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Same-market stations with similarly sounding call letters (Radio or TV)

The 105's in Minneapolis (105.1/105.3/105.7) have gone through numerous callsign changes as they switch formats in the last 20 years

KREV/WREV (at the time 105.7 wasnt part of the bunch)
KXXP/KXXU/KXXR
KZNR/KZNT/KZNZ
WGVX/WGVY/WGVZ

Now they (Cumulus) are parking "heritage" call signs on 105.3 & 105.7
 
ftballfan said:
Another Houston example: KROI and KROY.

Here are some in Michigan:
WLDN, WLMN, and WLJN in northwest Michigan (WLDN and WLMN are less than 20 miles apart and WLMN is one spot on the dial down from WLJN)
Also, WLDN and WLDR in the same area
WILX and WILS in Lansing
WXYZ and WXYT in Detroit
WMAX, WMPX, and WMRX in the Tri-Cities
WFNT and WFLT in Flint
WFGR, WVGR, and WYGR in Grand Rapids
WGVU and WRVU in Grand Rapids
WFUR and WFGR in Grand Rapids
WYBR, WWBR, and WBRN in Big Rapids
WSOO and WSUE in Sault Ste. Marie
Click to expand...

KROY those call letters were originally used in Sacramento.
 
Jonathan7157 said:
If all of Florida counts, WFLZ and WFLC in Miami.
Click to expand...

And if all of the Eastern time zone counts, so do WBT Charlotte and WBZ Boston.

What is the point of this thread anyway? Are listeners confusing stations with "similarly sounding" calls? Are stations using sound-alike calls to confuse listeners, to somehow get them to listen to one station while thinking they're listening to another? And do calls like WLDN and WLDR really sound alike in the first place? To me, a sound-alike situation would happen if, two stations whose call letters -- all three or four of them -- are either the same or rhyme were in the same market.

Here's an example I remember from way back: In the '70s, listeners calling in to WVBF Framingham/Boston contests would be asked on-air what their favorite station was. Some would shout "WBBF!" They weren't confusing a Boston station with a Rochester station; it's just that the calls really did sound alike. I'm sure that if both were in the same market, the one that adopted its call first would raise hell about the newcomer using a sound-alike. But nothing ever happened, other than WVBF de-emphasizing its call letters and becoming F-105.
 
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KABC Radio Los Angeles a Cumulus O&O and KABC-TV Los Angeles the Disney O&O
All the legendary ABC O&O's on the TV Side are owned by Disney and the Former ABC Radio/ Now Westwood One Affiliates are owned by Cumulus have the same call letters but no longer a direct connection to each other anymore since Disney sold ABC Radio to Citadel now Cumulus a decade ago.
 
WWLX http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=WWLX&x=7&y=5&sr=Y&s=C
WLLX http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=WLLX&nav=&x=14&y=4

These two are adjacent to each other on the dial, and are jointly owned. As if not confusing enough, both of these are country stations going by the name Power 97 (or 97.5, in the case of one of them).

Both are in Lawrenceburg, TN, and use the website http://www.wlxonline.com/. "WLX" is almost as confusing as WLS, although they have no apparent connection to the Chicago station.
 
St. Louis
KSD 93.7 FM / KSDK channel 5 (KSDK-TV used to be KSD-TV, and AM 550 was also KSD)
KMOX 1120 AM / KMOV channel 4 (KMOV used to be KMOX-TV 1958-86)
KBDZ 93.1 / WBGZ 1570 (no connection to each other; their calls simply sound similar)
KQQZ 1190 / KZQZ 1430 / WQQX 1490 / WQQW 1510 (under the same ownership but do not simulcast)
 
Omaha also has KETV and KMTV television stations, and used to have KEFM radio. There also used to be a WOW TV/AM combination and later WOW-FM, though now the TV is WOWT and the radio stations have entirely different calls. That radio market apparently has no respect for legacy calls.
 
jwnelson said:
Omaha also has KETV and KMTV television stations, and used to have KEFM radio. There also used to be a WOW TV/AM combination and later WOW-FM, though now the TV is WOWT and the radio stations have entirely different calls. That radio market apparently has no respect for legacy calls.
Click to expand...

Don't blame the people in the market, blame the jerks at Journal (the J is silent, like in Español) in Milwaukee.
 
Since the early 90s, when the FCC allowed stations in different services to use the same calls with the parent stations' permission, there have been a lot less of the KMOX/KMOV, WOW/WOWT permutations.

So in central Iowa, WHO radio and WHO-TV are separately owned. And in one of the stranger twists, WOI-TV, which has always operated commercially since its 1950 start, was spun off in the mid 90s from WOI/WOI-FM, its non-commercial radio sisters at Iowa State University. (If you want to blame someone, blame Branstad.) The new owners elected to keep the WOI-TV calls, to what I suspect was a certain amount of disdain at NPR affiliated WOI radio. Not as big of a deal today, as the advent of almost state-wide Iowa Public Radio meant de-emphasizing the individual station calls.
 
Here in Seattle, we have KING-TV and KING-FM. Separate ownership for 25 years.

Yes, they were once co-owned by King Broadcasting along with 1090 KING-AM.

King Broadcasting was dissolved in 1991 or 92. KING-AM was sold to Bonneville and changed calls.

KING-TV was purchased by Providence Journal and retained calls and the massive (soon-to-be demolished) King Broadcasting building.

KING-FM was donated to a consortium of Seattle Opera, Seattle Symphony, and ArtsFund even though they remained a commercial station for nearly 20 years. Kept the KING-FM calls and remained with KING-TV in the building until 2000.

Both are pronounced the same, king. TV is known as King5, radio is known as King-FM

Radio-X
 
New Orleans:
WGNO (ABC) and WHNO (religious indie)
WWL (news-talk) and WWWL (sports), co-owned by Entercom; WWL-TV (CBS), owned by Tegna
 
Boston: WAAF and simulcast WKAF
WEEI and the various stations simulcasting it in surrounding areas (OK not nec. the same market):
WEII Cape Cod, WVEI-FM Prov, WVEI Worcester

Boston had WCRB classical and WCLB country. WCLB changed to WKLB to avoid confusion, and also conf with WCVB TV 5
Later WCRB and WKLB would flip frequencies (102.5/99.5)

In Orange MA an AM station got the calls WWBZ which sounded way too similar to the big WBZ. CBS forced them to change.
 
Didn't WWWL used to be kind of an extension of WWL's programming? I seem to recall for a bit it was some kind of "Best Of WWL" station.
 
Lexington, KY:

WLXX 92.9 Country owned by Cumulus
WLXU 93.9 LPFM
WLXO 96.1 Classic Country ghost owned by Clarity Communication but operated by LM
WLXG 1300 Sports Talk owned by LM

That's not all...

iHeart owns AC WMXL
Cumulus owns CHR WLTO
iHeart's CHR is WLKT
Cumulus owns N/T AM WVLK and Classic Country WVLK-FM
Nearby in Berea is CHR WLFX
And Richmond's Eastern Kentucky University operates Classical WKYL
 
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