Rush Limbaugh DUMPED By Chicago Radio Station WLS

[karynnj]

32. WLS and WCFL -- the two stations I listened to through my adolescence.

I spend hours listening to Ron Riley, Dick Biondi, Larry Lujack .... etc I remember a younger sister, who more often than not heard (even though I was using the ear phones, had the sound low, and even put a pillow over my ear!) the radio after it was supposed to be off, because I wanted to hear the three most requested. I actually won the transistor radio I was using by answering a trivia question asked by Ron Riley when he came to my Indiana town.

It is hard to imagine the summers, that seemed endless, without the fun of those stations. I tried hear every one of the short reports on the Beatles' tours of America. I was way too young to understand that they were not special "just for Chicago" interviews - but likely packaged and used by radio stations throughout the country labeled as being done by a local DJ.

I left the area after college, moving to NJ for a job, but my family is still there. It was so sad to hear that most of the AM dial became hate radio. Instead of spreading joy to millions - spreading a shared culture and music that was the soundtrack of those years for my generation, these same stations are encouraging people to be proud of their rage, anger, and bigotry. They led the way to the acceptance of extreme ideas that were well on their way to disappearing. In the 1980s, saying (truthfully) that an opponent had belonged to the John Birch Society, was such a damning comment that it was considered almost unfair. Now, the Koch Brothers' JBS roots are no problem at all -- as they buy American politicians.

It is good to hear that Limbaugh is being rejected, but he is likely to be replaced by a young person may well have been influenced by Limbaugh many years ago. It has amazed me over the years that Limbaugh has been so incorrect on so many issues of basic fact - and that he still has a following. I guess hate does not care if the reasons given for it are completely made up.

Me, writing this --- wish we could move back to a time when the biggest fight on AM radio in Chicago was the silly marketing fight between WLS and WCFL, which entered the top 40 format later (I think) and tried to be seen as more innovative. I remember WCFL giving out bright yellow (gold, orange) Styrofoam balls - sunballs - for car antennas. ( No my parents would NOT put one on the car - even as WCFL suggested it would make your car easier to find in the parking lot. )

This is, of course, colored by nostalgia, I remember the anger of the turbulent 60s - but it seemed less pervasive, not a daily harangue leading to frothing anger.