History of B96 (Revised Version)

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:49 pm

UPDATED: 4/13/2026

With the recent news of B96 shifting its format, I decided to revised the "B96 History" and divide them into different posts as the wiki is now defunct. I'm breaking down each section into different posts so that I can easily reedited them should additional information about the station resurfaces.

Wayback Machine
[External Link Removed for Guests]

History of B96
WBBM-FM, known on air as "B96", is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, owned by Audacy (formerly known as Entercom), which merged with the station's previous longtime owner, CBS Radio. The station is often referred to by its slogan "B96" rather than its call letters "WBBM" since they are also shared with sister station Newsradio 780 WBBM-AM, which also simulcasts on 105.9 WCFS. B96 has carried the Top 40 format since the spring of 1982, and by the 1990s the station grew to become the city’s heritage Top 40 station, eventually becoming one of the most influential CHR (contemporary hit radio) stations across the United States throughout the 1990s and 2000s. The station has evolved over the years, shifting from a mainstream top 40 format in the 1980s to a dance-heavy rhythmic CHR in the 1990s to a hip hop/R&B-leaning rhythmic CHR in the 2000s and returning as a mainstream top 40 format in the 2010s. However, as of April 21, 2023, B96 rebranded as a more older-skewing, Rhythmic Hot AC station and plays a mix of rhythmic-leaning throwbacks of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, alongside the present-day pop hits.

For nearly 20 years, B96 was also the home of the popular morning show, “Eddie and Jobo,” from October 1988 to May 1994 and again from January 1997 to November 2008. During much of the 1990s and 2000s, B96 has been competitive in the ratings, often featured in Chicago’s top five most listened to radio stations since 1990. Demographically, the station has done the strongest among females, Hispanics, teenagers, and younger suburban listeners between the ages of 18 and 49. B96 has also acknowledged its gay and lesbian listeners and often participates in Chicago’s annual Gay Pride parade.

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:52 pm

WBBM-FM prior to 1982
WBBM-FM began experimental broadcasts at 46.7 MHz in November 1941 as W67C. Originally, the station simulcasted co-owned WBBM-AM 780, which carried the CBS Radio Network schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, game shows, soap operas and big band music. In 1943, the station's call sign was changed to WBBM-FM. In 1946, the station began broadcasting at 99.3 MHz and changed to 97.1 MHz a year later. In 1953, WBBM-FM moved to its current spot on the dial at 96.3 MHz. In the 1950s, WBBM-FM and WBBM-AM carried a full-service middle of the road (MOR) format of popular music, news, and talk as network programming moved from radio to television. By 1964, much of the music programming was removed in favor of news and talk. To this day, WBBM-AM 780 remains a news-formatted station.

In 1966, WBBM-FM stopped simulcasting from WBBM-AM and adopted the "young sound" easy listening format, which consisted of instrumental cover versions of recent hits of the time, contemporary pop instrumentals, and contemporary vocal hits. The format was created by John De Witt of WCBS-FM, WBBM-FM's sister station in New York City, and featured artists like Herb Alpert and Petula Clark. By 1969, WBBM-FM switched to a progressive rock format but would evolve into an adult top 40 format in 1971. During this period, the station was known as "Stereo 96: Chicago's Favorite Rock" which featured Top 40 hits, album-based rock, and hits from the past. Featured artists during this period included The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Paul McCartney & Wings, and The Carpenters.

By 1977, WBBM-FM became known as "Soft Rock 96" and presented the "Mellow Sound of Chicago." The station during this period featured an Adult Contemporary/Album Rock hybrid format which would continue until early 1982. Core artists the station played included John Denver, Neil Diamond, Simon & Garfunkel, Roberta Flack, Chicago, and Jim Croce. However, ratings were never impressive due to four other stations that also provided the AC format in some form in the Chicago market: WFYR-FM 103.5 (now WKSC), WKQX-FM 101.1, WCLR-FM 101.9 (now WTMX), and WCFL-AM 1000 (now WMVP).

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:54 pm

The Beginning of WBBM-FM as a Top 40 Station (1982-1989)

Hot Hits/96.3 Now Era (1982-1983)
In April 1982, it was announced that WBBM-FM would pick up a top 40 format known as "Hot Hits," which was created by consultant Mike Joseph in 1977 for WTIC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut. This early concept of a CHR format was credited with rejuvenating the top 40 format and would play a role in bringing the format to the FM band throughout the 1980s. The concept featured up-tempo energy and plenty of jingles and offered only current hits on the top 30 without any recurrent titles or oldies. The Hot Hits format was already successful in WBBM-FM’s sister station in Philadelphia, WCAU-FM (now WOGL), which adopted the format in September 1981.

On May 2, 1982, the newly renamed "96 Now" made its debut on the air, with the first song played under its new format being "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. The original staff at WBBM-FM included Steve Davis, Joe Dawson, Gary Spears, Dave Robbins, Bob Lewis, Frank Foster, and Tony Taylor. As a "Hot Hits" station, WBBM-FM played the top five hits every hour, interspersed with other songs from the Top 50 chart. For example, during the week of October 9, 1982, WBBM-FM played the following five songs once every hour: "Jack & Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp, "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" by Melissa Manchester, "I Keep Forgettin'" by Michael McDonald, "Somebody's Baby" by Jackson Browne, and "Don't Fight It" by Kenny Loggins & Steve Perry. The reaction was very positive, and WBBM-FM quickly climbed the ratings, rising from a dismal 15th place in the Winter 1982 Arbitron ratings to 3rd place in the Summer 1982 Arbitron ratings. The station’s new nickname, “96 Now,” was also shared with Detroit’s “Hot Hits” station, WHYT (now WDVD), as both stations broadcast on the 96.3 FM frequency in their respective cities.

By December 1982, Mike Joseph was no longer consulting WBBM-FM, and the station had adopted its trademark "B96" name under Program Director Buddy Scott. The station officially rebranded itself as B96 in June 1983, a name that still stands today. Around the same time, many Hot Hits stations, including WBBM-FM, were now adding recurrents from the past several years alongside the current hits, phasing out the original “Hot Hits” format. Out of all the "Hot Hits" stations, WBBM-FM was the most successful for the longest period, as many other stations that carried the "Hot Hits" format, including WCAU-FM Philadelphia (the station that prompted CBS management to bring the Top 40 format to Chicago), would eventually change formats as the years went by.

In addition, B96 would accomplish what many stations before it had failed to do since the 1960s: defeat WLS AM 890, as the “Big 89” had been Chicago’s premiere top 40 station for over two decades. In the fall 1983 Arbitron (now Nielsen) Radio Ratings report, the station ranked 4th among all Chicago radio stations in a score of 5.1. Other notable DJs during the pre-rhythmic CHR era of B96 include Dick Biondi, Zach Harris, and Don Geronimo. Only Gary Spears would be around by the time B96 evolved into a Rhythmic top 40 station towards the end of the 1980s, though in a second stint with the station.

During the first four years as a Top 40 station, B96 had leaned very much towards rock hits and played only a limited amount of R&B and post-disco music, as it was the case for many Top 40 radio stations in the United States. After the mainstream success of artists like Michael Jackson, Prince, and Lionel Richie, B96 would slowly add more R&B crossover hits. Meanwhile, rock artists like Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, John Cougar Mellencamp, Survivor, Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, ZZ Top, & Don Henley were largely featured in the early years of B96. It also wasn't uncommon for B96 play the top hits by hard rock and glam metal acts such as Van Halen, Def Leppard, the Scorpions, Motley Crue, and Sammy Hagar.

B96's New Rival: WLS-FM becomes Z95 (1986)
As 1986 began, B96 was slowly declining in the ratings compared to where the station was when it first became a Top 40 station four years earlier. On January 20, 1986, WLS-FM 94.7, which had been a partial simulcast of sister station WLS-AM 890 since 1980, was rebranded as "Z95", and would become a serious competitor to B96 for the next six years. WLS-FM also changed its call letters to WYTZ to further distinguish itself from its sister station, as the FM brand desired to skew younger, thus dumping the famed call letters. Z95’s once-dominant predecessor, WLS-AM, which was declining in the ratings and leaned towards oldies and adult contemporary rather than top 40, would eventually flip to an all-talk format on August 23, 1989, bringing an end to 30 years of "MusicRadio" that dated back to May 2, 1960. B96’s "Hot Hits" approach and the rise of FM stations nationwide playing pop music were factors in WLS-AM’s demise as a music station. Due to the similarities between the names “Z95” and “B96,” B96 program director Buddy Scott added the station’s call letters "WBBM-FM" to its logo to further distinguish itself and its new rival. B96 and Z95 would trade victories in the ratings war, although neither would be placed in the top five most listened to radio stations in Chicago for the rest of the 1980s. Around 1988, B96 often used the slogan "Chicago's No. 1 Hit Music Station," even though there were periods during this time where Z95 was beating them in the ratings. As a result, local media critics, such as Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times, criticized B96 for false advertising.

During the summer of 1986, B96 would start to phase out hard rock & glam metal artists from its playlist and develop a slight lean toward urban and dance songs for the remainder of the decade. Core artists whose songs were played on B96 during the late 1980s included Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Jody Watley, Taylor Dayne, Rick Astley, Anita Baker, Madonna, Gloria Estefan, Luther Vandross, Paula Abdul, & New Kids on the Block. Latin Freestyle acts, such as Expose ("Come Go with Me", "Point of No Return", etc.), the Cover Girls (“Show Me”, "Because of You", etc.), Nancy Martinez (“For Tonight”), and Company B (“Fascinated”) were gaining traction on B96 during this time as well, although it would be a few more years until the station fully embraced dance music artists. Z95 also played dance-leaning pop hits that were big hits during this time but also featured songs by hard rock and glam metal groups whose music videos were popular on MTV, such as Guns N’ Roses, Skid Row, Warrant, Whitesnake, and Poison. However, these artists were virtually absent in B96’s rotation. For example, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard would rank 5th in Z95’s most requested 95 songs of 1988, yet B96 never played the song at all. Even Bon Jovi was largely absent in B96's playlists, as the only track the station ever played frequently was the ballad "Wanted Dead and Alive", whereas "Living on a Prayer" and "You Give Love a Bad Name" received virtually no airplay. Soft rock acts, such as Billy Joel, Elton John, Chicago, Peter Cetera, Huey Lewis & the News, Phil Collins, and Genesis, however, were still heavily featured on B96's rotation. In a 2016 interview with the classic radio and audio website Airchexx, Joe Dawson, who left B96 in September 1986, described the musical direction that the station was experiencing at the time as a hybrid between urban contemporary WGCI and Adult Top 40 station WKQX 101.1 "Q101", the latter of which leaned more towards adult contemporary. Q101 was another competitor alongside B96 and Z95 in the CHR/Top 40 radio wars in Chicago during the 1980s, although it would evolve into a Hot AC station by the early 1990s and change its format to alternative rock in 1992.

