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STATION CALL LETTERS

WPTF..We protect the Family..Durham Life Insurance
WSOC-South of Charlotte
WLOF-We love Orlando Florida
WLS-World's Largest Store..Sears Broadcasting
WCFL-Chicago Federation of Labor
WCKS-Wonderful Cape Kennedy Stereo
WGN-World's Greatest Newspaper
WBUY-Your Best Advertising BUY
 
Some more

WHNI, Mebane - "Honey" radio
WCHL Chapel Hill - Where Chapel Hill Listens
WSKY Asheville - Land of the Sky (also the same for WLOS-AM-FM-TV)
WHKY Hickory - Hickory
WZOO Asheboro - North Carolina Zoo is located there
 
I'm enjoying this thread...thought I'd contribute a few more...

WGNI, Wlimington Good News Incorporated (a former owner)
WGH, Newport News World's Greatest Harbor
WMAL, Washington M.A. Leese (former owner)
WTOP, Washington Top of the dial (was at 1500 AM)
WFJA, Sanford Frank J. Abbott (former owner)
WYRN, Louisburg We're Your Radio Neighbor
WPYB, Benson We promote Your Business
WBTM, Danville World's Best Tobacco Market or World's Biggest Textile Mill (former Dan River Fabrics)
WCCE, Buies Creek We're Campbell for Christian Education (former owner Campbell University)
WHLF, South Boston Halifax, County, Virginia
WRJD, Durham Rejoice Durham (station's handle and city of license)
WETC, Wendell-Zebulon We Entertain TObacco Country
WVOV, Danville Voice of Victory
WJCV, Jasksonville Jacksonville's Christian Voice
WVOD, Manteo Voices of Dare
WOBR, Wanchese Outer Banks Radio

defunct calls/stations
WJLC, Clarksville and South Boston J.L. Cole, former owner
WMBL, Morehead City WHere Morehead and Beaufort Listen
WHHT, Durham H.H. Toms, owner and founder
WHEV, Garner Henry E. Vail, former owner
WNOH, Raleigh N.O. Harris , former owner/founder
WYYD, Raleigh "Wide" reference to stereo audio of easy listening station
 
;D Those are great! RadioDZE..You have a bunch I have never heard of!! Thanks


WCCO- Washburn-Crosby Co..Became General Mills
WGBH-Great Blue Hill
KTRU-The Rice University
WISN-Wisconsin
WMIL-Milwaukee
WTMJ-Milwaukee Journal
WRIT-The Right Station
WTNC-Thomasville, NC.
WGOS-Gospel
WTHP-Thomasville-HighPoint
WDBO- Daytona Beach Orlando

WKOQ...Now Defunct-WE KISS OUR QUEERS!!! JUST KIDDING...BIG APE!!!
 
WWWC 1240 - Wonderful World of Wilkes County (NC)
WATA 1450 - Watauga County (NC)
WSQL 1240 - Squirrel Radio, Brevard NC (home of the rare eastern white squirrel found only in that area)
WSBB 1230 - World's Safest Bathing Beach, New Smyrna Beach, FL
WLOE 1490 - Wonderful Land of Eden, Eden NC
 
WATO Oak Ridge, Tn. ........Atomic
WSTH Taylorsville, NC .......We serve the hills?
WLAC Nashville, Tn............Owned by Life and Casualty Insurance
WSIC Statesville, NC ........We serve Iredell County
 
Oh, I've got even more...

WTSB, when on the now-defunct 580 in Lumberton- Where Tobacco Sells Best
WTSB, when first put on 1090 in Selma- Triangle Sports Broadcasters (former owner)
Current owners now use the acronym for Where The Stories Break

WRCO, Raleigh (old WPTF calls) Wynne Radio Company (former owner)

WFVG, Fuquay-Varina (first calls on now-defunct 1460) Watch Fuquay-Varina Grow
WAKS, Fuquay-Varina (later call letters) We Are in the King's Service

WBIG, Greensboro (1470, went dark in '86) We Believe in Greensboro

WCEC, Rocky Mount (now-defunct 810 and once on 100.7) We Cover East Carolina

WCMC,Creedmoor Country Music Carolina (Represents the station's former format.)


WCPS, Tarboro Coastal Plains Station

WDCC, Sanford Department of Commuity Colleges -was the first station to operate from a North Carolina community college.


WFTC, Kinston World's Finest Tobacco City

WFTK, Wake ForestWorking For The King, Fifty Thousand (K) Watts -Described both the format and the daytime power of this Christian station, now known as WDRU
 
a few more......

