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Published on Thursday, 25 August 2011 08:14
WRXQ-FM has parted ways with their signature afternoon personality and former Program Director Freak, effective immediately. No word on who will replace Freak in the south-suburban rock station line-up yet.
Newly hired Program Director
J.J. Duling and Freak, who had been
acting as PD since Ryan Snow was
fired in December of 2010 and was also the station's Program Director a few years prior to that, did not see eye to eye on the direction for the station, among other things. It was Freak's decision to walk away from WRXQ.
Freak had been with the station since 2006 (with a couple of brief breaks in the 5+ years) and quickly became its main star. He was the driving force behind their hard-edged classic rock on the air and the man who did the majority of live remotes and appearances for the station. Until this week, Freak and 'RXQ had been completely tied together in the public's eyes.
Freak -- whose real name is Walter Kozielski, or Wally, or his true nickname "Cap" -- has been working in Chicago radio since the very early 1990's. He began at WTMX-FM as a weekender, using his nickname "Cap." Soon after that, he began doing work on WWBZ-FM/103.5 The Blaze as a weekend and fill-in host, using the name Tommy Hunter (which was Hunter S. Thompson's name reversed). At the same time, he began working for Metro Traffic using the names Scott Billy (for reports on WGN-AM) and Tom Hunter (for reports on WMAQ-AM). When The Blaze became Rock 103.5 (WRCX-FM), he remained with the station and began doing some fill-in traffic work for the station's new morning show, "Mancow's Morning Madhouse." It was there that he picked up the nickname of "Freak." Soon after Mancow left WRCX-FM for WKQX-FM, Rock 103.5 flipped formats and Freak was able to then re-join Mancow's show on Q101. After almost nine years with Mancow, Freak moved to over to WZZN-FM/The Zone as a DJ in 2003, which lasted until late 2005, when The Zone flipped from rock to the "True Oldies" format and all of the Zone jocks were fired. Three months later, he was hired at WRXQ-FM and he has been rocking the "Southlands" ever since.
While he may may be done with WRXQ-FM, Freak tells CRM that he is far from done with radio. For right now, he has signed on with Navteq, doing part-time and fill-in traffic reporting, going back to his Traffic Reporter name of "Tom Hunter." You can hear Tom Hunter's traffic reports popping up on WWWN-FM/FM News 101.1. Also, CRM will have another announcement concerning Freak's return to radio at a different station early next week. Stay tuned...
In addition to his radio work, Freak is also busy concentrating on his new bar that he owns and operates,
Freakster's Roadhouse. The biker friendly Roadhouse is located on historic Rt. 66 (113 E. Baltimore St.) in Wilmington, IL.
