Good News For The Loop Crew

• The industry continues to come to grips with the concept of a world without Chicago’s venerable WLUP (97.9 The Loop) — on Saturday the station officially falls under the command of new owner EMF. However, there is some positive news to report regarding many longtime Loop employees — third time’s the charm for former Loop afternoon delight Tim Virgin (left), who has lugged all of his earthly belongings across the hall and is now ensconced in afternoon drive on Alternative 101 WKQX, which is still being operated by Cumulus under an LMA with Merlin.

And yes, you heard correctly — this will mark Señor Virgin’s third tour of duty at WKQX — he originally worked there in the late ’90s and again from 2009 until July 2011, when, ironically, Merlin Media took control of the former Q101 from Emmis and blew the whole airstaff out. Virgin joined The Loop in September 2014.

• Hang on… there’s more positive news: RAMP has confirmed that former Loop PD Wade Linder and midday personality Lyndsey Marie are being retained by the company for new assignments that will be announced very soon. In the meantime, Lyndsey Marie continues her stellar on-air work on Cumulus Rock siblings KXXR/Minneapolis, WNNX/Atlanta, WFTK/Cincinnati, KGGO/Des Moines, WIVX/Savannah and KKGL/Boise.

• And…. WKQX afternoon personality Walt Flakus (center) shifts to evenings while continuing to handle APD/MD duties, and James VanOsdol (right) moves from nights on WLUP to his new appointment as the Digital Content Captain for the Cumulus Chicago cluster. He will continue to host the Sunday night specialty show DEMO 312 on WKQX. And those are your major announcements.