For a brief time on its rotation, B96 played the house track "If You Only Knew" by Chip E, who was a key figure in the underground Chicago house scene, which had steadily grown in popularity in the mid-1980s. "If You Only Knew" was a staple in the mix sets on both urban contemporary stations, 107.5 WGCI and 102.7 WBMX (now WVAZ), from late 1986 to early 1987, and the song was included in regular airplay rotation on both stations. However, there was conflict between B96's upper management and music director Joe Bohannon, who would later be known as one-half of B96’s popular morning show duo "Eddie and Jobo," as Bohannon initially wanted more tracks such as "If You Only Knew" included on B96’s playlist, whereas upper management was very dismissive towards Chicago house records. As a result, Chip E's song didn't last very long on B96's rotation. Other house records such as "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" by Phil Fearon, "Showing Out (Get Fresh for the Weekend)" by Mel & Kim, and "Pump Up the Volume" by M/A/R/R/S did receive some airplay on B96, but these tracks were far more popular overseas in the United Kingdom, where house music found more mainstream pop success than it did in the United States at the time. Case in point, "Jack Your Body" by Steve "Silk" Hurley and "Love Can't Turn Around" by Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, both of whom were important figures in the Chicago house scene, each surprisingly managed to make the UK Top 40 charts, yet American Top 40/CHR stations, including B96, either ignored or refused to acknowledge underground dance/club records, such as Chicago house, as hit pop records. This was largely due to the backlash over electronic dance music's predecessor, disco music of the 1970s, which, ironically enough, Chicago would play a key role in the once-popular genre's demise in the United States due to the infamous baseball promotion "Disco Demotion Night," where WLUP-FM radio jock Steve Dahl encouraged Chicago White Sox fans to blow up disco records at Comiskey Park on July 12, 1979. It should also be noted that Dahl had been previously fired at 94.7 FM, which used the call letters WDAI at the time, after the station switched formats from rock to disco in December 1978.

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:55 pm

Killer Bee/Party Radio Era: The Dance Music Years (1989-1997)
As 1989 progressed, B96 further evolved into a full-fledged Rhythmic CHR, or "Churban", which was a hybrid between a standard top 40 format and an urban format that played R&B and occasionally dance and hip hop. The Rhythmic CHR format proved to be already successful in the two largest markets in the country as KPWR (105.9 FM, "Power 106") in Los Angeles and WQHT (97.1 “Hot 97”) in New York were both highly competitive in their respective cities since the format was introduced on both stations in 1986. Other Top 40 stations that were heavily rhythmic during the late 1980s included now-defunct KHQT Hot 97.7 in San Jose, KMEL 106 FM in San Francisco, WPOW Power 96 in Miami, WIOQ Q102 in Philadelphia, and WPGC 95.5 in Washington, DC. Urban and dance music were increasingly becoming more popular on Top 40 radio as the 1980s ended, especially compared to earlier in the decade. Core R&B and dance-leaning artists featured on B96 during this time included Bobby Brown, Pebbles, Samantha Fox, Stevie B, Information Society, the Jets, Paula Abdul, and the now-infamous Milli Vanilli. With the “Churban” format already popular in the nation’s two largest markets, it seemed inevitable that Chicago, being the nation’s third largest market, would gain a fully Rhythmic Top 40 station. Although B96 had a slight urban-leaning format that contrasted with rival Z95's broader, rock-leaning playlist, it was still relatively tame when compared to what other stations nationwide like Hot 97 New York, Power 106 Los Angeles and Power 96 Miami were putting out as hits during the late 1980s.

Another factor in B96's shift from Mainstream Top 40 to Rhythmic/Dance Top 40 was the demise of urban contemporary station 102.7 WBMX, which was known for its weekend night mix shows, "Friday Night Jams" & "Saturday Night Ain’t No Jive Chicago Dance Party," that helped popularize Chicago house music on the radio. On October 29, 1988, WBMX had flipped formats to Urban AC and changed its call letters to WVAZ. The newly renamed V103 also eliminated the dance mixes, rhythmic pop, and hip hop from its playlist and added more "dusties," a term used to describe older R&B and soul records of the 1960s and 1970s, as the station now targeted an older Black audience. In 1988, WBMX had struggled in the ratings against dominant WGCI, which not only won the urban contemporary wars but also would become Chicago’s most listened to music station for the next two decades. It should be noted that B96 and WBMX/WVAZ were never direct competitors, as the two stations targeted different audiences: B96, a top 40 station aimed towards a younger White (and Hispanic as the station grew more rhythmic) audience while WBMX, an R&B station, had focused on younger Black audiences but shifted towards an older Black audience after the change to V103. Despite playing primarily R&B artists, WBMX would occasionally play Top 40 pop artists who were popular at the time, such as Madonna, Yaz, the Human League, Wham, and the Thompson Twins. Neither WBMX nor WGCI would become factors regarding B96's musical direction until the latter half of 1986, when B96 began to increase the number of urban crossover hits in its playlist and added a Saturday night mix show. After WBMX’s demise, several of the station’s mixers, such as Julian “Jumpin’” Perez and Bad Boy Bill, and even the station’s voice-over talent, Mitch Craig, jumped ship to B96 not long after.

The Killer Bee's Ratings Boom (1990-1991)
In 1990, B96 adopted the "Killer Bee" slogan and was officially recognized by the Nielsen Broadcast Data System as a Rhythmic Top 40 station, reflecting a greater emphasis on R&B, hip hop, and dance-oriented pop rather than rock-based pop in its playlist. Billboard also acknowledged B96’s shift toward a more rhythmic direction. On its March 10, 1990 issue, the magazine moved B96 from its Top 40/Mainstream panel to its Top 40/Dance (later renamed Top 40/Rhythm-Crossover) panel after revising and expanding its Top 40 and Hot 100 charts based on the Fall 1989 ratings. This focus on dance-based hits soon paid off: by the fall 1990 ratings report, B96 had become one of Chicago's hottest radio stations, ranking #3, behind only urban contemporary WGCI-FM and talk station WGN-AM 720. This success was unexpected, as B96 and Top 40 rival Z95 had often traded victories over the previous four years, with neither station gaining significant traction in the ratings war. Just a year earlier, B96 had to dispel rumors that it would abandon the Top 40 format, as Z95 was leading in the ratings at that time. That was because its parent company, CBS, appeared uncertain about the viability of the Top 40 format, especially since every other CBS-owned Top 40 station had changed formats up to that point. Additionally, there were rumors that 95.5 WNUA (now WCHI, featuring an ’80s/’90s/’00s mainstream rock format) would switch from its smooth jazz/new age format to Top 40 to compete against B96, Z95, and Q101. However, its parent company denied these rumors, and WNUA maintained its smooth jazz format for the next 20 years before switching to a Spanish format in 2009.

B96 program director Dave Shakes, who joined the station in January 1990 following Buddy Scott's departure a year earlier, felt that despite B96's slight rhythmic lean entering the 1990s, the station did not feel sufficiently distinguished from its rivals, Z95 and Q101, in terms of song playlists and jingle packaging. He described the station's path to success in what he had called a "Three-M Path": Music, Mornings, and Marketing. Shakes acknowledged that the dance-leaning pop records and the Chicago house scene were key factors in B96's newly found ratings success. Furthermore, he added that many of the rock-leaning pop records were not catching on with the station's core audience due to the large size and ethnic diversity of the Chicago market, thus taking a longer time to discover hit records in comparison to smaller markets. Shakes also wanted B96 to increase its audience by serving Hispanic listeners more aggressively than Black listeners, as he felt that the Black audience was already served well in Chicago with the successes of WGCI and V103 (formerly WBMX). The results would pay off as B96's audience became more racially diverse than Z95's audience, as Hispanics made up about 34% of B96's total listeners and Black listeners made up about 10%, while Z95's audience was mostly White. Secondly, Shakes cited the success of B96's morning show "Eddie and Jobo" as another key ingredient in the station's success. Thirdly, Shakes described B96's aggressive marketing and established the "Killer Bee Culture" to distinguish B96 from its rival Z95 due to the similarities of each station's nickname. For example, B96 listeners would be encouraged to put a finger to their lips and make a buzzing sound, which moves into a stuttered "B-B-B96" when the B96 personality says "Gimme a B" rather than the traditional question of "What is your favorite radio station?" after a listener wins a radio contest. Other ways B96 would market throughout the Chicagoland area included putting out "Killer Bee" bumper stickers inside newspapers, sending its DJs and personalities to public events, and reaching out to various communities in the Chicagoland area. As B96’s ratings skyrocketed out of nowhere, Z95, which had transitioned from a rock-leaning top 40 to a more adult top 40 station, began to collapse in the ratings. Q101, now an adult top 40 station, had dropped the dance-leaning pop songs that were becoming popular on B96, thus becoming a lesser threat to B96 than Z95 was.

Dance artists such as C&C Music Factory ("Gonna Make You Sweat", "Here We Go (Let's Rock N' Roll)"), Black Box ("Everybody, Everybody", "Strike it Up"), the 49ers ("Touch Me", "Don't You Love Me"), Cathy Dennis ("Touch Me All Night Long", "Just Another Dream"), and Technotronic ("Get Up Before the Night is Over", "Rockin' Over the Melody") were featured heavily on B96. House tracks such as “Dirty Cash” by the Adventures of Stevie V, “Another Sleepless Night" by Shawn Christopher, "Wiggle It" by 2 in a Room, and "People Are Still Having Sex", by one-time B96 personality Bud LaTour, were hits during this time. Latin freestyle was also thriving as tracks like "Together Forever" by Lisette Melendez, "Temptation" by Corina, "Bad of the Heart" by George Lamond, “Dreamboy/Dreamgirl” by Cynthia & Johnny O, and "Louder than Love" by TKA were on heavy rotation on B96.

In addition to the heavy dose of dance acts, B96 also began to play radio-friendly hip hop artists such as Vanilla Ice ("Ice Ice Baby"), MC Hammer (“U Can’t Touch This”, "2 Legit 2 Quit"), Salt N' Pepa ("Expressions", "Let’s Talk About Sex”), LL Cool J ("Mama Said Knock You Out", "Around the Way Girl"), and Naughty By Nature ("O.P.P."), whereas prior to 1989, the station played very little hip hop. Even the 2 Live Crew, whose 1989 album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" was riddled with controversy over sexual content and launched a nationwide debate over censorship, was receiving airplay on B96 as PD Dave Shakes proclaimed that he was proud playing "Me So Horny" on B96. However, the station would avoid playing tracks from gangsta rap artists, such as Ice Cube and NWA, though by 1993 such artists would eventually be included on B96's playlists due to the growing popularity of west coast hip hop. Naturally, R&B artists, such as Bell Biv Devoe, Karyn White, En Vogue, Johnny Gill, and crossover acts, such as Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey, were also featured frequently on B96's playlists. Despite the greater focus on hip hop and dance music, more traditional pop and adult contemporary artists such as Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Phil Collins, and Billy Joel were still being featured on B96.

