So, you may have heard us mention that 2015 is WBNQ's 40th anniversary. (Damn, we're old.)  So, how did we get here?  Glad you (didn't really) ask.

101.5 is actually a lot older than 40 — the FM channel began life in 1947 as WJBC-FM, rebroadcasting our sister station, 1230 WJBC.  Sometime in the mid-1960s, 101.5 WJBC-FM stopped replaying our AM station and started a format of classical music mixed with standards (think Frank Sinatra).  In 1967, the station changed its' call letters to WBNQ and evolved into playing mostly easy listening music.  According to WBNQ's first Top 40 program director, Denny Adkins, WBNQ first changed to oldies music on August 1, 1972.  Unlike the previous music format, though, the oldies music was played from big reel-to-reel tapes by a very primitive computer-like machine.  Two years later, in August 1974, WBNQ started broadcasting a different oldies format, this time with a few new songs sprinkled in every hour.  

Thanks to Doug Quick, who is a weatherman on Champaign's channel 15 TV, we can hear a little bit of the oldies on WBNQ.

Finally, in the spring of 1975, the big switch was made — from oldies to the Top 40 music format that's been on 101.5 for the last 40 years.  Like the oldies format, though, this new Top 40 music was also played from the tapes from California with no local DJs.  Commercials, news and weather were pre-recorded by the staff of WJBC and inserted into the tapes for the "computer" to play back.

Here's a couple samples of the computerized format, again courtesy of Doug Quick.

In February 1976, with WBNQ being a big success, the company that provided the music tapes to WBNQ hired Denny Adkins away.  However, BNQ continued to evolve, eventually going to live, local music and DJs — some you'll definitely remember, like Robbins & Laughlin, J.D. Scott, Mike Justin, John Weis, Susan & Fasig, Russell Rush and more!

We'll have stories from some of your favorite WBNQ DJs of the past as the year goes on, and if you have any suggestions or memories of WBNQ, we'd love to hear them!  E-mail [email protected].

The upshot?  We're old, but we still know how to party.

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