Posted by chicagomedia.org on December 10, 2008 at 15:28:06:
Behind the cheer at WLIT
By Jason George | Tribune reporter
December 10, 2008
The weather outside might be frightful, but tinsel and twinkling lights warm things up inside the Loop studios of WLIT-FM 93.9. The hallways are decorated with glowing Santa and snowman yard ornaments. The Lite employees smile like small-town carolers. And, oh yeah, Christmas music plays 24 hours a day, every day.
Cheer they got.
Robin Rock, the midday DJ, says she loves playing those yuletide tunes, which The Lite has done around the holidays for the last seven years.
"I like the old Christmas stuff, the stuff from church," says Rock, who speaks on and off the air with the soothing voice of a comforting friend.
Rock's favorite holiday song is "O Holy Night," although she plays 'em all—even those that will grate the nerves by the time Christmas Day arrives.
"You can tell when school break has started, because that's when I start getting all the calls for 'Dominick the Donkey.' "
Such calls and requests don't directly result in the DJs' playing certain songs at The Lite—it's a little secret of modern, corporate radio that DJs don't pick their music. Instead, Clear Channel Broadcasting, the station's owner, selects the songs, which exist not on CDs but in the ether, a digital jukebox known as the Clear Channel computer servers.
You might wonder what DJs do if they're not planning their playlists, but there is plenty to fill their time, if Rock's shift is any guide. First, she records a show for a sister station in Phoenix, where she talks about the local weather and news as if she's in Arizona.
(The subterfuge works both ways—only three of the Lite's five on-air talents actually work in Chicago.)
After the Phoenix show, she does her show here, chatting between the songs, recording promos, taking calls and updating her litefm.com blog. The highlight of her day, she said, is granting "Christmas Wishes" for listeners who have written in asking for gifts, often for others. It's a contest The Lite does three times a day.
"I wish I could grant them all," said Rock.
On this day, Rock calls - off the air - a grandmother in Bradley who wishes to take her three grandchildren to the the John Hancock Center observatory. When Rock tells her she'll grant the wish, the woman starts crying over the phone.
"Thank you," she says again and again.
"I just can't believe it. ... It's been a long year."
Rock ends the call, looks up with a smile and dries her own wet eyes.
"Isn't this the best job ever?"