97.7 flipped to Latin at Noon

[Retro]

No one but perhaps a couple of call-letter geeks will care, or even notice. I don't see a flea-powered hobby operation like Zumix forcing iHeart to change calls on 97.7 again.

It could or could not be a problem. I mean as you all are aware, since PPM, call letters are not nearly as important that they to be.

Wasn't it close to 20 years ago when Salem bought WNFT, and wanted to change its calls to WJTK or some variation of that? And I had made the comment Greater Media was not not objecting at all? In any case, they settled with calling it WTTT instead.

 

[johnster]

They also really aren't using it on the air. The station is using Rumba 97.7 except for the legal ID which is in Spanish.

 

[davideduardo]

It could or could not be a problem. I mean as you all are aware, since PPM, call letters are not nearly as important that they to be.

PPM had little to do with it. By the early 2000's, over 80% of station entries in the PPM were for station name or dial position. Call letters were only written in for old-line stations that still had call letter usage on the air, such as WOR or KFI or WGN.

 

[Deleted User]

the Legal ID is what... WZRM Brockton .... how do you say that in Spanish?

Everything surrounding "WZRM Brockton" is just crap, no matter what language it is in.

Official station identification shall consist of the station’s call letters immediately followed by the community or communities specified in its license as the station’s location: Provided, That the name of the licensee or the station’s frequency or channel number, or both, as stated on the station’s license may be inserted between the call letters and station location. No other insertion is permissible.

 

[gr8oldies]

It's up to the FCC to moderate any conflicts. iHeart applied for and were granted the letters.

Call letter disputes have to be taken to court since sometime in the 1980s. WMEE Fort Wayne demanding WMCZ, Decatur IN change because or call letters too similar was the first such case as I recall

 

[davideduardo]

Call letter disputes have to be taken to court since sometime in the 1980s. WMEE Fort Wayne demanding WMCZ, Decatur IN change because or call letters too similar was the first such case as I recall

Back in the day, stations had to notify everyone in their primary coverage area of a proposed call letter change 30 days in advance. Stations could file opposition.

The last time I did that was in 1980, as I moved from management to strict programming in the 80’s.

 

[davideduardo]

the Legal ID is what... WZRM Brockton .... how do you say that in Spanish?

Everything surrounding "WZRM Brockton" is just crap, no matter what language it is in.

Official station identification shall consist of the station’s call letters immediately followed by the community or communities specified in its license as the station’s location: Provided, That the name of the licensee or the station’s frequency or channel number, or both, as stated on the station’s license may be inserted between the call letters and station location. No other insertion is permissible.

The letters are spoken in the normal way in each language. “W” is doble-uhu or doble-vey, then zeta, then erreh, then emme. City names do not translate in IDs. “Brockton” is Brockton.

 

[Deleted User]

well looks like I'll be trying to listen on the way home, but I am north of Boston so it may not make the trip

 

[CTListener]

The letters are spoken in the normal way in each language. “W” is doble-uhu or doble-vey, then zeta, then erreh, then emme. City names do not translate in IDs. “Brockton” is Brockton.

Does WSKQ ID as "New York" or "Nueva York"?

 

[davideduardo]

Does WSKQ ID as "New York" or "Nueva York"?

Good question. Dominicans "all" say Nueva York, and that station is predominantly listened to by Dominicans so that might be logical, and, of course, legal.

Curiously, back in the 80's there was a very big Dominican merengue band formed in The Big Apple and it was called "New York Band". They had a number of big hits both in NYC and in the Dominican Republic.

 

[Marcos_C]

Does WSKQ ID as "New York" or "Nueva York"?

The station IDs as "WSKQ-FM and WSKQ-HD New York."

 

[CTListener]

Curiously, back in the 80's there was a very big Dominican merengue band formed in The Big Apple and it was called "New York Band". They had a number of big hits both in NYC and in the Dominican Republic.

