WABC call letters post-sale

[dumber than a box of hair]

Re: Oh c'mon....

>Link the actual story, or stories.<

When you find a method of linking stories that were read in newspapers or magazines (NOT online), let me know. ;-) By now, the stories are probably too old to still be available online anyhow.

>And are they reporting that there's a rumor or that it's news?<

The stories I saw reported it as news.

And you're right: Drudge is hardly a credible news source.

 

[peppertree]

Re: Historic Calls - New Owners

On WHAS 840, they aired a disclaimer every night at midnight for one year.




> In Louisville, there's the historic calls of WHAS. And in
> 2005, they are owned by different folks...AM 840 by Clear
> Channel, and WHAS-TV 11 by Belo. There are many other such
> situations in other markets.
> <P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>

 

[ajhenderson]

Re: Historic Calls - New Owners

> > Besides, nobody in the money demos (excluding bona fide
> > radio geeks) has any memory of WJZ in New York (or CBS
> > flagship, WABC). Notice 66 AM never went back to WEAF.
> And
> > when 1050 went sports talk, they dropped WHN. Formerly
> used
> > historic calls don't mean much in the real world.

True, and why would we congregate here other than to be radio geeks. But rather than having to pick three random letters to follow the W, which is difficult with so many stations, it's easier to beg the FCC, which has been more lenient as of late, to give you back your call sign from 50 years ago out of some nostalgic generosity.

> However, none of them, as far as I can remember, involve
> "network" call letters like WABC. It'll be interesting to
> see if Disney has any problem with an Entercom-owned or
> Emmis-owned WABC(AM). If I'm reading speculation about the
> sale correctly, Disney will still be involved in a minority
> situation.

I think shareholders would retain around 50% of whatever company ABC Radio spun-off and merged into, but I got confused with the whole "reverse Morris trust" and thought that somehow the stock interest would dwindle over time.

 

[ajhenderson]

And an interesting clarification on ABC News

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6283389.html?display=Breaking+News

 

[dab1100]

Reality check.

> What happens to the WABC call letters (and KABC, for that
> matter) when ABC divests of its radio presence. Although the
> calls are very important to the station image, I know if I
> were Disney, I would not want any of the three stooges
> bidding on my company to tank my image with people thinking
> I still owned the station bearing my name. Would the FCC let
> them bring the WJZ calls back? Will anything change, or is
> this just nitpicking?
>
IF WABC is sold, the retention of the call letters would be negotiated between the two parties. Since the call letters have a great deal of equity with the listeners, a new owner would probably want to retain them and if ABC required a call letter changee in the deal, the property would probably be worth less than if the call letters came with it.

If the call letters were retained they would remain WABC. There is no hyphen-am calls on the AM band. The TV station would remain WABC-TV and there could also be a WABC-FM, should ABC allow it, in any market east of the Mississippi regardless of the station's ownership.

If the call letters were to change, yes, there is prescedence for three letter calls being re-granted to their heritage frequencies. This happened when the WHN calls returned to 1050 in the '60's (after a long stint as WMGM) and has happened on numerous other occasions, among them KHJ LA, KRE Berkeley, KYW Philadelphia, WHK and WJW Cleveland to name a few.

The new owners would have to get permission from CBS to become WJZ. Those call letters are currently in use by their Baltimore TV station.

It might take some jockeying and call-letter parking and moving, but it is possible (although not probable) that the WHN call letters could end up on 770, since ABC also owns the facility that once had those calls.