Notable B96 on-air personalities during the dance-leaning Killer Bee era included George McFly, Coco Cortez, Gary Spears (one of WBBM-FM's original DJs when it launched its Top 40 format in 1982), Karen Hand, Todd Cavanah (who was later promoted as B96’s program director in 1993), and the popular morning duo of Eddie & Jono. One local program that B96 aired was "Street Buzz", which allowed listeners to socialize about anything that was going on in Chicago, such as what was the hottest trends in the club scene.

B96 also aired nationally syndicated weekend programs, such as “Casey’s Top 40,” a countdown music program hosted by legendary radio personality Casey Kasem from 1989 to 1998, although B96 would stop airing the program in July 1993. B96 was one of the first two affiliates of Kasem's new countdown show after he had left his previous countdown program "American Top 40," the other being mainstream top 40 station WHTZ "Z100" in New York. Coincidentally, WBBM-FM had also aired AT40 during Kasem's original stint as host in 1979, back when the station had a soft rock/adult contemporary format. WBBM-FM aired the program until April 3, 1982 (just a month before WBBM-FM flipped formats from AC to Top 40/CHR), when it moved to WLS-AM 890 after AT40’s parent company, Watermark, was bought by ABC, which decided to put the program on its radio affiliates instead. Furthermore, rival Z95 had aired "American Top 40" from June 28, 1987, which was hosted by Kasem at the time before he was replaced by Shadoe Stevens a year later on October 20, 1991, when the station (then known as Hot 94.7 instead of Z95) flipped from Top 40 to simulcasting talk radio WLS 890 AM. Despite opting not to add AT40 to its weekend lineup, B96 would air AT40's year-end countdown programs in 1991 and 1992.

Another syndicated program that B96 aired for a while was “American Dance Traxx," a weekend dance music countdown that also aired on many Rhythmic CHR/Top 40 stations such as Hot 97 New York, Power 106 Los Angeles, WIOQ-FM "Q102" in Philadelphia, and WLUM-FM in Milwaukee (which has since shifted towards alternative and modern rock beginning in 1994). Although "American Dance Traxx" started in 1987, B96 did not air the program until 1991, when the station was a full-fledged, dance-leaning Rhythmic Top 40 station. The show was originally hosted by Jeff Wyatt, an on-air personality at Power 106, but he left the show in 1991, and Deborah Rath, an on-air personality at Hot 97, temporarily took over hosting duties. For the final two years of "American Dance Traxx," MTV veejay "Downtown" Julie Brown took over as host. By the time "American Dance Traxx" ended in 1993, B96 had no longer aired the program. Other syndicated programs B96 aired at various points in the early 1990s included "Future Hits" hosted by Joel Denver and "Rockin` America Top 30 Countdown" hosted by Scott Shannon.

B96 vs Z95 CHR War (1991)
In 1991, the rivalry between B96 and Z95 reached its peak. Two years earlier, foreshadowing the intensity of their competition, Z95 suspended host Alan Kabel for allowing a caller to say that B96 could “suck his dick.” (Ironically, Kabel later worked for B96 from July 1992 to March 1994.) As 1990 ended, the now-struggling Z95 faced uncertainty about its future as a Top 40 station. In an interview with Radio & Records published on January 25, 1991, Z95 program director Ric Lippincott stated that the station was not flipping to country (which, ironically, would happen on December 26, 1995, although the Top 40 format had been abandoned four years earlier). He also maintained that there was still room for a mainstream Top 40 station in Chicago and viewed B96 as the city’s third R&B station after WGCI and V103. Z95 management admitted that B96’s approach to dance music was a major factor in B96 pulling ahead in the ratings. At the same time, Z95 remained optimistic that their ratings would improve, believing that radio listeners would eventually tire of the "disco music" heavily played by B96.

On January 28, 1991, Z95 drastically altered its playlist, shifting from a mainstream Top 40/CHR format to a more dance-leaning Rhythmic CHR in direct competition with B96. This change resulted in both stations having nearly identical playlists. Up to that point, the ratings moved in opposite directions: B96's ratings increased while Z95's declined. For the previous year, B96 listeners had complained that Z95 played too much rock and lacked “variety.” In other words, Z95 did not include enough dance and R&B songs, which were crucial to B96’s rise as Chicago’s third most-listened-to radio station. Despite modifying its playlist to mimic B96’s, Z95 insisted it was not a "dance music" station and claimed it only played records that were hits in Chicago. They also noted that popular rock acts at the time, such as INXS, Nelson, and Alias, were not gaining traction. Along with the playlist changes, Z95 escalated on-air attacks against B96, targeting morning hosts Eddie & Jobo and program director Dave Shakes. Some of the insults used by Z95 included "Eddie Y JoBo Son Estupidos" ("Eddie & JoBo Sound Stupid"), "B96 Chupa" ("B96 Sucks"), and "B96 Es Para Cabezas De Culo" ("B96 is for Butt-heads"). In addition to Spanish liners insulting B96, Z95 also aired Polish liners with the same intent, reflecting Chicago’s large Polish-American population. Z95 even demanded on air that both B96 and country station WUSN 99.9 FM (known better as “US99,” which would become a sister station to B96 a few years later) pay $10 million each in exchange for Z95 switching to a different format. According to Z95 management, the reason for calling out B96 by name was to inform radio listeners that there was an alternative for Top 40 radio in Chicago and to make their case for why Z95 was the better choice.

Radio analysts likened the ongoing war between B96 and Z95 to the Top 40 battle between Z95's predecessor WLS-AM "The Big 89" and now-defunct WCLF AM 1000 from 1965 to 1976. At the same time, they were skeptical that Z95's tactics would actually work, as one reporter pointed out that attacking a rival station's program director on air was practically meaningless, as radio listeners would have no idea who that person is compared to a radio station's on-air personality or DJ. Nonetheless, the onslaught by Z95 had little effect on B96, which continued to dominate in the ratings. For the most part, B96 would ignore Z95's constant assault on them other than declaring itself the "Killer Bee" and its rival as a "wannabe," referencing Z95 copying B96's successful dance-leaning format. Another promo B96 put out during this time featured listener dedications to the US military and declared that there was "too much negativity in the air over the war," a double meaning referencing both B96 and Z95's ongoing CHR war and the far more serious Persian Gulf war overseas, which was going on at the time. Behind the scenes, however, B96 management discovered other ways to take out Z95, such as pressuring dance clubs not to do business with Z95 or its parent company, Capital Cities/ABC Inc., as B96 had developed a strong reputation among the nightclubs in Chicago since shifting to a dance-leaning format.

In March 1991, public outrage, especially among religious listeners, grew over WYTZ's latest publicity stunt, as the station dropped the "Z95" name and was revamped as “Hell 95”. The newly branded "Hell 95" began using slogans like "Go to Hell" and "You've Gone to Hell," in addition to taking shots at other big-name Chicago media personalities of the period, such as Steve Dahl, Jonathon Brandmeier, and Oprah Winfrey. However, ratings were still disastrous, and after two weeks of “Hell,” WYTZ changed its slogan again to “Hot 94.7” on March 18, 1991. A minor controversy occurred when suburban Waukegan top 40 station WXLC 102.3 FM tried to sue WYTZ over the slogan "Hot," as the former was known as "Hot 102.3" at the time. However, WYTZ would be allowed to use the slogan "Hot 94.7."

WYTZ owner Randy Michaels attempted to employ some of the same strategies he had used while leading WFLZ 93.3 FM, a Rhythmic Top 40 station in Tampa, better known as “The Power Pig,” in its competition against its mainstream Top 40 rival, WRBQ FM Q-105. His "Power Pig" approach successfully made WFLZ the top-rated CHR station in Tampa and would ultimately lead to WRBQ switching its format to country in 1993. However, Michaels was unable to replicate his Tampa success in Chicago, as B96 PD Dave Shakes had studied Michaels' tactics and effectively counter-programmed against him. For example, WYTZ would claim that B96 wasn’t playing any music and encouraged their audience to “check them out while they wait.” When listeners switched to B96, the station would end its commercial break and immediately play music, making it appear as though WYTZ had misled its audience. Additionally, B96 reduced the number of commercials and increased the amount of music played per hour as a countermeasure against its rival. WYTZ maintained its dance-pop format until April 26, 1991, when it shifted to a Mainstream CHR format (with a slight rhythmic lean) but retained the name "Hot 94.7." Despite this change, the station’s ratings remained poor. On August 8, 1991, WYTZ hired future shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge in hopes of improving its fortunes. Bubba had previously worked at B96 from July 1989 to February 1990, during the station’s transition toward a rhythmic CHR.

On October 25, 1991, it would be too late for WYTZ as continued low ratings caused the station to flip formats to talk, largely simulcasting its sister station, talk radio WLS-AM 890, although there would be a brief younger-skewing talk format that occurred during 1994. Numerous formats would occur after the station flipped to a holiday music format to conclude 1995, followed by country music as WKXK in 1996, album-based classic rock as WXCD in May 1997 (foreshadowing WDRV 97.1 the Drive, which debuted in 2001), 1980s-based hits as WZZN in November 2000, and alternative rock in September 2001. The final format change to date occurred on September 25, 2005, as 94.7 became an oldies station playing classic hits of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and by 2008 restored the famous call letters “WLS-FM.” (Although by 2012, the station would shift from oldies to classic hits that leaned towards the 1980s.) As the frequency of 94.7 FM would go through many format changes, B96’s top 40 format would remain largely consistent to this day, and after the fall of WYTZ in October 1991, B96 would remain largely unchallenged as Chicago’s top 40 station for the next several years.

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:56 pm

The "New Sounds" of B96 (1992-1993)
B96 entered 1992 as Chicago's only Top 40 station on a major frequency, primarily playing dance, hip hop, R&B, and upbeat pop music. Other Top 40 stations in the Chicagoland area at the time included WXLC 102.3 FM (now a Hot AC format) and WBUS 99.9 FM "The Bus" (now WCPQ with a Polish-language format). However, neither suburban station had a strong enough signal to compete directly with B96. Following the demise of WYTZ in October 1991, rumors circulated that Q101 would return to a Top 40 format and once again compete against B96. The station had added recent pop recurrents to its playlists and included the syndicated countdown radio show "Rick Dees Weekly Top 40," hosted by popular KIIS-FM Los Angeles morning show host Rick Dees. However, on July 14, 1992, Q101 switched formats from Hot AC to alternative and modern rock. Although Q101 initially adopted a female-oriented rock AC format after the switch, the station eventually skewed toward an edgier, male-dominated audience and gradually grew into one of the most popular alternative rock stations in the country throughout the 1990s and 2000s, alongside other stations like XTRA "91X" in San Diego, KITS "Live 105" in San Francisco, and the pioneering alternative rock station KROQ 106.7 FM in Los Angeles. As alternative rock artists, such as Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, and the homegrown Smashing Pumpkins would grow in popularity, Q101 arrived at the perfect time. At this point, former CHR rivals Q101 and B96 had very little in common musically, other than competing for younger radio listeners. Some tracks played on both Q101 and B96 during 1992 included “You Think You Know Her” by Cause and Effect, “Stay” by Shakespeare’s Sister, “Jump Around” by House of Pain, “Temple of Dreams” by Messiah, and “Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure. The last track is significant because it was the first song ever played by Q101 after the format switch.

