101.9 Is Now WEMP

[frozenfiresb]

So, the idea that it would be a *talk* station aimed at women has been scrapped or is the music being played now still a stopgap for the real format? I really hope it's the latter since there's numerous other stations to hear the same music 101.9 is currently playing.

 

[DToTheJ]

It is indeed projected to be the latter... though they may still play music on weekends... hell, maybe during primetime and overnights, too - who knows?

 

[WPPCProductions]

I probably mentioned before.I do like the format on NewJersey 101.5.News and talk.Weekends music on weekends.

 

[DToTheJ]

Once again, the "top ten songs" takes a radical turn. Another newbie in the top spot, while the list this time around is now half '80's and half '90's.

1. Train - Drops Of Jupiter
2. Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark (OMD) - If You Leave
3. Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me
4. Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
5. The Cardigans - Lovefool
6. Eddie Money - Take Me Home Tonight
7. Robert Palmer - Addicted To Love
8. Counting Crows - Mr. Jones
9. TLC - Waterfalls
10. Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy

Also, Three Doors Down's "Kryptonite," which was number 6 yesterday, falls all the way to number 91 (!) today.

 

[musicfanpete]

Just for comparison sakes, WEMP's sister station in Chicago WWWN is basically mimicing WEMP's same format. However after starting with a rock leaning Hot AC mix the first day or so last week, they are basically playing a current based Hot AC mix with some 80's and 90's rock songs mixed in (ie: Barenaked Ladies, Journey, Robert Palmer, Spin Doctors, etc.). They also brought in a former morning host who used to have a popular morning show on that same station in the 80's and early 90's supposedly on a temporary basis until the new format fully kicks in. But I'm wondering if we are already pretty close to what this station will be, which is hard to believe as I can't see too many listeners just clamoring to tune into a station that plays the same music others do with the same news updates that the other four or so well established news/talk stations in this town can provide.

Oh btw, did I mention that WWWN sounds like it is programmed worse than my local high school radio station?! I've never heard so many supposed news "veterans" stumble over themselves in my life! And they have one guy who is a former DJ on another station that I swear can't even read his own name without lousing things up! Boy I hope this isn't the final product! :

 

[Rusty Muck]

Abandoned three-letter calls are all retired just because the FCC doesn't issue them anymore for new stations. In the case of WBZ-FM, WLS-FM, WWL-FM and others, those are grandfathered in, and it's merely the station owner picking up the similar FM calls for a local sister station on another band with those calls. That's allowed.

In the case of KHJ, with the KKHJ calls on a Spanish-language station, the TOH ID was a bit awkward (as "KK" in Spanish is pronounced "Kah Kah", and I won't tell you what that word means in that language). The station's owner asked to bring back the well-known KHJ calls. Some other situations (like WJW) are case-by-case. What likely happened was the TV station's owner struck a deal to bring back the calls when the AM station decided to abandon them.

The FCC does not 'retire' call letters. At all. Not even for historic reasons. There are way too many historic call signs out there to do that. Every market seemingly has a historic station. If, say, Disney and Citadel both decided to drop the WABC calls altogether to go with something else (ain't gonna happen, but let's be hypothetical), any station could pick up the abandoned calls.

And the only reason WNBC won't ever be back on AM is because the call sign belongs to WNBC-TV, and NBC/Comcast no longer owns radio stations, and they certainly won't let another station use them.

If a call sign is currently being used on any AM, FM or TV outlet, the same calls can only be used on another broadcast band by the present owner, or by permission by another party. And 3-letter calls are no longer issued for new stations, except for the scenario mentioned earlier.

I also forgot one other interesting three-letter call restoration.

In 1953, ABC decided to brand the WJZ stations in New York (AM/770, TV/7 and FM/95.5) under the WABC banner. (Likewise, KECA AM/FM/TV in Los Angeles was renamed KABC AM/FM/TV).

Group W, which founded WJZ-AM in 1922, actually made a request to the FCC in 1957 to rename WAAM/13 Baltimore as "WJZ-TV" as a tribute to their original New York outlet, that eventually became the flagship station for ABC - which WAAM was affiliated with. Given Group W's stature in the broadcasting world, the FCC allowed the WJZ calls to return on the TV side.

And then in 2007, successive owner CBS rechristened Baltimore cluster-mates WHFS/105.7 and WJFK/1300 under the WJZ-FM and WJZ calls, respectively - returning the WJZ calls onto the radio dial after a 55 year absence!

 

[satech]

And then in 2007, successive owner CBS rechristened Baltimore cluster-mates WHFS/105.7 and WJFK/1300 under the WJZ-FM and WJZ calls, respectively - returning the WJZ calls onto the radio dial after a 55 year absence!

