The Death of Call Letters

[davideduardo]

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

A lot aren't.

The rest are force of habit or a desire to have the calls in some way reflect the name so that users of ratings can relate more easily. "Ah, KJCK, that must be Jack."

 

[DavidKaye]

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?

I think the credit/blame can be laid in the lap of James Gabbert. When he had KPEN he wanted a way to incorporate the dial position, knowing that it was useless to tell people to tune in "KPEN" when there was no way to punch in the callsign on the radio. He wanted people to tune into 101.3 MHz. Thus, he changed the callsign to KIOI and the moniker to "K-101". That was in 1968 I believe. After that we got "Y-93" (the original KOIT 93.3) and several others. And the thing took off nationwide.

 

[radioguy39nj]

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

A lot aren't.

The rest are force of habit or a desire to have the calls in some way reflect the name so that users of ratings can relate more easily. "Ah, KJCK, that must be Jack."

When WXRK New York switched from K-Rock to NOW, the call letters weren't changed. Same with KZON Phoenix. Those call letters have graced three formats. It was originally a music format called "The Zone", then FREE-FM and now 101.5 JAMZ.

Also WKRK Cleveland. The station's call letters say K-Rock, but when the format flipped to sports, only the branding changed. Sportsradio 92.3 The Fan retains the WKRK calls.

 

[weav]

Let us not forget that "Hot Hits KITS" became "Live 105" back in -what- 86? and has ID'd the same way all these years.

 

[michael hagerty]

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

A lot aren't.

The rest are force of habit or a desire to have the calls in some way reflect the name so that users of ratings can relate more easily. "Ah, KJCK, that must be Jack."

Bingo. They're a means of identification for agency time buyers reviewing PPMs.

 

[michael hagerty]

Names have character, ID numbers or letters don't.

True, but radio too often misses the boat by failing to imbue the station itself with any character.

In the glory days, stations were possessed of so much personality and character that they defined their call letters, not the other way around. KSFO, KFRC, KCBS, KGO, KSAN, KTIM all meant something...not because they spelled anything, but because the stations established reputations.

Calling a station Bob, Jack, Wolf, Eagle or Alice doesn't do that on its own. The stations have to follow through.

 

[davideduardo]

...stations were possessed of so much personality and character that they defined their call letters, not the other way around. KSFO, KFRC, KCBS, KGO, KSAN, KTIM all meant something...not because they spelled anything, but because the stations established reputations.

But the glory and heritage of such calls came from an era when there were only a handful of stations in each market... one thing is remembering "KFRC" and knowing what it programmed when there were less than 10 stations in total competing in even the larger markets. With the rise of FM came perhaps two or even three times the number of "good" signals and the consequent confusion as to identity, dial position and call letters.

 

[michael hagerty]

...stations were possessed of so much personality and character that they defined their call letters, not the other way around. KSFO, KFRC, KCBS, KGO, KSAN, KTIM all meant something...not because they spelled anything, but because the stations established reputations.

But the glory and heritage of such calls came from an era when there were only a handful of stations in each market... one thing is remembering "KFRC" and knowing what it programmed when there were less than 10 stations in total competing in even the larger markets. With the rise of FM came perhaps two or even three times the number of "good" signals and the consequent confusion as to identity, dial position and call letters.

Right. And I'm not arguing for call letters. I'm saying that today's owners, managers and programmers need to do better when it comes to making an impression with their programming. Calling it a name does not give it a personality anymore than calling your clothes dryer "Bob" would give it character.

 

[PirateJohnny]

For many listeners around the country WSM did, does and will mean Country music, especially the Grand Ole Opry every Friday and Saturday night.

And I can tel you I was thrilled when I got to hear John Landecker say "WLS" again on a weeknight.

 

[recto101]

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?

I think the credit/blame can be laid in the lap of James Gabbert. When he had KPEN he wanted a way to incorporate the dial position, knowing that it was useless to tell people to tune in "KPEN" when there was no way to punch in the callsign on the radio. He wanted people to tune into 101.3 MHz. Thus, he changed the callsign to KIOI and the moniker to "K-101". That was in 1968 I believe. After that we got "Y-93" (the original KOIT 93.3) and several others. And the thing took off nationwide.

How about KRTH 101.1 Nobody in LA refers to 101.1FM LA based on call letters but they refer to 101.1FM as K-Earth going back to their RKO ownership days back in the 1970's. the KRTH calls was a way to distinguish itself from 93KHJ and KHJ9 the TV station in LA under the RKO era. However today KRTH 101.1 and KCAL9 is now owned by CBS Inc.

 

[davideduardo]

Right. And I'm not arguing for call letters. I'm saying that today's owners, managers and programmers need to do better when it comes to making an impression with their programming. Calling it a name does not give it a personality anymore than calling your clothes dryer "Bob" would give it character.

Agreed. Many of these "more music and less talk" promises are empty as they are no better than an MP3 player on shuffle. No flow, no balance, no stationality.

And that got me thinking about an expression we used to use: "It sounds like a juke box." But a juke box, fed by nickels and dimes and quarters, reflected the mood of the room they were in. So, in a sense, a juke box did have feel.

A lot of radio stations, particularly where the PD thinks (or is forced to think because they program six stations) that an un-massaged log from Selector or MusicMaster is good enough, sound cold and impersonal.

