Tom Marker

Tom Marker, who’s been synonymous with blues music on Chicago radio for three decades, is adding his brand to the weekend lineup at WDCB FM 90.9.

Starting January 3, he’ll host “Blues Time!” from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturdays on the College of DuPage noncommercial public radio station.

Marker’s new show, which replaces Greg Freerksen’s “Blues Edition,” is part of an expanded commitment to the musical art form, which station manager Dan Bindert called “one of the greatest cultural treasures of Chicago.” Freerksen will continue as blues host emeritus.

Billed as “Chicago’s Home For Jazz and Blues,” WDCB dedicates 12 hours each week to blues and related music, including a 10-hour blues bash from 7 p.m. Saturdays to 5 a.m. Sundays.

“We are very excited that Tom Marker is coming on board at WDCB in 2015,” Bindert said Wednesday. “We are confident that both WDCB’s already loyal blues listeners as well as Marker’s long time followers will enjoy ‘Blues Time!’ on WDCB.”

Marker will continue to host “Blues Breakers” from 9 to 10 p.m. Mondays on CBS Radio adult album alternative WXRT FM 93.1, as he has since 1984. Foreshadowing his new venue, Marker turned up one week last month as guest-host of WDCB’s “Blues Edition.”

Around this time last year Marker’s full-time position as evening personality was eliminated in a year-end budget cut at WXRT. Thousands of fans protested the move through petitions and social media before he returned on a free-lance basis without contract or benefits.

Marker, a graduate of Columbia College, spent five years as program director and music director of WJKL in Elgin before joining WXRT in 1980.