• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Fybush: "WBCN Charlotte"?

Not sure who would be the lucky recipient of the WBCN calls in the Queen City:

WFNZ/WFNA, the AM stations, both promote their "Franchise" calls...

WSOC... nuff said there...

K104.7 and Kiss-FM... there is no "K" in WBCN...

V101.9... no "V" either...

I guess the logical choice would be Power 98, but even that station's calls (WPEG) are golden...

And who is this "WBMX-AM" you speak of?
 
Taylor on radio-info says the 1660 in Charlotte is WBMX (...AM...) for now but no doubt will wind up with WBCN

As I understand it official FCC call signs are (using WXXX as an example)
WXXX on an AM standalone (not "WXXX-AM")
WXXX on an FM standalone
WXXX-FM on an FM when there already is an AM with those calls
I could be wrong; anyway, the 1660 in Charlotte is now officially "WBMX" and will become "WBCN" apparently.
See Charlotte board I guess

PARKING CALL SIGNS
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=150032.0
>>the theory being that nobody in Charlotte much cares whether 1660 is "WFNA" or "WBMX" or "WBCN" - and as long as the WBCN calls stay in use, nobody else can grab them.

btw I note on radio-locator's Charlotte page that they have a couple former Boston call signs

WKKT (was in Boston on 100.7)
WLYT (was in Haverhill on 92.5)
 
Ok, dumb radio question here, but why did CBS feel the need to "park" the WBMX call letters when Mix already had them? Shouldn't it just be a smooth transition when frequency swap happens?
 
Acc. to post on Charlotte board, IIRC, the switch has to be done in such a way to ensure that the desired call
letters don't get grabbed by a competitor and sometimes they have to do a convoluted switch like that. You can't
do a three way switch, or something...
 
Correct. You can swap calls between two facilities, but not among three at once.

So they first flip WFNA to WBMX, which turns WBMX into WBMX-FM into Boston, since you can't have two stations with the same four-letter call and no suffix.

Then they'll change WBMX-FM to WBZ-FM - but the "WBMX" base calls are still safely parked in Charlotte and unavailable to anyone else.

Then it's a simple swap of WBMX and WBCN, ending up with WBMX on 104.1 Boston and WBCN on 1660 in Charlotte.
 
I've never quite understood the rationale for hanging on to classic call letters. There is certainly considerable "brand equity" in the WBCN calls, but since CBS is dumping the format, jocks, and station concept, what value is it they are trying to preserve by "parking" the call letters in another market?
 
Bill790 said:
I've never quite understood the rationale for hanging on to classic call letters. There is certainly considerable "brand equity" in the WBCN calls, but since CBS is dumping the format, jocks, and station concept, what value is it they are trying to preserve by "parking" the call letters in another market?
Click to expand...

I suspect the call sign had more value before the advent of the PPM. I'm sure stations would get diary entries for their old calls YEARS after the calls had switched to something else. I'm sure Arbitron had a policy to handle that, too. I have no idea what that policy was, but someone on this board will know and will answer the question.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom