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The Radio Station Centennial Tracker

Z

ZantennaG1

With most of the big stations coming on the air in 1922, they would be turning 100 this year, and a good chunk of them are celebrating. If any of you can find news articles or info about how a station is recognizing their past, feel free to post it here. Especially if you can get a recording of them on-the-air noting their centennial, that would be awesome, for such a historic moment. Let's build our list! 🥳

Stations remembering their past, and how:
Signed on March 10th, 1922 560 KLZ Denver, Colorado updated their website to show balloons. Late, but if you have a recording, I'll take it.
Signed on December 9th, 1921 740 KCBS San Francisco, CA Late, but if you have a recording, I'll take it.
Signed on May 19th, 1922 720 WGN Chicago, IL, changed their station ID as well Still needs recording!
Signed on May 2nd, 1922. 820 WBAP Fort Worth/Dallas, Texas changed their station ID to include "100 years". Clinched by video recording: https://youtu.be/TAqIemyzngI
Signed on May 6th,1922 1160 KSL Salt Lake City, UT created a documentary Still needs recording!
 
April 16th, 2022, this Saturday will be KFI's 100th birthday. Does anyone know if they have plans to celebrate?
640 KFI Los Angeles, CA.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
April 16th, 2022, this Saturday will be KFI's 100th birthday. Does anyone know if they have plans to celebrate?
640 KFI Los Angeles, CA.
Click to expand...
Wow! I listen to KFI all the time, and there has been zero mention of it. Today, I listened to part of Bill Handel and Gary and Shannon, plenty of talk about the NY subway shooting and the Ukraine, but nothing about what's really important...their 100th Birthday! Will try to shoot off an email to the PD. Maybe they just don't know about it.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
April 16th, 2022, this Saturday will be KFI's 100th birthday. Does anyone know if they have plans to celebrate?
640 KFI Los Angeles, CA.
Click to expand...
I emailed and texted the various on air hosts, so I definitely got the message out about KFI's 100. Will now be listening to them for any on air response.
 
One of probably about 10 to 15 format changes at KJR over the past 100 years. But, beyond a doubt the KJR of the 60’s was the most successful. They held on into the mid 70’s but eventually succumbed to the FM’s.

Related: Pat O’Day, Larry Lujack, Lan Roberts, Emporer Lee Smith, Charlie Brown, Kevin O’Brien, Tracy Mitchell, and others that I can’t think of right now.
 
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No centennial celebrations at iHeart? Two of their AM's reached their 100 year mark, with no on air mention, or anything put on their websites.

KJR Seattle, March 9, 1922
KFI Los Angeles, April 16, 1922 (still no email reply back regarding this)

These are two stations with their original call letters, and still highly successful. Wonder why they chose not to celebrate?
 
KilowattKat said:
No centennial celebrations at iHeart? Two of their AM's reached their 100 year mark, with no on air mention, or anything put on their websites.

KJR Seattle, March 9, 1922
KFI Los Angeles, April 16, 1922 (still no email reply back regarding this)

These are two stations with their original call letters, and still highly successful. Wonder why they chose not to celebrate?
Click to expand...
I think they did not have any useful ability to record their old clips to be saved today, and some parts of society, even in the radio business, don't really comprehend the full meaning behind benchmarks like "centennial", which is unfortunate, as they pass up on their humble beginnings. It's just another day to them.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
I think they did not have any useful ability to record their old clips to be saved today, and some parts of society, even in the radio business, don't really comprehend the full meaning behind benchmarks like "centennial", which is unfortunate, as they pass up on their humble beginnings. It's just another day to them.
Click to expand...
I thought they would at least give it a mention. I read where KFI did a 12 hour retrospective on their 50th back in 1972. What a shame if no tapes are still around of that. Sad, how neglectful radio is in saving the past
 
KilowattKat said:
I thought they would at least give it a mention. I read where KFI did a 12 hour retrospective on their 50th back in 1972. What a shame if no tapes are still around of that. Sad, how neglectful radio is in saving the past
Click to expand...
And how the times seems to change so abruptly! I've been trying to find the 1972 retrospective, and instead I came across a KFI video on YouTube from 2017, but it doesn't provide any context or links.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
I think they did not have any useful ability to record their old clips to be saved today, and some parts of society, even in the radio business, don't really comprehend the full meaning behind benchmarks like "centennial", which is unfortunate, as they pass up on their humble beginnings. It's just another day to them.
Click to expand...
Because they are sterile and don’t have any interest in history. Sad.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
And how the times seems to change so abruptly! I've been trying to find the 1972 retrospective, and instead I came across a KFI video on YouTube from 2017, but it doesn't provide any context or links.
Click to expand...
Great find! This online museum is embedded in the KFI website, googled KFI online museum, but no info about it when you go there. I'm wondering if this an "under construction" feature. The video is pretty neat, quickly flashing the logos over the past decades. Will keep an eye on this!
 
Big AM signals are not completely dead yet. But it is an uphill battle. Local sports could save a few. But long term doesn’t look good. The AM band will be around for the next 20 years or so but by 2040 we will likely see the death of AM.
 
seatownmedia said:
Because they are sterile and don’t have any interest in history. Sad.
Click to expand...
How many businesses do you know that have a big interest in history? In many cases, old disks or tapes deteriorated in storage to the point of not being usable and the station no longer had gear to play them anyway. Storage space has huge costs when measured over years and decades, and trying to find an organization that want old station material is near-impossible.

Even huge parts of the NAB library were tossed out in the past, and I have been able to rescue a lot of that material on eBay and through private collectors.
 
ZantennaG1 said:
With most of the big stations coming on the air in 1922, they would be turning 100 this year, and a good chunk of them are celebrating. If any of you can find news articles or info about how a station is recognizing their past, feel free to post it here. Especially if you can get a recording of them on-the-air noting their centennial, that would be awesome, for such a historic moment. Let's build our list! 🥳

Stations remembering their past, and how:
Signed on March 10th, 1922 560 KLZ Denver, Colorado updated their website to show balloons. Late, but if you have a recording, I'll take it.
Signed on December 9th, 1921 740 KCBS San Francisco, CA Late, but if you have a recording, I'll take it.
Signed on May 19th, 1922 720 WGN Chicago, IL, changed their station ID as well Still needs recording!
Signed on May 2nd, 1922. 820 WBAP Fort Worth/Dallas, Texas changed their station ID to include "100 years". Clinched by video recording: https://youtu.be/TAqIemyzngI
Signed on May 6th,1922 1160 KSL Salt Lake City, UT created a documentary Still needs recording!
Click to expand...
Didn't WSB Atlanta just pass the 100 yr mark?
 
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