The City of Chicago is a
radio town, and has always had a long tradition of having its favorite
radio stations. Ask anyone today what their favorite rock station was,
and only a handful of call letters will be mentioned. However during
the 1970s and 1980s, the term
Rock Wars was mentioned to describe street wars against competing broadcasters. Most notably was the battle of
WLS vs.
WCFL during the 1970's. However, as rock-n-roll music moved to FM, station loyalties changed.
The history of Rockradio in Chicago really goes back to the late 1970's as
WMET 95.5 FM fought a huge ratings, and street battle with newcomer
The Loop WLUP 97.9 FM. The radio war was legendary in Chicagoland, with
The Loop as leader into the early 80's, and
WMET barely surviving.
WLUP's
Steve Dahl become a national figure, with his
Disco Demolition at a
White Sox game. Not only was the
Windy City in the middle of a
Rock war, it was also deep into the
Rock vs.
Disco battle. However,
Disco was dead by 1982, and
WLUP switched to an upper demo
Album Rock format, with
WMET as the remaining
Hard Rock outlet. Eventually
WMET also dumped rock, for an
Adult Contemporay format, and Chicago became void of a "real" rock radio station. The sounds of the
Scorpions, and
Iron Maiden, were replaced by
Sting, and
Bryan Adams.
Chicago rockers were angry at radio, and even held rallies against the
demise of
WMET, and asked
WLUP to return to it's original format. The
voices of Chicago-area metal heads went unheard, until the fall of 1986
when low-rated
Adult Contemporary outlet
WYEN 106.7 FM, dumped the
Doobie Brothers for
Megadeth!
WYEN became
WZRC aka
Z-ROCK!
WZRC became the flagship station for a national hard rock, and
heavy metal radio network. The 50,000 watt FM brought to the airwaves
rock music never heard on commercial radio before. The daily playlist
consisted of:
AC/DC,
Metallica,
Slayer,
Metal Church,
Anthrax, as well
as many local acts. The on-air personalities were in your face
as well, such as
Wild Bill Scott (formerly of
WLUP and
WMET),
Madd Maxx Hammer,
Boobie Bondage,
Killer Craig, and many others.
WZRC also took to the streets to promote the new format, and leading the effort was former
Steve Dahl show regular,
Guy Giuliano, better known to
Z-Rock listeners as
The G-Ster.
WZRC never produced numbers like
WLUP, or even newcomer
Classic Rock WCKG 105.9 FM, but did lead in younger demos. The national
Z-Rock
network took advantage of the ratings, and began syndicating the
satellite feed to new affiliates, in cities such as Cleveland, Grand
Rapids, and Houston.
Ownership of
WZRC grew restless, and claimed to need better ratings in upper demos to survive. Not to mention, the station's image as a
heavy metal outlet, made the new born again Christian owner
Vern Merritt nervous. In late 1987,
Z-Rock was dumped, and
WZRC became
WTWV, now the flagship for a new
New Age format called
The Wave. Listeners were furious holding several rallies, and making headlines in the
Chicago Tribune, and
Sun-Times.
Eric Zorn, a columnist for the
Tribune, decided to get the inside story, and did a feature story on
Guy "G-Ster" Giuliano. The article got rave reviews from former
WZRC advertisers, as well as thousands of angry listeners.
Giuliano realized there was a huge niche in the market for another hard rock outlet, and began pitching stations.
Z-ROCK had began to run its operations from Dallas, and fired programmer
Wild Bill Scott, replacing him with
Lee Abrams.
Scott teamed up with
Giuliano, as well as several other out of work rock jocks, in search of a new radio home. During this period,
Z-Rock began pitching AM radio stations across the U.S. to carry their revised hard rock format, and with some luck.
With no FM frequencies available in the Chicagoland area,
Giuliano and
Scott took a gamble on an under-performing AM outlet
WSSY 1330 AM, known as
Sunny 1330. The station was broadcasting a
Adult Contemporary format during the day, and going off air at night.
Giuliano convinced management he could bring over former
Z-Rock advertisers, and enough listeners to support a new hard rock format on
WSSY. Several months later a deal was cut, and
Sunny 1330 became
G-Force 1330. Many local observers claimed the project would never get off the ground, and or make it past a month!
Boobie Bondage, The G-Ster, and Wild Bill Scott
The new rock station used its arsinal of weapons from
WZRC, and took the town by storm! The call letters were changed from
WSSY to
WKTA, and on-air liners such as "If It's Too Loud, You're Too Old", and
"G-Force 1330...
Loud and Proud!" The day signal reached into Michigan, and Indiana, and
targetted listeners in those areas as well. In fact, many advertisers
did follow, and G-Force celebrated it's year anniversary with positive
press in the local newspapers, as well as national radio trade
magazines
. Sun-times media columnist
Rob Feder wrote on March 26, 1990
"...Defying all skeptics, Guy Giuliano's G-Force 1330 marks it's first year".
NBC TV station
WMAQ Channel 5, did a news story on the station's success as well.
G-Force was very unique, being it was a successful hard rock
& heavy metal radio station, broadcasting in the 3rd largest market
in the U.S. This gave
G-Force an edge, breaking new rock groups for record labels, that downtown stations would ignore.
G-Force
hosted many major rock concerts in the Chicago area, as well as
Indiana, and Wisconsin. Many of the hottest rock acts of the day, also
made sure to stop by the station for an inteview:
Judas Priest,
Dio,
Metal Church,
AC/DC,
Pantera, and many more.
G-Force rock jocks also became popular, such as
Scorchin' Scott Davidson (later PD of
Rebel Radio),
Rockin' Ron Simon (formerly of
WVVX and
WZRC)
, Jammin' Janet,
Marty Payne,
Dangerous Dave, and
Scott Not. This also included the original personalities from
WZRC, including
Wild Bill,
G-Ster, and
Boobie Bondage.
G-Force New Years 1990 live broadcast party.
