The Death of Call Letters

[davideduardo]

If nothing else, it saves us from a DJ barking the call letters at us every time he or she cracks the mic.

But we still need to brand stations so that people, in the PPM world, will come back for additional incidents of listening.

 

[michael hagerty]

If nothing else, it saves us from a DJ barking the call letters at us every time he or she cracks the mic.

But we still need to brand stations so that people, in the PPM world, will come back for additional incidents of listening.

Right, but that requires tuning to a number, not typing in "Wolf" or "Kiss" or "Bob". Knowing that the station is at 107.9 on the dial is far more critical to finding it than remembering that it's called "The Eagle".

One of the things I saw over and over again in television was that it was all about the channel number. When viewers want to see "NCIS", they don't think KPIX or even CBS. To them, it's just on Channel 5 (to the extent that, on vacation or moving to a new city, a surprising number of them will wonder why they're seeing different shows on Channel 5).

Really, numbers rule. As many people said they listened to "Six-ten" back in the day as said they listened to KFRC. It hasn't changed.

 

[Bongwater]

Does anyone else miss the use of call letters in the imagining and branding of a station?

As for missing the callsign branding, research has shown that a slogan brand is more powerful than a callsign brand. Case in point was when Gordon Getty, wealthy SF opera benefactor and opera composer was asked which classical music station he listened to. The choices in those days were KKHI 95.7 and KDFC 102.1. He said that he listened to "the one near the middle of the dial", which could, of course, have been either one. Here's a guy who was on top of his game musically and listened to classical music on the radio and he still couldn't give the callsign of his favorite station!

I also remember when 103.7 was KSFX. Most people I knew at the time simply couldn't get the callsign right. They'd say KXSF or KFSX or whatever. To me it was easy, but not to them.

James Gabbert had it right when he ditched KPEN and got KIOI and then branded his station as "K-101".

Maybe Gordon Getty's attention span was limited to certain things. But that doesn't mean everyone else's was.

But seriously David, as we're moving to an online/wifi "infinite dial", you can only have so many "Wolf" "Star" "Kiss" "Jack" "Alice" "Hot" "Warm" "Cool" "Magic" "Mix" "Mountain" "River" "Bulldog" "Cat" "Game", et al stations.

I like call letters. Especially today, they bring UNIQUENESS. And with PPM, mistakes like order of letters and radio tuning challenged Gordon Getty's should be a thing of the past.

Call letter not only bring nostalgia, but a sense of localism and listener IDENTITY in ways even the most clever (and quickly copied) moniker can EVER do. Local radio NEEDS that today, if it intends to survive on an infinite dial.

Cookie cutter formats and monikers are old. No wonder radio has to struggle harder than ever in a vast array of radio choices available today. It's time to shed the things we thought were so perfect in the '80s and get with the times. And that sometimes means getting back to what REALLY worked.

Plus, the greatest radio stations in history didn't go by monikers. They went by KFRC, KGO, KMEL, WABC, KJR, KISW, KLOS, WLS, WBLS, et al. And they're all still here. And using them PROUDLY. And in most cases, are often the TOP RATED stations anywhere.

Because they're RADIO STATIONS.

Not animals, temperatures, people's names, verbs, etc.

 

[DavidKaye]

Perhaps, but those are legacy calls and I'm willing to bet that virtually the entire populations of Chicago (WGN) and San Francisco (KGO) could tell you who they are. Nothing more need be said.

David Eduardo is right; callsigns = old fogie. Old fogies know all the advertising tricks so they're much harder to sell to than younger folks who don't know any better. Commercial radio is an advertising medium.

I actually took a survey at the 24th Street BART station a good 10 years ago. Even then, most people (I believe it was 19 out of 20) hadn't heard of Ronn Owens, KGO's #1 star for 25 years, and those who'd heard of KGO knew KGO-TV, not KGO Radio.

There's a reason why 910 is using the slogan "News/Talk 910" and not using the KKSF callsign except for hourly ID.

 

[stewie]

Perhaps, but those are legacy calls and I'm willing to bet that virtually the entire populations of Chicago (WGN) and San Francisco (KGO) could tell you who they are. Nothing more need be said.

David Eduardo is right; callsigns = old fogie. Old fogies know all the advertising tricks so they're much harder to sell to than younger folks who don't know any better. Commercial radio is an advertising medium.

