Radio presets

[Mike_Saffran]

I originally posted the following on Twitter — but I thought it could be a fun conversation starter here, too:

Yesterday, I reset the presets on an old home stereo that has only seven FM presets. Clearing the way for Kiss, the Buzz has been bumped. (Ironically, although 98.9 was my longtime and last commercial radio home, it’s now off my presets. But two of my other former stations — 98PXY and “the station formerly known as WVOR” — survived the cut.)

Here’s my current lineup (again, this is on the home stereo with only seven FM presets; conversely, in the car, I have 18 FM, along with six AM, presets — so it’s not as much of an “honor” to be among the chosen):

1 - WITR
2 - The Fox
3 - WCMF
4 - 98PXY
5 - The Drive
6 - Kiss 106.7
7 - The Lake

Also, I’ve always set my presets sequentially by frequency — not necessarily in order of favorite stations. Is that common or unusual? Does anyone actually set their favorite station as #1 (like some old sweepers might’ve suggested)? What criteria do you use?

Radio presets might have been discussed here in the past, but not recently (at least, as I far as I can recall).

 

[ericNY]

Mine are entirely at random:
1. WBEE
2. The Drive
3. WUUF
4. WHTK-FM
5. 98PXY
6. The Buzz
7. WCMF

 

[J-A]

Mine go in order by frequency too (must be a radio thing lol). My favorite always tends to land on #4 out of six presets. In Rochester, 100.5 is at #4. But in Buffalo, it's...

91.7 Giant FM
Kiss 98.5
99.9 Virgin Radio
Star 102.5
104.5 Chum FM
107.7 The Lake

I wish I had a 7th preset, because I also tend to listen to 105.7 EZ Rock a lot too.

I'm thinking of putting this topic on FaceBook. I'd love to see the response there.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

My car's original equipment radio has six buttons, each allows for an A-B setting, giving a total of 12 AM and 12 FM choices.

FM A: WBFO 88.7 ^ Jazz 91.1 ^ Jack 92.9 ^ 97 Rock ^ WHTT 104.1 ^ WYRK 106.5

FM B: Giant 91.7 ^ WNED 94.5 ^ Vinyl 95 ^ Edge 103.3 ^ Q-107 ^ The Lake 107.7

AM A: WGR 550 ^ WJR 760 ^ WBEN 930 ^ WNED 970 ^ WECK 1230 ^ WWKB 1520

AM B: Fan 590 ^ WGN 720 ^ WABC 770 ^ WHAM 1180 ^ WLVL 1340 ^ WWWS 1400

I'm guessing my 'A' settings are as typical as my 'B' settings are eclectic. My scan and CD buttons also get quite a workout. Star and Joy aren't on my pre-sets because I can scan down from the Edge and 97 Rock if I need an AC fix. Vinyl 95, for whatever reason, has had signal problems over the last few months. I not sure if this is due to atmospheric conditions, my car radio/antenna or a translator mucking things up.

 

[J-A]

Vinyl 95? Hmmm, I never heard that one.

I just checked the website and they do have an interesting mix of music. I could live without the 60's & 70's stuff though. But I might have to swap out 91.7 for that occasionally.

 

[Mike_Saffran]

A quick follow-up for past and present ‘radio types’:

On those occasions when you’ve remained in the same market, have you kept your “ex’s” (former stations) on presets — or did you make a “clean break”?

As mentioned, I just “cut” 98.9 — but the severing comes 10+ years since last uttering, “It’s been a pleasure, as always — thanks a barrel-full for your company” (which was my signature sign off for six years on “The Jukebox” on WKLX/WBBF).

Meanwhile, 100.5 stays nearly 18 years later, and 98PXY survives after almost 23 years! (Yikes, we’re getting old!) But, The Bee has been long gone (I’m just not that much into country music these days), and Warm tends to fall in and out of favor (I’m more likely to just randomly land there, rather than to set a preset).

You?

 

[n2wds]

Way down yonder here in the southern tier (not a big choice). In order of popularity mine are:

AM A: WYSL - WLEA - WLSV - WHAM - WWLZ - WFRM
AM B: WCJW - CHWO - WABC - KYW - WCBS - WTAM

FM A: WCKR - WPIG - WJQZ - WZKZ - WLKK - WSQA
FM B: WMTT - WCID - WCIK - WLIH - WNBT - open

 

[aaronread]

There's not really any meaning to the order of the stations on my presets either:

FM1:
WEOS 89.7
WRVO 89.9
WEOS 90.3
WXXI 91.5
WHWS 105.7
WDWN 89.1

FM2:
ICR/WSQG-HD2 88.1
WSQG 90.9
WEOS 89.7
WVBR 93.5
WVBR 105.5
WICB 91.7

AM1:
WXXI 1370
WGVA 1240
WBZ 1030
WTIC 1080
WHAM 1180
WHTK 1280

Anyone notice a certain bias? :

 

[Bob1370]

Well, here are the presets on my car radio; they're arranged in ascending order by frequency;

AM
1-WGR 550
2-WBEN 930
3-WROC 950
4-WHTK 1280
5-WXXI 1370
6-WWKB 1520

FM1
1-WRUR 88.5
2-WXXI 91.5
3-WFKL 93.3
4-WZNE 94.1
5-WFXF 95.1
6-WCMF 96.5

FM2
1-WPXY 97.9
2-WBZA 98.9
3-WRMM 101.3
4-WLGZ 102.7
5-WDKX 103.9
6-WLKK 107.7

 

[Obtuse1]

Interesting...here are my 6 FM presets IIRC from when I was still in WNY (you can guess how long ago that was....)

