WNIB Early history WNIB was founded and built by Bill Florian. The call letters stood for Northern Illinois Broadcasting.
Programming and personalities Gershon had the idea of playing
classical music Sunday evenings and stated, "Classical music wasn't part of our programming at first, since most other FM stations aired lots of classical music, especially WFMT and WEFM. But I told Bill we should make use of the 12 records we had in the library. He said, 'All right. Just don't have any of that ivory-tower stuff here.'" As a classical station, WNIB would later be branded "Classical 97". Sonia Atzeff and Bill Florian were married in 1967, and Sonia later became general manager of the station, a position she held until its sale in 2001. Ron Ray began as a part-time announcer on WNIB in 1968. Working concurrently at 105.9
WXFM, Ray pre-recorded his announcements. Miller Peters was the station's music director in its final years, and also served as a weekend host. Florian, a jazz aficionado, also hired
Dick Buckley as a DJ for the station's jazz programming.
Neil Tesser also hosted a jazz program on WNIB from 1974 to 1976. Blues hosts included Mr. A. and Big Bill Collins.
Those Were the Days, a four-hour old-time radio program hosted by
Chuck Schaden, aired on WNIB Saturdays from September 6, 1975, until February 10, 2001.
Facilities WNIB's studios and transmitter were originally located at the
Midwest Hotel, at Hamlin and Madison in
West Garfield Park. Subsequent studio locations for WNIB included 108 N. State St.,
Riverside Plaza, 25 E. Chestnut St., 12 East Delaware Place, and finally 1140 W. Erie. Its ratings grew significantly in the following years, and by the late 1980s it began to surpass 98.7
WFMT. The inclusion of the label and record number enabled listeners to purchase things they enjoyed hearing, and the subscription price helped keep the station going during the leaner times. The covers at first had details of well-known artworks, and later had original sketches and caricatures by Richard Kimmel and Robert Kameczura. WNIB was also famous for having dogs and cats in residence, which were audible at times during announcements. With the proceeds of the sale, the Florians established the NIB Foundation, which awarded grants to music, dance, environmental, and animal rights causes. After the completion of a final program on February 11, 2001, the station was turned off. The following day, new owners took the air with a different format. On March 15, 2001, the call sign was changed to WDRV, and the station adopted a
classic hits format as "The Drive". In 2003, 96.9 in Zion began simulcasting WDRV, and its call sign was changed to
WWDV. Over the years, The Drive's format evolved into a broad-based classic rock format. Bonneville announced the sale of WDRV and 16 other stations, to
Hubbard Broadcasting on January 19, 2011. The sale was completed on April 29, 2011. On June 27, 2011, WDRV celebrated its 10th anniversary by organizing a free-entrance concert at the
Rosemont Theatre by
America and headliner
Jethro Tull. Online streaming of the "Deep Tracks" programming broadcast on WDRV's HD2 subchannel was discontinued in October 2013, due to its popularity. WDRV features
The Sherman & Tingle Show (Brian Sherman and Steve Tingle which debuted the morning of October 31, 2016. The station's current weekday airstaff includes Sherman & Tingle (mornings), Bob Stroud (host Ten at 10), Janda Lane (middays), Tim Virgin (afternoons), and Alice Cooper (nights). ==Signal note==