In 1974, when I was 8 years old, our family moved from Carswell AFB, TX to Chanute AFB, IL. Sometime in late 1975, I discovered WLS broadcasting out of Chicago, some 121 miles away. Early in 1976, I picked up my first WLS survey. For the next five years, I collected the surveys, used them as shopping lists, marked them up and folded them and carried them around in my pants pockets before eventually depositing them in a Dingo Boots box. In 1981, we moved from Chanute AFB, IL to Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ. That Dingo box with my beloved surveys mysteriously disappeared during the move, never making it to Arizona.
Thirty-five years later, I came across a guy selling his collection of WLS surveys on eBay. Bought nearly 50 surveys from various years from him and he always included other Chicago radio station surveys with his unbelievably pristine WLS surveys. Then I ran into monetary issues for many months and when I got liquid again, I went back on eBay only to find a former Chicago-area record store owner who moved to Utah and put his entire inventory in storage, selling it off a few pieces at a time. He was selling complete years of WLS surveys at a much, much cheaper price than I had been paying. I ordered a year's worth of surveys from him and much to my delight, they were also in pristine condition so, over the next two months, I ordered five more years worth and now I have nearly all the WLS surveys from 1977-1982 with about 20 surveys from 1976. It's more of a complete collection and in much better condition than I ever had in that long-gone Dingo box.
UPDATE: In November 2018, I acquired another 45 surveys — all in unbelievably pristine condition! — from a fellow collector after a lengthy (and ultimately unnecessary) negotiation. There are a few duplicates so I still don't have the complete run but I'm soclose.
1976
1977
1982
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