1: WGRF
2: CHTZ
3: CKEY (Planet at that time)
4: CFNY
5: WUFX
6: WHTT

If I were still there, they'd be similar (minus CKEY). WBUF and WLKK might make the cut, though.

Never changed presets when I moved to Brockport, as I used to DX CFNY and the Buffalo signals most of the time.

 

[Radknowski]

At one time, the same station was on three of the five pre-sets. Clearly the work of Willie The Tagger who set the radio either while he was driving or under the influence of paint thinner or hippie lettuce. The line-up on the Delco in the Chevy van, from left to right
AM:
WXRL (Aunt Helen insisted "it should be on the first button so it's easier to find." Don't ask.)
WHLD
WBEN
WGR
WWWS
FM1:
WYRK (This time it's Uncle Oskie. You're surprised?)
WHTT
WGRF
WTSS
WJYE
FM2: The only settings that have some logical order.
WBFO
WBUF
CHTZ
WEDG
Q-107
The van has a 31 inch front right whip antenna and the radio pulls in just about everything. Must be that big metal ground plain.

 

[fybush]

3 banks of 6 on each band in the ol' NERW-mobile, of which I keep the first two set locally and change the third when I'm traveling:

FM1 - 88.5, 95.1, 96.5, 98.9, 100.5, 107.7
FM2 - 91.5, 92.5, 93.3, 97.9, 102.7, 106.7
AM1 - 950, 1040, 1180, 1280, 1370, 1460
AM2 - 550, 740, 800, 930, 1140, 1520

At the moment, my third banks are set from a trip to NYC a while back:

FM3 - 90.7, 95.5, 100.3, 101.1, 104.3, 107.1
AM3 - 660, 710, 770, 820, 880, 1010

 

[Philip_Airtime]

Let's see...

FM1 -- WBFO, WBUF, WNED-FM, WGRF, WHTT and WLKK
FM2 -- WKSU and WCPN (Cleveland), Jazz 91.1, CBC-1 (99.1), WEDG and 107.3 WNWV (Cleveland)
AM -- WGR, WBEN, WNED-AM, WECK, WHLD and WWKB

 

[Googs0105]

Dear everyone who had 106.7 KISS-FM and 95.1 The Fox in your presets.. thank you
Everyone who didnt.. F U

haha just kidding.. mine are:

1-The Zone
2-The Fox
3-PXY
4-The Drive
5-DKX
6-KISS-FM

I'm a dork and I go in order of frequency from lowest to highest instead of favorites.

 

[RBW]

107.3 WNWV (Cleveland)

Is that for when they were "The Wave"? --- Yep, another good station gone to the dogs!~ :-[

 

[majicrockstar]

92.9 wbuf "Jack FM"
96.9 wgrf "97Rock"
97.7 chtz "htzFM"
98.5 wkse "Kiss"
100.9 wrkt "Rocket 101"
102.5 wtss "star"
103.3 wedg "edge"
103.7 wrts "star 104"
106.9 wkza "Kiss FM"

 

[umtrr-author]

I don't have anything I can put presets on at home. So it's off to the car... the starred items are the most listened to stations, while some of these presets are hardly accessed at all.

AM1:
880 WCBS (gettable at night)
950
1040
1180
1280
1370*

FM1:
92.5
93.3*
95.1
96.5
98.9
100.5

FM2:
101.3
102.7*
103.5
105.9*
106.7
107.3 (Mostly during Redwings season)

 

[Philip_Airtime]

107.3 WNWV (Cleveland)

Is that for when they were "The Wave"? --- Yep, another good station gone to the dogs!~ :-[

You bet! When I was visiting the kid in Cleveland last year, I hit the button and found out the format had changed. The new format is sort of eclectic. For instance, I turned it on yesterday and heard Bruce Springsteen's "Working on a Dream." So, that was cool. The Wave actually moved to the station's HD2 channel and continues to stream live on the web. I listened to the stream just last week. It's great hearing the same jingle package our own WBMW used back in the late '80s.

 

[therealjm12]

I bought a car a few months back and the presets were set. I haven't tampered with them much. As I recall on FM: 95.1, 96.5, 97.9, 98.9, 100.5, & 102.7. I have added 88.5, 89.9 and 92.1 -(from my WSEN days). On AM: 1180, 1370, 1520, 740, I added 880 for Yankee Baseball.

 

[Element9]

550 mostly for Sabres,
930 mostly for faux news,
970 mostly for real news,
1400 mostly for dusties and old school,
1520 mostly to hear if they've come to their senses

88.7 mostly for Morning Edition and ATC,
92.9 they call it Jack but the voice guy's name should be Dick. Hey, Jack's got jingles now
96.9 because you never get tired of hearing the same seven Skynnyrd songs,
106.5 because you have to know what's hip, hot and happening on the #1 radio station in Buffalo
107.1 because CanCon is cool and there's no reason to go further to the right unless you want to hear crickets

Usually Scan gets the most hits