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Two call sign trivia questions

B

bobdavcav

1. What call sign do you think has been used on the most facilities? There are 2 that I can think of, KLTH, now on 106.7 in Portland OR was on 99.7 in KC and I think it was on another station before then. The other one is KORQ, now on 96.1 in Winters, TX. The funny thing about that one is all 3 facilities that callsign has been on server the same area.
2. What station do you think changes calls most frequently? I'd nominate what is now KFBW in Portland OR, on its 8th callsign since 2000.
 
bobdavcav said:
1. What call sign do you think has been used on the most facilities? There are 2 that I can think of, KLTH, now on 106.7 in Portland OR was on 99.7 in KC and I think it was on another station before then. The other one is KORQ, now on 96.1 in Winters, TX. The funny thing about that one is all 3 facilities that callsign has been on server the same area.
2. What station do you think changes calls most frequently? I'd nominate what is now KFBW in Portland OR, on its 8th callsign since 2000.
Click to expand...

Since the '60s, KAAR has been in Mountlake Terrace, WA, Vancouver, WA, Spokane, WA, Yakima, WA, In Utah and Oklahoma (I think) and now sits at a country station in Butte, MT. I'm guessing they're pretty valuable because they're never on the block for very long

WRXP is also fairly well traveled for it's short period of time. Returning briefly to New York and now sit at a Minneapolis sports station.

KTLK has also bounced around a bit.

1090 in Seattle since 1994 has been KING, KKNG, KINF, KNWX (all within TWO WEEKS), then KRPM. KMPS, KYCW, KPTK and now KFNQ
 
Here in Texas, the most calls for an AM station is likely KZMP 1540, an ESPN Deportes station licensed to University Park, an "island" community surrounded by Dallas. For several decades, until the late '90's, it had been licensed to Fort Worth:

KZMP from 12/29/1997
KPAD from 06/06/1997
KTNO from 02/08/1993
KSGB from 03/27/1989
KSVZ from 01/25/1988
KMIA from 06/25/1985
KUQQ from 1983
KTIA from 1979
KMZK from 1978
KRXV from 1976
KBUY from 01/01/1967
KCUL from 1949 when it signed on

Yep, that's a dozen.
 
jd said:
Here in Texas, the most calls for an AM station is likely KZMP 1540, an ESPN Deportes station licensed to University Park, an "island" community surrounded by Dallas. For several decades, until the late '90's, it had been licensed to Fort Worth:

KZMP from 12/29/1997
KPAD from 06/06/1997
KTNO from 02/08/1993
KSGB from 03/27/1989
KSVZ from 01/25/1988
KMIA from 06/25/1985
KUQQ from 1983
KTIA from 1979
KMZK from 1978
KRXV from 1976
KBUY from 01/01/1967
KCUL from 1949 when it signed on

Yep, that's a dozen.
Click to expand...

:eek: Damn! :eek:
 
The all-time champion appears to be an LPFM in Gap, PA, near Lancaster. Between 2003 and 2008, it had - no kidding - 20 callsigns:

WLRI-LP from 12/08/2008
WRLY-LP from 12/01/2008
WLRI-LP from 01/17/2008
WOPR-LP from 01/04/2008
WLRI-LP from 09/01/2007
WLAL-LP from 04/23/2007
WLIZ-LP from 03/12/2007
WPAG-LP from 08/17/2006
WOMB-LP from 07/01/2006
WTPP-LP from 06/13/2006
WLIZ-LP from 05/01/2006
WLRI-LP from 09/15/2005
WOBS-LP from 05/16/2005
WLBX-LP from 05/09/2005
WGPQ-LP from 04/20/2005
WOBS-LP from 12/20/2004
WLDW-LP from 10/16/2004
WOMB-LP from 05/12/2004
WGCP-LP from 04/23/2004
WOMB-LP from 10/27/2003

There's some question as to how many of these were ever actually on the air (and indeed, as to whether the station's even on the air at all); it appears the rapid-fire stream of changes, especially in 2008, was the result of a dispute over control of the station.

