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LaWKY

Re: WKY

I still can't figure out how Larry Steckline got the FCC to give WNAD-AM 640 new calls: WWLS -- in 1981.
 
>
> How about Ricky Martin? LMAO!
>


Nothing funny about people losing jobs.
 
Re: WKY

> Okay, let me elaborate further. The FCC doesn't assign
> calls which start with W west of the Mississippi anymore.
> Several stations, like WKY and WWLS, already had their calls
> when the FCC put this rule into place, and they didn't make
> them switch to KKY and KWLS. So my question is, if a
> grandfathered set of calls like this was taken out of use,
> would the FCC allow someone in Oklahoma City to "violate"
> the "K only" rule and resurrect either of those calls, or
> would they make them take something that starts with K.
> I.E. "We'll let you keep WKY as long as you keep them in
> constant use, but once they're gone from OKC, we'll only
> reassign them to somebody east of the Mississippi".

The rule is that, if Citadel were to dump the WKY and WWLS calls, Citadel would be able to get them back for the same stations, but no other area operator, including one who purchased the stations from Citadel, could. The WKY calls would be lost forever (unless someone could convince the FCC to give them back, which has happened in isolated situations) if Citadel changed the calls and sold the station as 3-letter calls are not an option for any new stations. The WWLS calls would be able to surface somewhere east of the Mississippi if Citadel changed them, though they could get the calls back for 640/104.9 if they were still available and Citadel still had the station.
 
Re: RIP 93WKY

I know this is a little late to make a contribution on this subject but regarding the use of "W" west of the Mississippi or "K" east of the River and three vs four call letters, it seems that the FCC has provided some latitude in this area. There are exceptions to the rule all over the place, here are three.

Examples:

KYW was in Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia and on three different frequencies. The one common factor was Westinghouse Broadcasting.

KSD in Saint Louis. It is currently with a FM station (93.7) which has no affiliation with the dirct descendents of the Heritage owner, The Post Dispatch nor is it affilated with the heritage AM station at 550Khz.

WJZ. This call was in New York on 770 and then in Baltimore as a synchronized operation of WABC at one time. It was retired when WABC stood alone. It re-appeared in Baltimore as WJZ-TV in the 70's.

It appears that three factors weigh in: Ownership, city of license, frequency and these may be independent from one another.

My guess is that converting WNAD-AM to WWLS is a stretch in that WWLS is not a heritage call. However, a case might be made for the OU station in Norman in that WNAD (owned by OU)had an FM affiliate so KGOU might be able to seek WNAD-FM as a heritage call based upon previous common ownership. I believe WNAD-FM was on 90.1mhz and so another case might be made for KCSC to be granted a change to WNAD-FM as a heritage call for that freguency.

Either would be a facinating application.

Bruce Beckman
 
Re: RIP 93WKY

> KSD in Saint Louis. It is currently with a FM station (93.7)
> which has no affiliation with the dirct descendents of the
> Heritage owner, The Post Dispatch nor is it affilated with
> the heritage AM station at 550Khz.

Certainly, the FCC has made some exceptions to the K/W call rule, but I don't think KSD falls into that category. You don't have to be presently affiliated an AM to have a 3 letter call, and heritage ownership is not required to keep 3 letter calls. I believe all present 3 letter calls were affiliated with an AM at one time, but the FM has never been required to change calls if the AM does. There's another 3 letter call in California that is no longer affiliated with an AM and hasn't been for a number of years. That would be KDB in Santa Barbara.

> My guess is that converting WNAD-AM to WWLS is a stretch in
> that WWLS is not a heritage call.

I suspect Larry had to pull some strings at the FCC to get the WWLS calls. WACO in Waco, TX (where else?) became WACO after the dividing line of K/W calls was moved as well. However, like WNAD, it also had a callsign beginning with "W" immediately prior to becoming WACO.

> However, a case might be
> made for the OU station in Norman in that WNAD (owned by
> OU)had an FM affiliate so KGOU might be able to seek WNAD-FM
> as a heritage call based upon previous common ownership. I
> believe WNAD-FM was on 90.1mhz and so another case might be
> made for KCSC to be granted a change to WNAD-FM as a
> heritage call for that freguency.

WNAD-FM was at 90.9 when it was owned by OU. I don't think there would be any basis for KOKF to get those calls. After all, it's not even the same license. The license for WNAD-FM was turned in many years before the license for KOKF was granted. With WACO and WWLS, the stations were continuously licensed.
 
Heritage calls.

I stand corrected about WNAD-FM on 90.9 I was working strictly upon my recollection of the market "back then."

The point I was making was that the FCC does exercise some flexibility on this issue.

If I were KOKF, I would make a run at it based upon precedence.

As for WACO, those calls have been in Waco, Tx. for as long as I can remember. While no station exists there today, I believe the station was on 1460. Maybe this is another example of being able to exploit precedence? If he was granted the calls simply because they existed in Waco at one time, then some station that believes a "W" in OKC might have a value, please apply.

Bruce
 
Re: Heritage calls.

> As for WACO, those calls have been in Waco, Tx. for as long
> as I can remember. While no station exists there today, I
> believe the station was on 1460. Maybe this is another
> example of being able to exploit precedence? If he was
> granted the calls simply because they existed in Waco at one
> time, then some station that believes a "W" in OKC might
> have a value, please apply.

In the case of WACO, 1460 had calls of WJAD prior to the 1930's. The K/W boundary was moved in 1923. They requested the WACO calls sometime in the early 1930's, and they were likely granted based on already having "W" calls. While WACO 1460 has long since been sold off and moved into Dallas/Ft. Worth, WACO-FM is going strong at 99.9.
 
Re: Dumb Move

> downtown offices. Lets hope the "new" WKY winds up being a
> ratings disaster.
>
Why would you hope that? Anglo listeners deserted the station years ago---even more right wing talk wouldn't bring them back. Spanish gives the legendary station a chance to again be an important voice in OKC...
 
Re: WKY

> > Okay, let me elaborate further. The FCC doesn't assign
> > calls which start with W west of the Mississippi anymore.
>
> > Several stations, like WKY and WWLS, already had their
> calls
> > when the FCC put this rule into place, and they didn't
> make
> > them switch to KKY and KWLS. So my question is, if a
> > grandfathered set of calls like this was taken out of use,
>
> > would the FCC allow someone in Oklahoma City to "violate"
> > the "K only" rule and resurrect either of those calls, or
> > would they make them take something that starts with K.
> > I.E. "We'll let you keep WKY as long as you keep them in
> > constant use, but once they're gone from OKC, we'll only
> > reassign them to somebody east of the Mississippi".
>
> The rule is that, if Citadel were to dump the WKY and WWLS
> calls, Citadel would be able to get them back for the same
> stations, but no other area operator, including one who
> purchased the stations from Citadel, could. The WKY calls
> would be lost forever (unless someone could convince the FCC
> to give them back, which has happened in isolated
> situations) if Citadel changed the calls and sold the
> station as 3-letter calls are not an option for any new
> stations. The WWLS calls would be able to surface somewhere
> east of the Mississippi if Citadel changed them, though they
> could get the calls back for 640/104.9 if they were still
> available and Citadel still had the station.
>


Citadel could put WKY-FM on an FM station in OKC... change the AM calls... then drop the -fm from WKY-FM because there's no longer an AM with those calls. That's probably the only way those calls could be moved to another station.
 
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