WKGN was on 1340. The old WRJZ was on 620. 620 had a really good morning show (Walker? It's been almost a half a century so the name could be wrong.) I left the area 1977 but until then they were competors and WNOX was also in the mix too. IIRC the FCC at that time only allowed one AM and one FM and one TV per market at that time.
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Fake K call letters
- Thread starter kevtronics
- Start date
But that was after Jesús Soto bought it.
The long gone KISS-100 💋 in Media PA used to say they were K-I-S-S Philadelphia, a broadcast service of WKSZ Media for a time. Good little fun way to work it in. And honestly, really not fake. Creativity in the presentation of what you need to say is still real. Nicknames are real.
For a brief period in the early 80s, KYST (920 AM) Texas City/Houston, TX ran an all-Beatles stunt format; during this time, they used the fictitious call sign "KBTL". They still, however, used their real calls for the top of the hour ID.
Also in Houston, in the late 90s when KKBQ 790 broke their simulcast with country KKBQ-FM 92.9 ("93Q Country") and launched an adult standards format, they informally identified throughout the hour as "Unforgettable 790 KBME", even though their legal call sign was still KKBQ, which was still used for their TOH ID. (Although, they did finally legally get their calls changed to KBME a few months later, which they still have to this day, even though they flipped to sports in 2004.)
As for fake W calls, there is the news-talk station in Upstate South Carolina which brands itself as "WORD", formerly on 106.3 FM, now on 98.9 FM. Their legal call sign is actually WYRD-FM. They used to simulcast on WORD 950 AM as well as WYRD 1330 AM, but those stations flipped to sports in 2014, keeping the news-talk format only on the FM signal. (The WORD-FM calls are actually in use by a Salem-owned Christian talk station in Pittsburgh, PA.)
Also in Houston, in the late 90s when KKBQ 790 broke their simulcast with country KKBQ-FM 92.9 ("93Q Country") and launched an adult standards format, they informally identified throughout the hour as "Unforgettable 790 KBME", even though their legal call sign was still KKBQ, which was still used for their TOH ID. (Although, they did finally legally get their calls changed to KBME a few months later, which they still have to this day, even though they flipped to sports in 2004.)
As for fake W calls, there is the news-talk station in Upstate South Carolina which brands itself as "WORD", formerly on 106.3 FM, now on 98.9 FM. Their legal call sign is actually WYRD-FM. They used to simulcast on WORD 950 AM as well as WYRD 1330 AM, but those stations flipped to sports in 2014, keeping the news-talk format only on the FM signal. (The WORD-FM calls are actually in use by a Salem-owned Christian talk station in Pittsburgh, PA.)
One time Nashville had a jingle where they sang, “WMIX Mix 96.3” - (or something similar) but the real calls were WRMX - The station is now WCJK Jack FM.
Charlotte's WMXC used to call itself WMIX except when legally required to. We now know it as WKQC, or K-104.7. The change was made a Christmas so supposedly the K stands for Krismas.
KNBR 1050 AM San Francisco is really KTCT owned by Cumulus and it airs sports/talk shows that KNBR 680 and KNBR-FM 104.5 pre-empts.
Same with KSFO 810 it's real call letters are KGO for now until FCC approves the move to officially put the KSFO call letters from 560 AM to 810 AM.
Some of the fake call letters are because they are on translators or secondary frequencies.
In the Sacramento area there's 89.3 KQED-FM and it's officially registered as KQEI-FM mainly because the main KQED-FM signal is on 88.5 FM San Francisco.
KDFC 90.3 FM has a similar situation where the primary frequency is on 90.3 FM and 89.9 FM in Napa is KOSC and 104.9 FM San Jose is KXSC. But all of the stations are known as KDFC San Francisco.
Same with KSFO 810 it's real call letters are KGO for now until FCC approves the move to officially put the KSFO call letters from 560 AM to 810 AM.
Some of the fake call letters are because they are on translators or secondary frequencies.
In the Sacramento area there's 89.3 KQED-FM and it's officially registered as KQEI-FM mainly because the main KQED-FM signal is on 88.5 FM San Francisco.
KDFC 90.3 FM has a similar situation where the primary frequency is on 90.3 FM and 89.9 FM in Napa is KOSC and 104.9 FM San Jose is KXSC. But all of the stations are known as KDFC San Francisco.
None of these call letters are fake.
True it's a case of if the call letters are being used outside of its assigned frequency for branding and simulcast reasons it's fake like KNBR 1050 is fake because the real call letters are KTCT but KNBR 680 and KNBR 104.5 FM are not. 106.9 KCBS-FM is fake because its real call letters are KFRC but 740 AM KCBS is not type situation.
And there are something like half a dozen stations in Florida all calling themselves "WFLA".
I have no idea what you're saying
Maryland's eastern shore has "KHI", mostly remembered from a past CHR at 99.9 (100KHI). Today the WKHI call and branding reside on a classic hits station at 94.5.
945khi.com
KHI 94.5 FM
Now on air 14:00 – 18:00 18:00 – 22:00 22:00 – 23:59 00:00 – 17:00 05:00 – 10:00 10:00 – 14:00 14:00 – 18:00 18:00 – 22:00 22:00 – 23:59 Tune in to your favorite show Select arrow_drop_down 05:00…
I think I do. Up here on the Vermont/New Hampshire border, we have three stations that relay WEEI-FM Boston's sports programming. They identify as "WEEI Upper Valley" at all times except the top of the hour, when they use their actual call letters. The RDS display also reads "WEEI." So for those stations, WEEI becomes a "fake" call, even though the intent is not to actually deceive listeners, advertisers, the FCC, message board watchdogs or anyone else.
To give perspective, I wanted to call one of my group of stations in Ecuador just by its call letters: HCSP. I filed with the government agency to have the calls "double" as the station name. They told me that the calls were for "licensing purposes only" and denied the request. The station became "Radio Fiesta"
Call letters are essentially unneeded today unless a station wants to use them as their identity. Otherwise, Z-100 or Magic or K-Love are perfectly good names. And easier to remember. Call letters are a throwback to the 1920's and are not used or minimally used in most of the world.
Call letters are essentially unneeded today unless a station wants to use them as their identity. Otherwise, Z-100 or Magic or K-Love are perfectly good names. And easier to remember. Call letters are a throwback to the 1920's and are not used or minimally used in most of the world.
Haven't seen this mentioned yet ...
KIDG Pocatello, ID, KIDJ Sugar City, ID. A simulcast that is KID Newsradio.
When the AM was shut down, it's 3 letter calls (KID) were not transferred to the FM, which already was simulcasting KID-AM. I suppose Townsquare didn't want to pay the $200 some dollars to do it. What a shame they didn't keep the KID calls since that's what they brand themselves .
KIDG Pocatello, ID, KIDJ Sugar City, ID. A simulcast that is KID Newsradio.
When the AM was shut down, it's 3 letter calls (KID) were not transferred to the FM, which already was simulcasting KID-AM. I suppose Townsquare didn't want to pay the $200 some dollars to do it. What a shame they didn't keep the KID calls since that's what they brand themselves .
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