WBAG 1150 Burlington We're Burlington & Graham
WBBB 920 " Bigger, Better, Burlington
WCOG 1320 Greensboro Wonderful City of Greensboro
WPET 950 " We Play Every Tune
WHPE 1070/95.5 High Point High Point Enterprise (original owner)
" " " " Watch High Point Expand
WMFR 1230 " We Make Furniture Right AKA We Make Frank Rich
WSJS 600 Winston-Salem Winston-Salem Journal Sentinel
 
RadioDze said:
WAKS, Fuquay-Varina (later call letters) We Are in the King's Service

How long ago was this station in existence? The only WAKS I remember is a Clear Channel CHR (96.5 Kiss-FM) up in Cleveland; the calls there stand for We're Akron's KiSs-FM
 
The WAKS version of Fuquay-Varina's now-deleted 1460 AM (originally WFVG at its 1949 sign on) existed from sometime in the 1970s until 1989 when the station became WNBR with a business talk format. In 1993, AM 1460 became WCRY, simulcasting Southern Pines' WEEB 990 for a while before being bought by the late Bishop L.E. Willis and going black gospel. The station was WCRY when it fell silent in 2004, as a result of an FCC action against the bishop for multiple violations. This station launched present-day WNNL 103.9 FM, which was known as WAKS-FM from 1981 to 1987 when it became WAZZ. (The FM was also known as WNND, WTCD, and WZZU before becoming WNNL).
 
One defunct call sign

WLRG Roanoke,VA "Large" Radio (big band music) became K92 in 1980 and was good station until about 1988...you know what I'm talkin' bout, Willis. I have spoken.
 
I worked at WLRG and the original call was WLRJ which was owned by Lee Hartman & Sons Sound in Roanoke. For many years the studios and transmitter were located on top of the family owned business. "LRJ" was for the three Hartman brothers, Lee, Jr, Robert and Jack. The radio station started with a 1KW RCA FM transmitter with a 3db horizontal polarized antenna and was primarily used for sub-carrier background music for restaurants and businesses in the Roanoke valley. Lee, Jr. decided to sell the station about the time FM was coming to life. ABC Corp., which was Aylett Coleman, Jack Butler (local businessman) and Buck Crockett (doctor), formed the corporation. Coleman would later buy out the other two partners. Today Coleman's creation has become a legend in rock radio in that market.
 
WBT was for Where Buicks Travel and I knew builder of WPET abut I don't remember Herman ever mentioning what WPET meant.
 
berlin201 said:
How long ago was this station in existence? The only WAKS I remember is a Clear Channel CHR (96.5 Kiss-FM) up in Cleveland; the calls there stand for We're Akron's KiSs-FM

Speaking from just down the road from WAKS, I doubt Akron had anything to do with the "A" in the calls, except maybe incidentally.

For one, WAKS was originally on 104.9/Lorain, which is nowhere near Akron.

For another, 96.5 does not acknowledge its city of license at all, except when airing the "WAKS Akron" legal ID at the top of each hour.

I only go into detail about this Ohio station here since A) it was mentioned and B) it's a perfect example of people "guessing" at call letter meanings. Quite a few stations listed here are very much a guess, as are many "meanings" in radio station Wikipedia entries.

Speaking of Wikipedia radio station entries, WAKS' says it adopted the calls on 104.9/Lorain nearly two years before moving to 96.5/Akron, well before it was known they would make such a move. I believe that timing is accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAKS#WAKS_and_the_2001_frequency_swap
 
When we put WZRU-FM on in Roanoke Rapids as an NPR Station, we were looking for "WERU" - We Are You...but, we ended up with Weez Are You...didn't quite work out.

WCBT-AM, also in Roanoke Rapids, which signed on in 1940 (and where Jesse Helms served as Morning Drive host in the late '40's - "Rise And Shine With Jesse Helms") meant something, but I can't remember (something like, We Can Bring Trade...something along those lines...remember, this was in the early 40's.

WRMT-AM "Rocky MounT"

WPGT-FM (now owned by Liberty University, Roanoke Rapids) - We Proclaim Good Tidings

WWDR-AM (Murfreesboro) - this was a joke I heard from a former employee, "Worlds Worst Damn Radio" (but, they really weren't...LOL)

OK...I saw the calls WFAG. No joke, but maybe someone can tell me if this is true...someone told me they once imaged themselves as "The Big ***". I would imagine that was prior to certain linguistic developments.

Any takers on WEED??
 
"F a g" was (and still is in the UK) a colloquialism for cigarettes. 1250 in Farmville used the WFAG calls once upon a time because tobacco was so big there.
 
Watch the
Farmville
Area
Grow

As per Carl Venters
 
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