From its early days as the farmer's companion to over a quarter century as the nation's premier rock-and-roll station, WLS has touched the lives of millions of listeners. Many well-known celebrities, like Gene Autry, owe their careers to the Big 89, through the famous Saturday night program The National Barn Dance. Local personalities such as Dick Biondi, Larry Lujack, and John Records Landecker became household names thanks to Chicago's 50,000-watt blowtorch. The images in Chicago's WLS Radio scan the entire history of the station, featuring engaging hosts, the biggest stars, and lots of fun. The book also covers WLS's move in the 1990s to become a leader in the news and talk format.
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About the Author
Scott Childers, a lifelong Chicagoan, grew up under the influence of WLS. Childers produced the History of WLS Radio Web site, a comprehensive look at the station's rich past. He delivered news and traffic on WLS in the mid-1990s and in 2007 was tapped as the lead historical consultant for the daylong Big 89 Rewind special on Memorial Day. He has also served as a consultant for many television projects that have focused on WLS and The National Barn Dance.
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A graduate of Columbia College, Scott Childers was born and raised in Chicago, and has had the opportunity to work at several different radio and television stations around town. He began at WJTW-FM in Joliet in 1989, while working as an Assistant Production Director at the PIA Radio Network. He then spent seven years providing news, traffic and weather reports for Metro Networks. His station list included WBBM-AM, WMAQ-AM, WBBM-FM (B-96), WLS-AM and WGN-AM, as well as numerous suburban radio stations. Scott was also one of the first television traffic reporters in Chicago, beginning with NBC-5's "First Thing In The Morning" featuring Bob Sirott and Allison Rosati in the early 1990's. He went on to work with Sirott again, along with Marianne Murciano for four years on Fox-32's "Fox Thing in The Morning." In case you are wondering, no, Scott is not related to Channel 2's Mary Ann Childers. While reporting traffic, he spent time in management positions at Metro and also worked at several radio stations as a part-time air personality. His "hit-list" has included WWBZ-FM, better known as "The Blaze!," WXLC-FM (Hot 102.3), WTMX-FM (The Mix) and WPNT-FM (FM-100). While at WPNT, Scott hosted the popular 70's and 80's music, request and dedication show "Retro Saturday Night," which garnered several Achievement In Radio (A.I.R.) Awards and nominations. When the station flipped to "Windy 100," Scott left the traffic business and spent five plus years on the highly-rated midday slot. After a stint back at WTMX and Metro Networks, in 2004, Scott joined up with WERV-FM "95.9 The River," first doing middays and later as afternoon host. During his four plus years, he was also Assistant Program Director and Imaging Director for the station.
Scott moved over to sister station WSSR-FM "Star 96.7" in 2008. In addition to hosting afternoons, Scott is also webmaster and IT Director for Star 96.7 and WJOL-AM's websites.
You can also hear him bantering back and forth with Dean Richards and newsman Rob Hart on The Dean Richards Sunday Morning show on WGN-AM.
Scott admits that radio was not necessarily his first career choice. When he was young, he caught the architecture bug (which is easy to do in a beautiful city like Chicago) and was ready to follow in the footsteps of Mies Van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright! Things didn't seem to turn out as planned, although Scott still has quite a passion for our world famous skyline. So it's not a surprise to find out that he is fantastic with a pencil and often employs himself as a freelance artist.
He has always credited WLS Musicradio 89 as the reason he got into the radio business. Listening to Chicago radio legends such as Larry Lujack, John Records Landecker, Tommy Edwards, Jeff Davis and other stars of the "Big 89" while growing up, helped him form his on-air style. Scott also takes pride in being able to have worked alongside such personalities as Bob Sirott, Fred Winston, "Danger" Dan Walker, Brant Miller and Steve Cochran, among others. He has been fortunate enough to be involved with WLS' Memorial Day "Big 89 Rewind" specials as a producer and Lead Historical Consultant. Scott has written a book titled "Chicago's WLS Radio 1924-2007," which hits store shelves in October 2008.
Scott is also a freelance voice-over talent, whose work can be heard on everything from radio and television commercials to corporate telephone on-hold messages. He is also the voice of the Horseshoe Casino in Joliet, Illinois and in Hammond, Indiana. As an avid music collector, his tastes run wide... from big band to contemporary music. He's quite fond of the music he grew up with in the 1980's, which has found quite a revival in recent years.
In addition to being a die-hard Cub fan and avid Bulls and Bears fan, he likes to spend his time working on his various websites. He is also a licensed amateur radio operator and enjoys making contacts with people from around the city to around the world. "Family Guy," "House" and "Chicago Tonight" rank as some of Scott's favorite TV shows.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By B. Estes
Format:Paperback
I purchased this along with Something in the Air for my husband for Christmas, since he is nuts about oldies radio and oldies music. He is especially crazy for the old Chicago stations from the 60's and 70's, since this is what we grew up with. The only drawback is, it is too short. He was through it by the end of Christmas day.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By L. McMillion
Format:Paperback
Chicago's WLS Radio (Images of America: Illinois)
I looked forward to reading this book after listening to "85 Years of WLS" on Memorial Day weekend. I grew up in the '60's and '70's and listened to the great WLS. The air personalities always seemed so real. Superjock Larry Lujack's animal stories were always funny. Reading this book was just like stepping back in time, bringing back fond memories of listening to the Big 89. This book really captured the essense of what WLS Radio has been about and how it has always had a large audience appeal.
I looked forward to reading this book after listening to "85 Years of WLS" on Memorial Day weekend. I grew up in the '60's and '70's and listened to the great WLS. The air personalities always seemed so real. Superjock Larry Lujack's animal stories were always funny. Reading this book was just like stepping back in time, bringing back fond memories of listening to the Big 89. This book really captured the essense of what WLS Radio has been about and how it has always had a large audience appeal.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By B. Robbins
Format:Paperback
Fantastic look back in word and pictures. I wish more of them were in color. I e-mailed Scott years ago and he is truly the biggest fan of WLS. If anything, this book illustrates WLS' commitment to serving the community and entertaining over the decades. When does the audio version come out? Just kidding.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed
It was not what I anticipated. Too much technical and historical stuff. Not enough fun memories and relations to the teenagers who were its fans.
Published 15 days ago by jeannie
2.0 out of 5 stars
Random, no real focus or point
It's mostly a picture book, though many of the photos are enjoyably nostalgic. At best, it offers a history of radio via one famed station, but there isn't much to think about... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Robert Weisbuch
5.0 out of 5 stars
The former Rock of Chicago!
Great memories from a guy who produced and voice spots on this 50,000 watt blow-torch for mid-America!
Published on November 25, 2008 by Jeremiah F. Bulger
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