The Full History of WNIB, Classical 97 in Chicago

By Bruce Duffie, Announcer/Producer (1975-2001)



For reasons known only to himself or herself, someone has decided to eliminate the Wikipedia page devoted to WNIB.

After being posted in 2009, and remaining there for several years, the label of the original Wikipedia page for "WNIB" was changed in 2016 to "WNIB (Defunct)", which, though somewhat offensive, was correct.  However, in February of 2019, the material was "merged" into the page for WDRV.  Much of the WNIB story was deleted, and what was left was a compact and truncated version of the original.

In my opinion, there is simply no reason to "merge" the two onto one page.  Aside from using the same FM frequency (97.1, aka channel 246), there was absolutely no connection between WNIB and WDRV.  It is NOT that there was simply a change in format -- as has happened to many other stations on both radio and television.  WNIB closed its operation.  The license to use the frequency was sold to Bonneville, who then opened their own operation.  No one from WNIB went to work for WDRV, and none of the equipment was transferred.  WDRV was a completely new enterprise, with new management and staff and a new studio location, and no connection whatsoever with WNIB.  Therefore, to "merge" the two stories is ludicrous.  Each Wikipedia page should have (and did have) a small note about the other station being on the same frequency.  That was all that was needed.  Anyone who is interested in WNIB would have no desire to read about WDRV, and I'm sure none of the listeners of WDRV have the least concern about WNIB.

I have not tried to contact the person who did this "merge".  If anyone else does make contact, I would be interested in learning the reasons.

My objective in posting the original page (below) is that without it, much of the story of WNIB would simply be lost.  

In the photo of the article (below), none of the links are active.  I have added active links to the references directly below the photo.




WNIB

Here are the links to the "References"...

[1]   [2]   [3]   [4]   [5]   [6]   [7]

[8]   [9]   [10]   [11]   [12]   [13]   [14]

[15]   [16]   [17]   [18]   [19]

... and the "External links" [Articles, photos and other info about WNIB] can be found HERE