overnights. During the day, though, WLUP 1000 ran a full service rock format while focusing on talk. By 1990, the AM station would evolve to mostly talk with a few rock songs mixed in per hour. In late 1992, Heftel sold WLUP to Evergreen Media, as Heftel sold all of their English language stations in order to focus on their Spanish language properties. By this time, WLUP-FM also began mixing more talk into the format by occasionally simulcasting the AM station, and evolved into a Talk/Comedy-heavy Rock format by 1993. In October of that year, the AM station became a sports station as WMVP. WLUP-FM became WLUP again, and evolved to a talk format with a few rock songs mixed in per hour. WLUP was one of the first stations to have the "FM talk" or "hot talk" (comedy/talk) format in the early 1990s. Some of the shows were Steve Dahl and Garry Meier, Danny Bonaduce, Liz Wilde, Kevin Matthews, Jonathon Brandmeier with "News-man/Blues-man" Buzz Kilman, Ed Schwartz and Seka. Comiskey Park was a baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, located in the Armour Square community on the near-southwest side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 through 1990. Built by White Sox owner Charles Comiskey and designed by Zachary Taylor Davis, Comiskey Park hosted four World Series and more than six thousand Major League Baseball games. Also, in one of the most famous boxing matches in history, the field was the site of the 1937 heavyweight title match in which Joe Louis defeated then champion James J. Braddock in eight rounds that launched Louis' unprecedented 11-plus year run as the heavyweight champion of the world. "Disco Demolition Night" in 1979, organized by longtime Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl and White Sox promotions manager Mike Veeck (Bill's son) on Thursday, July 12. Between games of a make-up doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers, Dahl and his crew destroyed a pile of disco records that fans had brought in exchange for a ticket with a discounted price of 98¢ in honor of Dahl's station at that time, WLUP-FM, the frequency of which was 97.9. More than 50,000 fans were in attendance, along with another 20,000 who crashed the gates even though the game was sold out. The demolition tore a huge hole in center field and several thousand fans, many of them intoxicated, stormed the field, stole equipment, and destroyed the infield. #ComiskeyParkDemolition #JonathonBrandmeier #ChicagoWhiteSox

• published: 18 Jul 2018
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