January 24, 2022, Issue 791
US99 Turns 40
On Feb. 6, 1982, First Media’s struggling Chicago AC WEFM flipped to Country as “US99.” The station launched with Don Williams’ “Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good” and soon after adopted the call letters WUSN. At the time, there were already three other Country stations in Chicago: WMAQ-AM led the format with a 4.2 share, and the combo of WJJD-AM and WJEZ pulled an additional 4.1 shares. Within two years, both WJJD-AM and WJEZ had exited the format, but it took more than three years for WUSN to overtake WMAQ Drew Horowitz which, like many AMs at the time, gradually added more talk blocks until playing its last country record in Nov. 1986. Now at the 40year mark, WUSN has become synonymous with country music in Chicago and has been home to some of the industry’s most recognizable names. Country Aircheck caught up with many and asked to share some of their favorite memories. • Drew Horowitz, GM, 1983-88: Lee JD Spangler Logan was brought in from First Media/Houston as the first PD. Our goal was to establish US99 as a viable Country station with the listeners and Nashville. The first two years was building the brand and differentiating ourselves from the competition, then WMAQ-AM decided to move to an all-news format. In the end, we were the last man standing and became a top Chicago station in ratings and revenue. Alan Sledge • J.D. Spangler, PD, 1988-93; Mornings, 1989-97: We had some luck, and we had a little skill, too. That was the heyday of country music. A lot of my career coincided with the explosion of Garth Brooks. He would hang out backstage with us and was even on our logo. Being able to be a small part of his explosion sticks out tremendously. (continued on page 1)
Country‘d Look Good On Crew: Stoney Creek‘s Frank Ray plays WHKO/Dayton‘s Unplugged series. Pictured (l-r) are guitarist Mark Ramos, the station‘s Nancy Wilson, Ray and the label‘s Stan Marczewski.
Musgraves Tour: Cold Open
On a subzero night in St. Paul, MN, Kacey Musgraves opened her inaugural arena tour at the Xcel Energy Center to a crowd of more than 9,000. KEEY/Minneapolis evening host and self-proclaimed “Kacey super fan” Rachel Ramsey offers a preview of what to expect from Star-Crossed: Unveiled: “Being Kacey’s first arena tour, she certainly did not disappoint,” says Ramsey, who describes the setup as “bigger and more dramatic” than previous tours while maintaining the early authenticity that drew her to Kacey Musgraves. Opening with the title track Musgraves from her latest album Star-Crossed, the curtains parted to reveal a red-cast Musgraves sporting a “long, high ponytail, loafers and a trendy black pantsuit with full and broken sparkling hearts alternating on her sleeves and pant legs.”
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