History WJMK

1 history

1.1 1948-1949: wcfl-fm
1.2 1961-1984: wjjd-fm/wjez
1.3 1984-2005: oldies
1.4 2005-2011: jack fm
1.5 2011-2017: k-hits
1.6 2017-present: 104.3 jams

history
1948-1949: wcfl-fm

the 104.3 allocation in chicago licensed in 1948 chicago federation of labor, , went on air wcfl-fm on march 12, 1949. though licensed 22,000 watts, broadcast 3pm 9pm, 400-watt simulcast of wcfl (am) antenna on top of studio. in october 1949, federation shut down wcfl-fm , announced surrender fm license because saw no possibility make money it.

1961-1984: wjjd-fm/wjez

the station signed on, current license, in 1961 wjjd-fm, co-owned 1160 wjjd (now wyll) plough broadcasting. fm station simulcast station s signal during operating hours, changes in fcc rules led separate format fm. 1977, station known wjez , had beautiful country format, playing instrumental background music country overtones. not ratings success, , 1980, wjez had more conventional country music format. in 1980s, station gained competition wusn (99.5 fm) adopted similar format. @ point, wjjd 1160 adopted pop standards format , became known music of life . in 1983, infinity broadcasting acquired both wjjd , wjez.

1984-2005: oldies

in july 1984, wjez dropped country , flipped oldies format magic 104 call letters wjmk. initially, similar rko s 103.5 wfyr playing, except wjmk played more 1950s , 1960s music. wjmk played 1970s , 1980s music, along new song every hour. 1985, songs released after 1972 dropped.

the station focused on songs released between 1964-1969, amount of 1950s , 1960s music well. in 1991, station s moniker changed magic 104 oldies 104.3 . during 1990s, played 1970s song every 90 minutes, , 1970s song couple exceptions. in 1992, acquisition infinity made wusn sister stations wjmk. in 1996, infinity sold cbs, adding classic rock station wckg (105.9 fm), 1970s-based oldies station wysy (107.9 fm), rhythmic/chr wbbm-fm (96.3 fm), , aaa wxrt (93.1 fm). stay within station ownership limits chicago radio market, infinity/cbs sold wysy spanish broadcasting system (now univision). move left cbs/infinity limit of 8 stations; 5 fm , 3 stations, in addition wbbm-tv.

in 1998, began add more 1970s music format, cutting off @ 1975, , playing 2-3 1970s oldies per hour while still playing 1-3 1950s songs hour, total of 3-4 pre-1964 oldies hour. in 1999, new competition new jammin oldies format of wubt, wjmk added few disco songs , played 3 or 4 1970s songs per hour , playing songs throughout decade 1970 1979 in mix. added several dozen 80’s songs playing 1 every 2 hours. cut pre-1964 songs 3 hour 1 2 1950s songs per hour still being played. began 1970s , 1980s rock show on saturday evenings, replacing more traditional 1950s, 1960s , 1970s oldies show.

wjmk dropped moniker oldies 104.3 , returned former moniker magic 104.3 on february 8, 2002. wjmk continued oldies format, though modified playlist on years, cutting on pre-1964 oldies playing down 1 2 per hour. 2003, pre-1964 oldies eliminated , wjmk focused on 1964 1979 oldies, playing under 50% 1960s , under 50% 1970s oldies 2 or 3% of music pre-1964 or post-1979. later in 2003, station once again changed monikers, going oldies 104.3 , added 50’s , 60’s oldies playlist, mixing in 1964-1979 hits. wjmk began airing dick bartley s syndicated rock , roll s greatest hits on saturday nights (which dropped @ beginning of june 2004 return saturday night 70s show). winter of 2004-2005, except dozen pre-64 oldies , 25 songs 1980s gone. @ point, wjmk played entirely songs 1964 1979, , station dropped oldies moniker , became known 104.3 wjmk .

2005-2011: jack fm

in spring of 2005, infinity (the radio division of cbs) had contracted sparknet communications, owned u.s. trademarks of adult hits format known jack fm , had seen success on few canadian stations, put variety hits format on stations in of markets. april, flipped kcbs-fm in los angeles , wqsr in baltimore, maryland new format. on june 3, 2005, @ 4 p.m., @ same time long-time oldies station wcbs-fm in new york flipping format, wjmk became jack fm well.

jack fm format featuring rock , pop songs appeal adults. 2,000 song playlist consisted of music 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, , 2000s, in addition few current tracks. though wjmk s previous oldies format continued streamed online , on hd radio subchannel, complaints change prevalent, not extent of in new york city wcbs-fm.

the former wjmk airstaff returned air on wjmk-hd2 in october 2005. also, fall, wzzn (now wls-fm), seeing format void , after many years of struggling different formats, switched abc s true oldies channel , satellite-delivered oldies format. on july 13, 2006, in cost-cutting move cbs radio, entire airstaff of wjmk-hd2 laid off, though oldies format continued stream online without air talent. since then, wls-fm had added lot of wjmk s former airstaff.

with format change on wckg talk adult contemporary, steve dahl , buzz kilman moved there wjmk host mornings. started on november 5, 2007, live personalities on jack fm. dahl continued there until december 5, 2008. @ time, jack fm reverted having no live personalities. station s ratings continued struggle more when bonneville international debuted rewind 100.3 (a 1980s-based format) on rival wilv in june 2010.

2011-2017: k-hits

on march 9, 2011, cbs announced on march 14, beginning @ 1:04 p.m., wjmk switch classic hits format known k-hits , dropping jack fm format , brand. change marked station s return updated version of oldies format dropped in 2005. station management described format high energy, music intensive , locally driven .

the final song on jack fm goodbye scandal, after 1 last liner featuring homer simpson played advertising new radio station coming chicago happens on frequency, before montage of songs between 1966 , 1989 played (similar wcbs-fm did in 2007 when relaunched classic hits format, , using exact same montage launched oldies format of wocl-fm/orlando in 2008). k-hits launched beginnings chicago.

chicago radio personalities ed volkman , joe bohannon colborn (eddie , jobo) anchor station s morning show, along gary spears hosting middays, bo reynolds in afternoon drive, , george mcfly evenings.

volkman , colborn remain morning hosts until december 6, 2012, when released, station citing low ratings main factor. mornings thereafter hosted dave fogel, formerly of wls-fm. rest of station s final airstaff included brian peck in middays , jeffrey t. mason in afternoon drive. weekend airstaff included ken cocker, john calhoun, , dona mullen.

in last year, station played less music 1960s (save major artists such beatles, rolling stones, , creedence clearwater revival) , focused on songs 1980s, moderate amount of 1970s music, , small amount of 1990s music.

jingles done reelworld productions in seattle of 2017. jam creative productions in dallas, texas did station jingles.

2017-present: 104.3 jams

on february 2, 2017, cbs radio announced merge entercom. merger approved on november 9, 2017, , consummated on 17th. on day, @ 10 a.m., after playing long , winding road beatles , changes david bowie, wjmk began stunting heartbeat , other sound effects, , sound clips of man giving occasional comments of s going on here? , s time start . 1 hour later, wjmk flipped classic hip hop 104.3 jams , introduction rapper , station voiceover mc lyte. first song on jams hypnotize notorious b.i.g.. entercom has applied move wbmx callsign 104.3 sister-owned station in boston match new format; calls had been used new rival wvaz 1975 1988.