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Same Calls, Same Market, Different Frequencies

C

carrington

Does anyone know the record for the number of different frequencies in the same market that have hosted the same call letters, perhaps with the same format each time?

In Norfolk, Sinclair Communications put WNIS first on 1350, moved them to 850, and now host them on 790. On each frequency, the format has been news/talk.
 
WKLB in the Boston area:
Debuted as WCLB, The Country Club, on 105.7 in Framingham. Became WKLB to avoid confusion with
WCRB radio and WCVB-TV. From 105.7, WKLB moved to
96.9 Boston (merged with WBCS, owned by Greater Media)
then
99.5 (city of license Lowell)
then they did a frequency flip with Nassau's WCRB 102.5. WCRB went to 99.5 and later was sold
to WGBH and went non-commercial classical.

So WKLB has been
105.7--Framingham MA
96.9--Boston
99.5--Lowell MA
102.5--Waltham MA

Not the same COL of course but yes same market. The format flip on 12/1/06 to their current location:

99.5: Last aired a rendition of the national anthem by Ricochet. Went into Hallelujah Chorus to debut
classical, from country
102.5: Aired a classical piece, "Rodeo" (heard on the beef, it's what's for dinner ads). Went into
Rascal Flatts, Life is a Highway. Classical to country.
 
carrington said:
Does anyone know the record for the number of different frequencies in the same market that have hosted the same call letters, perhaps with the same format each time?
Click to expand...

KOY Phoenix: 1390 (1929, when it changed from KFCB), 550 (1941 - not a NARBA move), 1230 (1999-present)
KPHO Phoenix: 1200 (1940 sign-on), 1230 (1941-NARBA), 910 (1949-71, when it became KJJJ)

We probably shouldn't count NARBA moves or the rampant frequency-shifting of the 1920s, though.
 
WCKY Cincinnati has been on 1530, 550, 1360 and back to 1530 (plus WCKY-FM is in a different cluster near Toledo). WSAI has been back and forty between 1360 and 1530.
 
WSCR Chicago: 820 (1992 sign-on), 1160 (1996, replacing WJJD), 670 (2000-present, replacing WMAQ)
KGME Phoenix: 1360 (1994, replacing KNNS), 550 (1999, bumping KOY to 1230), 910 (2000-present, swapped with KFYI)
 
The "WROC" calls have had two lives in Rochester: 1961-1978 on 1280 (accompanying sister station WROC-TV) and then for the last few years on 950 (the former WBBF, which picked up the WROC calls during a short branding partnership with WROC-TV, under different ownership).

The "WBBF" calls moved around from 950 (and sister station 92.5), to 98.9, to 93.3, and eventually into oblivion. They're now in use in Buffalo. Amusingly, there was a time when every station in the Entercom Rochester cluster had borne the WBBF calls at some point in its history, but then the cluster expanded.

"WEZO" was the heritage call on 101.3 here, but later lived on 990, 93.3 and 950, I think in that order.

(Hmmm....I just realized that means that of the three callsigns in town that have lived on multiple stations, all of them have been on 950 at one point or another.)
 
Not quite in response to the original question, but KYW must be the champ for call letters moving to different frequencies AND cities.

KYW started out in Chicago, moved to Cleveland and then to Philadelphia. Each time it was on a different frequency. I think in Chicago it was on several different frequencies as the FCC reorganized the AM dial several times in those early days of broadcasting.

And it's especially odd since K call letters are so rare east of the Mississippi.
 
Gregg said:
Not quite in response to the original question, but KYW must be the champ for call letters moving to different frequencies AND cities.

KYW started out in Chicago, moved to Cleveland and then to Philadelphia. Each time it was on a different frequency. I think in Chicago it was on several different frequencies as the FCC reorganized the AM dial several times in those early days of broadcasting.
Click to expand...

