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Published on Thursday, 09 February 2012 14:32
WJJG-AM 1530 has announced that it will soon be adding many new shows to its growing lineup. The first announcement is that it has already added "The ForceCast" -- the popular Star Wars-themed podcast, featuring a well-known Chicago radio person -- as a new weekend show.
With the "Star Wars" films being re-imaged in 3D and being re-released starting this week, the time was right for WJJG-AM to bring this incredibly popular Internet radio show about "Star Wars" (and other sci-fi-related movies and shows) to terrestrial radio. The Elmhurst-based radio station is the first in the country to begin airing the program.
"The ForceCast" began as a small and simple Ohio-based podcast hosted by two friends & "Star Wars" fanatics, Jason Swank and Pete Nadel. Soon after Chicago radio veteran Jimmy "Mac" McInerney joined as show producer and contributor. When Pete Nadel left the show two years later, Jimmy Mac took over as full-time co-host. The weekly live show and subsequent podcast has continued to grow in popularity each month and is supported by an incredibly loyal fanbase. The podcasts are often listed as among the top downloaded podcasts on iTunes.
Jason Swank lives in Canton, OH and works primarily in field of Marketing and Public Relations. It is the other host of the show, Jimmy "Mac" McInerney, whose work should be pretty familiar to Chicago radio audiences. He started in 1990 as an intern at WLUP-FM for Kevin Matthews. After his internship impressed WLUP staffers and management, he was hired by the station. From 1991-1996, McInerney was a producer at WLUP-FM, working primarily with Jonathon Brandmeier, as well as being on the air as a personality part-time. After Brandmeier left WLUP-FM in 1996, he continued to be a technical producer for Brandmeier Productions for five more years. In 2001, he joined WCKG-FM, working as a producer for the Buzz Kilman & Wendy Snyder show and Kevin Matthews' show, as well as being a part-time on-air personality, including hosting WCKG-FM's "The Zeppelin Hour." He also worked for a short time doing production work at WCPT-AM and the Nine-FM tri-cast in 2008, before moving to WERV-FM to become its Production Director. In addition to his work at 95.9 The River, he is also the co-host of another popular podcast,
"SnydeRemarksRadio" alongside his wife, Chicago radio's Wendy Snyder.
So why bring a podcast to radio? WJJG-AM General Manager Matt DuBiel explained in a statement today, saying: "The Radio business is so ridiculous that talented RADIO people are creating great content people LOVE -- and RADIO stations aren't airing it! You wanna know where the talent is? It's on the web... and it WILL be on 1530 WJJG, so long as I have anything to say about it."
For their weekend show on WJJG-AM, Swank and McInerney will be producing an edited one-hour version of the weekly "ForceCast." For the most part, the shows will consist of the newest Internet radio show/podcast, with some "best of" bits tossed in. In the future, there could be some WJJG-exclusive content added, along with the possibility of it being tied to promotions for the radio station or helping out local sponsors.
For the time being, the show will air on Sundays from 1:00pm-2:00pm. However, the time slot is not a permanent one. With WJJG-AM being a daytime-only station and slowly being allowed longer broadcast times by the FCC as it gets closer to Summer, as well as with WJJG-AM adding many more new shows to its line-up, the "ForceCast" show will be moved to other times on weekends. In fact, many of the shows on WJJG-AM's schedule may be shifting around in the near future. Soon, the always-improving
WJJG website will add an updated schedule, letting fans know when they can hear "The ForceCast" and other shows on the station.
This Sunday's "ForceCast" show on WJJG-AM will be a special one, as Jimmy Mac will be talking in length about his just completed, personal, behind-the-scenes tour of Skywalker Ranch -- the private workplace of "Star Wars" producer/director George Lucas, located in a secluded area near Nicasio, CA.
Each Tuesday night, "The ForceCast" does its live Internet radio show on its website,
ForceCast.net, and the podcasts are made available on the site soon after, as well as on iTunes. Nothing will be changing with the Internet product as a result of being picked up by WJJG-AM.
WJJG-AM has plans for other radio show additions in the works, including other shows from the Internet. Matt DuBiel dropped some hints about what is to come, saying today: "Look for an announcement from WJJG next week about the addition of an MTV icon, a world famous tech blogger, a Mixmaster, a couple of "girlfriends" you may remember, and J...V...."
