Goodbye Jack, Hello Eddie and Bobo

Chicago radio personalities Ed Volkman and Joe Bohannon are returning to WJMK-FM (104.3), which is switching its format, according to Lewis Lazare Media & Marketing Columnist at suntimes.com.

At 1:04 p.m. Monday, CBS Radio Chicago’s WJMK-FM (104.3) will switch to a new format featuring classic hits from the 1960s, ‘70’s and ‘80s that management believes will improve the station’s ratings. The well-known radio duo are returning to the CBS Radio Chicago fold to anchor WJMK’s new morning show from 5:30 to 10 a.m.

Eddie and Jobo, as they are more familiarly known, were famously dumped from CBS Radio Chicago’s Top 40 WBBM-FM (96.3) three years ago to cut costs when the economic downturn hit the radio industry hard. The duo also had outgrown B-96’s core 18- to 34-year-old audience demo.

At the time of their exit from WBBM-FM Volkman and Bohannon were part of the city’s elite corps of so-called “million dollar mouths” — on-air talent that earned a million dollars or more a year for their services.

CBS Radio Chicago market manager Rod Zimmerman wouldn’t discuss terms of WJMK’s deal with Volkman and Bohannon, but their new salaries are believed to be considerably less than a million dollars a year.

Joining Eddie and Jobo at WJMK will be Bo Reynolds, another former WBBM-FM jock who had a show there from 1987 to 1990. Reynolds will anchor afternoon drive from 3 p.m to 8 p.m.

Another WBBM-FM alumnus, Gary Spears will host mid-days on the WJMK from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting March 21. Broadway Bill Lee, a talent from New York, will fill in until Spears starts. Spears was on air at B96 from 1982 to 1984 and again from 1990 to 1994. Zimmerman said another host will be named soon to anchor WJMK’s evening show starting at 8 p.m.

Read more here.