The Death of Call Letters

[stewie]

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?

 

[landtuna]

KYA (93.3?) has to be one of the oldest calls in S.F. although the FM side didn't sign on until many years later.

At the dawn of the FM's there was KGO-FM (103.7) - very popular for some years. One of the first automated FM's IIRC.

As far as imaging, I left S.F. just as the FM revolution was getting into high gear so most of the brands I remember were AM's. The one that always stood out was KABL - cable car bell. Another had a fog horn. Both were very distinctive.

 

[alok]

I can't add to the list ,but I loved when stations proudly gave their calls and frequency , then city ,especially when they did it at the TOP of the hour ,not just close to the hour but right on the hour.
Now with computers running the place you'd think they'd at least keep it right on the hour , but no . . . nowadays stations seem to quickly drop in thier calls around 10 before the hour.

It is like they are ashamed of it ?

People say radio has to change because of the Internet ,I think it is changing because people don't want to look at themselves as broadcasters anymore.

I grew up around NYC and when WABC / WMCA / WNEW / WPAT / WNJR / WWRL / WOR / WINS ,etc. , gave thier hourly ID ,it was great.
Even when FM became popular WOR-FM ,WNEW-FM,WHTZ all were great.
Some used jingles others just a great announcers voice. You knew WHO you were listening to !

Didn't matter with the format was . . . it was "polished"

Al

 

[DavidKaye]

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".

 

[DavidKaye]

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?

I'm not sure what you mean by "legacy calls and brands" because though those callsigns still exist, their brands are very different today. For instance, KFOG means oldies rock today, but for many years it was a "beautiful music" station.

The KOIT of today has no direct roots to the KOIT of 93.3 days, nor is the format anywhere near the same. The original KOIT was a simulcast of top 40 KYA, and then they went to "progressive rock" and then to country, and I can't remember half the formats they tried before dumping the callsign.

Likewise, today's KBAY has gone through a number of different formats and stations since its founding as KEEN-FM at 100.3.

Today's KDON dates back to KDON AM in Salinas (was it 1360?) as top 40, but it goes back even further as 1240 and part of the Don Lee/Mutual radio network. While, again, there is a traceable timeline for the callsign, the formats have gone all over the map since inception.

KSOL is another of those with no direct roots to the original KSOL 1450, which was a "soul" or R&B station under Les Malloy. Today it's a Spanish language contemporary music station.

 

[landtuna]

Perhaps the main reason calls are not remembered is.....to a listener they are not necessary. To tune a radio all one needs to remember is the position of the preset or the frequency.

 

[davideduardo]

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

KSOL never uses the calls in Spanish... they only use them on the legal ID.

The case of this station is like that of many others: pick a distinctive name and then try to get call letters that more or less mimic the name. "Cable" is thus KABL. "Kiss" is KIIS and so on.

Call letters, today, are generally no more useful as a method of branding a radio station than a license plate number is useful in branding a car.

 

[stewie]

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

KSOL never uses the calls in Spanish... they only use them on the legal ID.

The case of this station is like that of many others: pick a distinctive name and then try to get call letters that more or less mimic the name. "Cable" is thus KABL. "Kiss" is KIIS and so on.

Call letters, today, are generally no more useful as a method of branding a radio station than a license plate number is useful in branding a car.

I guess I'm unique in that I like when stations use their call letters as a method of branding/imaging. Sounds as though research has been done to confirm that people don't remember them afterall yet for some reason they're hanging around in my head. I guess that's why I frequent boards like this.

The thing I miss most was the uniqueness of the call letters instead of "Kiss FM" where you can find probably a dozen stations across the country all branded as Kiss FM.

 

[stewie]

Call letters, today, are generally no more useful as a method of branding a radio station than a license plate number is useful in branding a car.

Interesting analogy.

 

[davideduardo]

Perhaps the main reason calls are not remembered is.....to a listener they are not necessary. To tune a radio all one needs to remember is the position of the preset or the frequency.

... or, the listener thinks of "the soft station" or "the hits station" or "the country station."

And that is why stations pick names that reinforce the image the station wants to have.

 

[davideduardo]

KSOL is another of those with no direct roots to the original KSOL 1450, which was a "soul" or R&B station under Les Malloy. Today it's a Spanish language contemporary music station.

Ah, another nit to pick.

KSOL is not contemporary... it's regional Mexican. Contemporary, for Spanish language, is a catch-all term covering CHR to AC and is pop based in style... songs that could, often, just as well be in English. Regional Mexican is your traditional collection of tubas and accordions.

