60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
3/15/66 – Sandy Posey records “Born A Woman”
and "My Name Is Barbra." In addition to losing the Record Of The Year award, "Yesterday," the most recorded song in history, also lost the Song of the Year Award to "The Shadow Of Your Smile."
OK, I didn't see that coming ...
"The Ballad Of The Green Beret" holds down the #1 spot for the third straight week, holding off both The Beatles (#3) and The Rolling Stones (#2), both of whom have songs still on the rise. "Homeward Bound" and "Daydream" continue to climb The Top Ten as well, both with bullets.
"(You're My) Soul And Inspiration" by The Righteous Brothers makes a VERY noticeable move from #59 to #18 in its second week on the chart. Gary Lewis and the Playboys' latest, "Sure Gonna Miss Her" is up 21 spots while the novelty hit, "Walking My Cat Named Dog" by Norma Tanega jumps 20 notches from #60 to crack this week's Top 40.
Cher's latest, "Bang Bang" moves up THIRTY places (from #74 to #44)
Two of Chicago's local heroes have a couple of "stacked" hits near the bottom of the countdown ...
The New Colony Six's first hit, "I Confess," falls to #79 in its sixth week on the chart while The Shadows Of Knight premier right above it at #78 with their version of the Van Morrision / Them tune "Gloria." Here in Chicago, "I Confess" will peak at #2 ... and "Gloria" will go all the way to #1.
I hope you had a chance to listen to last weekend’s salute to WCFL on Rewound Radio. They did an EXCELLENT job of putting this together … and I was absolutely blown away by the sound quality of these vintage programs, recorded right off the radio at the time. Heavy on the ‘60’s, it showed again just how adventurous WCFL was when it came to programming ideas … not only featuring mini-spins, twin-spins, oldies (I sure don’t remember them playing THIS many oldies during a program, but obviously they did … and some pretty obscure stuff that certainly didn’t fit the “groovy” sounds of 1966, 1967 and 1968) as well as taking a chance on so many unproven hits, giving them at least a spin or two to see if any of them caught on with their listeners. (WCLF really took listener opinion to heart – every night they would play back the most requested songs of the day … and often would pit songs against each other, battle of the bands style, to see which tracks the listeners really liked.
This Saturday they’ll do it again, focusing on the end of the era as WCFL signed off as a Top 40 rock station on March 15, 1976 … exactly fifty years ago. You’ll get to hear Larry Lujack’s final broadcast as a “rock jock” … and even a snippet of him playing “The World’s Most Beautiful Music” after the format change went through. You’ll also get Bob Dearborn as well as a WCFL DJ Montage, featuring nearly ever jock who ever graced their airwaves.
Be sure to be listening to Rewound Radio this Saturday, March 14th, as they salute the great Chicago Radio Station, WCFL.
This is Part Two of their two week salute and falls just one day shy of the 50th anniversary of the day the great Top 40 rocker switched over to an all Beautiful Music format and will air from Noon – 3 pm (Eastern) / 11 am – 2 pm (Central)
WCFL (supported by the Chicago Federation of Labor, hence their call letters) switched over to a Top 40 rock station in 1965 and almost immediately began to give WLS a run for their money. It was an exciting time for Chicago radio as these two huge 50,000 watt powerhouse radio stations battled it out for listeners and radio exclusives. Every one of us living here at the time would spend most of their days and nights flipping the dial back and forth from 890 to AM 1000 to see and hear what the other would be playing next. Both stations (in addition to the latest Beatles and Monkees “exclusives,” also broke the ice for many of Chicagoland’s hottest new rock band like The Buckinghams, The Cryan’ Shames, The New Colony Six, The Ides of March, Chicago and Styx. (Just this past year, the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 inducted WCFL into their Radio Station Hall of Fame, a recognition that is well deserved and long overdue. WLS was honored with this award the week before.)
By 1976, however, WCFL decided to throw in the towel … and switched over to an all Beautiful Music format. Larry Lujack, previously the city’s hottest jock, was contractually obligated to stay with the station … and did so until terms could be worked out to break him free to move back to WLS again. Lujack’s was the last voice you heard playing rock and roll music on the station … and that broadcast will be part of this weekend’s salute.
You’ll also hear a program produced in 2009 by Jim Hampton from the USA Radio Museum. ‘Radio Recall’ will dig deep into the behind the scenes events of building WCFL, as Jim interviews legendary program director Ken Draper on how he put this innovative station on the air in the mid-60s. After that, Rewound Radio will feature Bob Dearborn’s final words and Larry Lujack’s last DJ show for the station.
And then, this special two-part salute will wrap up with a DJ montage of virtually all the air personalities who left their mark on WCFL from the mid-60s to the mid-70s. (You’ll need to be listening with both ears as it goes fast!)
Here’s how you can listen.