Its history is:
1921: 833 - Chicago
1922: 833/619 - Chicago
1923: 870 - Chicago
1924: 1020 (Briefly) - Chicago
1924: 560 - Chicago
1927: 570 - Chicago
1928: 1020 - Chicago
1932: 1020 - Philadelphia
1941: 1060 - Philadelphia
1956: 1100 - Cleveland
1965: 1060 - Philadelphia (current)

If this isn't the record for both frequency and COL swaps, I don't know what is.

And it's especially odd since K call letters are so rare east of the Mississippi.
Click to expand...

Not when it was licensed in 1921. The Feds couldn't seem to make up their minds as to what callsigns they wanted to assign to broadcasters at that time.
 
Not when it was licensed in 1921. The Feds couldn't seem to make up their minds as to what callsigns they wanted to assign to broadcasters at that time.
Click to expand...

In the early 1900's, most of the radios on US ships in the Atlantic had a call sign that started with a "K" (or "N"). In the Pacific, it was "W" (or "N"). When handing out calls to broadcast stations, the government agency or commission that was in charge assigned "W" to stations on or near the Atlantic shore so as not to confuse it with the ships. Same for the Pacific. They drew a line down the middle of the country which later moved to the Mississippi to separate the different calls.

At least that's how I remember it... :p
 
In Raleigh-Durham, the WKIX call letters have made the following moves...

1959: 850 AM and 96.1 FM (originally WNAO and WNAO-FM)
1973: 850 AM only as 96.1 became WYYD, and later WYLT
1994: 96.1 FM only as 850 took the WYLT calls from 1994-95, then became WRBZ
1998: 96.9 FM (96.1 became WBBB)
2001: 102.3 FM (96.9 becomes WYMY)
2006: 97.7 FM (as 102.3 becomes WWNF)
2008: 102.3 FM (again as 97.7 becomes WEQR)
2010: 850 AM (was known as WRBZ since 1995) and 102.9 FM as WKIX-FM (102.3 becomes WWPL)
 
trusty said:
Not when it was licensed in 1921. The Feds couldn't seem to make up their minds as to what callsigns they wanted to assign to broadcasters at that time.
Click to expand...

In the early 1900's, most of the radios on US ships in the Atlantic had a call sign that started with a "K" (or "N"). In the Pacific, it was "W" (or "N"). When handing out calls to broadcast stations, the government agency or commission that was in charge assigned "W" to stations on or near the Atlantic shore so as not to confuse it with the ships. Same for the Pacific. They drew a line down the middle of the country which later moved to the Mississippi to separate the different calls.

At least that's how I remember it... :p
Click to expand...

In the beginning (1912), three-letter W calls were assigned to coastal stations in the east, while K-calls were in the West, and you're correct about ship stations in the Atlantic/Gulf (K) and Pacific (W), but they all had four-letter calls.

But in June 1920, the government started assigning KDxx calls to everybody (The KA-KC block wouldn't be assigned to the US until 1929, taken from Germany). That's how KDKA got its callsign. A year later, they went back to 3-letter Wxx (east) and KDx-KZx (west) assignments. Four-letter calls started when the 3-letter ones ran out, in late 1921 or early '22, again beginning with KD in the west and WA in the east.

It's interesting to note that the third letter was sequentially assigned, not the last. WACA followed WABA, not WABZ. WAAB was the one after WAZA. Also, no callsigns could be assigned with the same 3 letters, so WABA was the first of the 4-letter eastern callsigns, not WAAA. Only a government bureaucrat could have come up with this kind of cluster****. ;D

The original (pre-January 1923) K/W dividing line was the western border of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
 
New London, Connecticut Market:

102.3 Stonington, CT - AC MIX 102.3 WXLM became News-Talk 102.3 WXLM. (The news-talk format had been on 980 WUSB, which went Spanish AC Magia 980 and later Spanish CHR Caliente 980). A few years later Citadel then swapped calls and formats between 102.3 Stonington and 104.7 Montauck, Long Island. 104.7 became News-Talk 104.7 WXLM. 102.3 became Classic Rock The Wolf. Last year Citadel blew-up Spanish CHR Caliente 980 WSUB Groton, CT and flipped it to News-Talk WXLM. 104.7 became HOT AC WELJ simulcasting Scott & Todd form sister station WPLJ in NYC.

