Stranger things have happened, but this one's pretty weird. Here's the story of WKDC Show Radio 1530, a suburban radio station that, from 1981 to 1983, played Broadway show tunes all day long.
Back in 1980, the head of a small broadcasting company, Snyder Broadcasting, had plans to make millions by purchasing the small 250-watt AM station in Elmhurst. Agreeing to pay a million dollars and 15% cash upfront, broadcaster and former Roosevelt University Professor Robert Snyder, thought he could turn the fumbling station's ratings around. According to Robert Feder in the April 6th, 1983 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times that wasn't the case.
WKDC had had trouble keeping above the bottom line since its sign-on in 1974. Advertisers and listeners were not able give the station enough support for its quirky format. The money was not there and the station could not find a niche. Eventually the former owner of WKDC sued Snyder for the $850,000 he still had to pay. Snyder filed for bankruptcy and an attorney from Lombard, William Lester, was assigned to take control of the station until a new owner could be found.
More information about the station can be found on their "unofficial" facebook fanpage.
I was a DJ there at that time. Snyder was a nice guy but the format failed. I saw quite a lot at the time. One DJ was drunk on the air and fell asleep and I had to replace him.
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