Around the same time as Q101’s debut as an alternative rock station, B96 expanded its playlist by incorporating more rock and adult contemporary tracks. This change was prompted by concerns that the station sounded too repetitive; only playing dance, hip hop, and R&B hits. B96 aimed to demonstrate that it was more than just a dance music station and introduced a "Song of the Day" hour, allowing listeners to decide whether they wanted to hear more or less of a particular song—usually a pop or rock track that didn’t quite fit B96’s dance-based format. PD Dave Shakes cited the success of the "You Pick the Hits" concept, highlighting that the core B96 audience wanted to hear more of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," a 1975 rock hit that gained renewed popularity following the success of the 1992 film "Wayne's World," which featured the song in its soundtrack. The death of Queen’s lead singer Freddie Mercury a year earlier also contributed to the revived interest in the track. The "New Sound" of B96, as it was described, involved playing hit songs that the station’s core dance-pop audience would least expect while also appealing to fans of former rival WYTZ "Z95," which had leaned toward rock-based pop hits throughout most of its run. For example, “Under the Bridge” by alternative rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers received significant airplay on B96 during the summer of 1992. “Under the Bridge" was already a massive hit on many alternative rock stations nationwide, such as Q101 in Chicago, as well as on several traditional Top 40/CHR stations across the country. Even ballads like “November Rain” by Guns N’ Roses and "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" by Def Leppard received airplay on B96. However, the station still almost entirely avoided non-ballad, harder-edged rock tracks that were popular on MTV or on other Top 40 radio stations, although B96 did briefly play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana but didn't include it in its reported playlists. Adult contemporary and softer hits, including Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway," Patty Smyth and Don Henley's “Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough," and Celine Dion’s “If You Ask Me To," also received considerable airplay. Nevertheless, the station tended to be cautious in adopting non-dance or non-rhythmic hits, often playing them months after they had peaked on the charts.

Despite the slight tweaks in its playlist, B96 remained heavily committed to rhythmic and dance hits. R&B tracks like “Come and Talk to Me” by Jodeci and “Real Love” by Mary J. Blige received airplay on B96. Crossover artists like Whitney Houston (“I Will Always Love You”), Boyz II Men (“End of the Road”), Michael Jackson (“Jam”, “Remember the Time”), and Mariah Carey (“I’ll Be There”) continued to receive heavy airplay. There were many hip hop hits as well, such as “Jump” by Kris Kross, “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot, and “Rump Shaker” by Wreckx-N-Effect. Techno and rave songs, such as LA Style’s “James Brown is Dead”, Fargetta’s “The Music is Movin’”, “It’s a Fine Day” by Opus III, and Phenomania’s “Who is Elvis” were receiving heavy airplay on B96. Although most of the techno sound was imported from Europe, there were US-based techno tracks that were hits such as “Speed”, a remix of the theme to the popular 1960s cartoon “Speed Racer” by the home-grown Alpha Team and “Jump” by the Movement, who were based in Los Angeles. Despite being overshadowed by techno records during much of 1992, house records were still represented by the likes of Lidell Townsend ("NuNu", “Get With U”.) and CeCe Peniston (“Finally”, “We Got a Love Thang”). In addition, B96 mixmaster and personality Frankie Hollywood Rodriguez, under the alias “The FHR Project”, produced two house tracks, “Out of Control” and “Get it Right”, both of which received heavy airplay on B96. Freestyle still hung around with hits such as TKA's "Maria", Giggles' "What Goes Around", and George Lamond's "Where Does that Leave Love". Euro-based dance artists like Snap (“Rhythm is a Dancer”), Technotronic (“Move This”), AB Logic (“The Hitman”), Sound Factory ("Understand This Groove"), and 2 Unlimited (“Twilight Zone”) continued to be big on B96.

In early 1993, B96 premiered a sex-talk show called “Private Lives,” which aired every Sunday night from 10 p.m. to midnight, although the show would move an hour earlier by 1995. The program was hosted by news anchor Karen Hand, who had been with the B96 morning show since 1984, and psychiatrist Dr. Kelly Johnson. According to Hand, the show was originally designed for teenagers as a safe space to seek useful information. “Private Lives” later evolved into an adult-oriented program focused on women's relationships and even expanded to weekday mornings from 1996 to 1999. The main Sunday night program continued to air on B96 until 2002. B96 personality Gary Spears hosted a nationally syndicated Sunday morning show called "The Retro Show," which played disco, R&B, and dance-pop music from the 1970s and 1980s. This show replaced Casey Kasem's syndicated countdown program, "Casey's Top 40," after B96 stopped airing Kasem's show in July 1993. In addition to airing on B96, Spears' show aired on Top 40 (both mainstream and rhythmic) stations, such as Power 106 in Los Angeles and Hot 97 in New York. Although Spears was released by B96 in September 1993, "The Retro Show" continued to air on the station for the remainder of the year, although the show would later be dropped from the station's schedule as the 1990s progressed.

In March 1993, B96 had changed it slogan from "The Killer Bee" to "Party Radio" although the "Killer Bee" slogan would still be used occasionally throughout the remainder of the year. Nearly all the rock-leaning pop songs, although few compared to the amount of dance and urban songs that the station had added during the latter half of 1992, were suddenly dropped. This meant that songs like "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors and "Ordinary World" by Duran Duran, which were huge hits on multiple mainstream Top 40 stations during 1993, did not receive any airplay on B96, being Chicago’s only top 40 station, since those tracks weren’t considered rhythmic. Instead, B96 remained friendly towards dance music, playing tracks like "I Totally Miss You" by Bad Boys Blue, "I’m Gonna Get You" by Bizarre Inc, "More & More" by Captain Hollywood Project, "What is Love" by Haddaway, "Push the Feeling On" by the Nightcrawlers, and even "Percolator" by Cajmere, the latter being a huge Chicago house anthem.

However, R&B acts emerged as the major trend in 1993. Earlier in the year, B96 was initially reluctant to shift more towards urban contemporary music and originally declined to include the track "I’m So Into You" by the female R&B trio SWV, as management felt that the song and others like it were too "urban" for the station’s predominantly Hispanic and dance-pop-leaning audience. Chris Hensley, the regional promotion director for SWV's record label, RCA, hired the Nacho Salazar mariachi band to perform the song live at B96's studios. The stunt paid off, as "I'm So Into You" was added to B96's playlist, and SWV's other singles, "Weak" and "Right Here (Human Nature)", soon received heavy rotation thereafter. More R&B artists such as Toni Braxton ("Another Sad Love Song", "Breath Again"), Silk ("Girl U For Me", "Freak Me"), Xscape ("Just Kickin’", "Understanding"), H-Town ("Knockin’ Boots"), Shai ("Baby I’m Yours", "Comforter", "If I Ever Fall In Love Again"), and Chicago native R. Kelly ("Dedicated", "Bump N Grind") received significant airplay on B96. The usual crossover artists like Janet Jackson ("That’s the Way Love Goes", "Again", "Because of Love"), Whitney Houston ("I’m Every Woman", "I Have Nothing"), and Mariah Carey ("Dreamlover", "Hero") continued to be hugely popular on the station. In addition, hip hop continued to grow in popularity, especially West Coast artists like Dr. Dre ("Nuthin’ But a G Thang", "Dre Day") and Snoop Dogg ("Who Am I (What’s My Name)", "Gin n' Juice"). Other hip-hop tracks that received heavy airplay on B96 included "Hip Hop Hooray" by Naughty By Nature, "Informer" by Snow, "I Got a Man" by Positive K, "Ditty" by Paperboy, and "Come Baby Come" by K7, previously a member of the freestyle group TKA.

B96’s decision to increase the number of R&B and hip-hop artists on its playlist was likely an attempt to better compete against the top-rated urban contemporary station WGCI. Since October 1991, B96 had faced no major competition in the Top 40/CHR market, and WGCI was the only music station consistently outperforming B96 in the ratings. Additionally, B96’s musical style had already been closer to WGCI than to alternative rock (and former Top 40 rival) Q101, hard rock/glam metal 103.5 "The Blaze" WWBZ (now WKSC), and Hot AC stations 100.3 The Point WPNT (now WSHE) and 101.9 WTMX "The Mix" during this period. Although the two stations competed on weekends with rival mix shows, WGCI generally avoided playing dance music outside its mix shows, except for R&B-friendly house hits featured on B96, such as “Follow Me” by Aly-Us, “NuNu” by Lidell Townsend, “Show Me Love” by Robin S., "Finally" by CeCe Peniston, and "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)" by Crystal Waters. While B96 never surpassed WGCI as Chicago’s #1 overall rated station in the Arbitron ratings reports, it maintained its position as the city’s second most-listened-to music station and third overall among all radio stations. However, a competitor to Arbitron, Birch Radio Reports, sometimes ranked B96 as the #1 Chicago radio station, ahead of both WGCI and WGN-AM.

In addition to trying to pass long-time ratings leaders WGCI and WGN-AM, B96 also battled future sister station WUSN 99.9 FM "US99" for 3rd place due to the growing popularity of country music artists, such as Garth Brooks and Reba McEntire, as well as the uncertainty of the standard Top/CHR format during the early-to-mid 1990s when compared to its popularity in the 1980s. Top 40 radio faced many hurdles, ranging from popular music videos on MTV to a lack of established artists, such as Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, as many new artists came and went. Between 1991 and 1992, about 150 former Top 40 stations, including B96's former rival WYTZ, which temporarily was renamed back to WLS-FM, had dropped the format. A lack of variety and the ever-growing fragmentation of Top 40 radio was also an issue as Chicago Tribune columnist Dan Kening criticized B96 and other rhythmic Top 40 stations for not playing all the hits regardless of genre and only focusing on a niche selection of songs. Although Kening acknowledged that B96 was popular with its dance-oriented audience and was one of Chicago's top rated radio stations, he wrote that since B96 played only rap, contemporary R&B, dance, reggae, and R&B-leaning pop, it was not a true top 40 station and argued that adult contemporary stations, such as WLIT 93.9 "Lite FM", WPNT (now WSHE) 100.3 “The Point” and 101.9 "The Mix", were more closer to how a vintage Top 40 station sounded like when compared to what B96 was playing. In defense of B96, former on-air personality turned program director Todd Cavanah, who succeeded Dave Shakes in August 1993 after Shakes left B96 to accept the same position at rhythmic top 40 KMEL 106.1 in his native San Francisco, insisted that B96 was still a Top 40 station and clarified that the definition of a Top 40 station changes over time.

