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KYTN

firepoint525

firepoint525

Has 104.9 in Union City officially adopted KYTN as their call letters? A search of "KYTN" on radio locator pulls them up, but a search by their previous call letters (WYVY) turns up nothing. So how did Paul Tinkle strong-arm the FCC into letting him have call letters that begin with a "K" on a station east of the Mississippi River?
 
Was the "original" allocation west of the Mississippi river? That allocation might be the reason they can go with a "K". If so then I want to know who was the Lawyer / Engineer that got that thing moved that far East of the Mississippi River!
 
firepoint525 said:
I didn't catch this earlier, and neither apparently did Romer.
Click to expand...

I saw it a few days after posting...but hoped no one would notice! ;D
 
I am a radio purest, but I have no problem with common sense exceptions. Like WACO-FM in Waco, TX.

Most of us complain about how restrictive the government is and how they lack common sense; then when they do give the green light on something that is easy, creates no undue interference with the regular flow of things and actually shows that they may have a soul, they are criticized for that too.

By the way, you don't "strong-arm" the FCC, it goes the other way around.
 
kjallen said:
By the way, you don't "strong-arm" the FCC, it goes the other way around.
Click to expand...
You don't know Paul Tinkle, do you? What Paul wants, Paul usually gets. He has been, among other things, president of the TAB.

The best call letters that that station has ever had (if you want to promote the Kentucky-Tennessee angle) was WKWT, which stood for West Kentucky, West Tennessee. But that was in the '80s and '90s, long before he ever owned the station. Even back then, their nickname was "KYTN."

But I am not nearly as cynical as some. I came across an old message board thread (not here) that suggested that he bought KYTN and its sister station just so he could torpedo the hard rock format on that sister station. While I know for a fact that he does not like really hard rock, even I do not believe that. And the fact that the sister station resumed its hard rock format a year or two back only supports my beliefs.
 
kjallen said:
Most of us complain about how restrictive the government is and how they lack common sense; then when they do give the green light on something that is easy, creates no undue interference with the regular flow of things and actually shows that they may have a soul, they are criticized for that too.
Click to expand...
Just for the record, I did not "complain" about the FCC allowing a station east of the Mississippi to have a call-sign beginning with the letter "K." I was merely asking HOW it could be done. I, for one, wish that stations east of the mighty Mississippi had been allowed to use almost any letter OTHER than "W" to start their calls. It is the most mangled, most mispronounced letter in the English language. "W" call-signs are probably what led to stations starting to use nicknames (rather than their formal call letters) in the first place.

Actually, in this instance, it's kinda cool. "KYTN" has been their nickname off and on since 1987. Their actual call letters now reflect that name. Usually the nickname is a reflection of the call letters; in this case, it was the other way around. They used the nickname off and on for 25 years before they got the call letters to go along with it. Just wonder what the FCC would have done had their nickname been "TNKY." ;D
 
I don't know Mr.Trickle, but IMHO you do not get the be President of a trade group, by doing stupid thing financially unless you're independently wealthy. About 15 years ago, I was offered a chance to buy a station that had a format I could not listen too. It would have been a sweet deal: 100% financing by an trust that was being set up as part of a family's estate planning. I drove around the town and talked to a couple of sponsors and realized it was programmed perfectly for that town. I had to pass because if I took over and started to change things, it would be a financial train wreck.
 
firepoint525 said:
Just for the record, I did not "complain" about the FCC allowing a station east of the Mississippi to have a call-sign beginning with the letter "K." I was merely asking HOW it could be done. I, for one, wish that stations east of the mighty Mississippi had been allowed to use almost any letter OTHER than "W" to start their calls. It is the most mangled, most mispronounced letter in the English language. "W" call-signs are probably what led to stations starting to use nicknames (rather than their formal call letters) in the first place.

Actually, in this instance, it's kinda cool. "KYTN" has been their nickname off and on since 1987. Their actual call letters now reflect that name. Usually the nickname is a reflection of the call letters; in this case, it was the other way around. They used the nickname off and on for 25 years before they got the call letters to go along with it. Just wonder what the FCC would have done had their nickname been "TNKY." ;D
Click to expand...

