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AM Stations that "abbreviated their frequency" in slogans

Now-defunct WBTB in Beaufort, NC (1400 kHz) used "14 WBTB" at some point during their run.

Wilmington, North Carolina's heritage station, WMFD (630 kHz), was "63 WMFD" in the 70s. Adult contemporary station WGNI 102.7 MHz was "103-GNI" for the longest time, changing to "102.7 GNI" just in the past ten years or so

WEVA 860 kHz in Emporia, Virginia, still calls itself "WEVA AM 86"

WSAT 1280 kHz in Salisbury, NC used to use "1-28 (one twenty-eight) WSAT" or some variation in the mid-1990s.

Newport News, Virginia legendary Top 40 WGH 1310 kHz abbreviated as "Color Radio 1-31 (one thirty-one)" at some point during their run.

Kansas City, Missouri country station WDAF 610 kHz, which ran the format on AM very competitively for two decades after country (and most other music formats) had long since moved to FM in other markets, was known as "61 Country". The format and call letters finally moved to FM (at 106.5) and the station now does sports as KCSP
 
Back when CBS had some O&O radio stations, they used the Newsradio 88 (WCBS) or Newsradio 95 (WWJ) for some of their stations.

And did WJR incorporate the Bicentennial in their slogan back in 1975-76 (as they are on 760AM (something like the "Spirit of 76 WJR"))?
 
I remember----XEX 730 in Mexico City was Radio 73 ("radio setenta y tres") in their Top 40 days, and it was audible in parts of the USA. I wish that there were airchecks of this one.

cd
 
cwf1701 said:
And did WJR incorporate the Bicentennial in their slogan back in 1975-76 (as they are on 760AM (something like the "Spirit of 76 WJR"))?
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I don't know about WJR, but since it, KFMB, San Diego and KGU, Honolulu were the only 24-hour stations on 760 in 1976, KFMB commissioned this ID from Charlie Van Dyke that ran all year:

"One of America's three great radio stations.....76/KFMB, San Diego."

Of course, bad boy and former PD Bobby Rich, still doing evenings on the AM while programming the FM would frequently paraphrase: "One of America's radio stations. 76/KFMB, San Diego."
 
cwf1701 said:
Back when CBS had some O&O radio stations, they used the Newsradio 88 (WCBS) or Newsradio 95 (WWJ) for some of their stations.

And did WJR incorporate the Bicentennial in their slogan back in 1975-76 (as they are on 760AM (something like the "Spirit of 76 WJR"))?
Click to expand...

I think that "Spirit of 76" thing may have lasted into the early '80s, as I have vague memories of hearing that slogan used on the air though I wasn't born until 1980.
 
FredLeonard said:
In Detroit...

Keener 1310
The Big 8 (CKLW)
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CKLW was abbreviating even before the Drake era started. They were "Radio 80" (eighty) in the very early '60s, and then became "Radio 8-O" (eight-oh) from probably about 1964-66. And in 1967 after Drake came in, the station was "Radio 8" and "Fun Radio 8" for a few months before the final transformation into "The Big 8." Likewise, WTAC up I-75 in Flint was "The Big 6," and WKNR's sister station in Battle Creek, WKFR, was "Keener 14" (they later picked up the WKNR calls after WKNR-AM/FM became WNIC-AM/FM in 1972).

A little farther east in Leamington, Ontario, CHYR (then split frequency on 710 days and 730 nights, now on 96.7 FM) was "Cheer Radio, Channel Seven." And they got away with it despite Detroit having WXYZ-TV which also referred to itself as "Channel 7" for many years.

Speaking of WXYZ, WXYZ radio in the '60s had the WABC jingle package which referred to the station as "Channel 12-7."

1500 AM in Detroit was known as "Radio 15" through various formats and call letters, including Top 40, beautiful music and AC as WJBK and country as WDEE. WAAM in Ann Arbor was "Radio 16" for many years.

In Coldwater, Michigan, according to Wiki, 1590 WTVB was known as 16/TVB for so long that even after the station stopped using that name on the air, listeners continued for years to refer to it as such.

WFBL in Syracuse, NY and WFEC in Harrisburg, PA, both used the handle "Fire 14" when airing Mike Joseph's Hot Hits format (although the latter was not consulted by Joseph).
 
Country radio station KWYZ 1230 AM Everett, WA IDed as "Radio 1-2-3" ('70s/'80s)
 
NoWayNoCC said:
keys2 said:
Here in Cincinnati, the station on 550 has long been known as 55KRC. During 1230 WUBE-AM's Top 40 days in the late 60s they were known as 1-2-3 WB. And 700 WLW occasionally referred to themselves as "Sound 7" back in the day.
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And of course there was the best one of all, Clu 132.
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...the "1-2-3" goes all the way back to when the station was WCPO during the Second World War; there exists a widely-circulated aircheck of someone scanning the dial during the 29 April 1945 speculation on Hitler's demise, wherein one of the announcers recorded says the phrase "1-2-3 WCPO"...
 
The station where Tom Joyner got his major-market break: "Soul '73 KKDA" (730 AM, Grand Prairie/Dallas, TX). I was listening to Tom in 1973 and 1974 while at USAF tech school at Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, about 120 miles NW...the signal was excellent for the distance!
 
Here is a list of stations in the Knoxville area that have abbreviated their frequency in slogans:

"99 WNOX" (WNOX)
"Q-104" (WQBB-AM/FM)
"95FM", "Kix Country, FM95" (WNKX)
"Q-94", "Magic 94" (WETQ/WKNF)
"97FM WEZK" (WEZK)
"U-102" (WMYU)
"Rock 104", "104 WIMZ" (WIMZ)
"93 Kiss FM", "Z-93" (WCKS/WWZZ)
 
In Houston, in the 80s, there was top 40 KKBQ "79Q" on 790. Their co-owned FM on 92.9 was (and still is) known as "93Q", even though they've long since switched to country.

