Out of The Loop

     Today is a momentous day in the annals of Chicago radio. WLUP came on the air in its current form on March 14, 1977. Originally the station was a female friendly album-oriented rock station, but that changed in 1979 when new ownership changed to a harder-edged rock format. In March of that year, the station hired Steve Dahl as their morning man. Dahl would of course go on mere months later to become the only man to ever incite a riot at a baseball game. In 1981, Dahl was fired from his morning gig for 'assaulting community standards'(which is no big shock really, Steve Dahl probably didn't consider his day to be successful if he hadn't offended half the Chicago market by breakfast). In the 80s, the ownership purchased an AM station, which spent the next several years either simulcasting The Loop(as the station grew to be known as) or being simulcast by it.

     In the 90s, the station very briefly became Adult Contemporary, before switching back to rock the next year on the back of an all-Who playlist. After several more years of changing personalities and owners, The Loop became exclusively classic rock in 2011. The station was sold that year, but retained much of the same music. There were also several HD substations added that played various subgenres. On March 5, 2018 the station was sold and it was announced that a format change will be taking place. As of tomorrow, The Loop will become(wait for it) a Christian radio station as part of the K-Love network. The on-air staff was fired the day after the announcement took place, and in the irony of ironies, Steve Dahl will be the final voice heard on The Loop, via a simulcast of his AM talk show, commencing today from 2-6 PM.