WILV

WILV

City of license	Chicago, Illinois
Broadcast area	Chicago, Illinois
Branding	Rewind 100.3
Slogan	Hits Of The 80s & 90s
Frequency	100.3 FM (MHz) (also on HD Radio) 100.3-2 FM (WILV-2 - Mormon Channel
First air date	November 5, 2004
Format	Adult Hits
Audience share	3.3 (Sep'09, RI)
ERP	5,700 watts
HAAT	425 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	10059
Transmitter coordinates	41°53′56.00″N 87°37′23.00″W
Callsign meaning	We're In LoVe or W Illinois (state) LoVe
Former callsigns	WFMF (1947-1974) WLOO (1974-1988) WXEZ-FM (1988-1990) WPNT-FM (1990-1997) WNND (1997-2004)
Owner	Hubbard Broadcasting (Chicago FCC License Sub, LLC)
Sister stations	WDRV, WWDV, WTMX
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	wilv.com

WILV (Rewind 100.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an Adult Hits format. Licensed to Chicago, Illinois, USA, the station serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. The station is also broadcast on HD radio.

History

Before 100.3

The station began operation in 1947 as WFMF, owned by Marshall Field. It was used for over the air background music in the stores. By May 1974, the station, changed call letters to WLOO "W-100," later simply known as "FM-100," played an easy listening "beautiful music" format — mostly instrumental renditions of pop songs along with some soft vocalists. The station was sold to Century Broadcasting in the early 1970s, which also owned AM 820 (then WAIT, later WCZE "Cozy" and WXEZ).

Through the 1980s, the station continued the easy listening format with more vocalists including more AC artists and less standards artists. In 1988 the call letters changed to WXEZ-FM (eXtra EZ). The instrumentals were eliminated. The station evolved to a soft AC format.

In 1990, the call letters were changed to WPNT-FM, known as "The Point" and the station evolved to more straight-ahead AC, playing the top 40 hits of the '60s and '70s and the AC/soft rock hits of the '80s, '90s and beyond. WPNT-AM simulcast the FM for a while, but was quickly spun off because the land the transmitters sat on in suburban Elmhurst, Illinois became more valuable than the daytime-only station itself. On 100.3, Steve Cochran hosted morning drive, later to be replaced by Fred Winston.

By 1995, the station was again known as "FM 100", "100.3, Chicago's FM 100" or variation. Between 1995 and 1997, the format was straight ahead Hot AC.

In 1997, WPNT was sold to Evergreen Media. The station became known as "Chicago's 100.3" while the positioner was "Music That Picks You Up & Makes You Feel Good". The station heavily relied on more uptempo Hot AC along with many 80s golds.

Chancellor and Evergreen merged in 1997. At that point, Chancellor owned 95.5 WNUA (smooth jazz) (from Chancellor), Rock 103.5 WRCX (from Evergreen), 97.9 WLUP (rock) (from Evergreen), 93.9 WLIT (adult contemporary) (from Viacom), 102.7 WVAZ (urban AC) (from Evergreen/Broadcast Partners), 107.5 WGCI-FM (urban contemporary) (from Gannett), hip hop WEJM 106.3 (from Broadcast Partners/Evergreen), and WPNT.

The newly formed Chancellor had too many FM stations and had to sell 3. So, in the Summer of 1997, 106.3 WEJM was sold to Crawford Broadcasting Company and it flipped to Gospel (and urban AC years later). Bonneville International, who had already owned pop/alternative station 101.9 WTMX, bought WLUP "The Loop" and WPNT. Later, in 2000, they bought classical station WNIB (now WDRV) for $147 million.

Since The Loop had become musically close to WTMX, WLUP flipped to a classic rock format. WPNT was also musically close to WTMX; so, on September 1, 1997, WPNT became an AC station. The station's call letters were changed to WNND to match the new moniker "Windy 100."

In the late 1990s, WNND actually surpassed WLIT in the ratings a couple of times and nearly tied them much of the other times. The staff consisted of morning team Kevin & Susan, Chicago broadcaster Scott Childers in middays and market newcomer Haynes Johns in afternoons. Nights were devoted to the popular "Love Notes," hosted by John Symons. "Love Notes" routinely beat competitor "Delilah" on WLIT.

By 2002, WNND had suffered in the ratings after a disastrous dip into soft AC. On December 10, 2002, they changed to a '80s-'90s hot AC format, and was branded simply as "100.3 WNND." WNND's ratings never really took off with this format.

Chicago debuts as 100.3 FM

Chicago's 100.3 logo (2008-2010)

On November 5, 2004, at 7 a.m., WNND adopted a rhythmic-leaning AC format as "100.3 Love FM," with the WILV call letters.

In 2006, the music was moved to an uptempo variation of Rhythmic Oldies, playing mostly 70s and 80s music.

By 2007, the station began focusing on Adult Contemporary music again, and by 2008, the station was once again known as "Chicago's 100.3" as it was prior to becoming WNND in 1997. As of 2010, the station's music mix is still heavy on 70s and 80s music, but has more of an upbeat adult contemporary feel.

On June 7, 2010, at 1 p.m., WILV shifted their playlist to focus on 80s music, but 70s and 90s music still has a presence. They also changed their name to "Rewind 100.3" and format to adult hits, leaving only WLIT-FM and WCFS-FM as Chicago's only AC stations.

Current airstaff includes: Brian Peck (mornings), Megan Reed (middays), Brian Middleton (afternoons), David J (evenings), Brian Travis (overnight).

Bonneville announced the sale of WILV, as well as 16 other stations, to Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011. During the time of the transaction, WILV began beating rival WJMK, which changed back to classic hits.

HD Radio

WILV began broadcasting in HD in 2006. On HD-2 the first format was the previous "love songs" format WILV ran from 2004-2006 it changed to a nonstop mixshow "Club Love" in 2008 after the station tweaked to its current Gold AC format. On May 20, 2009 the HD-2 changed again, this time to "The Mormon Channel" a national HD-2 network run by Bonneville on HD-2 stations in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and others.

External links

• Official website
• The Mormon Channel website
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WILV
• Radio-Locator information on WILV
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WILV