Looking for WIGL Jingles
WIGL radio was a daytime Top-40 music station covering the Duluth-Superior market from 1961 to 1964. I am a collector of radio jingles, and have many from WEBC and a couple of early WAKX ones. However, WIGL has been elusive. I e-mailed Lew Latto about it (who owned the station for a while), and he regretfully replied that he was unable to help me. I know some people taped the radio back then (I did) — maybe there’s an aircheck out there with a WIGL jingle or two. I remember they had purple promo signs on the backs of the city buses during that era, and their jingles always ended with “Wiggle!!!” Posting this in case somebody is unknowingly sitting on a piece of Duluth-Superior broadcasting history.
Although I am not yet able to help with this request, I’m compelled to note that the subject puts me in the mood for Claire Stewart.
I never recorded it but I can hear it in my head. (Can you?) “W-I-G-L, 97 wiggle!”
And for good measure, here’s a KAOH jingle (also an mp3).
Keep your dial aimed up high
One-three-nine-oh Kay-oh radio!
Here it is, courtesy of Midwest Communications’ Dave Strandberg.
WIGL jingle (mp3)
There’s a lollapalooza of a radio station
A 23-skidooza with syncopation
Wiggle-97 Duluth-Superior
They got the ol’ pizzazz, they have
They got that razzmatazz!
I don’t remember the “Keep your dial aimed up high” line, but I can sing the “1-3-9-oh, Kay-Oh Radio” line. (To myself, of course.)
KAOH of course became KQDS. I’m not sure when they moved their frequency up from 1390 to 1490 where they now are. For a while there was also an oldies station at 1390 called KBXT (“K-Best.”) It didn’t last long, and I’m not sure if it was part of KQ or not. KOOL 101 was originally, I think, a separate operation from the WEBC group; it was called KLXK (Klassix FM.) Other now-defunct stations worth mentioning include WDTH (originally top 40 in stereo, then a hippy-dippy “alternative” format,) WRSR Smooth Jazz 104 (now hard rocker KZIO, which is not related to the original KZIO…it’s a long story…The Point 107.7 (WPNT??) now Mix 108, KPIR (later WAKX-FM, now KTCO) and WGGR (later WAVC, now B-105,) both “elevator music.” I still remember KPIR’s breaks with lapping waves and “The view is always beautiful from ‘Pier 99’…in stereo.”
On 107.7, the current KBMX “Mix 108” had the call KUSZ when it was “The Point 107.7.” WPNT was never assigned in Duluth to my knowledge. “The Point” existed in 1999 through 2002 (and beyond)? but I don’t have definite start and end dates. I recall DJ’s Billy Reisen, Cory ________, and Mark Edwards if my memory is working.
I recently moved from Superior to Chippewa Falls WI.
In the move, I know that I have the last 15 minutes of WIGL before it went dark.
The jocks were claiming ‘trouble with their transmitter’ when in reality the problem
was that they hadn’t paid their phone bill – so the phone company was terminating
their lines. This is a reel to reel.
I also have (had) some WIGL jingles… I don’t know if they made the move with me.
I ridded myself of 99.9% of my audio equipment in my move, so I have no way to play/recover these items.
You can contact me: [email protected]