FORGOTTEN HITS: 50 Years Ago Today

Thursday, June 8, 2023

50 Years Ago Today

Today (June 8^th) marks the 50^th anniversary of Bob Sirott’s premier appearance on WLS, The Big 89.

FH Reader Mike Wolstein sent us this reminder …

50 years!

On June 8th, 1973, at 10 PM, using a 1958 Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder, I airchecked Bob Sirott's first show on WLS-AM ("in marvelous mono") and then trimmed the recording down from 18:11 to about 17 minutes; I first uploaded it around 20 years ago, but it had to be cut down a bit in order to be uploaded.

Many years later, I dropped a copy off to Bob (he was at WMAQ at the time.) Far as I know, I'm the only person who recorded the show. I know my recording very well; every one you find on-line is MINE, having the basic sound value of my tape machine and the "cuts and pastes" (some of which were kinda sloppy) are mine. Most of the other versions on YouTube have been cut down to about 11:00.
Bob and I graduated from the same High School in the same year, but he was in the January class and I, in the June. (Hi, Bob!)
One of the "shortened" versions (11 min) of the aircheck is at: https://youtu.be/b88wp93e5NI

Mike also sent us this pic of Sirott with radio legend Dick Biondi …

(We may have mentioned the new Dick Biondi Documentary a time or two in these pages over the past few years!)

Bob is also prominently featured in the film, talking about one of radio’s all-time greats. (If you watch closely, you might even find ME making an appearance on screen, too! Lol)

Sirott was always a favorite of mine … I first discovered him on WBBM-FM when the station was trying to go “hip” with a new Top 40 format. (Actually, it worked pretty well … and they offered up a much bigger playlist than the other competition in town, namely WLS and WCFL. There was a stretch of time there where WLS wasn't even printing and distributing a weekly survey sheet anymore, for God's sake ... LONG a staple of the station ... and then when they did, only listing the Top 15 Hits ... a far cry from the station's Top 40 hey-day.) Bob's slightly twisted sense of humor appealed to me and I felt an immediate connection to where he was trying to go creatively with his program. In other words, I got it ... and I liked it.

Despite his rapidly budding radio career at WBBM-FM, WLS was always the golden rainbow in the sky when it came to broadcasting. If you had aspirations of being on the air (and Bob did, inspired at an early age to follow in the footsteps of some of the legendary disc jockeys HE listened to growing up as a kid), you just couldn’t rise any higher than WLS … the AM giant that represented the landmark of broadcasting. When the opportunity presented itself, Bob came running, joining the long list of celebrity jocks who have adorned the station over the years. (Larry Lujack used to take great joy in reading a letter that Sirott had written to him as a teenage fan, telling him how much he admired him and hoped to pursue a career in broadcasting as well.) It was touching that Uncle Lar … who never really came across as the sentimental type of the air … would hang on to such a thing … and once Bob joined him at the station, it had to be the crowning achievement for him at the time. (By all appearances, the two simply clicked, offering up another huge burst of pride and confidence for Bob, knowing he could hold his own against radio royalty.)

WLS always stressed "Personality Radio" ... and Bob exuded that in spades. Life just couldn’t get any better than this!

But, of course, for Bob, it did …

He branched out into television and was soon doing features not only on our local newscasts (usually entertainment profiles) but on a national level as well.

Bob’s career continued to skyrocket as he became both a national broadcasting hero and radio and television legend as well, inspiring others to follow in HIS footsteps, much as he had been inspired as a young man.