I actually took a survey at the 24th Street BART station a good 10 years ago. Even then, most people (I believe it was 19 out of 20) hadn't heard of Ronn Owens, KGO's #1 star for 25 years, and those who'd heard of KGO knew KGO-TV, not KGO Radio.

There's a reason why 910 is using the slogan "News/Talk 910" and not using the KKSF callsign except for hourly ID.

I'm not sure there's a right or wrong answer.

Many have quoted research or case studies but at the end of the day, call letters (at least for some) are the brand. If that weren't the case, KNBR, KMEL, KOIT, etc, etc, etc, would have dumped the use of them long ago.

David Eduardo is right; stations need to brand themselves. However call signs don't equal old fogie; they equal a brand that works and continues to work for those still using them.

 

[michael hagerty]

Perhaps, but those are legacy calls and I'm willing to bet that virtually the entire populations of Chicago (WGN) and San Francisco (KGO) could tell you who they are. Nothing more need be said.

I actually took a survey at the 24th Street BART station a good 10 years ago. Even then, most people (I believe it was 19 out of 20) hadn't heard of Ronn Owens, KGO's #1 star for 25 years, and those who'd heard of KGO knew KGO-TV, not KGO Radio.

There's a reason why 910 is using the slogan "News/Talk 910" and not using the KKSF callsign except for hourly ID.

re: Ronn Owens: I think it was another ABC O&O employee, Dan Ingram, who said "So I've got a 10 share. That means 90 percent of New York isn't listening to me."

910's positioning is smart. It ties frequency to a clear description of what the station airs.

Were it not for years of use by dozens of CHRs, it would be logical to assume "Kiss" would play love songs. A soft AC, maybe.

"Star"? They'd play the biggest hits.

But "Wolf", "Eagle", "Bob", "Alice"? They don't mean anything.

 

[recto101]

Public broadcasting stations aside, the older I get the fewer stations I find using call letters as their brand.

The remain FM legacy calls and brands (feel free to add and remove).

KBAY
KRTY
KOIT
KSOL
KBLX
KFOG
KMEL
KPIG
KDON

Am I forgetting anyone?

Does anyone else miss the use of call letters in the imagining and branding of a station?

Which FM calls, format and brand go back the furthest?

Did anyone say (type) KOME yet?

I know it was AM (you are asking for FM only), but what about KAZA and KFAT?

How About KCBS I know the 106.9FM is officially KFRC-Fm but the general pubic will ID 106.9 as KCBS-FM even though its officially on 93.1 FM in LA but thats because of a simulcast on 740 AM where the KCBS calls originated from. Or 90.3 its officially KOSC but its ID as KDFC even though 89.9FM is officially KDFC. I noticed that all-News stations still use Call letters as the branding with exception of WYAY in Atlanta.

 

[DavidKaye]

re: Ronn Owens: I think it was another ABC O&O employee, Dan Ingram, who said "So I've got a 10 share. That means 90 percent of New York isn't listening to me."

Dan Ingram was actually inflating his influence given that a share is a percentage of radios in use, not a percentage of the population, so it's more likely that 95 to 98% of the population wasn't listening to him.

 

[DavidKaye]

How About KCBS

"CBS" is a hugely important brand, so KCBS is a no-brainer.

If the station wasn't KCBS what would they use? Well, some years ago it was felt that stations with "X" in their callsigns meant news. Thus, KFAX was originally an all-news station.

 

[Faxon]

As and Amateur Radio Operator for over thirty years, I can say that I am very proud of possessing an FCC assigned Call sign. KB6GK. How many of you can say the same???

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Today's KDON dates back to KDON AM in Salinas (was it 1360?) as top 40...

The KDON(AM) Top 40 era was on 1460. But wasn't the COL Monterey, not Salinas?

EDIT: Just checked the Old Gringo's yearbooks archive and it was Salinas.

 

[davideduardo]

Today's KDON dates back to KDON AM in Salinas (was it 1360?) as top 40...

The KDON(AM) Top 40 era was on 1460. But wasn't the COL Monterey, not Salinas?

EDIT: Just checked the Old Gringo's yearbooks archive and it was Salinas.

http://www.davidgleason.com/Archive Cleveland/California Verification Optimized.pdf

.... and go down to page 34 and 35.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

I'll drift slightly off-topic here and note that Mr. Eduardo's breath-taking collection of classic California QSLs brings forth another subject: how many of the stations in the state's "heartland" were "mom and pop" (or simply "pop and another guy") operations during that era, which led to opportunities for young broadcasters and developed the next generation of talent.

