Fake K call letters

[kevtronics]

Of course there's K-Love nationally, and NYC had K-Rock for many years. On Long Island there's K-Joy (WKJY).

Pittsburgh is full of fake K call letters. In addition to the real KDKA and KQV, it has "KHB" (WKHB), "KFB" (WKFB), "KVE" (WKVE), and "KGO" (WKGO, no relation to the real KGO in San Francisco). And even what you could consider to be a fake Australian call sign, "3WS" (WWSW).

In Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA, there's "KRZ" (WKRZ).

Are there any fake W call letters? Aside from some WWxx stations lopping off the first W and pretending to be three-letter Wxx, I wouldn't think so. K is quick and powerful, while W is a mouthful, unless you Southern-ize it as "dubya".

 

[Identnut]

103.5... K - T - U!

 

[fybush]

In the Edmonton market, CKJR 1440 called itself "W 1440" for many years, and the late CIWW in Ottawa was "W 1310" for a while. And in Quebec, there's CJEC 91.9, which calls itself "WKND 91.9."

 

[Weiserguy]

In the Edmonton market, CKJR 1440 called itself "W 1440" for many years, and the late CIWW in Ottawa was "W 1310" for a while. And in Quebec, there's CJEC 91.9, which calls itself "WKND 91.9."

Scott, is that last one supposed to be vocalized as "Doubleyoo-Kay-End-Dee 91.9", or "Weekend 91.9"? I could see the latter as a way to associate the station with the days listeners have off from work or school, but what would be the benefit of the former to, well, anyone?

 

[JeremyAndrews]

WLHT in Grand Rapids was 95.7 W-LIGHT for years

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

In the Edmonton market, CKJR 1440 called itself "W 1440" for many years, and the late CIWW in Ottawa was "W 1310" for a while. And in Quebec, there's CJEC 91.9, which calls itself "WKND 91.9."

It was a pretty good oldies/classic his station too...... regularly heard up here. Morning man was in the maritimes, afternoon gal was in camrose/edmonton.

 

[radiofan2023]

Are there any fake W call letters? Aside from some WWxx stations lopping off the first W and pretending to be three-letter Wxx, I wouldn't think so.

Pittsburgh has WDVE, but it’s known as “DVE”:

102.5 DVE | iHeart

DVE Pittsburgh - Home of Steelers

www.iheart.com

 

[txchipk]

In terms of using fake 4 letter calls...

• In 1997, before officially changing its calls, Tulsa market KQSY 101.5 branded several weeks as "KMRX, Tulsa's Modern Music."
• In 2013, Kalispell market KQRK 92.3 used to give its legal ID as KKMT....the call letters of its sister station at 99.7.
• In 1987, Dallas market KTKS 106.1 branded as "K-I-S-S, Kiss 106FM" for a short while over the summer.
• When it first relocated from Beaumont into the Houston market, in January 2002, 97.5 IDed as "KRPW Beaumont-Houston." It was never assigned those calls. It was KKTT at the time as interim call letters...later became KRWP, not KRPW.

If talking about using a brand that starts with K, they are a bazillion over the last decades...

Dothan AL market: WKMX 106.7 "KMX"
Phoenix: KESZ 99.9 "KEZ", KUKQ 1060 "KQ"
Palm Springs: KCMJ-FM 92.7 "KC92.7"
San Diego: KSDO-FM 102.9 "KS103"
Denver: KQKS 104.3 "KS104," KQKS 107.5 "KS107-5," KAZY 106.7 "KZ"
DC: WKYS 93.9 "KYS-FM"
Sioux City IA: KGLI 95.5 "KG95"
Louisville: WKJJ-FM 99.7 "KJ100"
Ocean City: WKHZ 1590 "KHZ"
Beaumont: KAYD 97.5 "KD97", KAYD 101.7 "KD101"
Tupelo: WWKZ 103.5 "KZ103", later WWKZ 103.9 "KZ103"
Kansas City: KYYS 102.1 "KY102"
OKC: KXXY 96.1 "KXY", KJYO 102.7 "KJ103"
Chattanooga: WSKZ 106.5 "KZ106"
El Paso: KYSR 920/97.5 "KYS"
Midland/Odessa: KGEE 99.9 "KG100"
Lufkin/Nacogdoches: KJCS 103.3 "KJ103"
San Antonio: KQXT 101.9 was one time "KQ102", KAJA 97.3 "KJ97"
Myrtle Beach: WKZQ 101.7 "KZQ"
Salt Lake City: KJQN 95.5 "KJQ"
Minneapolis/St Paul: KSTP-FM 94.5 "KS95", KJJO-FM 104.1 "KJ104"
San Juan: WKAQ-FM 104.7 "KQ105"

...and so on.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

KUFX - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

KAFX-FM - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

KKDZ - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There are several stations around the country that call themselves "KFOX". Its a classic rock station owned by Bonneville Inc. KAFX uses the KFOX branding in Diboll, TX along with KKDZ did from 1981-1993. None of the radio stations carry Fox programming.

