DJ MoonDawg
The two top-rated evening shows on Chicago radio aren’t resting on their laurels. Clear Channel programmers changed their nighttime lineups this week at both urban contemporary WGCI FM 107.5 and urban adult-contemporary WVAZ FM 102.7.
DJ MoonDawg, a rising star among hip hop deejays, has been named host of WGCI’s new evening show from 7 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday. He succeeds Al B. Sylk, who left the station, and Chris Michaels, who shifts to V103.
A Chicago native, former Marine and graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, DJ MoonDawg (whose real name is Michael Muniz) joined WGCI as an intern and quickly moved up to on-air personality/mixer. He most recently was on from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
“He lives the lifestyle, knows the audience and he’s full of refreshing ideas,” WGCI program director Kenard Karter said of DJ MoonDawg. “I believe he’ll rewrite the way talent integrates listeners into our radio brand with his strong grasp of social media, energy and passion for the format.”
Chris Michaels
Michaels, a 13-year veteran who’d hosted “Whispers in the Dark” from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. weekdays on WGCI, takes over V103’s “The Quiet Storm” from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday. Keith Sweat’s syndicated “The Sweat Hotel” moves to 2 to 5 a.m.
“Chris is one of the best entertainers I’ve had the pleasure of working with,” Derrick Brown, director of urban programming for Clear Channel Chicago, said in a statement. “I have no doubt he will continue to captivate listeners with his unique brand of conversation and the best slow jams in Chicago.”
Michaels isn’t the first WGCI personality to shift to V103. Connie “Consuella” Williams, who previously hosted nighttime on WGCI, moved to middays on V103 last year.
The changes at both stations appear designed to reinforced their respective formats and solidify their target audiences at night, with WGCI dominating the 18-to-34 demographic and V103 dominating the 25-to-54 demo.
In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, V103 led the market in evenings with an 8.3 percent share of all listeners and a cumulative weekly audience of 440,600. WGCI ranked second with a 6.3 share and a weekly cume of 562,200