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Shop The WYEN Experience
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The WYEN Experience

$15.00

The WYEN Experience

by Stew Cohen

290 pages, English

James Earl Jones voicing Darth Vader in Star Wars had a set of pipes a radio news anchor in the 1970s might envy. CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow wrote in a style many radio news writers tried to copy. Their skills were honed over time. While few ever reach the stature of a Jones or Murrow, radio broadcasters rely on stations where they can develop these skills. In the seventies, one such place was WYEN-FM in Des Plaines, Illinois.

In The WYEN Experience, author Stew Cohen tells the story of this mom-and-pop radio station—106.7 on the dial—that opened in 1971 and was built on a genuine passion for radio. It flourished through the 1970s, stumbled in the early 1980s, and then sold to a new owner. He provides an insider’s look into the happenings of this station that entertained thousands with its music and announcers—including Ed Walters, the driving force behind WYEN; the lives of many of the talented broadcasters who worked here; Cohen’s personal coverage of some of the biggest stories of the time; and his interviews with some greats from the entertainment industry.

Cohen describes an era that lived with pay phones, typewriters, turntables, transistor radios, and boom boxes; in The WYEN Experience he brings to life to both the times and the radio station.

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The WYEN Experience

by Stew Cohen

290 pages, English

James Earl Jones voicing Darth Vader in Star Wars had a set of pipes a radio news anchor in the 1970s might envy. CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow wrote in a style many radio news writers tried to copy. Their skills were honed over time. While few ever reach the stature of a Jones or Murrow, radio broadcasters rely on stations where they can develop these skills. In the seventies, one such place was WYEN-FM in Des Plaines, Illinois.

In The WYEN Experience, author Stew Cohen tells the story of this mom-and-pop radio station—106.7 on the dial—that opened in 1971 and was built on a genuine passion for radio. It flourished through the 1970s, stumbled in the early 1980s, and then sold to a new owner. He provides an insider’s look into the happenings of this station that entertained thousands with its music and announcers—including Ed Walters, the driving force behind WYEN; the lives of many of the talented broadcasters who worked here; Cohen’s personal coverage of some of the biggest stories of the time; and his interviews with some greats from the entertainment industry.

Cohen describes an era that lived with pay phones, typewriters, turntables, transistor radios, and boom boxes; in The WYEN Experience he brings to life to both the times and the radio station.

The WYEN Experience

by Stew Cohen

290 pages, English

James Earl Jones voicing Darth Vader in Star Wars had a set of pipes a radio news anchor in the 1970s might envy. CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow wrote in a style many radio news writers tried to copy. Their skills were honed over time. While few ever reach the stature of a Jones or Murrow, radio broadcasters rely on stations where they can develop these skills. In the seventies, one such place was WYEN-FM in Des Plaines, Illinois.

In The WYEN Experience, author Stew Cohen tells the story of this mom-and-pop radio station—106.7 on the dial—that opened in 1971 and was built on a genuine passion for radio. It flourished through the 1970s, stumbled in the early 1980s, and then sold to a new owner. He provides an insider’s look into the happenings of this station that entertained thousands with its music and announcers—including Ed Walters, the driving force behind WYEN; the lives of many of the talented broadcasters who worked here; Cohen’s personal coverage of some of the biggest stories of the time; and his interviews with some greats from the entertainment industry.

Cohen describes an era that lived with pay phones, typewriters, turntables, transistor radios, and boom boxes; in The WYEN Experience he brings to life to both the times and the radio station.


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2025 Hours
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
1:00p–4:00p
Other days & times and Kinder House Museum tours
are available by appointment.
847-391-5399 contact@desplaineshistory.org

781 Pearson Street
Des Plaines, IL 60016
847-391-5399

Visit Des Plaines Memory, a collaborative effort with the Des Plaines Public Library to share material from the History Center’s collection and people from the Des Plaines community and world.

Visit Des Plaines Memory, a collaborative effort with the Des Plaines Public Library to share material from the History Center’s collection and people from the Des Plaines community and world.