1. Go to www.rewoundradio.com and click on the Cell Phone Icon
2. Go to I-Heart Radio and search ‘Rewound Radio’
3. Go to Tune-In and search ‘Rewound Radio’
4. Ask your Alexa device to play ‘Rewound Radio’
Remember, it all takes place this Saturday, March 14th from Noon – 3 pm (Eastern) / 11 am – 2 pm (Central) on Rewound Radio (rewoundradio.com)
VERY SPECIAL THANKS to Ted Gorden Smucker, Executive Producer, and Bill Shannon, Technical Producer, for putting together this very special tribute to Super ‘CFL! (kk)
More from Ted …
Hi Kent,
With WCFL being recognized this month on the Rewound Radio DJ Hall of Fame, I thought it might be fitting to acknowledge another HOF presentation from September 14, 2025.
This last fall WCFL received a special award from The Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66. They were inducted into their Radio Station Hall of Fame in Joliet, IL.
I introduced the DJ team members who were excited to be representing WCFL to the audience at the Rialto Square Theatre. They included (L-R) DJs Steve York, Chuck Knapp and Bill Taylor, who are all pictured with me (second from left) holding the Trophy.
This was a rewarding experience for all of us, and we accepted this award in honor of all of those people who built this legendary station in 1965 and continued to make it a part of the Chicago culture for over a decade.
Catch Part Two of our WCFL salute this Saturday from 11 am – 2 pm Central Time on RewoundRadio.com
Ted Gorden Smucker
Producer of WCFL Rewound, a 50 Year Anniversary Salute
Hello -
I know that there are many Chicago radio fans that read this site, and I hope
you are excited about the upcoming Part Two of the WCFL Rewound Radio special
produced by Ted Smucker and friends. It can be heard this Saturday on
Rewound Radio beginning at Noon Eastern.
In addition to that, if you'd like even more Chicago radio memories, I just
wanted to remind you that in May, 2021, I devoted my live show on Rewound to
the rich jingle history of WLS. It also included some station history, as
well as an interview with our special guest, John Gehron. An aircheck of
that show can be found on the JAM website here:
http://www.jingles.com/jam/fans/wlshistory.php
And for additional jingle fun, I also did a history for
WABC New York, which you can listen to here:
http://www.jingles.com/jam/fans/wabchistory.html
I hope you'll join us for more live radio fun every weekend on Rewound Radio!
Best,
Jon
Jonathan Wolfert
President
JAM Creative Productions, Inc. (www.jingles.com)
PAMS Productions, Inc. (www.pams.com)
And then this ...
Part 1 of our WCFL Salute aired last Saturday on Rewound Radio, and it was very well received. Since we have announced our two-part special, we have heard from fans all over North America, many of them well known to us all. Here is what a number of them have had to say.
VERY COOL! Is it just me, or does that 'CFL team seem to have had a tougher paper route than the WLS crew? Cannot wait for more!!! – Kipper McGee, former WLS PD and Digital Content Consultant
I’m glad to know the station's format change anniversary is not being overlooked. I was fortunate to enjoy WCFL during its heyday as a Top 40 outlet beginning in 1970. It really was the best station. Jocks were great, including Casey Kasem and AT40. - Pete Battistini, Author of American Top 40 with Casey Kasem (The 1970s and 1980s)
Ted, the strangest part about that transition was Lujack sat there for awhile and played beautiful music. Very weird. Never understood how his contract wouldn't have had language to avoid that fugazi.- Garry Meier, Chicago Radio Personality
One day, a UPS guy comes to the WLS door on a Saturday. He hands me a box. It was addressed to WCFL, Marina Towers. The UPS guy not only had delivered it to the wrong address, but the wrong station. In the box were 50 Carpenters albums. John Landecker said, “What do you want to do?” I said, to tell your listeners Gil Gross is at the corner of Wacker and Michigan handing out 50 Carpenters albums. It took maybe three minutes for me to shove them through 50 open car windows. - Gil Gross, retired WLS News
WOW!. This is absolutely incredible sound quality, so crisp…and the DJs are fantastic. What a treat and labor of love. Many thanks to your team. – Bob Herring
Thanks for reminding me of how old I am. – Brent Bahler
Join us this Saturday, March 14th, for Part 2 of our WCFL Salute from 12 noon - 3 pm Eastern / 11 am - 2 pm Central. This week we will feature an in-depth interview from Jim Hampton from the USA Radio Museum as he talks with Ken Draper, legendary WCFL Programmer. You’ll also hear a bit of Bob Dearborn and a whole lot of Larry Lujack on the last day of Rock Music, 50 years ago this weekend. We will cap it off with an 18 minute montage of the jocks that graced the airwaves of “The Voice of Labor”. This Saturday on the DJ Hall of Fame, heard exclusively on RewoundRadio.com.
60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
3/13/66 – Pink Floyd perform in concert for the very first time. The venue is The Marquee Club in London
60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
3/12/66 – There he is again ...
Bobby Hull (of The Chicago Blackhawks)’s 51st goal of the season sets a new NHL record
Also 3/12, Love’s first album (simply titled “Love”) is released
You can add Love to the list of artists that many feel belong in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. (Some feel they led the way for the West Coat Rock Sound of the mid-1960's - only to have their thunder stolen by groups like The Doors and Jefferson Airplane.)
Their first chart hit, "My Little Red Book" was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach (!) ... and used in the Peter Sellers film "What's New Pussycat."