But isn't WJZ-FM technically considered a five-letter call sign by the FCC, since the suffix is included? If there was no WJZ on AM, then WJZ(FM) would be a three-letter call, but WJZ-FM is five letters, as is WJZ-TV.

 

[Rusty Muck]

And then in 2007, successive owner CBS rechristened Baltimore cluster-mates WHFS/105.7 and WJFK/1300 under the WJZ-FM and WJZ calls, respectively - returning the WJZ calls onto the radio dial after a 55 year absence!

But isn't WJZ-FM technically considered a five-letter call sign by the FCC, since the suffix is included? If there was no WJZ on AM, then WJZ(FM) would be a three-letter call, but WJZ-FM is five letters, as is WJZ-TV.

That was the technicality that the FCC used when they gave Group W the WJZ calls back. WAAM was renamed "WJZ-TV," not just "WJZ," and has always legally been "WJZ-TV." (Again, remember that Westinghouse was a highly respected broadcaster - just like Storer was i.e.: the WHN/1050 call restoration in the 1960s - so they were able to get away with it.)

But Group W apparently acquired the rights to the three-letter WJZ calls regardless, and that carried over to their purchase of CBS. So renaming WJFK/1300 as WJZ/1300 was the actual restoration of the original three-letter callsign after a 55 year absence.

 

[fybush]

The unwritten policy at the callsign desk appears to be to treat "five-letter" calls the same way three-letter calls are treated: if you've got one, whether through having had it pre-1930s or having reclaimed a previous call later on through special exemption (KUT, KRE, WGH, WJZ, KHJ, etc.), you can move it from service to service just as you would a modern 4-letter call. WWJ could spawn WWJ-TV, KFH could spawn KFH-FM (and move the AM calls to a different facility), and WJZ-TV could spawn WJZ(AM) and WJZ-FM. (The one thing a 3-5/letter call can't do, apparently, is jump markets. CBS can't put KNX-FM in San Francisco just because it owns KNX in Los Angeles...but it could put KNX-FM or KNX-TV in LA if it wanted to.)

But if I went to the FCC and wanted to, say, flip 100.3 to WHN-FM, I can't do it...a new "five-letter" call is just as off-limits as a new three-letter call.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

But if I went to the FCC and wanted to, say, flip 100.3 to WHN-FM, I can't do it...a new "five-letter" call is just as off-limits as a new three-letter call.

What's the rationale behind that? Why can't someone building a new station (or wishing to change the calls of an existing station) pick any combination of call letters reserved for broadcast? Why can't I buy a station on 1560 and change the call letters from WQEW to WQR if I wanted to? Who would it affect?

It's still a broadcast station call sign for the Eastern United States. It's not as if I wanted to change it to NQEW, AQXR or KQEW.

 

[badjef]

(The one thing a 3-5/letter call can't do, apparently, is jump markets.

Scott, you knew the subject of KYW would pop up. Even though the FCC treated the deal as though it "never happened" it still set a precedent that could be challenged.

CBS can't put KNX-FM in San Francisco just because it owns KNX in Los Angeles...but it could put KNX-FM or KNX-TV in LA if it wanted to.)

The closest they came to that was KNXT.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[Rusty Muck]

(The one thing a 3-5/letter call can't do, apparently, is jump markets.

Scott, you knew the subject of KYW would pop up. Even though the FCC treated the deal as though it "never happened" it still set a precedent that could be challenged.

The KYW calls were held by Westinghouse, who did jump them from Philadelphia to Cleveland in 1956, and then back to Philadelphia in 1965. Those were lateral moves, as it was a two-way ownership trade between WBC and NBC that was soon after challenged in court out of extortion charges (and ultimately voided).

One point of confusion I have was how long the call letter changeover in Cleveland took place, because WBC apparently held onto the WTAM/WNBK calls before switching to KYW AM/TV, at least according to a station ID recording (jump to 3:05). When DID NBC implement the WRCV calls on KYW/WPTZ? Did the KYW calls "go away" for a few months?

The KYW calls did move instantaneously back to Philadelphia, and NBC tried to carry on the "KY" image by rechristening the Cleveland stations WKYC AM/FM/TV.

CBS can't put KNX-FM in San Francisco just because it owns KNX in Los Angeles...but it could put KNX-FM or KNX-TV in LA if it wanted to.)

The closest they came to that was KNXT.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

By the same token, WLW/700 Cincinnati's TV sibling was never WLW-TV... but WLWT. And imaged as, "WLW-T."