What to hear in Chicago

Hello from the Hog Butcher to the World. Annie's graduation from Northwestern was lovely. She plans on returning to Los Angeles to seek her fortune writing snarky award show reviews. It’s a wide-open burgeoning field.

But as I enjoy the sights of Chicago, I’m reminded of the first time I ever came here.

I was 21 on a weekend pass from the army (I was stationed at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana). I was quite excited. I has read about Chicago, seen it countless times in movies and on television. So much history. So many sights. Wrigley Field, the museums, Sears Tower, etc. But there was one attraction I had to see first. It’s the thing I’d be waiting to see for ten years.

A Karell’s Red Hanger store!

Karell’s Red Hanger was a men’s clothier. And they sponsored Art Roberts’ Sunday night show on Chicago’s WLS radio. I used to listen to that show every week.

In Los Angeles.

At night the ionosphere rises and AM signals reach farther. That’s why you can sometimes pull in an out-of-town ballgame or station from a nearby town. But in the 60s there were a few powerful clear channel stations (not to be confused with Clear Channel, the evil empire) with no other stations sharing their frequencies. So at night they could be heard from great distances. WLS’s nighttime signal practically blanketed the country. The original idea for this was so farmers and people living in outlying areas could always get at least one radio station at night and be able to receive instructions in case there was a national emergency (y’know, like a nuclear attack or Karell’s Red Hanger Father’s Day Sale ends midnight Friday.)

Today we can stream any station we want from around the globe on our computers but back then it was sheer magic. Some guy could talk into an inverted tomato soup can 2,000 miles away and I could hear him in my little room in Los Angeles. Whoaa! How do they do that?

Karell’s Red Hanger’s prices weren’t that great the day I finally saw one so I didn’t buy anything. But I was able to strike it off my list of the “1000 things to see before I die”. I still had 999 left but I was making a dent.

The lure of radio, being introduced to different worlds through the crackle and hum of the atmosphere still has a hold on me to this day.

So when I arrived in Chicago the first thing I did was turn on WLS. Unfortunately, instead of hearing Art Roberts, the latest Buckinghams’ smash, and Carol’s Red Hanger spots I got some right wing wacko talk show host and turned it right off.

Oh well. At least Wrigley is still here.