It wasn't just traditional top 40 stations that faced uncertainty in the early 1990s. Many rhythmic-leaning top 40 stations were also experiencing changing trends as Power 106 Los Angeles, Hot 97 New York, and KMEL San Francisco, were now focusing primarily on Hip Hop and R&B. As a result, these stations began to phase out dance-pop, house, and Latin freestyle almost entirely from their playlists. In addition, the techno sound that defined 1992 would also lose popularity and would be replaced with Euro-Dance, which, like its other electronic dance cousins, also struggled to gain airplay on Top 40/CHR radio, which was now sharply divided between a Hip Hop/R&B sound or a more modern rock sound. After the fall 1993 ratings report were revealed, B96 program director Todd Cavanah and new music director Erik Bradley soon realize that B96 was overplaying R&B songs and could not afford to alienate its dance-leaning audience which had been crucial to B96’s ratings success since 1990. Cavanah had put the blame on B96’s decision to follow the music industry’s trends, where R&B and hip hop were dominating the charts whereas dance music was struggling to keep up, rather than what was hot in the Chicago streets and clubs. Dance records such as "Give it Up" by The Goodmen, "Mr. Vain" by Culture Beat, the house version of “Dreams” by Gabrielle, and “Yolanda” by Reality, a dance project consisting of hip house rapper Kool Rock Steady on vocals and B96 mixer Bad Boy Bill on production, were soon added to B96’s playlist to provide a better balance between dance and Hip Hop/R&B. Even freestyle acts like Collage (“I’ll Be Loving You”) and the Chicago-based Legacy (“Stay With Me Tonight”, “Girls Do it Just for Fun”) received heavy airplay during a time when freestyle was experiencing a decline in popularity. Nevertheless, B96 was one of the very few stations across the country that still played freestyle tracks in some fashion. B96’s decision to bring its focus back to dance music would pay off as their ratings went up, increasing from 4.7 in the Fall 1993 to 5.4 in the Winter 1994 Arbitron ratings report.

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:56 pm

Party Radio (1994-1996)
As 1994 began, B96 was focusing back to dance music by increasing its amount of house, Euro-dance, and freestyle songs to its playlist, a stark contrast to what many of the other Rhythmic top 40 stations nationwide were doing, playing heavy dosages of R&B, Hip Hop, and very little dance. This was also likely to response to the station’s more urban sound throughout much of the latter half of 1993 and concerns about focusing less on dance music outside the mix shows. B96 also contrasted greatly with the more rock-leaning mainstream top 40 stations nationwide, such as Z100 New York and KIIS-FM Los Angeles. For example, one of the biggest hits on B96 that year was the dance track “Another Night” by Eurodance act Real McCoy. Many Top 40 stations nationwide, including the more Rhythmic Top 40 stations that were now focused on hip hop and R&B, largely avoided playing Real McCoy and similar dance acts. “Another Night” would eventually peak at #1 on the mainstream pop charts and #3 on Billboard’s "Hot 100" chart. B96 is often credited as being the first major-market Top 40 radio station to play Real McCoy's track on heavy rotation, paving the way for other stations to add the song to their playlists. Other Euro-dance tracks that were played on B96 during this time included “Rhythm of the Night” by Corona and “Get-A-Way” by Maxx. In addition, house tracks like “I Want You” by Juliet Roberts, "El Trego" by 2 in a Room, "Short Short Man" by 20 Fingers, "Your Love is So Divine" by Miranda, and "Booti Call" by DJ Sneak and Fast Eddie were popular hits on B96. Freestyle also seemed to be on a comeback, as tracks such as "I’ve Been Thinking About You" by Jocelyn Enriquez and "Promise Me" by Lil Suzy received massive airplay on B96, further setting it apart from most of the other Rhythmic Top 40/CHR stations regarding dance music.

R&B music continued to be well-represented on B96 even as the focus shifted back towards dance. Hits like “Back and Forth” by Aaliyah, “Bump N Grind” by R. Kelly, "Creep" by TLC, and “How Do You Like It”, by Keith Sweat were heavily played on B96. Hip hop from the likes of Snoop Dogg (“Gin & Juice”), Salt N Pepa (“Whatta Man”), Warren G (“Regulate”), Coolio (“Fantastic Voyage”), and Chicago-based Da Brat (“Funkdafied”) continued to be popular on B96. Although Chicago was neither a West Coast nor East Coast city, B96 seemed to favor West Coast hip hop artists, such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, Warren G, and Coolio, over East Coast hip hop artists, such as the Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and the Notorious B.I.G., although the station would eventually add several of the Notorious B.I.G.’s songs to its playlists, such as “Big Poppa.” As B96 played hip hop almost as much as it played dance, the station somewhat gained a new competitor in June 1994, when WEJM 106.3 switched formats form Urban AC to a hip hop-leaning urban contemporary format since its parent company, Broadcasting Partners Inc., also owned V103 at the time. The new station, now known as 106 Jamz, skewed towards younger black listeners and was much more hip-hop friendly than WGCI, which at the time leaned heavily towards R&B and played limited hip hop outside its weekend night show “Rap Down”. The station was also simulcasted on its then-sister AM station WJPC 950, which had aired a rap-heavy, urban contemporay format for the the past two years. The slogan 106 Jamz used was “Where Hip Hop Lives,” and the station was modeled heavily after WQHT Hot 97 New York and KWPR Power 106 Los Angeles, both of which were finding new success as hip hop-leaning Rhythmic Top 40 stations after phasing out dance-leaning pop, although 106 Jamz reported as urban contemporary rather than Rhythmic Top 40. For hip hop fans in Chicago who did not want to hear only the crossover hip hop hits and dance music of B96, the pure R&B of WGCI, or the older-skewing V103, 106 Jamz was much needed. However, there was controversy over the violent image of gangsta rap nationwide, as several community leaders, primarily in the Black community, had threatened to boycott radio stations that played gangsta rap, which was massively popular at the time. Chicago was no exception as B96, WCGI, and 106 Jamz were each faced with boycott threats by several Chicagoland area ministers for featuring songs that had explicit language or sexual content on their playlists. By 1997, a weak signal prevented 106 Jamz from making a big enough impact against both WGCI and B96 and would eventually flip formats to Gospel and later again in 2003 to Urban AC as Soul 106.3, competing against one-time sister station V103. Lost in the shuffle in B96's playlist heavily populated by dance, hip hop, and R&B hits throughout 1994 were ballads like “Stay (I Missed You)” by Lisa Loeb, “The Power of Love” by Celine Dion, and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John. However, such tracks seemed like oddities in a sea of hip hop, R&B, and dance tunes that continued to dominate B96's playlist despite the station’s willingness to have a wider appeal.

On January 02, 1995, B96 partnered with WCIU channel 26, which had recently switched from a Spanish-speaking station to an English-speaking station, to create a new dance program called "U Dance With B96," also known as Chicago's Dance Show for the 90s. The program featured mixes from the five B96 mixmasters (Bad Boy Bill, Bobby D, Julian "Jumpin'" Perez, Tim "Spinnin'" Schommer, and Brian Middleton) and included dancing segments that were also seen on such shows like "Soul Train", "American Bandstand", and MTV’s "The Grind". An additional reason for the creation of "U-Dance" was to give an opportunity for viewers who did not have access to cable TV and thus channels that aired music videos, such as MTV, VH1, & BET, to watch the latest music videos by featured B96 artists. Occasionally, some of the artists featured on B96 at the time, such as George Lamond, 2 Unlimited, 20 Fingers, Lil Suzy, Fast Eddie, & DJ Funk, would do a performance. However, the show was cancelled on July of that same year. Nonetheless, "U-Dance" was nominated and won an award for "Best Entertainment" in the regional Chicago Emmys in 1995.

Music-wise, B96 remained largely the same as it was in 1994 as many Euro-dance and house music acts continued to dominate the station's playlist. One such track was “Your Loving Arms” by Billie Ray Martin. Although the single was a huge hit on B96 eventually becoming the station’s 7th most requested song of the year, it was often lost in a shuffle where many Top 40 stations nationwide were either rock-heavy or hip hop/R&B heavy. “Fat Boy” by Chicago-based dance act Max-a-Million, was first played by the station around November 1994 yet the song got so popular that it ended up being B96’s most requested song of 1995 whereas the track received limited or no airplay on most Top 40 stations. Max-a-Million’s follow-up singles, “Take Your Time (Do it Right)” and the more reggae-hip hop based “Sexual Healing”, which were both covers of popular songs by the S.O.S. Band and Marvin Gaye respectively, also were heavily featured on B96’s playlists. Real McCoy would continue their dominance on B96 as the follow-up singles “Run Away”, “Automatic Lover” and “Come and Get Your Love”, which was a cover of a 1974 hit song by the band Redbone, each received heavy airplay. Additional Euro-dance records that were popular on B96 during 1995 included "Close to You" by Fun Factory, "Baby Baby" by Corona, and Nikki French's cover of the 1983 Bonnie Tyler song "Total Eclipse of the Heart." House records that B96 played during this time included "Boom Boom Boom", by the Outhere Brothers, “The Bomb” by the Bucketheads, and the Todd Terry remix of "Missing" by Everything but the Girl.

Rap and R&B hits featured on B96 included "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio, "Boombastic" by Shaggy, "Waterfalls" by TLC, and "Action" by Terror Fabulous. Despite the heavy focus on dance and urban hits, B96 would slowly begin to broaden its playlist by adding rock-leaning pop song that were huge hits at the time, such as "Only Wanna Be With You" by Hootie and the Blowfish, “I Believe” by Blessed Union of Soul, “As I Lay Down” by Sophie B. Hawkins, "Dreaming of You" by Selena, and “I’ll Be There You” by the Rembrandts, which happened to be the theme song of the popular TV sitcom "Friends." B96 PD Todd Cavanah added such songs to the station’s playlist due to these songs having more mass appeal to its primarily female listeners than the hardcore dance product the station had been known for at that point, in addition to these songs being too pop-sounding for modern rock/alternative stations like Q101, leaving an opening for B96 to play them as Chicago still did not have a mainstream Top 40 station.

As 1996 began, B96 claimed that the new year would be "the year of B96". The "Flame Thrower Five" most-requested-tracks hour, a staple on B96 as early as 1985 when the station was still a mainstream top 40 station, was expanded and replaced with the "Nine Most Wanted", playing the nine most requested songs of the day every weeknight on the 9 p.m. hour. The station would continue to develop a broader sound by adding more rock-leaning pop songs. For example, Alanis Morrisette was one of the biggest names in pop and rock music in 1996. Even though she did not exactly fit in a rhythmic or dance leaning top 40 station, her hit singles, such as “Ironic”, “You Learn”, and “Head over Heels” received heavy airplay on B96. Additional pop songs that were receiving airplay during the year include “I Love You Always Forever” by Donna Lewis and "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion. Despite a broader playlist compared to how B96 sounded in 1994 and 1995, dance tracks would remain popular. Some of the biggest dance hits on B96 during 1996 included "Children" by Robert Miles, "Everybody be Somebody" by Ruffneck, “Do You Miss Me” by Jocelyn Enriquez, and “Where Do You Go” by No Mercy. Rap and R&B acts continued to have a presence as artists like the Fugees, Boyz II Men, LL Cool J, Brandy, and Monica were heavily played on B96.

