Chicago rock radio WLUP is now Christian programming, signed off with AC/DC. Maiden, and Motley Crue

[Miles Archer]

Just before Chicago's long-running classic rock station WLUP was replaced by Christian music programming at the stroke of midnight last night, the devil got his chance to say goodbye thanks to AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Motley Crue.

According to numerous fan reports and videos (which you can see and hear below), the last three songs played before the station nicknamed "the Loop" signed off were Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil," Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast" and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

WLUP was founded in 1977, and drew national attention two years later with the infamous Disco Demolition Night. In a pyrotechnic protest against the popular dance music craze, the station actually blew up a pile of disco records that fans brought to Comiskey Park, home of baseball’s Chicago White Sox. Unfortunately, things got out of hand when some of the 60,000 fans in attendance overwhelmed the security team, charging and damaging the field and forcing the cancellation of the second half of the night's doubleheader.

“We tried to break new ground, to break the rules, to be different and had amazing, talented people,” former station impresario Jimmy de Castro told the Chicago Tribune. “We had a hell of a lot of fun.” After earning a spot as the city's third most popular station in 1979, WLUP slipped to 15th in the latest Nielsen survey for Chicago, with a 2.9 share.

The good news is that the Loop lives on...on the internet at least. You can listen to a streaming version of the station at wlup.com, and show your support for the station by buying their official T-shirt.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/wlup-last-songs-devil/

[Upthevibe]

1. Bummer! We lost a really good station here in L.A. a few

months ago - 100.3 The Sound - to a Christian channel....WTF?!?!?

[IcyPeas]

11. some of the hosts from 100.3.....

have been showing up on 88.5 KCSN which is a station out of California State U. at Northridge.

It is commercial free too.

Check it out if you haven't already.

Mimi Chen is there hosting her fantastic show Peace, Love and Sunday Mornings which she started when she was at 100.3.

[Upthevibe]

15. Wow! I just found out about that station this morning when I

was listening to a podcast. I guess that means I need to listen....

[Dr Hobbitstein]

2. Our local classic rock station in Central Florida

shut down about 5 years ago and became RW hate radio. We have a new one as of last year, but it’s owned by Infinity Broadcasting, and it kind of sucks.

[lunasun]

3. Leave it to the WLUP to go down from a Christian station with those three songs

the last three songs played before the station nicknamed "the Loop" signed off were Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil," Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast" and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

[CincyDem]

4. Say it ain't so....

IIRC, Steve Dahl was doing the morning show on The Loop when he did his "Disco Sucks" promotion with Bill Veeck - owner of the White Sox in the 70's and a consummate showman. Bring a disco record (that would be vinyl for some of our younger members) and get in free. We'll pile them all up in the 7th inning stretch and burn them.

Now, it seems nobody involved in this promo had any science in their background.

It was a substantial pile, jackets and all. Between the cardboard and the vinyl...this pile went up like a rocket and burned for hours.

Game was cancelled - White Sox forfeited. The next 2-3 home games were cancelled...maybe evening the first game or two on the other side of a road trip. The issue - center field had a 30ft hole in it where the grass was scorched and with all that plastic residue that burned into the ground, then couldn't get an sod to hold.

Fun time with The Loop.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

9. That was pretty much it, though I believe it was between games of a double header.

And in addition to not being rocket scientists, they grossly underestimated how big the crowd would be and never figured they'd pour out onto the field.

[CincyDem]

10. Yeah - I think that's right.

I'd forgotten about double headers. Not sure about Chicago but they're pretty much a thing of the past in Cincinnati unless there's a rainout they have to reschedule. Even then, they clear out the stadium for the second set of ticket holders. Ahhhh...those were the days.

Do you remember all his characters and the morning games. Still laugh about the Raisin Bran roulette...12 scoops of cereal, 11 raisins and a fly.

Just can't see waking up to the Loop screaming "Praise the Lord and pass the jelly".

[mucifer]

13. Yeah as a kid I found the whole thing so amusing. My brother was a beer vendor that day

He said the Sox management locked all the vendors in a safe area (maybe it was to keep the beer safe who knows). It was really crazy.

Not so funny when I look back on it as an adult. The regular fans who had no idea what was going down got stuck in that mess and missed the second game.

[jmowreader]

14. They weren't burned. They were blown up.

&t=352s

Oh...and admission that night was a disco record and 99 cents.

[Merlot]

5. A classic rock station here in LA got taken over by religious music as well

A scary trend.

[Initech]

12. Yup, and it sucks.

Thank god for iPods and mp3 players. Then I don't have to listen to that shit!

[Fla Dem]

6. Pandora, Sirius, Tune-in etc is death to the rock stations. Who listens to AM/FM anymore?

[malthaussen]

7. WIBG in Philadelphia...

... started life as Christian radio (Why I Believe in God), then mutated into the #1 or #2 (depends on who you talk to: lives were lost over the arguments) Top 40 station in Philadelphia. When Top 40 died, it became (first) talk radio, and then reverted to a Christian station.

Now all that's left of the Top 40 days is a few recordings on the 'Net.

-- Mal

[Gidney N Cloyd]

8. I was a huge Loop fan it its heyday. The music was OK but the hosts were awesome!

That was the 80s/90s. It was a good long run in radio time. The last decade or two the big talent had all scattered and it became just another rock station.
Interesting that the Loop's 80s/90s management ultimately went to WGN to clean up "Pig Vomit's" (Howard Stern's nemesis) final mess. Now they've bailed out just ahead of Sinclair taking over.