So there you have it: WXLM from 102.3 to 104.7 to 980.
 
KeithE4 said:
Gregg said:
Not quite in response to the original question, but KYW must be the champ for call letters moving to different frequencies AND cities.

KYW started out in Chicago, moved to Cleveland and then to Philadelphia. Each time it was on a different frequency. I think in Chicago it was on several different frequencies as the FCC reorganized the AM dial several times in those early days of broadcasting.
Click to expand...

Its history is:
1921: 833 - Chicago
1922: 833/619 - Chicago
1923: 870 - Chicago
1924: 1020 (Briefly) - Chicago
1924: 560 - Chicago
1927: 570 - Chicago
1928: 1020 - Chicago
1932: 1020 - Philadelphia
1941: 1060 - Philadelphia
1956: 1100 - Cleveland
1965: 1060 - Philadelphia (current)

If this isn't the record for both frequency and COL swaps, I don't know what is.

And it's especially odd since K call letters are so rare east of the Mississippi.
Click to expand...

Not when it was licensed in 1921. The Feds couldn't seem to make up their minds as to what callsigns they wanted to assign to broadcasters at that time.
Click to expand...

I remember reading "Be True to Your School" by former Tribune columnist Bob Greene about 15 years ago. A portion of the book discusses a road trip from Columbus to Cedar Point, and it's repeatedly mentioned that he and his buddies listened to KYW on 1100 on their drive. The first time I read it, I swore he had to be wrong because I was only familiar with KYW being on 1060 in Philly. Only several years later did I learn now-WTAM, which was WWWE when I was growing up, once was KYW.
 
Looks like the WKIX call letters will disappear again from the AM dial in Raleigh/Durham, as owner Curtis media takes the oldies station talk as WPTK (branded as "WPTF", their sister station at 680)

RadioDaze said:
In Raleigh-Durham, the WKIX call letters have made the following moves...

1959: 850 AM and 96.1 FM (originally WNAO and WNAO-FM)
1973: 850 AM only as 96.1 became WYYD, and later WYLT
1994: 96.1 FM only as 850 took the WYLT calls from 1994-95, then became WRBZ
1998: 96.9 FM (96.1 became WBBB)
2001: 102.3 FM (96.9 becomes WYMY)
2006: 97.7 FM (as 102.3 becomes WWNF)
2008: 102.3 FM (again as 97.7 becomes WEQR)
2010: 850 AM (was known as WRBZ since 1995) and 102.9 FM as WKIX-FM (102.3 becomes WWPL)
2012: 102.9 FM only as 850 becomes WPTK]
Click to expand...
 
In the Jackson, MS market:

WOAD: Had been on 1400-AM and then WOAD-FM came around in the early 90s. They abandoned that signal because of very weak coverage over Jackson. In the early 2000 or so, they changed to 1300-AM and the FM calls were on 105.9 from 2004-2009.

WJXN: Had been on the now-deleted 1450-AM for years. The FM calls were on the aforementioned 92.9 starting in 1990 and stayed there until moving to 100.9 in the early 2000s, when 92.9 was reassigned to Hazlehurst, MS and 100.9 to the Jackson area.

WKXI: Had been on 94.7 until turning into a CHR station in the late 70s, then moved to AM. The FM calls came back to FM in 1991 at 107.5 and have been there every since. The AM calls were changed to WJQS a few years ago.
 
KHYT 1330 AM Tucson to KHYT 107.5 Tucson. Not quite clear on the timeline.

KCEE 96.1 FM until 1979. KCEE AM 790 to KCEE 940 AM (Briefly) then it disappeared for years until KCEE 1030 AM to KCEE 690 AM. (might be missing a move on this one)

Then there's KWFM 92.9 to KWFM 97.1 to KWFM 1450 AM to KWFM 1330 AM. (Why AM? That's a Tucson mystery).
 
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