1996 was also the year that B96 and sister station WBBM-AM Newsradio 780 would gain new sister stations in country WUSN-FM 99.9 ("US99"), WJMK-FM Oldies 104.3 (now WSCR-FM simulcasting sports talk 670 "The Score" since February 2026), adult alternative WXRT-FM 93.1 ("Chicago's Finest Rock"), classic rock WCKG-FM 103.5 (now WCFS and simulcasting WBBM-AM since 2011), and sports talk WSCR-AM 820 "The Score" (which moved to the 670 frequency in 2000 after the demise of WMAQ-AM) after CBS Radio, which owned B96 and Newsradio 780, and Infinity Radio, which owned the rest of the stations, merged. This was due to the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 on February 8, 1996, which made it easier for media companies to merge or to buy smaller media companies on the intention of growing larger. A year prior, CBS Radio had merged with Westinghouse, resulting in WBBM-AM and its chief rival, now-defunct WMAQ-AM news 670, under the same ownership.

In October 1996, B96 changed its slogan from “Party Radio” to “Chicago’s Dance Beat”, although the "Party Radio" slogan continued to be used occasionally until the spring of 1997. One possible, though unconfirmed, reason for the slogan change was a rumor that WPNT (now WTBC) 100.3 "The Point" would switch from its then-current Hot AC format to a dance-CHR format modeled after its then-sister station in New York, WKTU. Although the New York dance/CHR station was still in its infancy that year, it quickly achieved success in the ratings and provided a dance-friendly radio option for listeners in the Big Apple after WQHT Hot 97 had abandoned dance in favor of hip hop three years earlier. However, the rumors of WPNT switching to dance did not materialize, as Evergreen, WPNT's parent company, eventually sold the station to Bonneville. Evergreen, which merged with Chancellor and later became Clear Channel and then iHeartRadio, owned too many radio stations and was forced to sell three of them. One of those stations was WPNT, which ultimately flipped to adult contemporary in October 1997 and was rebranded as WNND "Windy 100". Instead of competing against B96, 100.3 continued to compete against long-time adult contemporary WLIT 93.9 Lite FM. Another reason for the format change at 100.3 FM was that its new sister station, WTMX 101.9 "The Mix," already provided a female-friendly, rock-leaning Hot AC format in Chicago. Had the 100.3 frequency become a dance station instead, it would have been B96's first direct competition since 1991, and B96's slogan, "Chicago's Dance Beat" would have served as a warning to the new station that there was only room for one dance station in the Windy City. It would be another two years before B96 faced actual competition in the Top 40/CHR format.

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:57 pm

From Chicago's Dance Beat to Hits and Hip Hop (1997-2008)
As 1997 came to a close, B96 continued to brand itself as “Chicago’s Dance Beat.” However, the station had quietly begun phasing out many of the dance songs that had dominated its playlist for the previous seven years. Instead, B96 transitioned to a broader Rhythmic Top 40 format, featuring a diverse range of genres, including dance (such as Real McCoy, Rockell, and Le Click), hip hop (such as Puff Daddy, Busta Rhymes, and Will Smith), R&B (such as Blackstreet, Keith Sweat, and En Vogue), teen pop (such as the Backstreet Boys, the Spice Girls, and Hanson), and even modern rock (such as No Doubt, Chumbawamba, and Third Eye Blind). One reason for this shift was B96’s desire to appeal more broadly to the Chicago suburbs, rather than focusing solely on the ethnic-based club scenes in the city. Additionally, station management felt it could no longer justify excluding non-rhythmic artists who were achieving hit records played on other major Top 40/CHR stations nationwide. One such artist was Jewel, who had a huge pop and AC hit in 1997 with "You Were Meant For Me," and the song was later added to B96's main playlist. Nonetheless, B96 maintained that it remained a dance station, emphasizing that the broader selection of songs helped increase mass appeal while still serving its core audience. From a strategic standpoint, B96 believed that incorporating a wider variety of music styles allowed it to maintain exclusive control over the Top 40 format in the Chicago market without facing competition from other stations, as B96 was still the city’s only major Top 40/CHR radio station.

By the end of the 1990s and into the new millennium, B96 continued with its broader-based Rhythmic Top 40 format, although it would put a bigger emphasis on hip-hop and R&B artists, such as Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child, Mya, 112, Will Smith, and Brian McKnight. Dance music was still present, along with dance remixes of pop and R&B songs, on the 12 p.m. Lunch Party and 5 p.m. Traffic Jam mixes, but by the end of 2000 and entering 2001, they would be largely replaced by more down-tempo hip hop & R&B tracks. Meanwhile, B96 also started to embrace the growing popularity of teen pop, which featured artists such as Robyn, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Hanson, the Spice Girls, and Christina Aguilera. Latin-pop artists, such as Ricky Martin ("Livin' La Vida Loca" and "The Cup of Life"), Jennifer Lopez ("Waiting for Tonight" and "If You Had My Love"), and Enrique Iglesias ("Bailamos" and "Be with You"), would also become widely popular. In addition, B96 would also continue adding more rock-based pop songs that were popular at the time, such as Jewel's "Foolish Games," Aerosmith’s "Don't Want to Miss a Thing," and the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris." Meanwhile, electronic dance acts that were becoming popular, such as the Prodigy, Crystal Method, Fatboy Slim, and the Chemical Brothers, were non-existent on B96 and other rhythmic-leaning top 40 stations. Instead, such tracks were being played on alternative rock stations like Q101, whose predominately male audiences were previously lukewarm towards electronic dance music. In fact, the only dance tracks that had any significance on B96 between 1998 and 2000 included "Music Sounds Better with You" by Stardust, "Around the World" by Daft Punk, "It Feels So Good" by Sonique, "Better Off Alone" by Alice Deejay, "Blue" by Eiffel 65, and "Believe" by Cher. Despite the slow shift away from dance-based hits, B96’s ratings remain consistent, even seeing an increase to 5.3 in the Arbitron summer 1998 ratings report.

New Competition (1997-2002)
In May 1997, WCBR-FM, known as Cyber Radio 92.7, premiered on a trio of three Chicagoland suburban stations: WDEK DeKalb, WKIE Arlington Heights, and WKIF Kankakee, creating a trimulcast. Not only was the station a dance-leaning CHR format, but it was also the first Chicago-based radio station to be broadcast on the internet. Cyber Radio poked fun of B96’s now-ironic slogan “Chicago’s Dance Beat," featuring liners such as "This is a dance beat. This is not" (clips of dance songs such as Love Tribe's "Stand Up" or Reel 2 Real's "Jazz it Up" and R&B songs such as Keith Sweat's "Nobody" or Babyface's "This is for the Lover in You" would be used in the sweepers) and "We've Got the Beat," reminding its listeners that down-tempo R&B songs, which were becoming more prominent on B96, did not qualify as "dance beats." In September 1997, Cyber Radio was taken off 92.7 FM and temporarily aired Friday nights on talk/rock hybrid WCKG 105.9 (now WCFS simulcasting WBBM-AM). Since then, Cyber Radio lived on as an internet radio website known as "CyberRadio2000.com," which was renamed to "1club.fm" and again to AddictedToRadio.com before shutting down.

In November 1998, the same trio of frequencies that previously aired Cyber Radio just a year earlier would flip to a more traditional top 40 station as “The New Kiss FM 92.7,” giving B96 a competitor and Chicago’s first true top 40/CHR station since 1991. Former B96 host George McFly was one of 92.7 Kiss FM’s on-air personalities. However, the station would be short-lived when in January 2001, Clear Channel (now iHeart Radio), which owned the “Kiss-FM” trademark, threatened a lawsuit against 92.7 FM’s parent company, Big City Radio, when it flipped rhythmic AC Jammin' Oldies station WUBT 103.5 “The Beat” to a top 40/CHR station Kiss FM 103.5 WKSC-FM. 92.7 FM would easily give in as it had a much weaker frequency and Clear Channel was a much larger media company than Big City Radio. WKSC-FM 103.5 would replace the 92.7 FM frequency as B96’s chief competitor. Like the previous Kiss FM before it, the newer Kiss FM carried a more traditional Top 40 format that was modeled after long-time successful sister station KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, although it slightly leaned rhythmic. WKSC would occasionally take shots at B96 for not playing Hot AC & Modern Rock hit songs while at the same time taking shots at WMXT-FM 101.9 "the Mix," which had become a successful female-friendly Hot AC station since 1996 after years as a struggling AC station, for not playing the R&B and hip hop tracks that B96 was playing at the time. It should be noted that Randy Michaels, who was previously in charge during the dying days of WYTZ 94.7 "Z95" as a top 40/CHR station, was a consultant for Clear Channel at the time and was instrumental in 103.5 changing from Jammin' Oldies to Kiss-FM.

An interesting note is that prior to Kiss FM and even The Beat, the 103.5 frequency was once home to Rock 103.5 WCRX. The station had been revamped from a hard rock and glam-metal format (formerly WWBZ "The Blaze") in 1994 and would take shots at other rock stations in Chicago, such as Q101, “The Loop” 97.9 WLUP (now WCKL with a Christian format), and classic rock 105.9 WCKG (now WCFS). Although B96 had not featured a significant number of rock-based hits since 1986 and had rarely played rock-based pop hits since then, it was not immune from being mocked by Rock 103.5, which poked fun at the station for playing rap/R&B music as well as Europop dance acts popular at the time, such as Ace of Base. Interestingly, WGCI, which would become one of Rock 103.5’s future sister stations, was exempt from Rock 103.5’s mocking even though it also played R&B and hip hop. By 1998, falling ratings and the departure of then-popular morning show shock jock Mancow Muller to its rival Q101 caused WCRX to flip formats to "Jammin' Oldies'" and three years later, the station flipped again to become the new Kiss FM 103.5, which to this day remains B96’s top competitor.

After losing the Kiss FM slogan, 92.7 FM would return to a dance format as Energy 92.7 & 92.5 on January 26, 2001, and played the popular dance tracks at the time that B96 very rarely, if ever, played, in addition to also playing classic dance tracks from the 1980s and 1990s. Dance music fans in Chicago were hungry for a dance-friendly CHR after B96 had slowly eliminated much of its dance music from its playlists outside its mix shows beginning in the summer of 1997 and focused more on teen pop, R&B, and hip hop. Despite a limited signal and a lack of respect for dance music by both the music and radio industries, Energy 92.7 developed a cult following both on the radio and on the internet. In retrospect, Energy 92.7 was, in a way, a spiritual successor to B96 regarding dance music, the same way B96 was to now-defunct urban contemporary 102.7 WBMX after that station became WVAZ "V103" in 1988.

