A Saturday Night Fever that lasts too long can lead to the death of a radio station. At noon Monday, WYSY-FM (107.9), Chicagoland’s only all-’70s station, abandoned the format it first adopted in January 1994 to make way for what will likely be a Spanish-language station.
Former owner CBS negotiated the sale of the station to the Spanish Broadcasting System last summer; that sale was recently approved by the Federal Communications Commission, according to WYSY’s acting program director Bill Murdoch.
The new format could take effect as soon as May 15. In the meantime, WYSY is airing a temporary format of mixed rock hits. And what killed the station? CBS found itself owning 10 Chicago stations–two more than federal laws allow for a local market–and had to sell two (the other was WSCR-AM 820, also known as “The Score”). WYSY’s ratings had risen to a 1.9 share of listeners (23rd in the market) from a 1.3 share in the latest ratings period.
Where will listeners go for their ’70s fix? “I see a lot of listeners going to WCKG (105.9 FM) and Oldies 104.3 (WJMK-FM),” Murdoch said.