After six hours of stunting with a broad mix of music and comedy bits, iHeartMedia flipped Country “Big 95.5” WEBG Chicago to Rock “Rock 95.5” at 5pm today.
The launch brings harder rock back to Chicago for the first time since the demise of Cumulus Media’s Classic Rock “97.9 The Loop” WLUP in March 2018. Core artists for the station will include Metallica, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Linkin Park, AC/DC, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Def Leppard, Foo Fighters, and Mötley Crüe. The station will launch jockless.
The move places the station between Hubbard Classic Rock “97.1 The Drive” WDRV and Cumulus Alternative “101 WKQX” WKQX. WDRV was sixth in the August 2020 Nielsen Audio ratings with a 4.7 share, while WKQX was 17th with a 2.5 share.
iHeartMedia Chicago SVP/Programming James Howard will oversee the new format of WEBG. Howard previously has programmed multiple Rock stations for the company including WBIG-FM/WWDC Washington DC, WBZY Atlanta, WJRR Orlando and WXTB Tampa.
The first hour of the new “Rock 95.5” consisted of:
Metallica – Enter Sandman
Journey – Separate Ways
Nirvana – Come As You Are
AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long
Green Day – Brain Stew
Linkin Park – Numb
Alice In Chains – Man In The Box
Three Days Grace – I Hate Everything About You
Run DMC ft. Aerosmith – Walk This Way
Pearl Jam – Jeremy
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Red Hot Chili Peppers – By The Way
Foo Fighters – Best Of You
iHeartMedia Chicago announced today the debut of the new ROCK 95 FIVE, Chicago’s Rock Station. The new station launched at 5 p.m. this afternoon playing Rock favorites including Metallica, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Linkin Park, AC/DC, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Def Leppard, Foo Fighters, Mötley Crüe and more.
“Our goal with ROCK 95 FIVE is to provide the music Chicagoland has been missing, a key soundtrack for a large lifestyle group,” said James Howard, Regional Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Chicago. “Our purpose is to be a driving force and a companion in the lives of millions of Rock music fans for years to come.”
“I am thrilled to bring Rock music back to Chicago,” said Matt Scarano, President of iHeartMedia Chicago. “These songs haven’t been played on the air for years. I am looking forward to hearing the soundtrack of our lives on ROCK 95 FIVE.”
The programming line-up will be announced later.
Original Report 1:00pm: iHeartMedia has dropped the Country format of “Big 95.5” WEBG Chicago and began stunting at 11am today.
The stunt began with REM’s “End of the World As We Know It”, Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On”, and Rage Against The Machine “Killing In The Name Of”. A legal ID break at the top of the 12pm hour stated “It’s going to sound weird here. Keep listening” into Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The USA”.
WEBG ranked 21st in the Chicago market with a 2.1 share in the August 2020 Nielsen Audio ratings just behind Entercom’s heritage Country “US 99” 99.5 WUSN with a 2.3.
