Art Roberts on WLS, 1967 (1:02:29)

The John Rook Collection
… Per-son-al-ity, Radio 8-9-0, in Chicago! …

[Description by John Rook]

This classic recording of Art Roberts features 62 minutes of Hey Baby, They’re Playing Our Song, Art’s Sunday night Oldies show, from April 16, 1967.
Art Roberts – Truly a great talent. At night, Art owned Chicago and most of the nation thanks to the giant signal of WLS… 40 states at night. He was hired to replace Dick Biondi who had a 51% share of the audience.

Art’s first rating book was a 62% share of the audience. His natural, entertaining delivery gave him the ability to actually ad lib a commercial without the listener realizing it was a commercial.

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Welcome to the new ReelRadio!

This site is now operated by the North Carolina Broadcast History Museum. 

We want to thank the board of ReelRadio, Inc. for their stewardship since the passing of the founder Richard Irwin in 2018.  It has not been easy and they have maintained the exhibits for future generations to enjoy.

I met Richard Irwin, aka Uncle Ricky, when we were freshmen at East Carolina University.  We both had worked at local stations in our hometowns.  No one was more passionate about radio, especially Top 40 radio, than my friend Richard. 

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Richard Irwin’s hope was that his site would live on long after his passing. He said, “I hope REELRADIO will survive as my contribution to the ‘radio business’. The business is allowed to forget me, but the business should never forget the great era of radio that we celebrate here”.

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Board of NCBHP
North Carolina Broadcast History Project