CHAPTER THIRTEEN

                                    

                                          
From its inception in 1987, Oldies 98.1, WOGL-FM in Philadelphia had been the most popular Oldies station in the Delaware Valley, known as simply “Oldies 98”. By 1992, WOGL incorporated more soul oldies while still playing such artists as Elvis, and The Rolling Stones. In addition, however, it focused on soul, including Philadelphia-only hits. Throughout the years, WOGL-FM had played about 15% of 1950s, 15% early 1960s, 55% mid-to-late 1960s, 13% 1970s, and 2% 1980s. 
  And during its time, WOGL had aired specialty shows such as the “Hot Lunch Special” request show, “Elvis & Friends”, “The Top 20 Countdown”, “Brunch With The Beatles”, and “Street Corner Sunday”. But times were a changing at the station known as WOGL: In 2001, all specialty shows were dropped and Scott Walker had left the station; some of the specialty shows were brought back, while more 1970s music was added and even 1980s tracks were heard. And then, in 2003, the name “Oldies 98” had been downplayed and then the station became known as “Motown, Soul, & Rock & Roll 98.1 WOGL”.
  And then, in late 2016 & 2017, the hosts of the popular morning show at WOGL, “The Breakfast Club”, had been let go: Valerie Knight, Frank Lewis, and Bill Zimpfer; the following year, in 2018, WOGL-FM no longer plays 1960s and early 1970s music, with its own playlist shifting towards focusing on hits from the 1970s through the early 1990s, with a much heavy focus on the 1980s. And on January 21st of that very same year, “Street Corner Sunday”, after 29 years, had been discontinued in favor of regular programming. 
   Finally, in April of 2022, after playing George Harrison’s “Got My Mind Set On You” at 8:30 AM, the station went into a commercial stop and began a half-hour stunt with songs that featured the word “Big” in the title or artist name. At 9:00 AM, WOGL-FM was relaunched as “Big 98.1”, readjusting their classic hits format to focus primarily on songs from the 1970s to the 1990s, with the very first song being “Don’t Stop Believin”, by Journey. Meanwhile, Bob Pantano’s “Saturday Night Dance Party” had moved to WOGL’s HD2 subchannel after being on the main frequency as far back as WOGL’s launch in 1987.