In more recent years, in late 2001 and early 2002, there was an oldies station in Beaumont, TX on 1380 that called themselves "The Big 138."

In San Antonio, KTSA 550 called themselves "55 KTSA" back when they still played music.

As far as abbreviated/rounded FM frequencies- the above mentioned "93Q" was originally on 92.5, but moved to 92.9 within a year's time.

Now-defunct country KIKK-FM on 95.7 for years called themselves "KIKK (pronounced as "kick") 96 FM."

As for another rare example of a .5 station that rounded up- there was KSRR on 96.5 that called themselves "97 Rock."

Most of the Houston FMs used abbreviated or rounded frequencies in their branding for most of their existence, but eventually most started using their exact frequencies by the late 90s or early 2000s.
 
KWWR Mexico, MO (95.7) still calls itself "Country 96". The sign on the station building reads "KWWR 95.7" however.

KPOI-FM Honolulu, when it was on 97.5 called itself "Rock 98"

In the digital tuning age, I don't see any point in rounding off frequencies this way, AM or FM. And stations that still do sound ridiculous.
 
I just rememebered that legendary Bay Area Soul station (60s through the 80s) was 1310/KDIA, which was billed for quite awhile as "Lucky 13."
 
CJAM 1060 Calgary, AB ("AM 106"), circa 1984-91
 
In Tulsa:

Radio 74 was 740 (KRMG Tulsa in the 70s).
The Rockin' 97 was 970 (KAKC Tulsa in the 60s).
14K was 1430 (KELI Tulsa in the 80s).

I'm not aware of any AM station abbreviating their frequency in this area today. FM, on the other hand... ::)
 
Mr. Head said:
In Houston, in the 80s, there was top 40 KKBQ "79Q" on 790. Their co-owned FM on 92.9 was (and still is) known as "93Q", even though they've long since switched to country.

In more recent years, in late 2001 and early 2002, there was an oldies station in Beaumont, TX on 1380 that called themselves "The Big 138."

In San Antonio, KTSA 550 called themselves "55 KTSA" back when they still played music.

As far as abbreviated/rounded FM frequencies- the above mentioned "93Q" was originally on 92.5, but moved to 92.9 within a year's time.

Now-defunct country KIKK-FM on 95.7 for years called themselves "KIKK (pronounced as "kick") 96 FM."

As for another rare example of a .5 station that rounded up- there was KSRR on 96.5 that called themselves "97 Rock."

Most of the Houston FMs used abbreviated or rounded frequencies in their branding for most of their existence, but eventually most started using their exact frequencies by the late 90s or early 2000s.
Click to expand...

To add to Mr. Head's reply Houston had so many of them, it's hard to remember them all.

Abbreviations still in use: KROI 92.1 as "News 92", KKBQ 92.9 as "93Q", KSHN 99.9 as "Shine All Nine"
Abbreviations from the past: KRLY 93.7 as "Love 94", KJYY 94.5 as "Joy 95" (96.5 wasn't the only one that rounded up), KIKK 95.7 as "Kikk 96", KSRR 96.5 as "97 Rock", KAYD 97.5 as "KD 97", KFMK 97.9 as "98 KFMK", KILT-FM 100.3 as "FM 100, KILT", KLOL-FM 101.1 as "101 KLOL", KMJQ 102.1 as "Majic 102", KQUE 102.9 as "KQ 103", and KRBE 104.1 "SuperRock 104, then Power 104, then 104 KRBE".

Heck we even had station that were at .5 calling themselves 1/2, i.e. "(KUFO 106 and a half, from Galveston)

I think the reason that 94.5 and 96.5 rounded up was because of KRLY and KIKK already using the 94 and 96 handles respectively, and didn't want unnecessary confusion on the listeners part, so both stations rounded up to 95 and 97, since no one in the market was using those handles at the time (KAYD wouldn't move to Devers from Beaumont for another 20 years).

The one that sticks out in my mind from the AM side is the legendary KNUZ at 1230. "K-N-U-Z, 1-2-3 on your radio, dial it up!" Others off the top of my head were "56 KLVI" at 560, "Radio 13 and Stereo 13" for KXYZ, and it seems like the old KILE in Galveston used "AM 14" for 1400. I distinctly remember KGBC on the island used "15" instead of 1540.
 
Oh, golly. The Duluth MN/Superior WI market has had their share over the years. WEBC was always "Channel 56" or "Big 56" during their top 40 years. The short-lived WIGL was "97 Wiggle." KAOH was K-O Country 14 (rounding up from 1390.)

FM's past and present have included KQDS (KQ-95,) KPIR (a 70's elevator music station, "The view's always beautiful from 'Pier 99' in Stereo!'), KBMX (107.7, "Mix 108,") KRBR ("The Bear") which for some reason changed to KHQG ("The Hog,") KDAL-FM 95.7 (for years 96 Lite, now Rox 96,) and WWAX 92.1, which has been New Wax 92, Kiss 92 (until Clear Channel flexed their lawyers,) Beat 92, Lite 92, and currently Nu-92.

A couple probably best forgotten...the University of Wisconsin station in Superior, now KUWS, was for years WSSU...announced as "The Big Wazzoo"...and WKLK in Cloquet, MN; which someone for a while thought should be pronounced Wukluk (rhymes with mukluk.) The "Music of Your Life" station here is WGEE, which fortunately is NOT known as Wedgie... :eek:
 
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