Call Letter Consideration

[FreddyE1977]

Almost as bad as some of the calls are some of the consolidated market names.

Gotta have a pretty nimble tongue to work in mid-Michigan.

"WIOG, FM-102, Baycitysaginawmidlandflint".

"WNEM, TV-5, Baycitysaginawmidlandflint"

etc.

To say nothing of Jacksonlansingbattlecreekkalamazoo.

 

[TheRob]

I figured the difficulty of the "W" was the reason many stations in the east referred to themselves by the last three letters, like 'MMR or 'YSP in Philadelphia.

We had a KZZC at one point, and now we have a KCZZ on the AM dial.

My college station was KJHK. I often paused in between, saying K-J... H-K Lawrence.

I'm glad we don't have any stations licensed to Osawatomie or Oskaloosa.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

The Pittsburgh PA market had (has?) a station with the calls WWSW. Sounds tough to say, but on my frequent visits there back in the 60s, their announcers handled those letters very crisply. Even sounded like they were having fun with it!

 

[davideduardo]

I figured the difficulty of the "W" was the reason many stations in the east referred to themselves by the last three letters, like 'MMR or 'YSP in Philadelphia.

More likely is that we found that everyone had a "W" so it was not unique. The other three letters were.

 

[Bongwater]

I figured the difficulty of the "W" was the reason many stations in the east referred to themselves by the last three letters, like 'MMR or 'YSP in Philadelphia.

More likely is that we found that everyone had a "W" so it was not unique. The other three letters were.

It's actually not hard to say "Double-you-Double-you-Ess-Double-you"

But make it a part of the station moniker of a FAST paced CHR radio station and start those letters with a "Kay" and there's GONNA be trouble .......

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

In the same market, Pittsburgh's trailblazing KDKA announcers have always had a cake walk with those calls...

 

[FreddyE1977]

1250 AM in Bay City, Michigan used to be WXOX.
Half the time it sounded as if their announcer were about to
cough up a hairball.

 

[landtuna]

Back in the U.S. Navy of the 60's ships were given several different calls. In my ship's case we had:

NBIG - the "official" call sign. This was not used in voice or TTY communication but was used in morse code and semaphore.

"Stale Vessel" - the "voice" (tactical, ship-to-ship) call sign. Used only in voice communication usually by bridge personnel.

The captain objected to the initial voice call and got it changed to "Stage Door". ;D

With all the branding going on now and digital readouts on virtually all radios it seems kind of silly to require stations to identify themselves by calls any longer. We use frequencies to find the stations and brands to identify their formats. Calls seem so 20th century.

 

[KeithE4]

With all the branding going on now and digital readouts on virtually all radios it seems kind of silly to require stations to identify themselves by calls any longer. We use frequencies to find the stations and brands to identify their formats. Calls seem so 20th century.

I can't think of any reason to continuing them other than that it's an FCC requirement. Even those stations that use callsigns as their branding, such as WGN, could continue to identify themselves that way, even if said call letters are no longer assigned by the FCC.

 

[davideduardo]

I can't think of any reason to continuing them other than that it's an FCC requirement. Even those stations that use callsigns as their branding, such as WGN, could continue to identify themselves that way, even if said call letters are no longer assigned by the FCC.

The main reason for continuing to have call letters is to uniquely identify a station. Arbitron, and thus advertisers who use ratings, identify stations by calls.

Whether used on the air or not, calls are a fairly secure method of telling stations apart for the buying process.

 

[landtuna]

The main reason for continuing to have call letters is to uniquely identify a station. Arbitron, and thus advertisers who use ratings, identify stations by calls.

Whether used on the air or not, calls are a fairly secure method of telling stations apart for the buying process.

I was just referring to their on-air use.

But that raises a question. How does PPM track a station? What if a station changes calls mid-month?

 

[davideduardo]

The main reason for continuing to have call letters is to uniquely identify a station. Arbitron, and thus advertisers who use ratings, identify stations by calls.

Whether used on the air or not, calls are a fairly secure method of telling stations apart for the buying process.

I was just referring to their on-air use.

But that raises a question. How does PPM track a station? What if a station changes calls mid-month?

The PPM tracks a unique number for each licensed facility. Even if the calls change, the code remains the same. Arbitron just updates its translation table.

 

[markwooldridge]

Talking about station call ids... I am pretty sure that a couple of on air personalities over at WUNC have issues - because if they're rushing it, to me it comes out more like WNC than WUNC. Fortunately "North Carolina Public Radio WUNC" doesn't have the long list of stations as its cousin UNC-TV has - otherwise reading out all them WUN_ calls... eeps!

 

[carrington]

The old Jefferson Pilot TV stations were fond of including "WBT" in their call letters (company's flagship radio station in Charlotte), resulting in some hard-to-say combinations such as Florence, South Carolina's WBTW and Richmond, Virginia's WWBT. Their Charleston, South Carolina, TV station didn't follow the "WBT" pattern, but did stick with the equally hard-to-pronounce WCSC.

On the East Coast, First Media (http://firstmediaradio.com/) uses multiple Ws at several of their stations: WZWW/Bellefonte-State College, PA; WWZW/Lexington,VA; WWDW/Alberta, VA; WWDR/Murfreesboro, NC.

Often, the stations shorten the on-air reference to 3WD or 3WZ.

 

[chrish]

Back when call letters really mattered top notch consultants would tell clients that WW call letters are the kiss of death and in most cases they were correct

 

[LowPayDJ]

Anyone remember WUWU FM near Buffalo, NY? Woo Woo FM

 

[w9wi]

Anyone remember WUWU FM near Buffalo, NY? Woo Woo FM

There's still a "Woo Hoo 107" in Bowling Green, Kentucky. (WUHU Smiths Grove)

 

[joebtsflk1]

Bad call letters, Iowa edition:

KXJX, 103.3 Pella. In the early 80s, this was a pretty tight small market station that was an AC with news and Paul Harvey. Attractive bumper stickers...but those calls were atrocious! "Kay-ecks, Jay-ecks" could make even Don Pardo sound like Howard Cosell. Rumor had it that the owners at the time actually had those calls released from a Navy vessel. (Said owners redeemed themselves a few years later when they put a new FM on air in North Mankato, MN: KDOG)

WSUI-KSUI, Iowa City. I was a student announcer there (at the State University of Iowa) in the late 80s. Really, these calls aren't that bad if you enunciate properly. My PD called me on it...don't let them roll together or it comes out "double-yoo essSHOEeye"

WOI, Ames. A short stint as a student announcer at Iowa State's legacy station. (can't say I helped its legacy any) Ditto above. Should be "double-yoo oh eye" but too many of their people today roll it off as "double-yoo woe why"

And finally, the calls on any facility, whatever they are, that used to have a three-toe, such as WOW Omaha. KXNO Des Moines, the former KSO gets a pass, first they're catchy and unique for a sports outlet, plus (x + n) / 2 = S.

 

[landtuna]

Bad call letters, Iowa edition:

KXJX, 103.3 Pella. In the early 80s, this was a pretty tight small market station that was an AC with news and Paul Harvey. Attractive bumper stickers...but those calls were atrocious! "Kay-ecks, Jay-ecks" could make even Don Pardo sound like Howard Cosell. Rumor had it that the owners at the time actually had those calls released from a Navy vessel.

Commissioned navy ships (USS) have calls beginning with 'N', not 'K'. I don't know if the same naming convention applies to non-commissioned ships (USNS).

 

[joebtsflk1]

may have confused that for US Coast Guard, which does register ships with K and W calls