The Death of Call Letters

[stewie]

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.

So which came first; the call letters or the catchy name?

 

[DavidKaye]

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!

By then you'll be in the 45-55 demo and who'll want to see the picture?

As to radio dying, Arbitron begs to differ. I'll let you fight it out amongst yourselves...

 

[davideduardo]

So which came first; the call letters or the catchy name?

I dunno'. Ask that chicken that's standing on the other side of the road.

 

[davideduardo]

By then you'll be in the 45-55 demo and who'll want to see the picture?

Someone who is in the 65+ demo, maybe?

 

[LKellerIII]

Growing up in LA in the 60s as a radio nerd, I can tell you that all stations used their call letters. The only unwritten rule was that you could make a word out of your calls if the letters actually spelled something. Obvious example - K-Day.

Stations used various gimmicks to get the call letters imprinted into your brain. As a young Dodger fan, I remember that the KFI top-of-the-hour ID was always: "50,000 watt Clear Channel Kay - Eff- Eyyyyyyyeeeeee, Los Angeles."

The first exception to call letters I can remember in station imaging was K-100 (KIQQ) about 1971, but I think Gabbert beat them to that gimmick by a couple of years.

 

[1069_KIFR]

I guess KIOO was already taken?

 

[michael hagerty]

The first exception to call letters I can remember in station imaging was K-100 (KIQQ) about 1971, but I think Gabbert beat them to that gimmick by a couple of years.

Gabbert did K-101 (KIOI) in 1968...but it turns out that he might not have been the first, after all. In researching 1069_KIFR's comment about KIOO having already been taken when KIQQ launched in 1972, I found something interesting:

A jazz station in Oklahoma City at 100.5 on the dial had the call letters KIOO from 1960 to at least 1973 (they had them when KIQQ launched). A local Oklahoma City radio site shows the call letters as having been used in the 70s, but a search of the Google Books archive of back issues of Billboard magazine show that, in fact, it was KIOO during those 13 years and the site got the calls out of sequence.

Not known: Whether the station called itself K-100 or just let the audience put together that KIOO was FM 100.

The KIOO calls are now in Porterville, California.

 

[Bongwater]

There's also KIOZ (originally K-102), later moved to 105.3 in San Diego, but kept the KIOZ calls and KGGI 99.1 in Riverside.....

 

[michael hagerty]

There's also KIOZ (originally K-102), later moved to 105.3 in San Diego, but kept the KIOZ calls and KGGI 99.1 in Riverside.....

I think the first San Diego FM to ID by something other than call letters was B-100 (KFMB-FM) in 1975. 13K, KS-103, Z90 and Y106 all followed.

 

[davideduardo]

There's also KIOZ (originally K-102), later moved to 105.3 in San Diego, but kept the KIOZ calls and KGGI 99.1 in Riverside.....

I think the first San Diego FM to ID by something other than call letters was B-100 (KFMB-FM) in 1975. 13K, KS-103, Z90 and Y106 all followed.

How about "His" and "Hers" around 1970 and "Extra News" about a decade before?

 

[recto101]

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.

I thought KRTH K-Earth was based on Earth Day 1970's?

 

[LKellerIII]

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 theto comptee with the likes of KMET - and they thought K-Earth would be fitting. Then the decision was made to go Oldies.

 

[michael hagerty]

There's also KIOZ (originally K-102), later moved to 105.3 in San Diego, but kept the KIOZ calls and KGGI 99.1 in Riverside.....

I think the first San Diego FM to ID by something other than call letters was B-100 (KFMB-FM) in 1975. 13K, KS-103, Z90 and Y106 all followed.

How about "His" and "Hers" around 1970 and "Extra News" about a decade before?

Ah, that's right. Although those didn't play off frequency.

 

[michael hagerty]

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 theto comptee with the likes of KMET - and they thought K-Earth would be fitting. Then the decision was made to go Oldies.

Yep. The idea was to do a Drake/RKO version of album rock. But KLOS beat them to it and they went Oldies instead.

 

[landtuna]

Although it was not a play off call letters KTKT was using "Color Radio 99" and "Radio Free Tucson" as early as the late 50's.

 

[1069_KIFR]

KTKT sounds more like, Kitty, Kitty!
Or Katie, Katie!

 

[LKellerIII]

The first exception to call letters I can remember in station imaging was K-100 (KIQQ) about 1971, but I think Gabbert beat them to that gimmick by a couple of years.

Gabbert did K-101 (KIOI) in 1968...but it turns out that he might not have been the first, after all. In researching 1069_KIFR's comment about KIOO having already been taken when KIQQ launched in 1972, I found something interesting:

A jazz station in Oklahoma City at 100.5 on the dial had the call letters KIOO from 1960 to at least 1973 (they had them when KIQQ launched). A local Oklahoma City radio site shows the call letters as having been used in the 70s, but a search of the Google Books archive of back issues of Billboard magazine show that, in fact, it was KIOO during those 13 years and the site got the calls out of sequence.

Not known: Whether the station called itself K-100 or just let the audience put together that KIOO was FM 100.

The KIOO calls are now in Porterville, California.

Thanks, Michael - interesting info. I''m a big NPR listener - when I hear a contribution from "member station KJZZ in Phoenix," I can always imagine their former format.

 

[michael hagerty]

The first exception to call letters I can remember in station imaging was K-100 (KIQQ) about 1971, but I think Gabbert beat them to that gimmick by a couple of years.

Gabbert did K-101 (KIOI) in 1968...but it turns out that he might not have been the first, after all. In researching 1069_KIFR's comment about KIOO having already been taken when KIQQ launched in 1972, I found something interesting:

A jazz station in Oklahoma City at 100.5 on the dial had the call letters KIOO from 1960 to at least 1973 (they had them when KIQQ launched). A local Oklahoma City radio site shows the call letters as having been used in the 70s, but a search of the Google Books archive of back issues of Billboard magazine show that, in fact, it was KIOO during those 13 years and the site got the calls out of sequence.

Not known: Whether the station called itself K-100 or just let the audience put together that KIOO was FM 100.

The KIOO calls are now in Porterville, California.

Thanks, Michael - interesting info. I''m a big NPR listener - when I hear a contribution from "member station KJZZ in Phoenix," I can always imagine their former format.

Llew: It's really not their "former" format...they've just re-arranged the hours. When I first came to Phoenix in 1986, it was NPR in morning and afternoon drive and jazz middays and nights. Now, they still play jazz...just from 8PM to 1AM (they replaced their 1-5AM music block with BBC World Service). It's still some of the best stuff imaginable. I'm always happy when I tune in at night. They also have a killer blues show Sunday evenings.

 

[davideduardo]

KTKT sounds more like, Kitty, Kitty!
Or Katie, Katie!

For one early-70's weekend when they did a canned food drive for a charity, they had donors stack the cans and the station became "Kay Tin Kan Tower."

Around the same time, the three-way Top 40 battle to the north in Phoenix had Krux, Krizz and Cupid as players. And the playing field had Kameo and Kool FM in good positions, too.

 

[landtuna]

Around the same time, the three-way Top 40 battle to the north in Phoenix had Krux, Krizz and Cupid as players. And the playing field had Kameo and Kool FM in good positions, too.

Don't forget KOPA!