I did it again; I bought more long-playing vinyl record albums off the street again. Well, not exactly off the street but close enough. Now don't worry, I'm not going to tell you what I bought (although it was a pretty nice batch at a fair price). What I will tell you is that when I was going through the records, a flyer for WXRT fell out of one of the albums. The interesting thing about the flyer was that it was from 1978. Actually it wasn't a flyer; it was one of the "Featured Artist" cards that WXRT used to distribute to hype their then-eclectic programming. Back in the seventies, WXRT used to "feature" two artists each day (except for New Releases Day and the nights with live Soundstage simulcast performances or Unconcerts (which I believe were on Sundays). Rather than describing the vintage WXRT vibe, I thought I'd just provide you with the actual contents of the Featured Artists card and leave the critical analysis for later (if ever). Ready? Here goes.
Featured Artists
February 1978
1) New Releases
2) Soundstage - Hank Williams Jr., Vassar Clements, Katy Mofat
3) Aerosmith; Bonnie Raitt
4) Eagles; Chick Corea
5) The Unconcert - Steve Goodman
6) Stephen Stills; Tomita
7) King Crimson; Taj Mahal
8) New Releases
9) Soundstage - Phoebe Snow & David Bromberg
10) Rod Stewart; Flying Burrito Brothers
11) Jimi Hendrix; Leo Kottke
12) The Unconcert - City Boy
13) Steely Dan; Little Richard
14) Heart; Heartsfield
15) New Releases
16) Soundstage - Melissa Manchester & Al Jarreau
17) Bob Dylan; McCoy Tyner
18) Doors; Waylon Jennings
19) The Unconcert - Ralph Towner & John Ambercrombie
20) Carole King; Phil Manzanera
21) Eric Clapton; Robert Klein
22) New Releases
23) Soundstage - Graham Parker
24) Johnnny Winter; Michael Murphy
25) Bob Welch; Bob Weir
26) The Unconcert - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
27) Pink Floyd; Loudon Wainwright III
28) Kinks; Lightnin' Hopkins
Soundstage
Simulcast On WXRT
Thursday 9 PM, Saturday 9 PM
So that's it. Chicago radio in 1978. In case anyone's wondering, Tomita was a Japanese synthesizer master who redid stuff like "Holst -The Planets". Heartsfield were country-rock, Phil Manzanera was from Roxy Music, Michael Murphy was a cosmic cowboy and Bob Welch once played with Fleetwood Mac. I don't know what City Boy sounded like but I do remember one of their album covers.
by Mitch Myers
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.