KUPD in Phoenix called itself "Cupid" back in the 70s. They were Top 40 then too.
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Unusual station names or slogans
- Thread starter davideduardo
- Start date
Two hard rock stations in the Myrtle Beach SC area had unusual names.
In 1999 and 2000 there was "93.5 Asylum". The signal was bad. Ironically, its next format was easy lisyening.
From 2010 to 2014 Florence had "94.3 the Dam". There was no major dam in the area, but they did get to say it was "The best Dam rock station."
In 1999 and 2000 there was "93.5 Asylum". The signal was bad. Ironically, its next format was easy lisyening.
From 2010 to 2014 Florence had "94.3 the Dam". There was no major dam in the area, but they did get to say it was "The best Dam rock station."
When KUPD in Tempe went on the air in the very early 60's it was the instrumental Mantovani & Friends format that later was named "Beautiful Music".
It did not go to Top 40 until much later, as the initial war in that format was between KRUX and KRIZ.
No better proof of the fact that KUPD utilized the Cupid theme of beautiful music is this nice piece of history from David himself: https://www.davidgleason.com/Archive Arizona/DFG-Arizona-Veries-from-CLE.pdf
Very cool piece of history!
Perhaps a bit off-topic, but the history of KING-TV, KING AM-FM is quite interesting. As the story goes, owner Dorothy Bullitt wanted to use "KING" as the call letters, but those calls were already in use by an old ship known as the S.S. Watertown. Bullitt wanted them because her holdings were in KING County, Washington. And she got them because the Watertown was to be decommissioned soon. The ship owner didn't care, but asked for a donation to his Church. Legend has it a case of Rum was thrown in as well. The rest is history as KING became not only the first TV station in Seattle, but grew to become a multi-state broadcast company, before being sold to Providence Journal, then to Belo, then absorbed into Gannett, and finally Tegna.
“Q92 The Beat” in Wichita, 2015-2017. A station that, at the time, I loved, but evaluating it years after it was sold, changed format, went dark then came back on, it was a poorly organized station from the day it signed on until it flipped at the end of Labor Day weekend. A very old-skewing morning show only there for ad buys, a rhythmic AC format that was already attempted by the previous owners (which did poorly in the 3 years it was on) and using a fairly bizarre playlist the second time around (so many stiffs that I never remembered being played in the market plus out of place then-currents from mainstream hot AC; think “Take Your Time” by Sam Hunt) that ended up getting changed to just hot AC 9 months later (and kicking the rhythmic music to an out of place 4 hour block at night) despite some slightly positive ratings increases that immediately backfired when they changed (and left them as the lowest rated commercial FM until its demise), had oddly timed spot breaks that never had a lot of advertisers, had frequent technical problems (like dropping out in the middle of songs), aired a bizarre mix of specialty programming (including a smooth jazz overnight show that only lasted for a week or so, a ‘Ask the Doctor’ type program on Saturdays, and a blues show on Sundays), and had little to no promotion. All the while owned by a non-profit organization that operated a for-profit station.
I always liked the WACO Waco call sign. It was unusual both because Waco is the name of the city of license (in central Texas) and because the call was held by a station west of the Mississippi, where K call signs have long been required. Unfortunately, someone decided to change the call sign a number of years ago, and since it is west of the Mississippi the old WACO will never get its call sign back.
While WACO left 1460 a number of years ago, the calls still live on its former sister FM at 99.9. KHOO 99.9 took the KTKS calls after 106.1 in Dallas dropped them but flipped to country as WACO-FM "Waco 100" around 1990, which it has been ever since. WACO 1460/99.9 simulcasted for several years before 1460 branched off and started running its own format.
I remember driving through Texas in the summer of 1990 and finding KTKS 99.9 had gone country, as so many stations began doing around that time. Kiss 100 had been a good backup for us teens when KWTX-FM started playing something we didn't like. Of course, good car radios could get KHYI 94.9 and KEGL 97.1 in or just north of Waco.
The Nashville station now known as "the Buzz" was previously known as both "Moo 102" and then "PC 103." And they did NOT move frequencies during that time. They were (and still are) at 102.9. They were WMMU as "Moo 102" (and yes, they had a cow that resembled the Chick-Fil-A cow as their mascot) and WZPC as "PC 103." They were "Moo 102" for maybe a year or so, and "PC 103" for a couple of years, both during the late '90s.
WIRE 91.1 in Lebanon, Indiana is also known as "Radio Mom". They run softish Hot AC, and also occasionally drop in a "listen to your mom" liner. It's one of the stations I like as I ride up I-65.
This isn't exactly unusual, I guess, but maybe unique. Back when I was a kid, in the 1970's, the local 100,000 watt powerhouse that we listened to out of Farmington, Missouri branded itself as KTJJ 98+. (Its frequency is 98.5) The only reason I am posting this is because, in all of the years I've listened to the radio, I have never heard any other station, anywhere in the country or the world, branding itself this way. I've heard J'98 (KTJJ's current logo), K'102, Z'97, or simply 101.9 WSQC or 92.5 KPDJ (all examples, not actual station logos or call letters), but never "plus." Would that mean other stations may have used - instead? (j/k)
The AM facility was moved north to Burleson, so it wouldn't have stayed "WACO Waco" anyway. IHeart could flip its other AM, KWTX 1230, to the WACO call if it ever wanted to.
And there was a Trump Radio out of Fort Myers, Florida that ran a Country format before they had to change the name due to the outcome of the 2020 election.
There had been stations that were at one point owned or currently managed by Family Radio where they had it's flagship station called KEAR and its call letters were in San Francisco and Sacramento. They were religious outlets in NorCal.
Kear - Wikipedia
Kear - Wikipedia
I worked at the former WNON, 100.9, Lebanon, IN. Yes, it stood for LebaNON, but it was easy enough to think "NON Radio". Up the road, another employer of mine was WSHW, Frankfort, "Shine 99":. It sort of worked but didn't.
I've never heard 95 Will Rock in Illinois. It makes me think "you keep saying you will rock. When is that going to happen?"
Except KMLE no longer uses the camel logo, despite it being very unique and distinctive. In fact, KMLE’s ratings have not recovered since they dropped the camel from their imaging!
During my four years in college there, I was surprised that neither Syracuse's WHEN (620) nor WOLF (1490) used the words "when" or "wolf" in its imaging. WOLF, a high-energy Top 40, in particular -- no howling, no animal mascot at live remotes, nothing at all lupine, just the jocks coming out of every song with "W-O-L-F!" This was in the mid-'70s. I wonder if either ever capitalized on its call letters spelling out a word.
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