[Description by Uncle Ricky]
Dick Biondi demonstrates his mastery of a decade of “show biz” music radio in this unscoped hour of WCFL from Sunday, August 1, 1971. The instant you hear Biondi’s voice, you know this will be precision, professional Top 40 musicradio.
TM jings, spots for funny cars, Adventure Land and a great Larry Lujack spot for Chicagoland concerts (at 34:31) highlight this exhibit, but what about Larry O’Brien and that casual “young dude” promo (at 21:09)? The Men From Ten promo (at 29:05) leaves no doubt that they were all out and about.
WCFL worked really hard on their news presentation, because their competitor was ABC (WLS). And this exhibit includes an outstanding WCFL newscast (at 38:50) featuring Fred Barton, Jim Frank, John Ganas, Howie Roberts, and a People Talk – Chicago Speaks public affairs feature. Just amazing – was the entire news department featured on this newscast? It is the precursor of the short-attention-span personality-driven television newscasts of today.
Some musical segments were restored: The opening jingle (improvised) and song, and all of the music on the second half.