To answer dieter's question, I hated almost all disco music and thought it ruined radio for the years it became the new go-to thing on the air. But what happened in Chicago was inexcusable. 

Nobody ever mentions this but part of the liking or hating of disco music also depended if an individual enjoyed dancing or not.  I noticed most of the people who hated disco also wouldn't dance even to a non disco song.  Maybe it was because they were used to rock concerts where dancing generally didn't happen.  Or they were uncomfortable going up to the dance floor.  Anyway, those that would dance didn't seem to dislike disco as much, or didn't mind some of it.

And the death of disco brought in a golden age for contemporary music and radio...New Wave!  Funny now how the big disco era songs are oldies or classic songs.  Must admit when Disco Inferno comes on the radio, I crank it up.

Last edited by paterson1 (October 4, 2023 11:02 am)

It's listed on PBS Seattle's schedule for 9 pm Pacific on Monday, Midnight EST.

Great documentary, and it covers a lot of ground beyond the Comiskey Park "moment."

As always, PBS does a superb job of putting it all in context - and some of the ramifications (musically, socially and politically) are still being felt today. Miss this doc at your peril!

Last edited by Stacks of wax (November 2, 2023 7:21 pm)

   Word from WNED (PBS Buffalo) is that it will air The War on Disco on Monday, January 8th at 9 pm.   As many of you have figured out, the PBS emails advertising shows you can stream don't apply to us north of the border -- they can't be streamed here off their website.  Apparently Buffalo and other border stations have been after the PBS pooh-bas to add that note to those emails, but to no avail so far.

The Chicago Tribune pays tribute to the radio station at the centre of this special and home to one of the medium's biggest controversies - WLUP, aka "The Loop" - in Chicago. 

Once upon a time there was the radio station WLUP, and what a wild place it was

mic'em wrote:

Anyone who missed hearing WLUP aka AM1000 in it's hayday , missed some of the most entertaining radio of that era. Kevin Mathews did a number of character voices and had an amazing production crew . One of my favourite characters was his sports reporter, Jim Shortz. He would alternate voices , carrying on conversations between characters . Then , following his show, was Steve and Gary. I used to hear the replay overnights while driving a semi unit all night. On a local note, Live Earl Jive guest hosted for Steve and Gary for a week after he had left CFNY. 

Steve & Gary did afternoon drive. In the late fall, when it got dark early, I always listened to them.

RadioActive wrote:

No idea what took so long, but this episode about the war on disco and the famous Chicago radio promotion that spiralled out of control is finally, finally going to air on WNED on Monday, Jan. 8th at 9 PM, in case you missed it online or didn't get the chance to see it some other way. (Thanks to Dieter for noting this earlier on in this thread.)

It was quite good, and had the ultimate bonus of reminding me why I hated disco so much in the first place!

WNED regularly does this and it drives me crazy, can't understand the rationale. It doesn't serve anyone, themselves and esp. the viewers. Usually it's a couple weeks but this was a particularly egregious example - the thing aired on most PBS stations about 5, 6 weeks ago.

I can't comment on the specific show, obviously racism played a part, but what is always omitted in this stock narrative is that white rock critics and music influencers fairly loved soul and early R&B music, as well as some reggae, so the distaste for disco wasn't entirely about who was performing it. A lot of it was schlock or derivative or repetitive (and I say that as someone who, I suspect, likes a few more disco tracks than yourself).