The first dozen and a quarter years of my career were a passion filled, fun packed roller coaster ride on the fringes of the Chicago radio market.  The most creative, fun and talent-packed station I worked at was the FM rebirth of Chicago's legendary Super CFL.  

I suppose we were doomed from the start due to the inept ownership and their lack of funds, imagination, miniscule understanding of the Chicago market, Super CFL's heritage, and general radio common sense.  But we persisted and, I think, prevailed.  A directional FM signal (pointed in the wrong direction) based in Morris (60 miles southwest of the famed "downtown Chicago at Marina City) captured the ears, hearts and loyalties of listeners that could pick the station up.  And many that couldn't.

From LaSalle County to DuPage, throughout Will and Kankakee, and in a few pockets Cook County, people found out about the station, put up antennas, and fell in love with the jingles, boss jocks, wide ranging playlist and the fun and exuberance of the sum of all the parts.  

We were able to garner ink and kudos from Robert Feder, Radio and Records, a host of folks that worked at the original Top-40 WCFL, radio geeks from around the country and even Superjock himself, Larry Lujack.  The FCC even shut us down once.  That's another story and of course, another promo.   

As Creative Director I was allowed to play and run wild.  The few tapes that I have left seemed to have aged even more rapidly than I have.  But you can hear a little bit of what we sounded like in the audio on the right.

So we decided to pop in at Uncle Lar's house the day before we had an all day, on air, celebration of his birth.  Me, a big old bag phone, an intern in a chicken suit, and a Happy Birthday Super Jock birthday cake.  Somehow we found his abode, and for some reason he invited us in.  Actually he was a little hungry since his wife was out of town.  He was very gracious (and really hungry) and we sat on his deck chugging coffee, listening to great radio stories, and eating cake.  He gave me these three Animal Story albums and wished us luck.  They hang proudly around the corner from my studio. 

 R.I.P. Uncle Lar.   And thanks!  

There are photos of the studios, some of the staff, remotes, and more. Just click the blue microphone...

104.7 Super CFL photos