However the Real KFOX belongs to a Sinclair owned Fox Affiliate in El Paso, TX and a radio station in the Los Angeles area that's formatted to have Korean Programming.

KFOX-TV - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

KFOX (AM) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

KTTV - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Interestingly I'm amazed that Fox itself never renamed KTTV Los Angeles into KFOX-TV Los Angeles when they took over KTTV from Metromedia. But then again in 1986 it was unknown if Fox Network was even going to succeed at that point.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

There was a group of stations that called themselves all KBOZ, even if their calls were KOBZ, KBOB or whatever.. they had similar call letters, with KBOZ AM/FM being the first in the cluster

 

[secondchoice]

David correct me if I am wrong, didn't your former employer use KGN for WKGN Knoxville? It would have been in the mid 1970's.

 

[Greg Strickland]

KTK Gainesville FL And I don't consider it "fake" at all. It is a great name! I loved it the first time I heard it, and happy it has worked for them.

 

[kc4rae]

Charleston WV had a few over the years.
West Virginia Radio's WKAZ dropped the W for their country AM (with translator) as 95.3 KAZ. The WKAZ-FM calls were on WVRC's 107.3 frequency when it was doing oldies and as you'd expect, dropped the W and branded something like 107 KAZ. I believe that WKLC did the same long ago. This seems to be a regional thing as I've not seen so many stations use their call as branding without the W anywhere else. WCIR-FM in Beckley still does this (103CIR) and there may be more. I haven't been to the Charleston area since the late 1990s. I'm sure lots has changed.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

The WB 100+ Station Group - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The CW Plus - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The CW Plus and it's predecessor WB 100+ had carried either Cable only or subchannel WB and CW affiliates in smaller TV markets. Some of these stations carried fictional call letters for certain markets. And in some cases Tribune now Nexstar allowed the feeds of KTLA, and WPIX to be seen in areas outside of their home markets.

 

[jonsmth62]

As long as the call signs contain a "K" somewhere in the call sign, I wouldn't consider branding the station as K - (whatever) as being fake. Many stations in the late '70s early '80s and even today use this type of branding just as did many stations that used "Q" when many broadcasters thought that Quadravox was going to become a thing for FM Radio. Lots of stations hurried to obtain call signs with a "Q" in the call letters so they could brand as "Q-97", Q-94, Q106 etc...

 

[Miss Tuned]

Scott, is that last one supposed to be vocalized as "Doubleyoo-Kay-End-Dee 91.9", or "Weekend 91.9"? I could see the latter as a way to associate the station with the days listeners have off from work or school, but what would be the benefit of the former to, well, anyone?

I had a quick listen online, it IDs as "Weekend Radio" in a charming French accent. "Le weekend" is a loan word in French. The station is French-speaking, so it'd be "doo-ble-veh", etc.

The same owner operates another station, BLVD 102.1. I think that would be in China if they were call letters - that station IDs as "Boulevard". I understand French French, but Quebec French is difficult!

 

[Mike in Destin]

WOR 710 NYC has WWOR-TV channel 9 in Secaucus, NJ. Don't know what happened to WOR-TV?

 

[fybush]

WOR 710 NYC has WWOR-TV channel 9 in Secaucus, NJ. Don't know what happened to WOR-TV?

The old WOR-TV 9 lost its license in the RKO controversy in the 70s-80s. It was sold in 1986 and became WWOR-TV. It hasn't been co-owned with WOR for almost 40 years now, longer than WOR/WOR-TV actually were co-owned.

 

[Weiserguy]

The old WOR-TV 9 lost its license in the RKO controversy in the 70s-80s. It was sold in 1986 and became WWOR-TV. It hasn't been co-owned with WOR for almost 40 years now, longer than WOR/WOR-TV actually were co-owned.

It's been a Fox station for a few decades by now, co-owned with WNYW-5.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

KCBS-FM gets used as branding on 106.9 FM and it's named after all news KCBS-AM 740 San Francisco. However 106.9 FM San Francisco is really KFRC. The real KCBS-FM is on 93.1 FM Los Angeles but it is branded as Jack FM.

KCBS-FM - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

KFRC-FM - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Also 930 AM KHJ is real in Los Angeles.

KKHJ-FM - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But 93 KHJ American Samoa is actually listed as KKHJ-FM on 93.1 FM. 93 KHJ American Samoa is a brand that lives on as a HotAC/CHR station.