In a similar vein: In the '90s, the company that runs Connecticut's off-track betting system imported races from what was then El Comandante racetrack in Puerto Rico, figuring that Connecticut Puerto Ricans might be interested in betting them. The experiment was short-lived, but I did get a little chuckle out of the names of two horses running there -- Miss Bridgeport and Bridgeport Lady. Both were bred on the island but apparently named for the destination of choice for people dear to their owners. The chuckle was because, at that point, Bridgeport was easily Connecticut's most distressed city and it would have been difficult to imagine anyone actually living in Connecticut saluting the city through a racehorse!

 

[gr8oldies]

The letters are spoken in the normal way in each language. “W” is doble-uhu or doble-vey, then zeta, then erreh, then emme. City names do not translate in IDs. “Brockton” is Brockton.

I take it at one point the ID had to be in English? I remember "WQBA Miami" and "WQBA-FM Miami" in English on those 2 stations.

 

[davideduardo]

In a similar vein: In the '90s, the company that runs Connecticut's off-track betting system imported races from what was then El Comandante racetrack in Puerto Rico, figuring that Connecticut Puerto Ricans might be interested in betting them. The experiment was short-lived, but I did get a little chuckle out of the names of two horses running there -- Miss Bridgeport and Bridgeport Lady. Both were bred on the island but apparently named for the destination of choice for people dear to their owners. The chuckle was because, at that point, Bridgeport was easily Connecticut's most distressed city and it would have been difficult to imagine anyone actually living in Connecticut saluting the city through a racehorse!

Of course, San Juan Racing was the company that owned WKTU when it shot to #1 with disco.

The SJR founders were great friends with the Toppels, who owned the company I managed stations for but which was mostly a supermarket chain, including Hills on Long Island.

Small world.

Of course, in PR there was legal off-track betting. And the listenership in the 60's to WKAQ to the three weekly race day live broadcasts in Puerto Rico was so high that the ratings company had to break those perods out in a separate report so it would not distort the full week shares.

 

[davideduardo]

I take it at one point the ID had to be in English? I remember "WQBA Miami" and "WQBA-FM Miami" in English on those 2 stations.

Language was never specified in the rules. In fact, In Puerto Rico stations IDed in Spanish, except when we did not want the call letters to confuse listeners who we wanted to know us by our names and then we IDed in English.

 

[raccoonradio]

Maybe more of a promo than an ID but someone
used to record KTFW from Texas for me and the announcer gave it a Texas twist/pronunciation:
KYF-Dubya.
And no here in Boston area I don't think one
station uses a local accent to proclaim
themselves Double you Ahh Oh Ahh! Just a fun comment here...

 

[CTListener]

Maybe more of a promo than an ID but someone
used to record KTFW from Texas for me and the announcer gave it a Texas twist/pronunciation:
KYF-Dubya.
And no here in Boston area I don't think one
station uses a local accent to proclaim
themselves Double you Ahh Oh Ahh! Just a fun comment here

Wouldn't the first "R" in "WROR" be pronounced "Ahr," since there's a vowel after it? Ahh Kay Oh, yes. Ahh Oh Ahh, I don't think so. It doesn't flow. Similarly, I think a Bostonian would say "Ahr Ee Oh Speedwagon" for the band often heard on "Ahr Oh Ahh," not "Ahh Ee Oh."

 

[Kemosabe]

And no here in Boston area I don't think one
station uses a local accent to proclaim
themselves Double you Ahh Oh Ahh! Just a fun comment here...

I have to smirk when "Rawn" Della Chiesa says "W-C-Ah-B."

 

[freqlost]

So it appears iHeart has a national Spanish language public access show for all its stations that roll that way.

Marco Rubio was one of the guests this A.M.

 

[davideduardo]

So it appears iHeart has a national Spanish language public access show

The FCC term is "Public Affairs". If the guests are invited, it is not "public access" as the "public" does not participate.

for all its stations that roll that way.

You mean for Spanish language stations? Is the show in Spanish, or just for "Hispanic interests"?

Marco Rubio was one of the guests this A.M.

I presume he speaks Spanish, but I've never heard him other than in English.