WILV
Encyclopedia
WILV is a radio station
broadcasting an Adult Hits
format. Licensed to Chicago, Illinois, USA, the station serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. The station is also broadcast on HD radio
.
. It was used for over the air background music in the stores. By May 1974, the station, changed call letters to WLOO "W-100," later simply known as "FM-100," played an easy listening "beautiful music
" format — mostly instrumental renditions of pop songs along with some soft vocalists. The station was sold to Century Broadcasting in the early 1970s, which also owned AM 820 (then WAIT, later WCZE "Cozy" and WXEZ).
Through the 1980s, the station continued the easy listening
format with more vocalists including more AC artists and less standards artists. In 1988 the call letters changed to WXEZ-FM (eXtra EZ). The instrumentals were eliminated. The station evolved to a soft AC format.
In 1990, the call letters were changed to WPNT-FM, known as "The Point" and the station evolved to more straight-ahead AC
, playing the top 40 hits of the '60s and '70s and the AC
/soft rock
hits of the '80s
, '90s
and beyond. WPNT-AM simulcast the FM for a while, but was quickly spun off because the land the transmitters sat on in suburban Elmhurst, Illinois
became more valuable than the daytime-only station itself. On 100.3, Steve Cochran
hosted morning drive, later to be replaced by Fred Winston.
By 1995, the station was again known as "FM 100", "100.3, Chicago's FM 100" or variation. Between 1995 and 1997, the format was straight ahead Hot AC.
In 1997, WPNT was sold to Evergreen Media. The station became known as "Chicago's 100.3" while the positioner was "Music That Picks You Up & Makes You Feel Good". The station heavily relied on more uptempo Hot AC along with many 80s golds.
Chancellor
and Evergreen merged in 1997. At that point, Chancellor owned 95.5 WNUA
(smooth jazz
) (from Chancellor), Rock 103.5 WRCX (from Evergreen), 97.9 WLUP
(rock) (from Evergreen), 93.9 WLIT
(adult contemporary) (from Viacom
), 102.7 WVAZ
(urban AC) (from Evergreen/Broadcast Partners), 107.5 WGCI-FM (urban contemporary
) (from Gannett), hip hop
WEJM 106.3 (from Broadcast Partners/Evergreen), and WPNT.
The newly formed Chancellor had too many FM stations and had to sell 3. So, in the Summer of 1997, 106.3 WEJM was sold to Crawford Broadcasting Company and it flipped to Gospel
(and urban AC
years later). Bonneville International
, who had already owned pop
/alternative
station 101.9 WTMX
, bought WLUP
"The Loop" and WPNT. Later, in 2000, they bought classical
station WNIB (now WDRV
) for $147 million.
Since The Loop had become musically close to WTMX
, WLUP flipped to a classic rock
format. WPNT was also musically close to WTMX
; so, on September 1, 1997, WPNT became an AC
station. The station's call letters were changed to WNND to match the new moniker "Windy 100."
In the late 1990s, WNND actually surpassed WLIT
in the ratings a couple of times and nearly tied them much of the other times. The staff consisted of morning team Kevin & Susan, Chicago broadcaster Scott Childers in middays and market newcomer Haynes Johns in afternoons. Nights were devoted to the popular "Love Notes," hosted by John Symons. "Love Notes" routinely beat competitor "Delilah
" on WLIT.
By 2002, WNND had suffered in the ratings after a disastrous dip into soft AC. On December 10, 2002, they changed to a '80s-'90s hot AC format, and was branded simply as "100.3 WNND." WNND's ratings never really took off with this format.
On November 5, 2004, at 7 a.m., WNND adopted a rhythmic-leaning AC
format as "100.3 Love FM," with the WILV call letters.
In 2006, the music was moved to an uptempo variation of Rhythmic Oldies
, playing mostly 70s and 80s music.
By 2007, the station began focusing on Adult Contemporary music again, and by 2008, the station was once again known as "Chicago's 100.3" as it was prior to becoming WNND in 1997. As of 2010, the station's music mix is still heavy on 70s and 80s music, but has more of an upbeat adult contemporary feel.
On June 7, 2010, at 1 p.m., WILV shifted their playlist to focus on 80s music, but 70s and 90s music still has a presence. They also changed their name to "Rewind 100.3" and format to adult hits
, leaving only WLIT-FM and WCFS-FM as Chicago's only AC stations.
