Chicago’s Gold Standard for Adult Contemporary is 93.9 Lite FM. For nearly 37 years, 93.9 Lite FM has generated monster ratings with discipline, consistency and investing in local talent.
This fall will mark the 25th year they will deliver record Nielsen numbers with their All-Christmas programming strategy – often posting double-digit numbers and double-digit leads over competitors.
It was told when we competed against them in the 1990s, then-owner Viacom invested over a million (!!) dollars each year in marketing alone. Our team at Oldies 104.3 WJMK only beat them twice. Both times in the summer book and at Infinity Broadcasting, that ‘didn’t count.’
The 93.9 Lite FM DNA is so strong. They thrive on digital and social media platforms for their branding outreach.
In the three and a half decades they’ve been in the format, only once – regrettably – have they booted the “Lite FM” audio logo. In 2013, they adopted the 93.9 My FM moniker but returned to “Lite FM” with the slogan “Relaxing Favorites” a few years later.
93.9 Lite FM has tinkered with their slogan, framing their music as with sell lines such as “Lite Favorites,” “More Variety From The 80’s and Now,” “Relaxing Favorites” and just this May, 93.9 Lite FM parked “Relaxing Favorites” in favor of “More Music, More Variety”—no matter as the 93.9 Lite FM powerhouse is immune to slogan addiction.
We wrote about slogan addiction in April. Read that piece – HERE.
Through the waves of iHeart staff reductions, 93.9 Lite FM has maintained its strong local personalities. Robin Rock has held down middays – several stints over 25 years- and Program Director Mick Lee has locally helmed afternoon drive for over a decade.
Anchoring the morning show is long-time host Melissa Forman. She was something of a unicorn in 2001 when she first hosted AM Drive before leaving for a successful television stint, only to return seven years later. Female-led Adult Contemporary morning shows 25 years ago were the exception.
Now, successful female-led morning shows are in Los Angeles (KOST – 103.3 – The Ellen K Morning Show), Houston (The Dana Cortez Show) and dozens of other smaller markets. We need to open our thinking to place talented female leads in mornings with our future openings.
We had a recent conversation with Melissa Forman, who is on her second tour of duty with 93.9 Lite FM.
Kevin Robinson – Tell us about you and your radio path from the beginning to Chicago.
Melissa Forman – Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, I listened to the greats like John Records Landecker and Jonathan Brandmeier and then heard Patty Hayes. That was the first time I heard a female as a full show host on WCKG.”
Then, when I went to school at the University of Illinois in Champaign, I heard a morning show called “John and Maura,” and they were just so good. I would wake up in the morning and hear what they were doing. Then at 10 O’clock, they would say goodbye, and I thought, “That’s the job I want!” They get off at 10 am, and I thought they sipped cocktails all day. I was so wrong. I didn’t realize how much work went into it. A light bulb went off. I thought, “THIS is exactly what I want to do!”
Then I went on to intern for them, and The Simpsons had just come out. I was in a production meeting, and they said it was going to be really big. The station was trying to find someone who could emulate the main character Bart’s voice for commercials.
I thought it sounds like my Aunt Lindy (in Bart’s voice) ‘who kinda sounds like this’. Somehow Bart Simpson suddenly came out of me. It was gangbusters, and I was doing Bart’s voice in a bunch of commercials.
After graduation, John and Maura left, and I got Maura’s job the week after. My dream job. They paired me up with Jerome Ritchie, who did a Homer to my Bart. We stayed together for five years, then Jerome went to do television.
When you and I met (note – we interviewed Melissa to pair with John Landecker at Oldies 104.3 in Chicago, but it didn’t work out), it was the hardest decision of my life. I had not fully developed as a talent and had few skills in editing and running a board. I turned it down because I felt I needed to go to another market to sharpen my skills. I wasn’t Chicago–ready. So, I spent every Saturday morning in Champaign at 6 am for a year and a half in the studio learning all of the equipment. I felt that upped my game!
From Champaign, I went to Cincinnati to work at Jacor’s Mix 94.5 for almost three years. With my boyfriend in Chicago and me having more experience, I thought I’d put a tape together and try to get back home. In the station editing bay, I ran into a guy named Harry Legg who was also putting together a tape.
After meeting Harry, he said, “Melissa, I’ll never ever forget you.” About a year later, they were starting a station in suburban Chicago called Kiss FM. Someone called me and said that I need to send my tape for a morning show opening to Kiss FM and to the Assistant Program Director. His name was Harry Legg.
How many Harry Legg’s are there besides my own two legs? So, I sent it, and that moment brought me back to Chicago, partnering me with George McFly. After that, someone from Lite FM heard me and I got a call to join them.
KROB – What’s your best day in radio – and why?
MF – Oh, there are so many. I was trying out bands for my wedding, and my producer, as a joke, brought in Dennis DeYoung of Styx. He sang “Babe” first. I love him so much. In the studio, Dennis played a bunch of songs as a ‘try-out’ for my wedding band. It was great.
Also, it was not a great day, but it was memorable. In Champaign, we were doing a live show from a hot air balloon, and we started going down FAST in a chemical wasteland. We actually asked if we should go down LIVE or stop the broadcast. Thankfully, the pilot pulled up at the last minute!
KROB – What would you say or advise emerging talent on your role in getting into radio today?
MF – Learn all the social media and marry them a lot. Whatever I do on-air, I place or continue online. Do it yourself. Don’t farm it out to someone. Don’t rely on someone else. Learn how to do everything. If the station blew up tomorrow, I could put together a full-blown show by myself.
Make it about the listener as though you opened a door and let the listener in. Podcasting and TV are outward-focused. Radio is a two-way street between you and the listener. Make them feel included and create a fun, safe place to be. Make your show about things that connect us. Food, pets, goofy stories, and let the listener tell THEIR story! On air AND online.
KROB – If you could host a show with any guest, living or dead, who would it be—and what would you talk about?
MF – That’s a great question. I think it would be amazing if Princess Diana and I could sit down and ask her everything. What really happened in her marriage and her life? That would be a great show.
Melissa Fun Facts:
- The first woman to host both AM Drive and PM Drive simultaneously in a major market
- Sat in all 17,000 seats at University of Illinois Memorial Stadium for charity
- Discovered while interning in Champaign, Illinois, with Saga Communications after doing a spot-on Bart Simpson impersonation (see above)
- Raised over half a million dollars single-handedly for local charities
- Lived for four days in a shopping mall as a radio stunt
- Went over six G’s on-air in a fighter jet
Follow Melissa on social media on Facebook at Melissa Forman, @Melforman on Instagram, @MelissaForman on Twitter(x), and @Melforman on Threads.
We can all learn from the drive and passion Melissa Forman brings to radio daily, after more than three decades on the mic.
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