Video salutes the legendary Lujack

For someone who spent his entire career behind a microphone, “Superjock” Larry Lujack left a remarkable legacy of work in front of the camera, too.

From his television commercials to his movie theater trailers and from his talk show interviews to his Hall of Fame acceptance speeches, Ol’ Uncle Lar invariably proved as charming and delightful on screen as he did on radio.

Art Vuolo Jr.

Art Vuolo Jr.

No one amassed a more extensive visual record of Lujack’s career in Chicago than Art Vuolo Jr., the Detroit videographer and broadcast historian known as “Radio’s Best Friend.” In tribute to Lujack, who died Dec. 18 at age 73, Vuolo has produced a 73-minute video tribute, “Memories of Larry Lujack.”

Linked above is a 13-minute collection of highlights from the DVD. The complete production is available for $20 (plus $3 shipping) from vuolovideo.com. Five dollars from each sale will be donated to two charities designated by Lujack’s widow, Jude — Save the Children and Smile Train.

Vuolo’s video captures Lujack’s Chicago career from the late ’60s and early '70s (when he crossed back and forth between former Top 40 rivals WCFL and WLS) through his ’80s heyday at WLS and his reunion with Tommy Edwards at the former WRLL in 2003. Highlights include:

  • A 1976 appearance on the WLS-Channel 7 late-night talk show “Graffiti” during Lujack’s “beautiful music” purgatory following a format change at WCFL. While a bearded Lujack matches wits with host John Coleman, the show also features Bob Sirott and Fred Winston.
  • A 1981 profile of Lujack on the WFLD-Channel 32 magazine show “P.M. Magazine,” with Mike Leiderman chronicling a day in the life of Chicago’s "Superjock."
  • Vuolo’s own video of the WLS 25th reunion in 1985 (including Lujack in studio with Tommy Edwards, Charlie Van Dyke and J.J. Jeffrey), and the station’s 2008 reunion with Lujack and Edwards performing an entire “Animal Stories” bit on the air.
  • Edwards’ introduction and Lujack’s acceptance of his Radio Hall of Fame induction in 2004, and Lujack’s acceptance of his National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame induction in 2008.

It’s a lovingly produced tribute to one of America’s all-time greatest broadcasters and a bittersweet testament to the last golden era of personality radio.