WBAP FM?

[sayitaintsojoe]

Just saw on the FCC website the new call letters have been approved? Wonder how long it will take them to put it on the air? Better yet....wonder how long it will take old Platinum listeners heads to explode? It's a big day in the radio world

 

[dfaulkner]

They used it at the top of the hour.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

3 PM CT legal ID, as heard on the stream:

"WBAP Fort Worth/Dallas, WBAP-FM Flower Mound/Dallas/Fort Worth"

 

[jeffdfw]

Interesting... The Twister and Platinum used to ID as Flower Mound/Fort Worth/Dallas... either way it is a mouth full. However, have you ever heard The Ticket's ID? It is something like KTCK 1310 AM Dallas/Fort Worth KTDK 104.1 FM Sanger KKLF 1700 AM Richardson KPLX HD-2 Fort Worth.

 

[ropertex]

When did the FCC start issuing W calls west of Mississippi? They have made a few RARE execptions when a heritage station was forced to change calls due to old FCC policy that AM-FM-TV combos must be co-owned to share calls. But WBAP-FM was on 96.3, and voluntarily changed calls to KSCS.

 

[fybush]

For at least the last 20 years or so, the FCC has been willing to allow stations grandfathered with "non-standard" (K in W territory, W in K territory, 3-letter) calls to share those base calls across services. Recent examples include KDKA-FM Pittsburgh, WJZ-FM Baltimore, WBZ-FM Boston, KFH-FM Wichita. All Citadel had to do was ask.

 

[arnoldevns]

Another example of a grandfathered call letter being ressurected on another dial recently is WOAI-TV in San Antonio.

Texas has an unusual number of odd call letters. The DFW area may have the most.

In addition to WBAP, there's WFAA and WRR.
WRR is a double oddity in that it starts with W and is only a 3 letter call. I'm not sure why the FCC stopped issuing 3 letter calls. Memory fails me, but I think it's the only 3 letter calls in the state of Texas.

Across the state, there's not only WOAI-AM/TV there's also WACO-FM in Waco. I think it's the only call letters in the country that spell out the full name of the city of license. WTAW in College Station (Watch the Aggies Win) has always been the most unusual to me.

 

[fybush]

It's not so odd when you know that the original W/K line ran along the western borders of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Texas is by far the largest state in that group, and it stands to reason it would have had the largest number of stations before the line shifted east in the mid-20s.

WACO is one of three stations that spells out its entire city of license. WARE in Ware, MA and WISE-FM in Wise, VA are the other two; I'm open to the argument that the Virginia town isn't "Wisefm, Virginia" by those who wish to be nitpickers about the suffixed "-FM" call in that example.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

WACO is one of three stations that spells out its entire city of license. WARE in Ware, MA and WISE-FM in Wise, VA are the other two; I'm open to the argument that the Virginia town isn't "Wisefm, Virginia" by those who wish to be nitpickers about the suffixed "-FM" call in that example.

And WISE-FM Wise isn't likely to be able to drop the -FM suffix anytime soon
in order to become "pure," as WISE(AM) Asheville is the controller of the lease
of the calls, having had them back to at least 1948 (yearbook check), or even
since its 1939 sign-on. The current WISE-FM calls were assigned in 1999.

I noticed WISE has also been making some bucks allowing its calls on WISE-TV
Fort Wayne since 2003.

 

[davideduardo]

And WISE-FM Wise isn't likely to be able to drop the -FM suffix anytime soon
in order to become "pure," as WISE(AM) Asheville is the controller of the lease
of the calls, having had them back to at least 1948 (yearbook check), or even
since its 1939 sign-on. The current WISE-FM calls were assigned in 1999.

I noticed WISE has also been making some bucks allowing its calls on WISE-TV
Fort Wayne since 2003.

The calls for the FM and the TV are not "leased" as the calls belong to the FCC. However, when a licensee is using calls in one service (i.e. AM, FM TV, etc.) they may release the sue to a station in another service, but at that time they have no claim on the calls.

The licensee who has the original use of the calls may negotiate a fee for the release, and often justifies this based on legal fees for the consent, etc. It's the station's right to allow or not the use of the calls, since a station might want to use them in the future for another class of service in its own market.

 

[davideduardo]

. I'm not sure why the FCC stopped issuing 3 letter calls. Memory fails me, but I think it's the only 3 letter calls in the state of Texas.

WRR is not the only surviving 3-letter set in TX; KUT in Austin is another. The FCC moved to 3-letter calls in 1922 when they began the orderly licencing of K and W stations at WAAA and KAAA; 3-letter ones were discouraged as they would shortly run out of them anyway.

While checking the 3-letter calls at www.americanradiohistory.com I noticed one I had not seen before... the 1925 calls of the station run by the Detroit Police Department were KOP.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

The calls for the FM and the TV are not "leased" as the calls belong to the FCC...(snip)...The licensee who has the original use of the calls may negotiate a fee for the release...

Yeah, I should have put "leased" in quotes so you wouldn't have to.

Let's just say Dean Wormer was the lessee, and Mayor DePasto the lessor,
and Wormer says he'll arrange a "nice honorarium from the, uh, student fund"
for the use of the calls.

Would any station/corporate owner "give away" the calls to another for free?
Doubtful, besides I've got to attend the @#$% senior honors dinner... ;D

 

[Huff]

WRR is not the only surviving 3-letter set in TX; KUT in Austin is another. The FCC moved to 3-letter calls in 1922 when they began the orderly licencing of K and W stations at WAAA and KAAA; 3-letter ones were discouraged as they would shortly run out of them anyway.

While checking the 3-letter calls at www.americanradiohistory.com I noticed one I had not seen before... the 1925 calls of the station run by the Detroit Police Department were KOP.

Radio historian Timothy White has an exhaustive overview of the W/K Call Letter Boundary here:
http://earlyradiohistory.us/kwtrivia.htm
as well as an exhaustive overview of every 3-letter call letter set issued:
http://earlyradiohistory.us/3roll.htm

The original W/K boundary ran along the Texas/New Mexico border, so the first 39 broadcast licenses issued in the state were W call letters, until the new boundary along the Mississippi River took effect in 1923.
http://www.dfwradioarchives.com/FirstAMs.htm

The present incarnation of KUT(FM) did not sign on until 1958, and was originally licensed as KUT-FM, so it was technically a five-letter call (although still an exception to the general rule.) This was an homage to the original KUT which moved from Austin to Houston to become KTRH in March, 1930.

 

[8638]

The calls for the FM and the TV are not "leased" as the calls belong to the FCC...(snip)...The licensee who has the original use of the calls may negotiate a fee for the release...

Yeah, I should have put "leased" in quotes so you wouldn't have to.

Let's just say Dean Wormer was the lessee, and Mayor DePasto the lessor,
and Wormer says he'll arrange a "nice honorarium from the, uh, student fund"
for the use of the calls.

You left out the part about busted kneecaps or legs...I forget which now! Damned good analogy!

 

[Lancer]

There is a little known codicil in the Faber constitution, which gives the dean unlimited power to preserve order in times of campus emergency.