:)

FWIW, the FCC adheres to international agreements in assigning broadcast call letters. The U.S. is assigned all call letters beginning with the letters K, N, or W, and call letters beginning with A if the second letter is between A and L inclusive. "A" and "N" calls have traditionally been reserved for the military.

"TNKY" would be a Congolese callsign:)

That said, many other countries ignore those reservations, or don't use call letters at all. For example, the call letters of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation station in Winnipeg are CBW -- but that combination belongs to Chile, not Canada. Australian call letters begin with a number; for example, a major Syndey station is 2FC. Which would technically be a British call. British stations don't use call letters at all.

The FCC did propose, ten or fifteen years ago, to do away with the K/W distinction. Broadcasters shot down the proposal.
 
firepoint525 said:
kjallen said:
By the way, you don't "strong-arm" the FCC, it goes the other way around.
Click to expand...
You don't know Paul Tinkle, do you? What Paul wants, Paul usually gets. He has been, among other things, president of the TAB.

The best call letters that that station has ever had (if you want to promote the Kentucky-Tennessee angle) was WKWT, which stood for West Kentucky, West Tennessee. But that was in the '80s and '90s, long before he ever owned the station. Even back then, their nickname was "KYTN."

But I am not nearly as cynical as some. I came across an old message board thread (not here) that suggested that he bought KYTN and its sister station just so he could torpedo the hard rock format on that sister station. While I know for a fact that he does not like really hard rock, even I do not believe that. And the fact that the sister station resumed its hard rock format a year or two back only supports my beliefs.
Click to expand...

This is true. I switched the calls in 1987 from WALR to WKWT and nick named it KYTN. I had a good time in UC for the year and half I was the General Manager. The station was owned by doctors Dodd and Young. We owned the Obion County fair that year when we gave a $14,900. Terry Hailey was like ... I don't believe this... I aslo hired jamie Richards from WSTO Owensboro/Evansville. We had a great sounding station.
 
cardradio said:
This is true. I switched the calls in 1987 from WALR to WKWT and nick named it KYTN. I had a good time in UC for the year and half I was the General Manager. The station was owned by doctors Dodd and Young. We owned the Obion County fair that year when we gave a $14,900. Terry Hailey was like ... I don't believe this... I aslo hired jamie Richards from WSTO Owensboro/Evansville. We had a great sounding station.
Click to expand...
Evidently, you were quite the visionary when you gave it the nickname "KYTN." Who could have known back then that those would eventually become the actual call letters of the station?

I remember reading an article in the local paper about the station right before you took it over, and it mentioned that the station would be nicknamed KYTN. Since the changeover had not happened yet, I did not know if it would be call "K-Y-T-N" over the air, or if there would be some sort of attempt to phonetically pronounce that as "kye-tenn" or something like that. Glad that you didn't do that, although the "tuckassee" thing was sort of lame. I suppose that you couldn't use "Ken-Tenn" (instead of "tuckassee") because Hailey was already using that one on the WENK stations.
 
I came up with KYTN one morning while taking a shower. No one liked the Tuck-A=See. Maybe I put to much thought into that one -:) But, your right Terry owned Ken-Ten. So I went the other direction. Do you remember our bumper stickers? KY was blue and white, and TN was orange and white. Bo Bradshaw painted blue and orange stripes along the walls inside the station. He was a talented jock.
 
cardradio said:
I came up with KYTN one morning while taking a shower. No one liked the Tuck-A=See. Maybe I put to much thought into that one -:) But, your right Terry owned Ken-Ten. So I went the other direction. Do you remember our bumper stickers? KY was blue and white, and TN was orange and white. Bo Bradshaw painted blue and orange stripes along the walls inside the station. He was a talented jock.
Click to expand...
I remember the stickers, and even still have a couple of them. Their current logo is a bit of a throwback to that, although I believe that the current ones have a black background, and maybe a cowboy hat hanging on the "K." Don't know Bradshaw personally, but he was last on the air here in the Nashville area on Mix 92.9. His bio contained a bit about the fire that burned down the old WALR studios.
 
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