The Loop Files: An Oral History of the Most Outrageous Radio Station Ever – Rick Kaempfer
The names are part of Chicago radio history. Steve Dahl and Garry Meier. Jonathon Brandmeier and Buzz Kilman. Kevin Matthews. Chet Coppock. Danny Bonaduce. Wendy Snyder and Bill Leff. Patti Haze, Bobby Skafish, and Bob Stroud. They all worked to put The Loop, either at AM1000 or 97.9 FM, on the map as the hippest radio station in the world. Starting in 1977, when the FM station first took on the call letters, through 1997, when it was sold to Bonneville International, The Loop took hold of Chicago, first with rock music and then with personality driven radio. Of course, it was destined to blow up eventually and, by 1997, most of the talent had moved on, leaving behind a tremendous legacy of a station that would not happen today.
In The Loop Files: An Oral History of the Most Outrageous Radio Station Ever, former Loop producer and DJ Rick Kaempfer strings together the oral history of the station based on his interviews with the people who were there. I started listening to the station in the mid-90s, starting with Danny Bonaduce at night and eventually moving through all of the other air shifts throughout the day. Towards the end, as personalities moved on to other stations, like Wendy and Bill to Q101, Kevin Matthews to CD94.7, and Steve Dahl to WCKG, I went with them and, by the end, the AM and FM stations were sold to different companies and the magic was gone.
