Spirit of the Radio (Part 2). Chicago’s Loop

The exploration of the launches of great stations continues...and today,  it’s DA LOOP

It was 1978 when we got the call from Cecil Heftel,  a prominent politician from Hawaii who also happened to be a brilliant radio station operator.   He was great at brining in programmers and giving them the tools to succeed.  Possibly the most programming focused owner on the planet,  pulling together great stations like Y-100, 13Q and Honolulu’s timeless KGMB.   

I was ecstatic about getting the keys to The Loop which had morphed from WSDM,  with an all female staff “Smack Dab in the Middle” that played a lot of Maria Muldaur, to a bland Album Rocker in the mid 70’s.  Mr. Heftel’s  1979 directive was simple:  “pull out the stops and win.”  I don’t think I’ve ever been as motivated to do just that as I was here.  Coming back to my home town!  A city screaming for an industrial strength rock n roll station that oozed the character of this great city.  We had the Bears,  Chicago Hot Dogs,  Old Style Beer and now it was time for a rock station the city would proudly call their own.

Inherited a lot of good people that ranged from a killer promotion guy in Dave Logan,  a street savvy rocker in his own right in sales manager Jeff Schwartz,  even a research director named Kurt Hanson and a very young future Chicago  PD named Greg Solk.   Added to that team by bringing in guys like Steve Dahl and Sky Daniels who both knocked me out when we worked together at our client W4 in Detroit.  We actually hired Steve from the local disco station...go figure

We then recruited a Program Director.  Needed a systems guy who could balance the insanity.  Jesse Bullet (rip) from KPRI San Diego fit the bill.  He knew our systems and was from a Navy family,  so was good at procedures and organization. Again, to balance what could have gotten out of hand because of the mix of strong personalities.  

Finally,  I needed to finalize the blueprint for the station so there would be extreme focus for the staff to build and riff on.  The key components included:

-Gasoline powered rock n roll.   Industrial strength...not the LA, NYC or London punk vibe,  instead more of the stadium rock, Midwest hard rock school.  And there was magic is what you DIDN’T  hear.  No soft rock ( we did play soft songs as long as they were heavy as in Pink Floyd or the ethereal side of Led Zeppelin),  but this wasn’t the place to hear James Taylor;  No disco ( more on that later );  no pop hits.  Just a steady stream that rocked.   The station had a tempo to it. Roll down your window at a stop sign,  and if The Loop was blasting,  you’d KNOW it was the Loop,  simply by its pumping sound

-Eclectic components.  Old tv themes to spontaneously rolling a side of Cheap Trick,  there were plenty of surprises

-Embracing artists. If we “co sponsored” a concert,  we were THERE.  Engaged.  The staff actually went to the shows and insured station visibility was everywhere.

-Personalities matched to the day part. Morning shows weren’t de riguer then,  so Steve Dahl and Garry Meier were specifically designed for mornings.  Sky Daniels rocked nights.  No-one was generic...everyone was in their slot for a reason.

-In your face production.  Like many innovations at the station,  they were the first with a gritty hard edged production style that complimented the musical vibe.

-A graphic identity that bled Chicago.  Graffiti like you’d see in the viaducts.  More neighborhoods and blue collar suburbs than Michigan Avenue.  Not many graffiti logos back then.

-Marketing and merchandising aimed at creating fans not users.  From a house branded cola to a catalog of swag to a ground breaking TV ad featuring those “amazing lips” by Loralai.   It was never meant to be and by today’s standards is outrageous, but she became the highly visible station mascot.  Other stations had chickens and ducks,  The Loop had a gorgeous lady.  Needless to say,  our 16-34 heavily male audience,  preferred that to a costumed character.

-Takin’ it to the streets.  Remotes,  yep,  but not from car dealers.  Instead live morning shows from a 1000 seat theater,  owning the Chicagofest at Navy Pier,  lots of jock appearances,  a Steve Dahl led band,  etc...getting out and mixing it up 

It’s amazing that so few stations today go through the creation of a 360 degree blueprint,  opting for standard issue production,  tired slogans and an anywhere USA presentation.   Autopilot.  

One stunt,   after pulling the trigger on the new look and sound,  Steve Dahl tapped into the anti disco craze.  It’s disturbing to hear folks refer to this as racist.  That was completely off the radar,  it was about: 

Rock was about power guitars and real drummers
Disco was about electronics

Rock was about sweaty live stadium events with festival seating
Disco was about slick clubs with a bouncer in case you didn’t look hot enough

Rock was long hair
Disco was about respectable  nicely coiffed hair

Rock was about listening ( loudly )
Disco was about dancing

Rock was about smoking dope and groovin’
Disco was about cocaine  and champagne

Rock was about dressing down
Disco was about dressing up

Rock was for the regular guy ( and girl)
Disco was about the fashion focused 

The list goes on,  and Steve recognized the polar opposite from the rock n roll POV,  and magnified it through the lens of the station.  The ironic thing is that exactly the same time of disco demolition,  my partner Kent Burkhart created the disco format at New York’s WKTU which went to #1 12+ in 90 days. Same time...same office.  You can say we were format diverse.

Once The Loop hit its groove,  which was almost immediate,  they soared to 7.3, number two only behind WGN and the Cubs.  

Loop listeners were an army and the station was as Chicago as an Italian Beef Sandwich,  but by design,  it wasn’t the glitzy lakefront...it was the soul of the city...it was something folks from Chicagoland could call their own.  The result was  a FAN base.  I recall visiting Arbitron outside of Baltimore to evaluate the ratings diaries.  They were loaded with comments,  usually something in magic marker like “Loop Rocks!”   Never saw anything quite like it.

The stations evolution over many years is a little checkered with lots of highs and lows,  now playing Christian Soft Rock,  but when it rocked it rocked and when it rolled it rolled,  in a radio journey that helped define rock n roll radio.