Do call letters matter anymore?

[nd2023]

Have call letters lost their meaning? In the past, call letters used to resemble the station's image, but now, some stations just bury the legal ID in a stopset once an hour. For example, if CBS really cared about the call letters of 92.3 Now FM in New York City, they would not have kept the old WXRK call letters, and would have made an attempt to buy the WNOW call letters.

I think that call letters are as insignificant as a license plate number.

 

[KeithE4]

Have call letters lost their meaning? In the past, call letters used to resemble the station's image, but now, some stations just bury the legal ID in a stopset once an hour. For example, if CBS really cared about the call letters of 92.3 Now FM in New York City, they would not have kept the old WXRK call letters, and would have made an attempt to buy the WNOW call letters.

I think that call letters are as insignificant as a license plate number.

For stations that talk, call letters are still important. For stations that play music, they're just a placeholder that identifies the station in the FCC database. I don't think that the FCC will stop requiring a legal ID anytime soon, however.

 

[TheBigA]

As PPM grows, call letters are less important. If it can be part of branding, then it's useful, because a station is a brand.

I also think dial location will also matter less, as people listen to radio on other devices that don't have dials.

 

[ChiefOperator]

I agree with what everyone says. I think call letters do help brand a station, depending how they are used. At a AM near me, the call letters are said in a very formal manner and help to give the station a sense of professionalism and strength.... The call letters are also sung, which makes the call letters and the jingle very memorable.

I remember a station that at the top of each hour stated its legal ID, the current time, and then "chime" to mark the stated time. Man, every time I looked at a clock at the top of the hour, I thought of that station!

 

[nd2023]

As PPM grows, call letters are less important. If it can be part of branding, then it's useful, because a station is a brand.

I also think dial location will also matter less, as people listen to radio on other devices that don't have dials.

Dial location will matter if it's above or below 92, as some listeners have the mentality that there's "nothing good" below 92. With digital tuning, people would tune from low to high, and the other way, so a station on 107.9 would be heard last, if at all, if the listener is using the "seek" button. My car radio auto scan orders the strong stations from lowest to highest, with the higher frequencies on FM2. A "radio station" on 87.7 has a big disadvantage because it can't be tuned on some radios.

 

[alans613]

They must not matter to Main Line here in Dayton...they actually HAVE the WING call letters for their AM and could have theoretically brought back the WING calls on the FM for Fly 92.9 but they stuck with the old Z-93 call letters of WGTZ, which they only mention at the top of the hour. WING-FM would've sounded cool alongside the name Fly 92.9, and would've especially fit in with the "Fly" name. All WGTZ does is remind me of the Heritage CHR it replaced, Z-93.

 

[davideduardo]

For stations that talk, call letters are still important. For stations that play music, they're just a placeholder that identifies the station in the FCC database. I don't think that the FCC will stop requiring a legal ID anytime soon, however.

Calls are only important to talk stations because so much of the talk audience is in the still-living generation that grew up when stations used calls as their identity.

Most people under 45 or 50 grew up after most listening had migrated to FM, where most stations used names (although sometimes with "matching" or phonetic calls) for image and identity as opposed to the perceived-as-sterile call letters.

Calls are irrelevant in most of the world, and they will be in the US soon, too.

 

[landtuna]

Calls are irrelevant in most of the world, and they will be in the US soon, too.

I sure used to have some fun putting the "swing" on my morse key and seeing just how cute I could cut NBIG.

Oh.....wait.....that would make me......uh, nevermind!

 

[Gatekeeper007]

I guess it depends on the call letters in some cases. Ours is WLRE and our city of licensee is Elloree pronounced L OR Ree so for us call letters mean a lot altho we still run in to people who after ten years of being on the air often tell me they just realized the other day or last week or a month or so ago what our call letters stand for, makes me worry when I am out on the road driving that they might be driving somewhere close to me.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I think it depends on the call letters. With today's tendency to shortcut everything, good calls that reflect station imaging might end up being the preferred shortcut - especially with the proper promotion.

 

[firepoint525]

About 10 years or so ago, Oldies 96.3 here in Nashville bought the heritage call letters WMAK and added it to their name, becoming, "Oldies 96.3, WMAK." (WMAK had previously been the call letters of an AM top 40 station here in Nashville back in the '50s, '60s and '70s.) Their previous calls had been WRMX, and I'm still curious why they didn't keep those for their sister station, Mix 92.9. At any rate, prior to the call letter change, Oldies 96.3 only mentioned the WRMX calls in their legal ID at the top of the hour. But afterwards, they mentioned WMAK every time they opened the mic!

Fast forward to 2005, when Oldies 96.3 became Jack-FM. They changed their call letters to WCJK. I suppose they had to have something that could represent "Jack"!