RIP: Larry Lujack

Dec 20, 2013, 1:58 AM

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life

One of the icons of my youth died yesterday. Radio DJ Larry Lujack was a bigger than life radio personality in Chicago from the late 60's into the 70's and 80's. He worked at several stations, but was most connected with WLS-AM, the Big 89, a powerful 50,000 watt station that boomed rock and roll throughout the Midwest. Yes kids, there was a day when AM radio played music.

This was pre- Howard Stern. AM Radio played music, read the news, read grain prices, and was pretty boring. Not obscene like Stern, but he was cutting edge for the time and was one of the early "shock jock" pioneers.

His "Animal Stories" with Little Tommy Edwards was classic and was the the influence for David Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks. Letterman was from Indianapolis and listened to WLS while in college.

youtube.com

comments (8)

Jump to latest

rockstar66612 years ago

I didn't hear he died. I also go way back with him.

Tiredtraveler12 years ago

I remember listening to WLS in my first car. It had a Tube radio that was the best AM radio I ever had. There was also a very strong station out of Detroit/Windsor- 800, St Louis (KMOX-1120)(Cards baseball), Denver and OKC (country). You could listen to all over the Midwest.

magicrat12 years ago

Moto..I live in North Carolina and could get WLS after the local frequencies were turned down at 6? How's that for being old! First time I ever heard the Beatles was on WLS...I think they played I Want to Hold Your Hand every 15 minutes

former_stripper12 years ago

WLS was amazing and would you believe they played the Beatles a full year before they became popular in the USA?

Club_Goer_Seattle12 years ago

I have a hobby of listening to distant AM radio stations, known in short wave terminology as "DX." When I lived in L.A., I could even sometimes get WLS. This was in the 1970's. I well remember it as a top 40 format station, but I'm not familiar with Larry Lujack, in particular. (The reception was just clear enough to pull in it, discern what type of programming it had and hear the station identifications. It was difficult to listen to for any amount of time, due to the high volume of static.)

I can't get WLS now, in Seattle. There are too many stations closer, that crowd the 890 frequency.

@ magicrat: Living on the west coast, in those years, was optimal for that hobby. A lot of stations had to reduce their wattage at sunset, and many weren't 24 hrs. then. As you mentioned, the early evening hours were good listening time. And, at midnight in each time zone came, you could reach more distant stations each hour, as many of the smaller stations went off the air then. So, 9 p.m., west coast time, was an ideal hour to begin listening for DX.

motorhead12 years ago

Club_Goer

Lujack actually started his career in the west. He went to college in Idaho and worked at his college radio station in the late 50's. And he worked some in Spokane and Seattle in the early 60's before moving to Chicago in the mid 60's.

WLS is all talk radio now. Rush Limbaugh and stuff like that.

AnonymousJim12 years ago

A know a lot of radio guys -- don't ask -- and all were heartbroken over Lujack's passing. One actually worked with him off-and-on at WLS. Called him his biggest inspiration.

Respect.

minnow12 years ago

Although Larry Lujack somehow escaped my radar, I definitely recall 890 WLS, and how impressed I was to be able to pick it up from great distances at night. The farthest for me was Daytona Beach, a wow for the poster who picked it up in CA. Some other powerful AM stations include(d) 700 WLW Cincinnati, 770 WABC New York, a couple of 600ish stations in CA. I don't recall the identifier, but there's a 740 station out of Totonto, I think, that can be picked up fairly good at night in SW ohio.