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cd637299
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Who were the first radio stations in the USA to use slogans like Y-100, B-93, The Fox, or whatever---IOW, *not* calling themselves by their call letters, except for the top of the hour?
cd
cd
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cd637299 said:
Many of the early 70's Top 40's, like 13-Q in Pittsburgh, did not use calls.
Before that we had lots of Beautiful Music stations, like, Pittsburgh again, "Wish," that did not use calls a lot.
And K-101 in San Francisco was a very early one. And there were plenty of Kay-Joi (KJOI) and such, but those were just pronunciations of call letters, or call letters picked to be pronouncable like Wixie (WIXY) in Cleveland in the mid 60's.
Among the first US stations to not use calls except for legal ID's were Radio Uno in San Juan (very early 60's) and Radio San Juan (WRSJ Bayamon) in Puerto Rico. La Fabulosa (WFAB) 990 in Miami dates to 1961 or 1962, followed a year or two later La Cubanísima (WQBA Miami) and they were two stations that never even said the call letters in the language of the broadcasts!
DavidEduardo said:
Some years ago, I read an article about James Gabbert, the owner of K-101, that claimed he was the first.
According to the article, the FCC actually challenged him on it, but he won the day because there was no regulation requiring actual call letters (KIOI, in this case), outside of the top-of-the-hour ID. Whether this story is true, or apocryphal, I can't say. I believe the K-101 branding didn't come along until 1968, because the station was KPEN (K-Pen) before that time, and broadcast from down on the San Francisco PENinsula.
The first like this I can recall in Los Angeles was K-100 (KIQQ), about 1972. As David states, there were many stations in the 50s and 60s that made words out of call letters. In Southern California, I remember "K-Time in the Daytime" (KTYM), K-Day (KDAY), "Kaydio Radio" (KDEO), and "Extra" (XETRA). For a few weeks, one or two of the KRLA DJs would refer to the station as "Radio Carla" but it stopped suddenly, so I guess the PD told them to knock it off.
Lkeller said:
I think it could also be argued that Gordon McLendon's flip in San Francisco from KROW to "Cable" was the opposite of pronouncable call letters. Gordon began by wanting to name the station after the classic feature of San Francisco, and then got calls to match... Except for the required legal IDs, they called it "Cable." The IDs would say "Cable"... k-a-b-l oakland in the air over San Francisco" or something similar, with the legal part done fairly qickly...
That was some time in mid 1959... in a major surprise as competitors expected Top 40 and Gordon gave them Beautiful Music in its slickest presentation at that time.
Back to the 1920s, WWJ, Detroit referred to itself on-air as "the Detroit News station" or just "the Detroit News." Even in legal IDs it was always "WWJ, the Detroit News" until the 60s when the FCC clamped down and said that it was not a valid legal ID.
DavidEduardo said:
McLendon loved call letters that you could pronounce. KLIF, of course along with 98.7's original call letters KROW. Then there was KILT, WAKY, XeTRA and a few others. He had WNUS in Chicago for his news format and held on to KNUS for a news format to be named later that never happened. The only one that didn't last was KAKI San Antonio which reverted back to KTSA.
radiorob2.0 said:
Add in WYSL, "Whistle" in Buffalo. Also "Winner" WYNR in Chicago and Keel in Shreeveport. And the original Coast, KOST in Houston.
DavidEduardo said:
In the South, a number of good examples:
WYDE in Birmingham ... back when owned by Bartell ('50s - early '60s), which also had WAKE/Atlanta, they co-promoted as "The WYDE-aWAKE stations"
Also in Atlanta, we cannot forget their biggest AM top-40 player, WQXI -- "Quixie in Dixie"
In the '60s, Birmingham also had WAQY - "Wacky 1220" and - possibly borrowing from 'QXI - suburb Irondale had WIXI - "Wixie in Dixie"
Dothan, Ala. = WOOF. (still locally-owned ... a standalone AM/FM combo doing very well for themselves)
Gadsden, Ala. = WAAX
Huntsville, Ala. had WAAY radio ... "The Radio WAAY"; "Part of your WAAY of life"; "The Great American WAAY"
Jackson, Miss. = WWUN ... "Wonderful W-One"
Charleston, S.C. = WOKE ... a bizarre class-IV AM with a real story behind it: http://www.wokememories.com
Charlotte, N.C. = WAYS ... "Big Ways"
Asheville, N.C. = WISE ... "Big Wise"
Little Rock, Ark. = KAAY ... "Big Kay"
... and I'm sure I'm leaving out a few more.
--Russell
Russell W. said:
I've read that radio programming legend Bill Drake (real name Philip Yarbrough), chose his on-air name when he was at WAKE...so he could be "Bill Drake on Wake."
Russell W. said:
Is WOF still "L-WOOF"?
Many of you old Broadcasting Yearbook aficionados should get the reference.
Especially the Old Gringo!
mleach said:
Those calls were in use before the Top 40 format came into existence, and the three last letters stood for InterMountain Network, one of the significant regional nets like Don Lee, the Yankee Network, etc.
