About Me
Originally hitting the airwaves in 1969 on the 88.7 FM frequency in Chicago(the station moved to 90.5 FM in the mid 70's), WCYC radio (With Concern For Youth And Community) was founded by the late Director of the Little Village Boys and Girls Club, Harold Kopta, who was looking for a way to introduce community youth to the art of broadcasting as an alternative to the negative lifestyles becoming prevalent in the changing community at 28th and Ridgeway. Once a community of Bohemian and Polish residents, the community soon gave way to an influx of Mexican families who settled into the southwest side along 26th street and beyond.The original WCYC offered both radio and television classes with the ultimate prize being a spot on the radio (or behind the scenes as an engineer for such programming as "Happy Harold's Polka Hour"). The station featured a mix of Spanish, Educational, Public Affairs and English programming known as the "Young Sounds", a format overseen by a very young Kenny "Jammin" Jason-founder of the Original Hot Mix Five DJ Crew.In the early to mid 80's Kenny and his crew (including Julian "Jumpin" Perez, Mario "Smokin" Diaz and Sal "Martinez" Lapore) settled on featuring the house sound of Chicago-programming classics such as Marshall Jefferson (Move Your Body), The Housemaster Boyz (House Nation), Liz Torres (I Can't Get Enough), Chip E, Tyree and countless others. The station developed a following of young listeners looking to blaze their own trail. Majic Juan Suarez joined WCYC in 1985 and introduced listeners to his classic collection of "Golden Grooves" and "Majic Memories and More" which broke out the rare dusty vinyl collection featuring groups such as the Chi-Lites, Eddlie Holman and many local and national "R & B" and slow jam specialists.In January, 1986, Harv Roman was given the responsibility to program a four hour shift on Saturday mornings. Since he was considered "an outsider" by the existing members of WCYC, Harv wasn't allowed to play the list of House classics and had to develop and sound of his own. "Alternative Tracks", "These Memories" (disco), "90.5 Lover's Lane" (slojam dedications), "Vinyl Concert" (heavy metal) were among the shows introduced to WCYC listeners. In the summer of 1986, Harv was named as a Program Director by Kenny Jason. One of the first things that Harv did was phase out 8 minute versions of house music songs and the phasing in of dance mixes by Tony "Boom Boom" Badea, which featured music by Shannon, Lime, Nayobe and FFWD... Harv was so moved by the sounds of Tony's mixes that he purchased 12" copies of the songs that Tony used and began programming them into the regular rotation of WCYC's playlist. In essence Harv felt that the music was a unique relatable sound featuring young Latino artists, on a station located in a primarily Latino community. The combination resulted in a sound and movement that can only be described as "Beatles" music for young Latinos. Nelson "FFWD" Cruz became a vital component of WCYC as the producer of "Baby Don't Go" became fast friends with Harv and bonded with listeners of the "Saturday Afternoon/Sunday Afternoon Specials". Nelson literally gave Harv's phone number to all the freestyle acts in New York and told them that WCYC was the best radio station in Chicago and that they better send their music to WCYC if they wanted to gain a foothold in the Chicago market. As a result, WCYC can legitimately claim to have been the first station in Chicago to feature artists such as George Lamond, Cynthia, Judy Torres, and dozens of others. Not only was the music being programmed in heavy rotation, the artists were coming in for studio interviews, and taking part in radio station events. In addition the new format was also friendly to Chicago acts and gave much needed exposure to groups such as Legacy, Latin Soul, De La Mor, Marisa Lopez, Rochelle, LAW and so many that a complete listing would be difficult to compile.WCYC also gained fame as a training station for many young radio personalities who eventually became radio stars at major radio stations. In addition to Kenny and Julian, former WCYC students include Rick Party (WGCI, Kiss-FM), Donnie Devoe (Power 92), Candi Gomez (B96), Hector Lozano (Chicago White Sox) and many others. As the early 90's gave way to the mid 90's, the freestyle sound changed and was somewhat limited to Harv's interview shows while new Program Directors Chuck Wren, Irving Darling, Denise Morales and even Majic Juan Suarez experimented with alternative sounds and formats which strived to acheive the notoriety of previous years. Those years saw the WCYC team include Gino "Rockin" Romo, Pablo "Punkout" Gonzalez, Gabriel "Rican" Rodriguez, Luis Segura and others. WCYC was sold in 1997 and converted to WRTE by the new owners....Before the sale, WCYC listeners showed out in force to the Hawthorne Racetrack in Cicero with a lineup of stars performing live in an event produced by Maijc Juan and featuring Lil Suzy, Nu Image, Tonasia, Cynthia, LAW, Suave, and several other acts.Imagine that-20 years ago a chance was taken on a style of music that has remained with us through memories of sold out concerts at the Navy Pier Ballroom, The Rosemont Horizon, The Odeum in Villa Park, The Prime and Tender Nightclub, The Oak Theatre, The Congress Theatre along with smaller venues such as Highlanders, The Centrum Hall, 13 Colonies and countless hotel parties...the interviews, the music, the foot-high hairdo's, the party crews, the dedications, the Classic WCYC!!!!!!!!!!!!Watch this space for WCYC radio highlights, information on freestyle events scheduled for Studio 63 and Fonzie's in Berwyn, Illinois, and please...post your WCYC memories!!!!!!!Watch this space for WCYC memories and history coming soon.
