AM Stations that "abbreviated their frequency" in slogans

[firepoint525]

Back when I was in college at the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1990, there was a fellow student there who referred to the student radio station (WUTM 90.3) on air as "UT-90." It never really caught on, and truth be told, the faculty probably didn't like it, either! :

 

[Ultimajock]

For some reason I recall that in those days, the announcers didn't say "ten-seventy" on KNX, but always "ten-seven-oh." probably because it rhymed with News Radi-O. On billboards and printed ads, it was "KNX 10.70"

...WTSO/1070 Madison also used the "10-7-0" for a while. Meanwhile, in Appleton-Oshkosh, some of the Top 40s used "Y-115" (WYNE/1150 Appleton), "Blue 128" (WNAM/1280 Neenah), "Musicradio 104" (WOSH-FM 103.9 Oshkosh) and "105" (WKAU/1050 and WKAU-FM/104.9 Kaukauna). Even the college station in Oshkosh, WRST/90.3, called itself "90 and a third." When Top 40 WOSH/1490 and Country WYTL/103.9 (the former-and-future WOSH-FM) switched frequencies in 1975, WYTL became "15"...

 

[onairb]

And let's not forget that Top 40 giant "The Big 610" KFRC became "Magic 61" when it switched to a MOYL style format for a few years in the mid-late 80s.

In Los Angeles, I recall that until the advent of digital read-outs, all stations below 1000 Khz tended to abbreivate, while stations above generally did not. The only exception to this (IIRC) was KMPC 710, and I assume its because "seven-ten" is 3 syllables, but "seventy-one" is 4 syllables. Same thing with the Big 610 in San Francisco. Most other Bill Drake programmed Top 40 stations abbreivated - even 136/KGB in San Diego. CKLW was "The Big 8."

For some reason I recall that in those days, the announcers didn't say "ten-seventy" on KNX, but always "ten-seven-oh." probably because it rhymed with News Radi-O. On billboards and printed ads, it was "KNX 10.70"

In San Francisco, 'The World's Greatest Radio Station' for a time emphasized the 'oh' on air, but not in print...'Five Six Oh, KSF-Oh,San Francisc-Oh.'

 

[LKidd]

Coffeyville KS KGGF was referred to on air at one time as "Radio 69". (and this was an MOR station!)

 

[LKellerIII]

Coffeyville KS KGGF was referred to on air at one time as "Radio 69". (and this was an MOR station!)

Top 40 KKUA in Honolulu abbreviated their frequency, but it was always spoken as, "The Big Six-Nine," not 'sixty-nine.' Obvious reasons, I would think.

 

[RadioDaze]

In the Raleigh-Durham area, at least three of the AMs abbreviated their dial position:

• WPTF 680 was "WPTF 68" in the 1970s
• Legendary Top 40 WKIX 850 (now WPTK) was "channel 85", which they referenced again during their recent, brief return to the WKIX call letters with an oldies format.
• WDNC, 620 AM, used "The Big 62" at some point, I believe in the 1950s
  

We have a few FMs which actually still drop the right side of the point:

• CHR WDCG 105.1, Durham, is better known by 35-year legacy brand "G-105"
• Another Durham-licensed station with a 30-year legacy brand, WFXC 107.1 has long been Foxy 107 and with it's 21-year simulcast partner, WFXK 104.3, is still usually referred to on-air as Foxy 107-104.
• The newest full-power entries into the market, Hillsborough-licensed WPLW 102.5 and Smithfield-licensed WWPL 102.3, air a CHR simulcast as "Pulse 102", as shorthand for the slightly different dial positions.
• Alt. format W237BZ 95.3 (which officially translates WDCG-HD2) markets as "95X" for similar reasons as WPLW/WWPL, as they plan to add an additional frequency at 95.1.

 

[Ultimajock]

Coffeyville KS KGGF was referred to on air at one time as "Radio 69". (and this was an MOR station!)

Top 40 KKUA in Honolulu abbreviated their frequency, but it was always spoken as, "The Big Six-Nine," not 'sixty-nine.' Obvious reasons, I would think.

...during its stretch as a "Music of Your Life" affiliate in the '80s, WCKK/690 Oshkosh had a liner that emphasized that "obvious reason" -- "Sixty --- Nine. That's easy to remember." Ironically, the station's then-owner, Jim Coursolle, was a John Birch Society booster who'd fall off the edge of his Earth if he took one more step to his right, and ran editorials (from a script service) that always complained about "filth" in Hollywood movies...

 

[the marv]

In Columbus 1460 ESPN used to call itself 14 WBNS and WRFD before they were bought by Salem was called 88 WRFD.

 

[unitron]

In the Raleigh-Durham area, at least three of the AMs abbreviated their dial position:

• WPTF 680 was "WPTF 68" in the 1970s
• Legendary Top 40 WKIX 850 (now WPTK) was "channel 85", which they referenced again during their recent, brief return to the WKIX call letters with an oldies format.
• WDNC, 620 AM, used "The Big 62" at some point, I believe in the 1950s
  

We have a few FMs which actually still drop the right side of the point:

• CHR WDCG 105.1, Durham, is better known by 35-year legacy brand "G-105"
• Another Durham-licensed station with a 30-year legacy brand, WFXC 107.1 has long been Foxy 107 and with it's 21-year simulcast partner, WFXK 104.3, is still usually referred to on-air as Foxy 107-104.
• The newest full-power entries into the market, Hillsborough-licensed WPLW 102.5 and Smithfield-licensed WWPL 102.3, air a CHR simulcast as "Pulse 102", as shorthand for the slightly different dial positions.
• Alt. format W237BZ 95.3 (which officially translates WDCG-HD2) markets as "95X" for similar reasons as WPLW/WWPL, as they plan to add an additional frequency at 95.1.