Among full-power stations in the region I cover, Boston's AM 1150 (now WWDJ) has had at least 11 callsigns in its existence, with AM 1510 (now WUFC) just behind at ten.
 
One can get a more or less comprehensive count by downloading the call_sign_history table from the FCC CDBS database. ("more or less" because the records only go back so far. I want to say "so far" means mid-1980s.) Sort it by callsign_seq_id, which increments by one each time a station changes calls.

By that source, the most common call changers:

1. WLRI-LP 92.9 Gap, Pennsylvania with, as Scott says, 20 call changes.
2. WRJE 1600 Dover, Delaware with 15 call changes.
3. LPTV station W23CN Sebring, Florida with 14 changes, including two different calls on channel 54 (W54CL and W54BM) and being briefly deleted once. (becoming DW54CL)
4. KSSX 95.7 Carlsbad, California with 13 changes.
5. Four stations tied with twelve changes:
WNRG-FM 106.9 Brookfield, Wisconsin
WODX 107.3 South Bristol Township, NY
KSFN 1510 Piedmont, California (gets bonus points for also changing its city of license from San Rafael)
K48GO Cave Junction, Oregon
 
I'm considerably less comfortable about the accuracy of the following list, but the calls that seem to have appeared on the most different stations since the early 1980s:

- 11 stations: KKHI
1510 CA Piedmont
1550 CA San Francisco
101.9 CO Centennial
90.3 CO Fraser
106.3 CO Kremmling
93.9 CO Loveland
100.7 HI Kihei (this is the current KKHI)
103.5 HI Wahiawa
1210 WY Laramie
106.1 WY Rock River
106.5 WY Wheatland

- 10 stations: KHTZ
103.7 CA Carnelian Bay
97.1 CA Los Angeles
1400 CA Truckee
1400 CA Visalia
1550 NM Albuquerque
100.3 NM Albuquerque
107.3 TX Caldwell
105.1 TX Cameron
104.7 TX Ganado (This is the current KHTZ)
92.5 TX Navasota

- 9 stations: WFXF (currently on 103.9 Dundee IL)
& WPNT (not currently assigned)
- 8 stations: WEZO, WCSO, KJAZ, KROW, KACE, KINF
 
100.3 FM in Los Angeles is on its tenth set of calls, 6 of them in the last 20 years:


KMLA (1957-?)
KFOX-FM (?-1972)
KIQQ (1972-1989)
KQLZ (1989-1993)
KXEZ (1993-1996)
KIBB (1996-1997)
KCMG (1997-2001)
KKBT (2001-2006)
KRBV (2006-2008)
KSWD(2008-Present)
 
99.7 in Sturgeon Bay, WI comes close.

WSBW (2/1982-2/1989; current WSBW is in Sister Bay, WI on 105.1)
WQZZ (2/1989-9/1990)
WHET-FM (9/1990-7/1993)
WGEE-FM (7/1993-9/1996)
WLTM (9/1996-4/2002)
WLYD (4/2002-2/2006)
WZBY (2/2006-8/2009)
WRQE (8/2009-9/2010; current WRQE is in New London, WI on 93.5, a sister station to this one)
WZDR (9/2010-present)

Nine call signs; bonus points for a frequency change (it started out as a 3kW Class A on 100.1)
 
The WKIX call letters in North Carolina:

850 AM and 96.1 FM, both Raleigh (1959-early 1970s)
850 AM, Raleigh only (early 1970s-1994)
96.1 FM, Raleigh only (1994-1998)
96.9 FM, Goldsboro (1998-2001)
102.3 FM, Goldsboro (now Smithfield) (2001-2006)
97.7 FM, Kinston (now Walnut Creek) (2006-2008)
102.3 FM, Goldsboro (now Smithfield) (2008-2010)
102.9 FM and 850 AM, both Raleigh (2010-2012)
102.9 FM, Raleigh (2012-present)
 
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