Management wanted him to change his name to 'Bill Blake", to rhyme with the station's name. Yarbrough wasn't keen on the idea, but requested using "Phil Drake", as Drake was his mother's maiden name. He got an okay on Drake, but was told to stick with Bill because of the hard sound of "B" compared to soft "F" sound of Phil.Lkeller said:
WOWO started referring to itself on ar as "Wo-wo" sometime in the early 60s.
Don't forget the "other" legendary "Wixie" - WXYZ 1270 in Detroit. They didn't de-emphasize the call letters though.
Plus:
WCWA Toledo, Ohio - "Seaway" starting in the mid-'60s, and they kept that until flipping from Adult Standards to Talk in 2002.
WITL Lansing, Michigan - a country music station that has called itself "Whittle" for as long as I can remember, and continues to do so today.
The "Honey Radio" oldies stations in metro Detroit from the early '70s to the early '90s - originally WHNE 94.7 FM, then WHND 560 AM Monroe added as shadowcast. The FM went to AC around 1976 as Magic 95 WMJC (now WCSX) but the AM kept cranking out the oldies as Honey Radio until around 1994 or so. An AM station in Ann Arbor tried reviving the "Honey Radio" name for its oldies format several years ago.
Canada also had a few of these stations - the most obvious example being 1050 CHUM in Toronto. Another one was CHYR ("Cheer") in Leamington (east of Windsor), Ontario.
Plus:
WCWA Toledo, Ohio - "Seaway" starting in the mid-'60s, and they kept that until flipping from Adult Standards to Talk in 2002.
WITL Lansing, Michigan - a country music station that has called itself "Whittle" for as long as I can remember, and continues to do so today.
The "Honey Radio" oldies stations in metro Detroit from the early '70s to the early '90s - originally WHNE 94.7 FM, then WHND 560 AM Monroe added as shadowcast. The FM went to AC around 1976 as Magic 95 WMJC (now WCSX) but the AM kept cranking out the oldies as Honey Radio until around 1994 or so. An AM station in Ann Arbor tried reviving the "Honey Radio" name for its oldies format several years ago.
Canada also had a few of these stations - the most obvious example being 1050 CHUM in Toronto. Another one was CHYR ("Cheer") in Leamington (east of Windsor), Ontario.
C
cd637299
Guest
ChrisInMI said:
Not living in Toronto, I have heard some clips on www.rockradioscrapbook.com , and also CHUM's former Sunday show with Alan Ashby....it seems that they didn't call themselves "Chum" very much (if at all) at the start of their top 40 years. The Ashby show had old "C-H-U-M" jingles. I honestly don't know when the moniker "Chum" took over. Maybe someone in the Greater Toronto Area can "chym" in?
cd
"Chym" in - that reminds me of another Canadian station I can think of along the same lines... CHYM in Kitchener, Ontario. I remember them with a soft AC format in the early '90s on 96.7 pronouncing the call letters like "Chime." I believe they still use that today. The CHYM calls were previously on their AM sister station at 570 (formerly 1490), now CKGL - not sure if the AM was also "Chime"?
Some of the old jingles I used to hear on CHUM during their oldies format a few years ago did indeed sing out the call letters. However, I believe the jingles they used during the "Drake"-influenced era starting in the late '60s always sang out the word "Chum."
How often was CFUN Vancouver referred to as "C-Fun" as opposed to "C-F-U-N"?
Two more Canadian examples: CHAY-FM in Barrie, Ontario, pronounced its call letters as "Chay," and CHEZ-FM in Ottawa, a legendary rock station, pronounces its calls like the French word "chez."
Some of the old jingles I used to hear on CHUM during their oldies format a few years ago did indeed sing out the call letters. However, I believe the jingles they used during the "Drake"-influenced era starting in the late '60s always sang out the word "Chum."
How often was CFUN Vancouver referred to as "C-Fun" as opposed to "C-F-U-N"?
Two more Canadian examples: CHAY-FM in Barrie, Ontario, pronounced its call letters as "Chay," and CHEZ-FM in Ottawa, a legendary rock station, pronounces its calls like the French word "chez."
...I'm thinking one very early possibility would be WENR Chicago, which was the Blue Network NBC/ABC O&O that shared time on 870/890 with Prairie Farmer's WLS. Early on, it would call itself "Weiner" on the air...
WKIX Raleigh was calling itself "Kicks" in the 1960s; an R&B
station in Raleigh in the same era, WLLE, was "Wonderful Willie."
And even stations in much smaller markets did this; top-40 WISP
in Kinston, NC, called itself "Wispy" in those days, and WNCA Siler
City, NC, was "Winca."
A couple of others come to mind: WAVY Norfolk (actually Portsmouth,
VA) was, of course, pronounced phonetically. I also remember all-talk
WRNG Atlanta ("Ring Radio"), and I think I've heard WSB called "Wisby."
station in Raleigh in the same era, WLLE, was "Wonderful Willie."
And even stations in much smaller markets did this; top-40 WISP
in Kinston, NC, called itself "Wispy" in those days, and WNCA Siler
City, NC, was "Winca."
A couple of others come to mind: WAVY Norfolk (actually Portsmouth,
VA) was, of course, pronounced phonetically. I also remember all-talk
WRNG Atlanta ("Ring Radio"), and I think I've heard WSB called "Wisby."
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