In November 2002, Energy 92.7’s parent company, Big City Radio, filed for bankruptcy and sold the station and many of its other entities to Spanish Broadcasting System. On January 5, 2003, Energy 92.7 flipped formats from dance to Spanish, leaving Chicago without a dance-friendly radio station. On November 22, 2004, the Spanish format proved to be a failure, and 92.7 flipped formats again, this time simulcasting the variety hits station Nine FM 99.9 FM (which has since flipped to a simulcast of the liberal talk station WCPT 820 AM in 2008 and more recently a Polish-based station, “Polski.FM”). Meanwhile, B96 would add a dance HD-2 channel in December 2005, which followed the fold of the now-defunct Energy, although the main 96.3 FM frequency still focused much more on hip hop than dance at that point.

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:58 pm

Declining Ratings (2002-2008)
Although B96 quietly celebrated 20 years as a Top 40/CHR radio station in 2002, it was the following year that the station underwent a major rebrand. In January 2003, the “Killer Bee” slogan, which had been used between 1990 and 1993 and briefly revived in August 1996 due to a broken transmitter, returned to B96 as the station replaced its now-outdated slogan, “Chicago’s Dance Beat,” with “The New Killer Bee B96.3.” The station also added “.3” to its logo to reference its frequency of 96.3 FM. The new logo presented B96 with a sharper, edgier urban image compared to the more colorful, swirly logo previously used. Long-time B96 voice-over Mitch Craig was replaced by Pat Garrett, another voice-over veteran who had previously done station ID drops for WGCI. In addition to these changes, morning show duo Eddie and Jobo featured flashbacks from the station’s glory years of the 1990s on their show. However, dance music—which had played a significant role during B96’s original Killer Bee era—was still largely ignored in favor of hip hop and R&B.

Prominent artists featured on B96's airplay during this period included Eminem, Ludacris, Nelly, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Eve, and Missy Elliott. Many teen pop acts that were popular on B96 from 1997 to 2001 experienced a decline in popularity. However, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake (following the breakup of *NSYNC) remained exceptions, continuing to be popular Top 40/CHR artists. Notable on-air personalities on B96 during this time included Roxanne Steele, Dougie Stylz, and Justin "J. Roman" Roman, the latter two known as the duo "Stylz and Roman." Roman was previously a member of the Chicago-based boy band Vi3, whose single "Eyes Closed for Tight" received moderate airplay on B96 in 2002. B96’s long-time musical director, Eric Bradley, produced Vi3’s album, which featured the single.

In April 2002, controversy surrounded R. Kelly, whose music had been featured on B96 since 1992, when he was accused of engaging in sexual activity with under-aged girls. Several radio stations nationwide had boycotted his music, while others, such as WGCI, stood by him and kept his music in their playlist. Around that time, B96 had stopped playing music from R. Kelly's album "The Best of Both Worlds" (which was a co-production with rapper Jay-Z) but claimed that it wasn't because of his then-recent controversies but rather because the single "Take You Home with Me" had not caught on with its audience. B96 would resume playing R. Kelly's music on its playlist, and R. Kelly would eventually be acquitted of all charges in 2008 but would be charged again in 2019 and this time convicted as he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2022.

On January 5, 2003, B96 and its rival, 103.5 Kiss FM, both aired commercials on Energy 92.7, attempting to attract listeners from that station. This occurred as Energy 92.7 was set to change formats from dance to Spanish the very next day, following the bankruptcy of its parent company, Big City Radio. Although dance music was considered a niche format and Energy 92.7 operated on a weaker frequency, the station had garnered enough listeners to demonstrate that there was still demand for a dance-friendly radio station in Chicago. Adding insult to injury for dance music fans in Chicago, B96 did not adjust its hip hop-heavy playlists to include more dance tracks that had been popular on Energy 92.7 before its closure, despite B96’s once-prominent reputation as a dance-friendly CHR station. While Kiss FM’s playlist also largely lacked dance music, it was intentionally programmed as a standard Top 40 station and did not share the dance heritage that B96 once had.

As 2005 concluded, B96, now realizing it played almost entirely hip hop and R&B, adopted a new slogan, “Hits and Hip Hop.” Under this direction, B96 was competing not only against 103.5 Kiss FM but also more directly against long-time urban contemporary 107.5 WGCI and its rival WPWX "Power 92", which debuted in 2001 and could be considered the spiritual successor to now-defunct WEJM 106 Jamz. As a result, B96 would start to collapse in the ratings, dropping to 8th place behind rival Kiss FM. It would be the first time that Kiss FM finished ahead of B96 in the ratings since debuting in 2001. During this time, B96 added more “Hurban” and Reggaeton artists, such as Daddy Yankee and Pitbull, to its playlist to maintain its Hispanic-friendly reputation largely due to new competition from WVIV-FM 93.5 & 103.1 FM, a Spanish Rhythmic CHR known as "La Kalle". Only on a rare occasion would there be a dance song airing on B96, such as Madonna’s "Hung Up" or Cascada’s "Every Time We Touch" yet these songs seemed like oddities in a playlist dominated by hip hop and R&B hit records, which was a stark contrast a decade earlier where dance songs were far more common on B96's playlist.

In 2006, B96 introduced the music block "Slow Jam Mix Tape," which aired every late night except on Friday and Saturday, which were reserved for mix shows. The program aired love songs and was much like the "Quiet Storm" on V103 and WGCI’s "Whispers in the Dark", but played more mainstream CHR ballads from the past, such as Stevie B's "Because I Love You (The Postman Song)", Taylor Dayne's "Love Will Lead You Back", Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply", as well as down-tempo R&B tracks that were popular at the time, such as “Slow Down” by Bobby Valentino, “Sexy Love” by Ne-Yo, and “Don’t Forget About Us” by Mariah Carey. However, the "Slow Jam Mix Tape" program would eventually be dropped from B96's schedule.

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 8:07 pm

Return to Mainstream Top 40 (2008-2019)
In October 2008, B96 changed its slogan from "Chicago's Hits & Hip-Hop" to "Chicago's #1 Hit Music Station," a slogan the station previously used in the late 1980s. The change was to help better promote the station as a rhythmic CHR station, and it promised that it would not play as much hip hop as before. At the time when B96 was "Chicago's Hits & Hip-Hop," ratings were falling, and B96 was making many changes in their on-air staff. Since 2009, it seemed that dance-leaning pop was on a comeback, as artists such as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Pitbull, Usher, Nicki Minaj, the Black Eyed Peas, and David Guetta had a more uptempo "electronic" sound compared to the pop music earlier in the decade, which was heavily influenced by down-tempo R&B and hip hop.

On April 1, 2011, B96 maintained its call letters as WBBM-FM when failing AC station WCFS-FM Fresh 105.9 flipped formats to a simulcast of long-time successful news station WBBM-AM Newsradio 780. In March 2012, music industry service Mediabase moved B96 from its Rhythmic Top 40 chart to its Mainstream Top 40 chart. As a result, B96 returned as a Mainstream Top 40 station for the first time since 1989, as the station now played the same amount of pop/rock hits that rival 103.5 Kiss FM featured on its playlist. Until 2020, B96 had continued to count down the most requested songs every weekday night, though the "Nine Most Wanted" has been replaced by the "Top 8 at 8," airing an hour earlier. Another annual tradition that B96 abandoned around the same time was closing out the year by counting down the top 96 (referencing the station's frequency of 96.3 FM) songs, something the station had done since 1990 and continued into 2019.

New Ownership and Ratings Freefall (2020-2023)
Entering 2017, Todd Cavanah and Erik Bradley, who had served as B96's program director and music director, respectively, since the summer of 1993, continued in their long-standing roles. In recent years, Cavanah also became vice president of programming for Chicago radio stations owned by CBS Radio, including B96 and US99. On February 2, 2017, B96's longtime parent company, CBS Radio, announced plans to merge with Entercom, a merger that was finalized on November 17, 2017. B96, along with WBBM-FM's earlier incarnations such as "Stereo 96", "Soft Rock 96", and "Hot Hits 96 Now", had remained under CBS ownership despite the media company's mergers with other corporations over the years, including Westinghouse in 1995, Infinity in 1997, and Viacom in 2000. In 2021, Entercom was rebranded and renamed Audacy.

By 2018, B96 had incorporated more pop and rock artists into its playlist, including Panic! at the Disco, OneRepublic, Ed Sheeran, and Shawn Mendes, making its sound more similar to the long-established Hot AC station "The Mix" WTMX 101.9 FM. However, in terms of ratings, B96 had been steadily declining, while its longtime rival, 103.5 Kiss FM, had taken a commanding lead in the Top 40/Pop competition in Chicago. According to the May 2018 Nielsen Radio ratings report, B96 ranked 20th among all Chicago radio stations with a 2.4 rating—possibly the lowest since it became a Top 40 station in 1982—whereas Kiss FM was tied for 7th place with WSCR 670 "The Score" (one of B96's sister stations), both holding a 3.6 rating. Some radio insiders attribute the launch of the classic rhythmic/hip-hop station WBMX 104.3 Jams (formerly WJMK "K-Hits" and also a sister station to B96) in November 2017 as having a negative impact on B96’s core 18-34 demographic. Additionally, B96’s recent formulaic approach under owner Entercom, compared to the station’s edgier street promotions during the 1990s and 2000s when CBS owned it, has contributed to its declining image among Chicago radio listeners. Furthermore, the current dominance of electronic-based pop and mumble rap in pop music, along with younger listeners turning to alternatives to FM radio—such as online streaming services like iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube—are also considered factors in the nationwide decline of Top 40/CHR station ratings.

In February 2019, B96’s HD-2 station flipped from dance to Channel Q, a talk/dance hybrid format that targets gay and lesbian listeners. The dance format, which was featured on B96’s HD-2 channel since 2005 would be moved to HD-2 station of WCFS 105.9 FM, replacing adult-contemporary Fresh FM, 105.9 FM’s previous format before flipping to a simulcast Newsradio 780 WBBM-AM in 2011. The dance format was also rebranded as "Energy," possibly as a nod to former rival and long-defunct dance station WKIE Energy 92.7 and 92.5.

Current Era & Format Shift (2023-present)
On April 22, 2023, B96 shifted its format from Mainstream Top 40 to Rhythmic Hot AC, increasing the amount of throwback music from the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s in its playlist in hopes of reversing its declining ratings. Much of the throwback music recently added by B96 was also featured on its sister station, WBMX 104.3 Jams. Despite the changes to its playlist, the station continued to play major hits by modern-day pop, R&B, or rap artists, such as Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, and Kendrick Lamar. A few weeks earlier, in April 2023, B96's longtime program director, Todd Cavanah, left the station after 33 years, dating back to the station's dance-leaning Killer Bee era. Later that year, Cavanah was hired as the program director at classic hits station WLS-FM 94.7. Molly Cruz was brought in to replace him, becoming B96's newest program director—the fourth in the station's long history as a Top 40 station and its first female PD. Erik Bradley remained at B96, serving as the station's assistant brand manager.

