WOWO only had archival material because of one collector in Fort Wayne (who has sadly passed away and a couple of logger tapes that were rescued and restored. The history of WOWO website comes from thet
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100-Year Celebrations
- Thread starter trusty
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WWJ celebrated prematurely, in my opinion. The 1920 anniversary is for 8MK. In fact, possibly scores of stations can trace their history back to before they had a commercial license. They all had those one number, two letter callsigns. You have to be consistent with anniversaries. WWJ, originally WBL as a commercial station, traces to October 13, 1921, validly the fourth oldest commercial license with consistent standards. I have nothing against WWJ, I listen to it all the time, including in the Straits area, where its night skywave signal approaches and reaches 10 mV/m frequently. In fact, that's stronger than the groundwave at my other RL in Southeast MI. But as I recall, they celebrated in 2020.
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KCBS Radio in San Francisco celebrated it's 100th anniversary in 2009. Yes KCBS radio traces parts of it's history from Doc Herrold leadership and KQW San Jose later moved to San Francisco. KCBS Radio did that when the all-news format was starting to migrate to FM and became viable ever since for OTA radio.
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I've begun to receive responses from some stations. I will post them as I receive them:
Here is a report on KYW’s call letters turning 100 years old.
Happy 100th Anniversary to KYW being on American airwaves! - KYW Newsradio Audio On-Demand - Omny.fm
KNX celebrated its 100th on September 10th 2020 which is when Fred Christian launched a the station that became KNX at 6ADZ as a way to create customers to his Lighting supply store.
Here is a link to our 100th page and the 8 part series we created celebrating 100 years of KNX.
KNX 100 Year Anniversary (audacy.com)
Here is a report on KYW’s call letters turning 100 years old.
Happy 100th Anniversary to KYW being on American airwaves! - KYW Newsradio Audio On-Demand - Omny.fm
KNX celebrated its 100th on September 10th 2020 which is when Fred Christian launched a the station that became KNX at 6ADZ as a way to create customers to his Lighting supply store.
Here is a link to our 100th page and the 8 part series we created celebrating 100 years of KNX.
KNX 100 Year Anniversary (audacy.com)
"WPR celebrated its 100th Anniversary in 2017 and below I have included a link to some of our centennial celebrations:"
https://www.wpr.org/tags/wpr-centennial
https://www.wpr.org/tags/wpr-centennial
In the late 1970s, KJR-Seattle broadcast an anniversary special. It was mostly random old songs and comedy bits, which may or may not have been from network broadcasts carried by the station. I'm guessing not, because soon I was able to read the real history of the station, and the special neglected to mention they were once co-owned with KOMO, and the two stations swapped frequencies when they parted ways. KJR management created a regional network back in the day, but it shut down when the manager was caught embezzling from a bank. Colorful history, but none of it could be mentioned in a light-hearted special on a Top 40 station. I wonder why they even bothered.
The broadcast of the first Seattle Mariners game radio play-by-play in 1977 was also not saved by its broadcaster, and it is only around now because a fan recorded it. Makes you think when they tell you that recording sports broadcasts is strictly forbidden.
The broadcast of the first Seattle Mariners game radio play-by-play in 1977 was also not saved by its broadcaster, and it is only around now because a fan recorded it. Makes you think when they tell you that recording sports broadcasts is strictly forbidden.
Arizona's first radio station radio station KOY turned 100 back in October. There was zero mention of it. Nothing on the website Of course it's glory years are well behind. I'm sure the current Spanish language listeners have no idea about it's legacy. Can't even find the call letters anywhere on the website.
I think more importantly it would be to celebrate 100 years of radio broadcasting in Arizona, period.
KTAR turns 100 next June. I hope they do an on air retrospective like they did on their 75th anniversary.
I think more importantly it would be to celebrate 100 years of radio broadcasting in Arizona, period.
KTAR turns 100 next June. I hope they do an on air retrospective like they did on their 75th anniversary.
Like WWJ being 8MK, KOY was actually amateur station 6BBH, until 1922, if Wikipedia is accurate.
WFDF ran into a huge controversy several years ago when they proclaimed that they were the oldest radio station in Michigan. Like WWJ and KOY, it was licensed much earlier as an amateur radio station, with callsign 8ZH. But not commercially until May, 1922. It may have been the oldest, but it was an amateur station. The exact date of Mr. Fallain's first AMATEUR licensure has not been found to my knowledge. When a W prefix was necessary, his amateur station became W8ZH, which is in several callsign directories. Mr. Fallain was drafted into World War I, and his draft card is online somewhere. So there would have been an interruption during WW I. Seems like they suspended amateur licenses at that time. Some say 1912 was when his first license was issued, but the postwar licensure may have been circa 1918. WFDF was first commercially licensed as WEAA beginning in 1922, and WWJ was first commercially licensed as WBL in 1921.
WFDF ran into a huge controversy several years ago when they proclaimed that they were the oldest radio station in Michigan. Like WWJ and KOY, it was licensed much earlier as an amateur radio station, with callsign 8ZH. But not commercially until May, 1922. It may have been the oldest, but it was an amateur station. The exact date of Mr. Fallain's first AMATEUR licensure has not been found to my knowledge. When a W prefix was necessary, his amateur station became W8ZH, which is in several callsign directories. Mr. Fallain was drafted into World War I, and his draft card is online somewhere. So there would have been an interruption during WW I. Seems like they suspended amateur licenses at that time. Some say 1912 was when his first license was issued, but the postwar licensure may have been circa 1918. WFDF was first commercially licensed as WEAA beginning in 1922, and WWJ was first commercially licensed as WBL in 1921.
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As a radio history buff, I would love to hear the programming that those very early radio stations had on air in the early 20's.
Does anyone know about any recordings that were done back then, and if they are archived anywhere?
Does anyone know about any recordings that were done back then, and if they are archived anywhere?
KOY did keep a detailed history on their website until Clear Channel/iHeart killed the adult standards music format in 2013.
The KOY time capsule that was buried in 1977 at the old KOY building at 840 N. Central was opened today, as scheduled on the 100th anniversary of the station. The building is now home to the Phoenix Audacy stations, and Audacy was gracious enough to host the opening of the capsule for a group of KOY fans and former employees who showed up for the event. Lots of pics and videos of this on Facebook. I guess that's the closest we'll get to a 100 year KOY anniversary.
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Thanks for letting me know about the time capsule, just finished watching the youtube video of it. I found a detailed history of KOY with lots of photos and promo material, more so than what was on the Iheart website.
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