Friday, July 15, 2011

Q101 To Live On...As iNet Station

This notice is posted on the Q101 Website; however Thursday was still a rough day for Chicago's alternative music fans, according to a story by Ryan Haggerty, The Chicago Tribune.

The city's only major alternative rock station, Q101 101.1 FM WKQX, is expected to switch to a news/talk format soon after new owners take over Friday. Disc jockeys at the nearly 20-year-old station spent Thursday saying goodbye to their listeners, while many of those listeners took to the Internet to lament their loss.

"Thank you for helping me thru so much in life," Q101 listener Amy Reinhart, 29, of Crest Hill, tweeted Thursday. "I feel as if I'm losing the soundtrack to my life and youth today."

It was no easier for the station's staff.

Christine Pawlak, the station's midday host known to listeners as "Electra," struggled to hold back tears as she signed off for the last time Thursday. "This has been more than a job for me," she said, her voice cracking slightly. "This has been my life for the past six years."

James VanOsdol, a former DJ at Q101, said the station's demise shouldn't have come as a surprise. The alternative rocker, along with Chicago classic rock station The Loop (WLUP-FM 97.9) and a New York station, were sold last month to Merlin Media, a new venture headed by Randy Michaels, former chief executive of Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune.

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