On January 17, 2026, Audacy announced that 104.3 Jams would change its format from classic hip hop to simulcasting the sports talk station 670 The Score, effective February 2, 2026. Some of 104.3's programming elements would be merged with B96, which already featured many of the songs played on 104.3. Additionally, the call letters "WBMX" would return to Boston on its sister station, hot AC station WWBX 104.1, which previously used the call letters from 2009 to 2017. The reasons for these changes include the increasing popularity of sports talk on the FM dial, as the AM dial is increasingly seen as obsolete in recent years, and the negative impact 104.3 had on B96 due to overlapping playlists and hurting B96 with the older part of its targeted demographic of 18-34-year-old listeners. On January 30, 2026, 104.3 Jams became no more and temporarily aired a simulcast of B96 until its permanent format switch to simulcasting 670 The Score, which occurred a few days later on February 2.

Disman00911 · Post by **Disman00911** » Sat Apr 22, 2023 8:08 pm

The Mix Shows

A popular feature that has defined B96 for most of its history since the late 1980s was the weekend mix shows, playing the best of dance and hip-hop music every Friday and Saturday night. The mix show was originally known as the "B96 Dance Party" in 1989 but has been better known as the "B96 Street Mix" since 1993, except for a brief period in the mid-2000s when it was known as the "B96 Afterparty." Many of the DJ mixmasters over the years on B96 included Brian "Hitmix" Middleton, Bad Boy Bill, Julian "Jumpin'" Perez, Frankie "Hollywood" Rodriguez, Mike "Hitman" Wilson, Tim "Spinnin'" Schommer, Bobby D, DJ Marski, To Kool Chris, DJ Speed, Maurice Joshua, Mixin’ Marc, DJ Spin, DJ Flipside, DJ NonStop and DJ Metro.

The Forerunner to Dance-era B96: 102.7 WBMX
There was no DJ mix show on B96 when it first launched its Top 40 format in 1982. In fact, mix shows were extremely rare, if not nonexistent, on Top 40 radio nationwide in the early-to-mid 1980s. Instead, mix shows were primarily featured on urban or R&B stations. In Chicago, the station that helped popularize mix show content in the city was R&B station 102.7 WBMX and could be considered the predecessor to B96 regarding how dance music shaped Chicago radio throughout the 1980s and beyond. In 1981, WBMX introduced its weekend mix show, “Saturday Night Ain’t No Jive Chicago Dance Party," which consisted of host Armando Riviera and a group of DJs known as the Hot Mix 5: Farley "Jackmaster" Funk (originally known as Farley "Funkin'" Keith), Scott "Smokin'" Silz, Ralphi "The Razz" Rosario, Mickey "Mixin'" Oliver, and Kenny "Jammin'" Jason, the latter of which previously mixed at disco station WDAI 94.7 (now WLS-FM), which was the first Chicago radio station to feature mix sets. These mixmasters would mix disco, R&B, electro, synthpop, hi-NRG, and imported Italo-disco records before eventually creating their own club records, which became known as "house music." The success of the Hot Mix 5 resulted in WBMX adding a Friday night mix show called "Friday Night Jams" and a Hot Lunch mix hour that aired at noon.

In 1985, future B96 mixer Julian "Jumpin'" Perez joined WBMX as the station’s newest mixer. However, Scott "Smokin'" Silz had already left the station by the time Perez joined the roster. In 1986, Farley would leave WBMX for rival WGCI, which already had its team of mixers, consisting of Mario "Smokin'" Diaz, Mario Reyes, Mike "Hitman" Wilson, Fast Eddie, Edward "Getdown" Crosby, and future B96 mixer Bad Boy Bill. The rest of the Hot Mix 5 would soon follow Farley to WGCI the very same year. The departure of the original Hot Mix 5 was a coincidence as WBMX began losing in the ratings to WGCI to the point that the station would not recover. Filling the void left by the original Hot Mix 5 were other mixers, such as Bad Boy Bill, Frankie "Hollywood" Rodriguez, Mike "Hitman" Wilson (who previously mixed at WGCI), Pharris Thomas, and the “Godfather of House” Frankie Knuckles mixing alongside Julian "Jumpin'" Perez, although Farley "Jackmaster" Funk would return to WBMX in May 1987. After WBMX’s demise in October 1988, Farley would mix at college station 89.3 FM WKKC before eventually returning to WGCI’s “Club 107.5” mix show and reuniting once again with the rest of the Hot Mix 5 in the late 1990s. Despite their great influence on both the WGCI and B96 mixmasters, as well as other mixers in the Chicagoland area, none of the original members of the "Hot Mix 5" would do mixes on B96, although Silz did compete in B96's mixer search contest in 1993, as he would return to DJ mixes in the mid-90s after a long hiatus.

Club 96 (1986-1989)
Brian Middleton, a part-time weekend host at B96 since 1985, was that station's first-ever mixer and had hosted a Saturday night mix show on B96 that began in the fall of 1986. The mix show was named "Club 96" and was hosted by Zach Harris, airing every Saturday from 7pm to midnight and featuring two 25-minute mixes per hour. However, Middleton did not have full control over what songs he could mix with and was limited to just mixing tracks from the hottest pop artists at the time, such as Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Jody Watley, Taylor Dayne, Duran Duran, Expose, and so on. The edgier Chicago house music sound, featuring the likes of Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, Steve "Silk" Hurley, Marshall Jefferson, DJ Pierre, Ralphi Rosario, Mickey "Mixin' Oliver," etc., as well as the house, techno, and freestyle songs that were being put out in other cities like New York, Detroit, Miami, and even overseas in London, was largely off-limits on the B96 Saturday night mix show. Instead, such music was heard only on the mix shows at urban contemporary stations 107.5 WGCI and 102.7 WBMX, as well as some of the smaller college stations that presented dance mixes. Nonetheless, B96 management was aware of the popular Chicago house music scene, as the station briefly included the song "If You Only Knew" by Chip E, a house music artist from the Chicago-based DJ International label, in its playlist, although it did not report it to the radio & music trade magazines, such as Billboard and the now-defunct Radio & Records (R&R). In addition, Middleton had remixed the 1987 house track "Communicate" by Full House (another DJ International release) on Hot Tracks, a popular remix service label at the time.

The B96 Dance Party (1989-1992)
The demise of WBMX in late 1988 would eventually benefit B96, which was in a process of growing into a dance-heavy rhythmic Top 40 station. Entering 1989, WGCI’s “Club 107.5” was the only mix show on a major, full-signal radio station in Chicago, although there were dance-based mix shows that aired on college radio stations or suburban-based stations that had weaker frequencies, such as Columbia College-operated WCRX-FM 88.1, Loyola University-operated WLUW-FM (Energy 88.7), Kennedy-King College-operated WKKC-FM 89.3, Northwestern-operated WNUR-FM 89.3, and WCYC-FM (now WRTE) 90.7. Former WBMX mixer Julian "Jumpin'" Perez would be approached by B96’s management about creating a new mix show. B96 management knew the positive ratings his show had on now-defunct WBMX and wanted to bring that power to B96. Around March 1989, the B96 Dance Party debuted and would be instantly popular, more than doubling the ratings within the first three months and providing a serious challenge to WGCI’s “Club 107.5.” The success of the new B96 Dance Party would pay dividends for the station, which would lead to an increase in airtime, including adding a Friday night slot.

Aside from Julian "Jumpin'" Perez, additional mixmasters include Bad Boy Bill and Frankie “Hollywood” Rodriguez, both of whom were with Perez during the last years of WBMX. Another mixer that joined B96 from WBMX was Mike "Hitman" Wilson, although his stint was rather short, as he left the station in 1990, though he would return as a guest mixer in 1993. Bad Boy Bill would soon be the station’s most popular mixer, as he was credited for producing a mass amount of mix tapes, such as the “Hot Mix” series from 1988 to 1994 and the legally licensed “Bangin’ the Box” series from 1995 to 2003. Brian Middleton, B96's original mixmaster, remained a member of B96’s revamped mix show. Initially, there were guest mixers during the first year of the B96 Dance Party. One of these guest mixers, Tim "Spinnin'" Schommer, would become a regular member of the B96 mixmaster team. Unlike the other B96 mixmasters, Schommer focused more on Latin freestyle rather than house to stand out better since his style of house was largely the same as in the sets done by Bad Boy Bill or Julian "Jumpin'" Perez. Nonetheless, Schommer would also mix house and hip hop in his sets.

The early years of the B96 Dance Party mix show predominantly mixed house music with some freestyle and crossover dance-pop thrown in. Each hour featured a 50-minute set from each of B96's mixmasters. Some of the big house tracks during this time include “Big Fun” by Inner City, “Rock to the Beat” by Kevin "Reese" Saunderson, and "I Wanna Have Some Fun" by Samantha Fox. In fact, some of these tracks, like “Big Fun” and Inner City’s follow-up single “Good Life,” were hugely popular on B96 and were being played outside the mix shows and alongside the tracks by mainstream pop artists such as Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Phil Collins, and New Kids on the Block as the station continued to evolve into a top 40/dance station. Meanwhile, Hip Hop was almost non-existent on B96 mix sets outside a few up-tempo tracks that were faster than 110 beats per minute (BPM), such as “I’m That Type of Guy” by LL Cool J, "It Takes Two" by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock, “Me Myself and I” by De La Soul, “I’ll House You” by the Jungle Brothers, "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc, & "Bust-a-Move" by Young MC. However, hip house, a fusion genre of house and hip hop, was massively popular on the B96 mix sets between 1989 and 1991. Most of the hip house records that were featured in the B96 mixes were Chicago artists, such as Fast Eddie ("Hip House", "Yo Yo Get Funky", “Git it Up”), Mr. Lee ("Get Busy", "Pump That Body"), Kool Rock Steady ("Let's Get Hyped", "You Ain't Nobody") and Tyree Cooper (“Turn Up the Bass”, “Let the Music Take Control”). However, New York-based artists like Two Without Hats (“Try Yazz”, “The Breeze”), and Doug Lazy (“Let the Rhythm Pump”, “H.O.U.S.E.”) would also be featured in the mix sets. Euro-based house tracks, such as the mega-hit “Pump Up the Jam” by Technotronic and “C’mon and Get Your Love” by D-Mob featuring Cathy Dennis, were also popular on B96 during this period.

Around 1991, B96 would air live at the various nightclubs in the Chicagoland area, such as Todos, Prime & Tender, and Eric's North Warehouse. By 1992, the B96 Dance Party started to play more techno, breakbeat & rave records, such as “James Brown is Dead” by L.A. Style and "Who is Elvis" by Phenomania, instead of the usual house product, as the hip house sound that defined much of 1989 through 1991 was declining in popularity. In addition, the length of the B96 mixes was shortened from one 50-minute set by each mixer to two 25-minute sets per hour by each mixer as a commercial break was added in between mixes, although the 50-minute mix format would return briefly both in the early months of 1993 and again in the spring of 1995.

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History of B96 (Revised Version)

History of B96 (Revised Version)

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Re: History of B96 (Revised Version)

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