The saddest letter of my life:

Dear WJMK listener,

Tuning in to 104.3 FM today, you probably noticed that things sound a little different.

WJMK has changed addresses. Instead of being at 104.3 on FM, the WJMK you know and love now lives here online at wjmk.com. Click on the “listen here” banner to hear the Greatest Hits of the 60’s and 70’s streamed with all the great music, personality, and fun you have come to expect over the past two decades on your radio.

We are very excited about WJMK online, because many of the personalities and DJ’s who have been your companion through the years will be featured here at WJMK Online.

Stay tuned because in the future, WJMK’s High Definition (HD Radio) broadcast signal will also make it possible to listen to your favorite music and personalities in crystal clear digital sound on your HD Radio. More on that coming very soon.

104.3 FM is now JACK-FM, and we hope that since you loved WJMK as 60’s and 70’s, that you will give JACK-FM a try too.

Be sure to let us know what you think of WJMK Online. Thank you for your years of listening to WJMK on the FM band, and now let everyone know that WJMK moves into the future by going worldwide. The Greatest Hits of the 60’s and 70’s live on here at wjmk.com!

Sincerely,

BLAH BLAH BLAH EXECUTIVE ASS

MY FAVORITE RADIO STATION OF ALL TIME, 104.3 WJMK HAS GONE OFF THE AIR!!!! HOW COULD THEY??!! WHY?? (well, I know why, I just took a class in the business of broadcasting, but still... WHYYYYYYYYYYY)

You may think, oh, quit your whining, it's just a radio station, you like other radio stations too, it's not like there isn't another oldies station in Chicagoland. And you know, you're probably right, but then again, this wasn't just a radio station to me. There was something about this station, something special, perhaps just in my mind, that set this particular radio station apart from everything else.

Could it have been the canned theme ID's that they played that said "oldies one-oh-four point threeeee double-u jay em kayyyyyy, chhhhiiicccaaaaggoooooo?" Could it have been the announcers giving the current time by saying "3 o'clock in the windy city?" How about the way the dj's seamlessly mixed the music while giving a brief intro over the instrumental introduction of every song, transforming my car ride into an oldies jukebox of sorts? Or maybe it was the way they always seemed to pick the PERFECT song to match whatever was going on at the moment? Never a bad song, always seeming to be inside my head, playing whatever I subconsciously wanted to hear.

Whatever it was, it was something special to me. In fact it was more than special to me. Recently I had been thinking about what the loss of the most wonderful station ever would mean to me, and it hit me. This station was Chicago to me. Whenever I was home, missing the windy city, my mind would wander to thoughts of driving along the skyway towards Chicago, with the familiar skyline approaching in the distance, and, in my ears, Hall of Fame broadcaster Dick Biondi introducing a song by, oddly enough, Chicago, or the Beatles, or the Bee Gees, or whatever band I had in mind at the time. Even before I arrived in Chicago, I had my preconceptions based upon movies, tv, etc. of what life there would be like, and the radio station fit those exactly.

But now the winds of change are a-blowing... and, sadly, it's time to re-define what the place I now call home means to me, or at least time to find a new station to listen to all the time.