WLUP-FM (The Loop) Chicago (1977 - 2018)

[1finemrg]

Anyone who listed to FM rock radio in Chicago knows 97.9 on the FM dial. It's WLUP-FM, affectionately known as The Loop. The black and white "The Loop" t-shirts, the locally and nationally legendary radio personalities (Jonathan Brandmeier, Steve Dahl/Garry Meier, Bob Stroud, Sky Daniels, Mitch Michaels, Kevin Matthews...) made the station a Chicago radio icon for 41 years as of this month.

The station was sold and on the night of March 10 the switch will be flipped and The Loop will be no more. It will become a Christian music station.

The Loop in its early days were champions to local bands as well. Their airplay would help the bands achieve a loyal local following with some of them eventually breaking nationally.

Like this band who had their first Hot 100 early in 1980.

Somewhere In America - Survivor

Obituary

Bob Stroud's Eulogy

[mrjukebox]

I just saw the article regarding WLUP's demise on the Chicago Tribune website-Basically,the proliferation of streaming services such as Spotify & Pandora have rendered traditional radio listening a thing of the past-WLUP's former owner,Cumulus Media,filed for bankruptcy potection in 2017-They own a couple of stations here in Connecticut:News/Talk WICC 600 & adult contemporary WEBE 108-By the way,Dr.Demento will be doing a brief tribute to the Loop on his show this weekend-His program was heard on The Loop for over thirty years.

[slf]

That was a great eulogy that Bob Stroud gave for WLUP-FM, the Loop.  I confess that I never listened to the station much, even on my many weekend trips over the years to Chicago.  I have a feeling I missed out on something special.  However, I've known about The Loop ever since the late '70's.  In 1978 our family in Warsaw, IN subscribed to cable for the first time, and one of the stations included was WGN out of Chicago (before it became a superstation).  One time WGN presented a special show warning about this new, dangerous drug called PCP (aka "Angel Dust").  It just happened to be sponsored by a certain local radio station known as "The Loop, where Chicago rocks, at FM 97.9".  That was the first time I had ever heard of that station.  I immediately got the impression that this was a rebellious, "we mean business" rock and roll station, yet, at the same time, one that felt a duty to warn young people that drugs should not be part of the rock and roll experience.  I remember the commercials interspersed in the show featured WLUP personalities reinforcing the show's warnings about PCP.  Ironically, this special probably aired around the same time as the infamous "Disco Demolition" event; yet, for some reason, I have no clear memory of hearing about it at the time.  Which brings me to my last point:  I have never understood the strong, intense hatred that so many rock and roll fans, especially males, had for disco at the time.  I understand different people have different tastes in music, but c'mon.  Having eclectic tastes in music is a good thing. I love both hard rock AND disco, and I'm sure there are millions like me.  The closest I come to hatred of any type of music style is gangsta rap and death metal, and that's primarily because of the dark, angry lyrics and the profanities that are usually synonymous with those music genres.

[1finemrg]

The Loop's sign off

The Loop gave the devil his due as they descended into the abyss of Christian rock.

---

The Loop's hatred for disco was courtesy of Steve Dahl. His first job in Chicago was mornings at WDAI-FM. He was steadily building a loyal listenership until he suddenly found himself out of a job when the station became "Disco DAI". I personally remember turning on the radio that morning to the sounds of Cheryl Lynn's "Star Love". My immediate thought was Steve was doing a comedy bit, until I heard another disco song...and another...and another.

The Loop took the "Disco Demolition" event and built a powerhouse from it.

He parodied that anger into this lost 70s classic that peaked at #58.

Do You Think I'm Disco? - Steve Dahl and Teenage Radiation

[OldSchoolAT40Fan]

Mar 11, 2018 6:40:30 GMT -5 1finemrg said:

The Loop's sign off

The Loop gave the devil his due as they descended into the abyss of Christian rock.

That devil in the article closely resembles Hot Stuff the Little Devil from Harvey Comics.

[mrjukebox]

In the summer of 1979,Steve Dahl was a guest on Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow" show-It's pretty hysterical-You can watch it on You Tube.

[mrjukebox]

Regarding Dr.Demento's salute to The Loop,he played a couple of songs-One was from Steve Dahl "Do You Think I'm Disco" & the other was from Jonathan Brandmier "The Moo Moo Song".

[davewollenberg]

Actually, K-Love is Christian Adult Contemporary.