WBBM Newsradio 78 in 1979

[@renedxradio5178]

Pure heart and soul to the radio back then! Impressive

[@Classicrocker6119]

I’m in Western Canada and have always loved listening to radio news. I was 17 in 1979 and this footage confirms pretty much how things looked back then.

[@Harveycartoonlvr11]

I've listened to WBBM Newsradio since 1970, and I still listen to it. Many of the old names are gone, but a few remain! :)

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

I live in West Virginia, and listen to it several times a day for the CBS Radio News, as it lasts the full 5 minutes on that station, as opposed to just 2 for most of them.

[@lsmftymf]

A rare instance of giving a competitor free advertising. ABC, of which WLS-TV is an owned & operated, was once in the radio business. Its radio station at the time was WLS Musicradio 89, a direct competitor to CBS' WBBM Newsradio 78.

[@ApartmentKing66]

I see your logic, but WLS and WBBM actually weren't competitors in the truest sense of the word in that they had very different formats, and thus, different demographics. WLS was a music radio station, whereas WBBM was news. Music radio listeners tend to skew younger, while older (and deeper-pocketed) listeners tended to prefer the news format.

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

I'm 55, and the only two reasons I listen to radio anymore are for news and sports. I'm low-income and can't afford TV, so that's my only connection to the non-cyberworld.

[@iamrepete]

They're still top notch...and John Hultman is still there! I wish I could remember all the reporters that have come and gone. Thanks for posting,Brad!

[@jaworskij]

Discovered WBBM Newsradio 78 in 1978 while AM DX'ing and SWL'ing from Winnipeg, Canada on a 1959 Blaupunkt table radio of my Dad's.

[@PRHILL9696]

Love seeing how radio works!

[@thomasmulvihill5217]

The late great Jerry's Delicatessen on Grand Avenue. Step up, whose next? Whatta ya havin'??

[@markbrown4039]

Both John Hultman and Dale McCarren previously worked at WJR in Detroit. According to Mike Shiels' biography of JP McCarthy, it was McCarren who hosted mornings on WJR when JP briefly left Detroit to work at KGO in San Francisco.

[@stevemandl5140]

I used to listen to WMAQ before they went to all sports.then I switched over to WBBM,and I live in Milwaukee WI

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

I listened to 'MAQ once in awhile when they were country. I sometimes listen to WBBM for CBS Radio News, because, believe it or not, I don't have a TV.

[@danielschear556]

All TV news women were trying to be Jessica Savitch back then.👏😂

[@danielmorse6597]

News was amazing back then.

[@robertpreston2220]

Fascinating! Chicago radio used to be so much fun!

[@sushicourier]

Why would ABC Channel 7 be promoting WBBM (a CBS, Channel 2 station)??!

[@bradpalmer7944]

If memory serves, this was part of a series Channel 7 did on Chicago radio stations.

[@sushicourier]

@@bradpalmer7944 Yes, but they're basically giving free advertising to another network's radio station. It's like CNN doing a story about his great MSNBC is. 😆 I guess things were a lot less competitive 40 years ago.

[@thomasmulvihill5217]

What's wrong with that?

[@Kelski1998]

That's how I remember Joel Daly!

[@VolumedMusicMan]

I remember him as a kid singing at the old Chicagofest LOL. He was good at it!

[@lacabezagrande1657]

It's amazing seeing the much younger selves of some of the people I once worked with. And I do know Dale's real name.

[@stevemandl5140]

some of the people at WBBM am were originally from WMAQ am

[@TheBrooklynbodine]

Yes, they were. There's a 2+-hour post on youtube that covers WMAQ's last day on the air, and they said that WBBM was essentially absorbing WMAQ, as both were all-news stations at the time. WMAQ became WSCR (all sports), being among other things, the Cubs' current flagship.

[@christopherbranski1720]

Still listen to AM 780 in Madison, Wisconsin

[@robertpreston2220]

I used to listen too when I lived in Madison back in 1980-84

[@BaseballPlayer0]

don't crop old footage. reupload the original 4-3 ratio

[@jimleaveck1986]

chicagos first all news station was gordon mclendons WNUS 1390 am...unless im mistaken

[@ericcollins81]

You are correct. Bernard shaw the first ever anchor on cnn and was there the first 20 yrs came from there

[@pootinplays]

that looks exciting

[@musicman76enator]

0:20 Anyone notice her eyes are not the same? It looks like one is green and the other brown. Is that the heterochromia thing that Max Scherzer has?

[@davanmani556]

Matthew Jay Evans needing a Girl Scout cookie?