Saw this thread early yesterday and was going to mention Channel 85 if no one else had, but got distracted by something, so I guess if you snooze you lose.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

93/WBEN
KB Radio 15 (WKBW 1520)
GR 55 (WGR 550)
AM93 WSOC
WFTL 14

and one very strange one:
Musicradio 7000 The New WGBS (710)

 

[firepoint525]

• • Alt. format W237BZ 95.3 (which officially translates WDCG-HD2) markets as "95X" for similar reasons as WPLW/WWPL, as they plan to add an additional frequency at 95.1.

  The two "Fish" frequencies here in Nashville do that. We have "94FM the Fish" with stations at 93.7 (for the west side of town) and 94.1 (for the east side). They (Salem) also own Solid Gospel 105, which had stations at 104.9 (east side of town) and 105.1 (west side), but they recently switched 104.9 to a simulcast of their Fish stations, so they will probably soon be working on some sort of new imaging for the Fish to explain away not only the two dial positions near 94FM, but also the new one way up the dial from the first two!

 

[cd637299]

93/WBEN
KB Radio 15 (WKBW 1520)
GR 55 (WGR 550)
AM93 WSOC
WFTL 14

and one very strange one:
Musicradio 7000 The New WGBS (710)

That's an abbreviation?

cd

 

[jh]

1110 KFAB in Omaha was 11 ("Leave it on Eleven") for quite a few years, back in the 70s, 80s when they were a full-service AC. The first time I even heard a mention of 1110 was on a promo done by Bruce Williams for his old Talknet show, the station itself never said 1110. It wasn't until it became all-talk that they started using 1110.

 

[Bongwater]

In Seattle, KJR 950's main slogan was "KJR Seattle, Channel 95" during its heyday during the 1960's.

When Seattle station KING 1090 started their Top 40 format some time during the late 1960's (can't remember the year), they called themselves the "Big 11".

As for fudging the frequency, local 80's alternative rock station KJET was on 1590 but their liners always said "16-00, KJET", and 1600 was the frequency shown on their bumper stickers.

There may have been other stations that abbreviated their calls, but I can't remember them offhand. There was a station in Oregon (Seaside, a big resort town on the coast) whose slogan was "KSWB, Radio 93!". They were Top 40 at the time (late 1960's - early 70's). They play oldies now on a different frequency (840).

The KJR "Channel 95" tradition continued when KJR-FM came on in the '90s "KJR Seattle, Channel 95.7"

Pre-dating KWK's stunt with an FM sounding dial position, KPUG Bellingham 1170 was "11.7" in the early '70s.

KJET used both "1600 K-Jet" and "16 K-Jet".

(93.3) KUBE 93 is still KUBE 93 and the last abbreviated FM holdout in Seattle.

Before digital readouts, FM was the most guilty abuser of abbreviations.

And one of the extreme examples is WYOO Minneapolis, "U-100" which simulcasted on both AM/FM.

WYOO "U-100" on FM was 101.3 ("!"), now KDWB. WYOO "U-100" on AM was 980 (a LOT closer to ideal.)

(I wish I had a station on 100.5 in the Twin Cities back then. I would have called it "FM 101" just to screw with everybody.....)

 

[joebtsflk1]

Iowa...

KIOA, 940 in the sixties used the KLIF-1190 jingles , and sounded better with them than KLIF itself. 94-KIOA popped up in the late 70s.

WHO used to use ten-four-oh W-H-O in the late sixties. In the 70s, in the heat of CB radio it was "Breaker Ten-four for WHO" OK, breaker ten-four never happened.

KCRG 1600 in Cedar Rapids used G-16 in the late 70s. Made them sound like a highway...about 30 miles south in Johnson County, there it was, county G-16.

 

[firepoint525]

WSIX here in Nashville held down positions at or near 98 on both the AM and FM dials. They were (and still are) at 97.9 on the FM dial, and probably still called "the big 98." They were also at 980 on the AM dial back in the day, but their former AM station is now a Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN) station.

 

[Mike Braun]

Waco, Texas

1230 KWTX used a number of vocal jingles, including: "1 - 2 - 3 ... KWTX" and "12 - 3 - 0 ... Waco" (twelve - three - oh).

As a board operator/DJ in the mid- to late-'70s, I seem to recall voicing my own promotion, which went something like this: "1 - 2 - 3 AM radio, KWTX ... The station you can count on."

Announcers and reporters often abbreviated the call letters in promotions and news tags, for example: "T-X radio," "T-X Hall of Fame music" and "Howard Ball, T-X News."

The call letters once were turned into a multi-syllable word for a sports promotion: "KWTXcitement" (K-W-T-excitement) -- "KWTXcitement includes Baylor basketball ...."

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Famous 56 in Philly. Color Channel 14 in Cleveland. What about 66 WNNNNNBC? The Great 98. (WRC )

 

[DaveArnold]

WSPF-Hickory,NC-1000-Channel 1.

 

[Charles1]

Louisville:

84-WHAS. They've been using that handle for at least 35 years.
WCII-AM (1080, the 80's successor to WKLO) referred to themselves as "Country 11"

Others from Birmingham:

WYDE-850 used the handle"WYDE (pronounced 'wide')-85 while they were a country station in the 70's and early '80's, as well as after their flip to oldies and later gold-based AC in the early '80's.

WJLD-1400 used the handle "Touch 14" during the '90's (I think I'm right on the timeframe).