Current airstaff includes: Brian Peck (mornings), Megan Reed (middays), Brian Middleton (afternoons), David J (evenings), Brian Travis (overnight).
Bonneville announced the sale of WILV, as well as 16 other stations, to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011. During the time of the transaction, WILV began beating rival WJMK, which changed back to classic hits
.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
broadcasting an Adult Hits
Adult hits
Adult hits is a radio format, popular in the early 2000s, that does not adhere to a specific music genre, but instead draws from a wider playlist...
format. Licensed to Chicago, Illinois, USA, the station serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. The station is also broadcast on HD radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
.
Before 100.3
The station began operation in 1947 as WFMF, owned by Marshall FieldMarshall Field
Marshall Field was founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores.-Life and career:...
. It was used for over the air background music in the stores. By May 1974, the station, changed call letters to WLOO "W-100," later simply known as "FM-100," played an easy listening "beautiful music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
" format — mostly instrumental renditions of pop songs along with some soft vocalists. The station was sold to Century Broadcasting in the early 1970s, which also owned AM 820 (then WAIT, later WCZE "Cozy" and WXEZ).
Through the 1980s, the station continued the easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
format with more vocalists including more AC artists and less standards artists. In 1988 the call letters changed to WXEZ-FM (eXtra EZ). The instrumentals were eliminated. The station evolved to a soft AC format.
In 1990, the call letters were changed to WPNT-FM, known as "The Point" and the station evolved to more straight-ahead AC
Adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1950s and 1960s vocal music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence, as well as a radio format that plays such music....
, playing the top 40 hits of the '60s and '70s and the AC
Adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1950s and 1960s vocal music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence, as well as a radio format that plays such music....
/soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...
hits of the '80s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, '90s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
and beyond. WPNT-AM simulcast the FM for a while, but was quickly spun off because the land the transmitters sat on in suburban Elmhurst, Illinois
Elmhurst, Illinois
Elmhurst is a suburb of Chicago in DuPage and Cook Counties, Illinois. The population is 46,013 as of the 2008 US Census population estimate.-History:...
became more valuable than the daytime-only station itself. On 100.3, Steve Cochran
Steve Cochran
Steve Cochran was an American film, television, and stage actor, the son of a California lumberman. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1939...
hosted morning drive, later to be replaced by Fred Winston.
By 1995, the station was again known as "FM 100", "100.3, Chicago's FM 100" or variation. Between 1995 and 1997, the format was straight ahead Hot AC.
In 1997, WPNT was sold to Evergreen Media. The station became known as "Chicago's 100.3" while the positioner was "Music That Picks You Up & Makes You Feel Good". The station heavily relied on more uptempo Hot AC along with many 80s golds.
Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
and Evergreen merged in 1997. At that point, Chancellor owned 95.5 WNUA
WNUA
WNUA is a Spanish Pop radio station located in Chicago, Illinois, owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications and branded as Mega 95.5.-History:...
(smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
) (from Chancellor), Rock 103.5 WRCX (from Evergreen), 97.9 WLUP
WLUP
WLUP-FM is a commercial classic rock radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Owned and operated by Merlin Media, LLC, WLUP transmits its signal from an antenna located the top of the Willis Tower in Downtown Chicago at a height of with an effective radiated power of 4,000 watts...
(rock) (from Evergreen), 93.9 WLIT
WLIT
WLIT-FM is a radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of adult contemporary music. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications.In February 2006, WLIT began broadcasting in HD Radio...
(adult contemporary) (from Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
), 102.7 WVAZ
WVAZ
WVAZ, known locally as "V-103", is an urban adult contemporary radio station that is licensed to Oak Park. WVAZ is owned by Clear Channel, alongside sister stations WGCI-FM and WGRB-AM. In 2005, WVAZ began broadcasting in IBOC digital radio, using the HD Radio system from iBiquity.- History :The...
(urban AC) (from Evergreen/Broadcast Partners), 107.5 WGCI-FM (urban contemporary
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
) (from Gannett), hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
WEJM 106.3 (from Broadcast Partners/Evergreen), and WPNT.