Since the overwhelming majority of those smaller stations are now owned by the same companies that own all the bigger stations, and since they all play the same syndicated and satellited offerings, there's no need for talent (young or old) aside from those few voices delivered in the same package to each city and town ... at which point call letters (historic or not) mean less than nothing.

 

[DavidKaye]

Since the overwhelming majority of those smaller stations are now owned by the same companies that own all the bigger stations, and since they all play the same syndicated and satellited offerings, there's no need for talent (young or old) aside from those few voices delivered in the same package to each city and town ... at which point call letters (historic or not) mean less than nothing.

Bingo. I see the future radio model for the USA as what the BBC has done since its inception: identify stations by their networks, not by local callsigns or local slogans.

 

[Bongwater]

Since the overwhelming majority of those smaller stations are now owned by the same companies that own all the bigger stations, and since they all play the same syndicated and satellited offerings, there's no need for talent (young or old) aside from those few voices delivered in the same package to each city and town ... at which point call letters (historic or not) mean less than nothing.

Bingo. I see the future radio model for the USA as what the BBC has done since its inception: identify stations by their networks, not by local callsigns or local slogans.

Here's an interesting question: If call letters are so meaningless today. why are they STILL often changed when a station changes format?

 

[Tom_KYA1260]

What I miss are 3-letter calls.

 

[1069_KIFR]

I guess thius thread can also apply to television.

Besides for the TOH ID, no more mention of call letters on many stations!
KNTV- NBC BAY AREA
KPIX - CBS 5
KGO - ABC 7
KBCW - CW44

Now NOT every station does this, but it has started.

 

[stewie]

I guess thius thread can also apply to television.

Besides for the TOH ID, no more mention of call letters on many stations!
KNTV- NBC BAY AREA
KPIX - CBS 5
KGO - ABC 7
KBCW - CW44

Now NOT every station does this, but it has started.

As a kid, I remember the days of KSJO, KOME, KMEL, etc... We can go back and fourth and quote research all day but those call letters WERE brands.

My research shows that stations stopped using call letters to be different but in fact they ended up becoming more and more like each other. How different is Kiss FM in L.A. to 103.5 Kiss FM in Chicago or 105.1 Kiss FM in Dallas?

The consolidation of radio changed the way stations are programmed AND branded and is partly to blame.

So few "unique" stations remain.

 

[stewie]

I guess thius thread can also apply to television.

Besides for the TOH ID, no more mention of call letters on many stations!
KNTV- NBC BAY AREA
KPIX - CBS 5
KGO - ABC 7
KBCW - CW44

Now NOT every station does this, but it has started.

Agree -- it applies to TV as well. KOVR 13 used to be a "brand" in Sacramento, now it's just CBS 13.

KCRA 3 is still KCRA though so it hasn't fallen victim... yet.

 

[davideduardo]

My research shows that stations stopped using call letters to be different but in fact they ended up becoming more and more like each other. How different is Kiss FM in L.A. to 103.5 Kiss FM in Chicago or 105.1 Kiss FM in Dallas?

Since radio is sold as a local medium, what a similarly named station in another market does is pretty much irrelevant to listeners. They care about the local station and very very few even know there are other Kiss stations.

As radio moves away from towers and transmitters, brands will become national, perhaps with locally inserted commercials based on where the stream is being used...

Keep in mind that the US and Canada are among the very few countries in the world where call letters were used as station identifiers. In most of the rest of the world, names were the standard going back to the 20's.

The consolidation of radio changed the way stations are programmed AND branded and is partly to blame.

The change to name based branding began in earnest in the 70's. Beautiful music stations were named Wish and Ocean and Coast and Joy and Easy and got calls to match phonetically in many cases. Top 40's became Q-104 and 106-Kicks and Z-93 and AORs became 94 Rock. By the 80's, few format changes or adjustments left call-only identities intact.

So few "unique" stations remain.

My car license plate is "unique." I get no credit for that. But if I could say, "that's the plates on my Porche" I get a pretty good ego boost. Names have character, ID numbers or letters don't.

That's why my parents named me "David" and not "325742."