KVVF is Contemporary, KBRG is Spanish adult hits, KSOL and KRZA are Regional Mexican.

 

[landtuna]

Perhaps the main reason calls are not remembered is.....to a listener they are not necessary. To tune a radio all one needs to remember is the position of the preset or the frequency.

... or, the listener thinks of "the soft station" or "the hits station" or "the country station."

And that is why stations pick names that reinforce the image the station wants to have.

I understand what you mean but in most larger markets there are more than one station fitting the brands you use as an example. In Phoenix, "the country station" could mean KNIX or KMLE for example. Now if KMLE billed itself as "YeHaw 108" then it would be useful. ;D

 

[davideduardo]

Perhaps the main reason calls are not remembered is.....to a listener they are not necessary. To tune a radio all one needs to remember is the position of the preset or the frequency.

... or, the listener thinks of "the soft station" or "the hits station" or "the country station."

And that is why stations pick names that reinforce the image the station wants to have.

I understand what you mean but in most larger markets there are more than one station fitting the brands you use as an example. In Phoenix, "the country station" could mean KNIX or KMLE for example. Now if KMLE billed itself as "YeHaw 108" then it would be useful. ;D

I was more than likely not clear enough. When listeners think of stations by genre or feel, then they have to do something to own that feeling. If the station is soft AC, and perceived as being soft, then Easy 103 will build this.

For years, "where hip hop lives" was synonymous with Power 106 in LA... of course, someone from another station called once and asked to speak with "Hiphop."

Call letters just don't usually convey a personality or an image... and in many cases, with calls like WGN and KGO, they simply mean the same thing that killed Oldsmobile: old.

 

[DavidKaye]

Ah, another nit to pick.

Yeah, I slipped there.

 

[cyberdad]

Call letters just don't usually convey a personality or an image... and in many cases, with calls like WGN and KGO, they simply mean the same thing that killed Oldsmobile: old.

+1.

Countries as diverse as the UK and Cuba (to name just two) don't use them at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure a number of countries don't even issue them any more.

 

[nocomradio]

Countries as diverse as the UK and Cuba (to name just two) don't use them at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure a number of countries don't even issue them any more.

Sorta smacks of the old CB days when you were supposed to use your calls. Anyone still doing that now? ;D

 

[landtuna]

I was more than likely not clear enough. When listeners think of stations by genre or feel, then they have to do something to own that feeling. If the station is soft AC, and perceived as being soft, then Easy 103 will build this.

I understand your meaning but do you really think branding with "The River" or "The Mountain" says anything at all? If you didn't already know would K-love tell you anything about their brand other than they might be a copy of the old KYOT? Misleading in that comparison. "The Zone", "The Greatest Hits of All Time" and "The Band" don't give it away either. They are just names. And they change often enough to be meaningless.

What I'm trying to say is some brand names work and other don't. It isn't much different with calls since most listeners pronounce the call rather than spell it.

Call letters just don't usually convey a personality or an image... and in many cases, with calls like WGN and KGO, they simply mean the same thing that killed Oldsmobile: old.

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.

Oldsmobile died because it didn't differentiate itself from its GM stablemates. It shared parts and pieces with the other GM brands but wasn't different enough to have its own identity once out of NASCAR. Pontiac had a definite identity but it went belly up too - most probably because its styling got too wacky. Buick almost did and except for the Chinese export market, may still.

The relationship to radio of course is that if your competitors play the same music you do you better have something else to make them come to you. A cutesy brand name might work for the easily impressed but it likely won't cut it long term. A legacy call might work better in that case than a teeny-bopper brand because legacy calls say "we've been here and we'll be here". Sometimes familiarity is better.

 

[landtuna]

Countries as diverse as the UK and Cuba (to name just two) don't use them at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure a number of countries don't even issue them any more.

I'm not familiar with Cuba but in the UK, which has many fewer stations than does the US, they use "identifiers" such as BBC1, BBC2 (for both radio and TV) and names such as "Channel Four" for their commercial stations. I believe all TV stations in the UK are national so there is no confusion with names.

Australia uses a similar scheme with the channel names. That wouldn't work here unless you also differentiated them by location

You could probably call these "calls" and/or "brands" but they accomplish the same purpose.

 

[HCochet]

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?

 

[michael hagerty]

In a PPM world, names are almost as useless as call letters. The listener needs to know what frequency to tune to. After that, the encoding does the heavy lifting. If nothing else, it saves us from a DJ barking the call letters at us every time he or she cracks the mic.

But I agree...most names are pretty lame, at least in the context of usefulness that David was referring to.