The newly formed Chancellor had too many FM stations and had to sell 3. So, in the Summer of 1997, 106.3 WEJM was sold to Crawford Broadcasting Company and it flipped to Gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
(and urban AC
Urban Adult Contemporary
Urban adult contemporary is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have rap music on their playlists. The format was designed by Barry Mayo when he, Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson organized Broadcast...
years later). Bonneville International
Bonneville International
Bonneville International Corporation is a broadcasting company wholly owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation...
, who had already owned pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/alternative
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
station 101.9 WTMX
WTMX
WTMX is an adult top 40 radio station licensed to Skokie, IL in the Chicago market. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.-History:...
, bought WLUP
WLUP
WLUP-FM is a commercial classic rock radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Owned and operated by Merlin Media, LLC, WLUP transmits its signal from an antenna located the top of the Willis Tower in Downtown Chicago at a height of with an effective radiated power of 4,000 watts...
"The Loop" and WPNT. Later, in 2000, they bought classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
station WNIB (now WDRV
WDRV
WDRV is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois. The station is currently owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, and simulcasts on WWDV . "The Drive" programs a broad-based classic rock format called "Timeless Rock"...
) for $147 million.
Since The Loop had become musically close to WTMX
WTMX
WTMX is an adult top 40 radio station licensed to Skokie, IL in the Chicago market. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.-History:...
, WLUP flipped to a classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
format. WPNT was also musically close to WTMX
WTMX
WTMX is an adult top 40 radio station licensed to Skokie, IL in the Chicago market. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting.-History:...
; so, on September 1, 1997, WPNT became an AC
Adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1950s and 1960s vocal music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence, as well as a radio format that plays such music....
station. The station's call letters were changed to WNND to match the new moniker "Windy 100."
In the late 1990s, WNND actually surpassed WLIT
WLIT
WLIT-FM is a radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of adult contemporary music. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications.In February 2006, WLIT began broadcasting in HD Radio...
in the ratings a couple of times and nearly tied them much of the other times. The staff consisted of morning team Kevin & Susan, Chicago broadcaster Scott Childers in middays and market newcomer Haynes Johns in afternoons. Nights were devoted to the popular "Love Notes," hosted by John Symons. "Love Notes" routinely beat competitor "Delilah
Delilah
Delilah appears only in the Hebrew bible Book of Judges 16, where she is the "woman in the valley of Sorek" whom Samson loved, and who was his downfall...
" on WLIT.
By 2002, WNND had suffered in the ratings after a disastrous dip into soft AC. On December 10, 2002, they changed to a '80s-'90s hot AC format, and was branded simply as "100.3 WNND." WNND's ratings never really took off with this format.
Chicago debuts as 100.3 FM
Rhythmic Adult Contemporary
Rhythmic adult contemporary is a format used on stations in the United States and Canada. It usually gears toward an older audience, ages 25 to 54. Stations using this format play disco from the 1970s and early 1980s, dance/pop music, adult-friendly hip hop/old school tracks, R&B, dance/freestyle...
format as "100.3 Love FM," with the WILV call letters.
In 2006, the music was moved to an uptempo variation of Rhythmic Oldies
Rhythmic oldies
Rhythmic Oldies is a radio format that concentrates on the rhythmic, disco or dance genres of music. Playlists may span from the 1970s through the early 1990s...
, playing mostly 70s and 80s music.
By 2007, the station began focusing on Adult Contemporary music again, and by 2008, the station was once again known as "Chicago's 100.3" as it was prior to becoming WNND in 1997. As of 2010, the station's music mix is still heavy on 70s and 80s music, but has more of an upbeat adult contemporary feel.
On June 7, 2010, at 1 p.m., WILV shifted their playlist to focus on 80s music, but 70s and 90s music still has a presence. They also changed their name to "Rewind 100.3" and format to adult hits
Adult hits
Adult hits is a radio format, popular in the early 2000s, that does not adhere to a specific music genre, but instead draws from a wider playlist...
, leaving only WLIT-FM and WCFS-FM as Chicago's only AC stations.
Current airstaff includes: Brian Peck (mornings), Megan Reed (middays), Brian Middleton (afternoons), David J (evenings), Brian Travis (overnight).
Bonneville announced the sale of WILV, as well as 16 other stations, to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011. During the time of the transaction, WILV began beating rival WJMK, which changed back to classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
.