60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
8/28/65 - Bob Dylan opens up a 40 date American tour with a show at Forest Hill Tennis Stadium. He will be backed by a band that included Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Harvey Brooks and Al Kooper in the second set. (Dylan performed the first set alone, all acoustic … which is the way they performed for the entire tour.)
Also on 8/28, Country Superstar Shania Twain is born
Also on 8/28, the first Subway sandwich shop opens in Bridgeport, Connecticut
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Labor Day is coming up this weekend and we are excited to present our 2025 Presentation of WLS/WCFL Rewound on RewoundRadio.com. For months before, we field questions and comments from loyal listeners who want to know more about our yearly three-day Labor Day event. We are proud to announce that we have a whole new stable of WLS and WCFL original recordings preserved and restored by Bill Shannon for your listening pleasure.
Here are some highlights WLS/WCFL Rewound will be presenting this year with our retro playback. (Times are Eastern and are only approximations.)
Saturday 12 noon: WLS Music People with Brant Miller featuring Gordon Lightfoot
Sunday 12 noon: Dick Biondi’s ‘Pop Goes the Music’ from the year 1967
Monday 12 noon: The WLS Musicradio Montage (1955-1989), presented by Scott Childers
Saturday Late Night: Chuck Buell with the WLS New Year’s Party from 1968-69
Sunday evening: A portion of the WLS Big 89 from 1971 with Fred Winston and Kris Erik Stevens
Throughout the weekend: Animal Stories and Chickenman
Monday Night: The WLS Oldies Party with Chuck Britton, Live from Ed Debevic’s
So be sure to tune in to RewoundRadio.com starting first thing in the morning on Saturday, August 30th, to kick off this annual tradition. But this year, there is an unexpected twist that I would never have imagined.
This summer, Bill Shannon and I, as well as many others, worked together to present a program we called WLS Unwound: Personalities of the Musicradio Years. Hosted by WLS Historian Scott Childers, we put together an ensemble of former WLS DJs and a Newsperson to tell stories and relive memories from their days of working at ‘The Big 89’. On hand in the WLS Studios were Tommy Edwards, Chuck Knapp, Chuck Buell, Jim Kerr and Catherine Johns, representing WLS decades of the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was originally broadcast on July 26th and was a huge success. Well, it has just been announced that this show will be rebroadcast this Sunday afternoon (8/31) from 2-4 pm (Central Time) on WLS-AM 890. So this means that we are actually competing with ourselves, which is both thrilling and confusing.
You can decide for yourself if you want to be Rewound, Unwound or both. Regardless, you can’t go wrong as you will be entertained by some of the best personalities to ever grace the Chicago airwaves. The competition between WLS and WCFL comes back to real life this weekend, over the air and on the internet. WLS/WCFL Rewound, all Labor Day Weekend on RewoundRadio.com, and WLS Unwound: Personalities of the Musicradio Years, Sunday afternoon from 2 - 4 pm (CT) on WLS-AM 890 and wlsam.com.
Savor the memories.
Ted Gorden Smucker
Let me also offer up the latest installment of Bob Sirott's and John Landecker's "For Radio Geeks Only" program on WGN-AM ... BEST SHOW YET ... very entertaining with special appearances by Ron Riley and Spike O'Dell. You can listen to that one here:
https://wgnradio.com/john-landecker/for-radio-geeks-only-part-2/
