Last July, Merlin Media decided to take the heritage alt rock format off of 101.1, sell the intellectual property, and flip the station to an all-news format. All of this happened despite the fact that Q101 had actual ratings, had actual fans, and made actual money. About a week ago, Merlin Media took smooth jazz off of 87.7, a station that’s got actual ratings and actual fans (even if it’s note making much actual money) and, as of 7pm Sunday …

She spent nearly eight years working with Chicago radio veteran Steve Dahl, and now Mary Sandberg has been named the new executive producer for WBBM-FM B96′s “J & Julian” morning show. Sandberg began working with Dahl in 2003, when Dahl was with WCKG-FM 105.9, where she assisted in show production and continued to manage Dahl’s business affairs through his time at WJMK-FM 104.3 and helped him to launch the Steve Dahl Podcast Network.…

Ten months after going on the air and struggling to attract listeners, WIQI-FM / FM News 101.1 can say with certainty that at least one person knows about the station. That one person is Sheldon Sorosky, attorney for imprisoned former Governor Rod Blagjoevich.…

With the demise of smooth jazz for a second time in Chicago, longtime air personality Rick O’Dell guested on WCIU-TV’s “You and Me This Morning” and spoke to Melissa Forman about why the format has once again disappeared from Chicago’s airwaves.…

Longtime Chicago producer Rick Kaempfer interviews another longtime Chicago producer Todd Ronczkowski over at Chicago Radio Spotlight. Ronczkowski spent many years producing for Roe Conn & Garry Meier before their break-up and then for Roe afterward. He’s now the PD at WVON-AM. In the interview, Ronczkowski talks about his feelings surrounding the Roe & Garry break-up.…

Radiogirl Margaret Larkin talked to Cisco Cotto, who recently made the jump from WIND-AM back to WLS-AM. Topics discussed include Mancow’s religious faith, working with Roe Conn, and the state of radio in 2010.…

Last week Lewis Lazare — or “Clueless” Lazare, as Bruce Wolf has come to refer to him — speculated in his Sun-Times column that CBS Radio’s WSCR-AM The Score might soon be heard on 105.9-FM, the current home of CBS’ Fresh FM format. Then, today, Ed Sherman, writing on his blog at Crain’s website, suggests that the market might be ready for a third sports talk station and that the FM band might be the likeliest place for such …

Just a week after Citadel Broadcasting chief Farid Suleman personally showed WLS-AM 890 general manager Mike Fowler the door, the new general manager Michael Damsky fired program director Bomb Shomper. Both Feder and Rosenthal have the story.…