The Big 89 Rewind

WLS-AM is rewinding back on Memorial Day for a trip back to the days when it was "The Rock of Chicago."

The Big 89 Rewind will feature former jocks Larry Lujack, Tommy Edwards, John Landecker, Fred Winston, Chris Shibel, and Jeff Davis (hey, where's Brant Miller?)

The event will start at 5a.m. and will end at midnight.

WLS-AM was the market's Top 40 powerhouse in the 1960's and 1970's - with Larry Lujack's morning show a popular draw in the late '70's (Remember Animal Stories?) The station had a very spirited - and legendary rivalry with fellow Top 40 station WCFL-AM in the early '70's.

In the 1980's, however, the station lost its Top 40 crown to WBBM-FM (which flipped to the format in '82), but still ranked in the top 10. In 1986, owner ABC Radio shifted its Top 40 focus to sister station WYTZ-FM, and started cutting back on music for more talk, while ratings continued to drop. It shifted its music focus to middle of the road and AC around 1987 and dropped music altogether on August 23, 1989, when it became an all-talk station, which it remains today.

Here's your brand new car! Not!: One infamous alumnus was overnight DJ Mike McDonald (not related to the Doobie Brother.) In 1988, he teased one listener by awarding her shiny keys to a brand new car, which there was not. He was subsequently fired.