They have neither the bigness of the old network stations nor the goofy fun of the original Top 40 stations. They are to entertainment what a sausage is to livestock.

 

[davideduardo]

How about KRTH 101.1 Nobody in LA refers to 101.1FM LA based on call letters but they refer to 101.1FM as K-Earth going back to their RKO ownership days back in the 1970's. the KRTH calls was a way to distinguish itself from 93KHJ and KHJ9 the TV station in LA under the RKO era.

KRTH was the classic case of picking calls that matched the pre-determined name. In other words, they did not pick "KRTH" and then sat around figuring out how to make a word out of it; they came up with names they liked and checked which ones had "matching" call letters available.

It's the same thing as deciding that a station was going to be called Z-93 and getting WZNT to match the name, not the other way around.

 

[DavidKaye]

But the glory and heritage of such calls came from an era when there were only a handful of stations in each market... one thing is remembering "KFRC" and knowing what it programmed when there were less than 10 stations in total competing in even the larger markets. With the rise of FM came perhaps two or even three times the number of "good" signals and the consequent confusion as to identity, dial position and call letters.

Huh? The last commercial station to come on the air in the SF Bay Area was 107.7 in 1963. Also, there has been little in the way of signal increases since then. If anything, some stations have had to reduce power as they moved sites and lost their higher powered grandfather status. I think that's true of most decent-sized cities.

 

[davideduardo]

Huh? The last commercial station to come on the air in the SF Bay Area was 107.7 in 1963. Also, there has been little in the way of signal increases since then. If anything, some stations have had to reduce power as they moved sites and lost their higher powered grandfather status. I think that's true of most decent-sized cities.

But until the FCC set things in motion with the non-simulcast rule on 171/67, the average listener did not know about FM, did not have an FM radio or thought FM was where classical music lived. A few knew KFOG had easy listening.

But it was not until well into the 70's... and San Francisco was one of the slowest markets to move audience to FM... that FM achieved much of a presence in listeners' minds.

In the meantime, listeners only had to contend with the call letters of a very few significant stations. Let's say that you liked three different stations... not hard to remember the call letters. But when 6, 7 or 8 stations have things you like, and they are on two bands... as happened in the 70's... names tied to dial positions are much better than calls.

 

[DavidKaye]

But until the FCC set things in motion with the non-simulcast rule on 171/67, the average listener did not know about FM, did not have an FM radio or thought FM was where classical music lived. A few knew KFOG had easy listening.

But stations such as KFRC, KMEL, and KSAN came to become callsign icons after the simulcast rule was enacted.

 

[davideduardo]

But stations such as KFRC, KMEL, and KSAN came to become callsign icons after the simulcast rule was enacted.

Obviously, there are throwbacks. Most are due to having been at the leading edge of the eventual success of FM... such as KSAN.

KFRC's success as a Top 40 station preceded the simulcast rule; Tom Rounds made the switch to that format 11 months before the rule was enacted and about a decade and a half before FM achieved parity with AM in the San Francisco market.

My point is that when the useful station choices multiply, it is harder to remember a number of call letter sets and much easier to remember names and addresses.

Of course, another factor is that Arbitron began to dominate ratings around the turn of the decade. While Pulse and Hooper were interviewer- aided recall of just 24 hours, the Arbitron diary was pure memory-based and it was seen that people had an easier time writing in names and such than call letters. Beyond the FCC simulcast rule, which put more players on the field and fewer on the bench, the change in ratings methodology was the most important reason for looking for catchy or descriptive names.

 

[michael hagerty]

But until the FCC set things in motion with the non-simulcast rule on 171/67, the average listener did not know about FM, did not have an FM radio or thought FM was where classical music lived. A few knew KFOG had easy listening.

But stations such as KFRC, KMEL, and KSAN came to become callsign icons after the simulcast rule was enacted.

Doesn't KMEL count as a name..."Camel"? And for that matter, didn't most people (listeners, not jocks) say "K-SAN" rather than "K-S-A-N"? In a way, K-SAN, K-FOG and KABL ("Cable") beat Gabbert's K-101 to the punch (though his was based on frequency.

 

[davideduardo]

Doesn't KMEL count as a name..."Camel"? And for that matter, didn't most people (listeners, not jocks) say "K-SAN" rather than "K-S-A-N"? In a way, K-SAN, K-FOG and KABL ("Cable") beat Gabbert's K-101 to the punch (though his was based on frequency.

Gordon McLendon was very fond of call letters that became meaningful words.

Wacky in Louisville
Whistle in Buffalo
Kilt in Houston
Clif in Dallas
Cable in SF
Extra News in LA (Tijuana)
Winner in Chicago
Keel in Shreveport

Some mixed the use of the letters with the pronounced name, but that is overall a fine collection of "named" stations.

And then there was Kay-Ads in LA.

 

[cyberdad]

Winner in Chicago

....which was anything but. So it became "W-News".

But to be fair, WYNR had a lousy signal (even by 1963 AM standards). IMHO also, the format may have confused listeners. It arguably WAS a "winner" in terms of some of the talent nurtured there.

 

[stewie]

In the digital age, call letters have no relevance so broadcasters are doing the right thing.

Research shows broadcast radio listening is declining. Its only a matter of time before the old die off. I myself am in the 35-45 demo and I jack my mobile device in every chance I get.

Check back with me in 10 years and if radio's had an infusion, I'll post a picture of myself naked and eat my words!