I see Enoree is about to have a new station on 88.1FM WNRE, gee that sounds like something I have aready heard, oh yeah our station WLRE Elloree. Thru the years Elloree and Enoree have had many things mixed up, Food lion trucks going to Enoree(wrong place), shipments delivered or tried to Elloree(wrong place). I guess why should radio be any different. What history do you like in call letters?
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Whats in your call letters
- Thread starter Gatekeeper007
- Start date
Hey, if you think that bad, there's 2 communities in South Carolina named Elgin (one in Kershaw County, the other one in Lancaster County). Before anyone jumps, the one in Kershaw County is a incorporated town while the one in Lancaster County is a census designated place.
For that matter, just one state to the north....
Henderson is in the east...HendersonVILLE is in the west
Lenoir County is in the east...Lenoir City is in the west
Rockingham County is in the north...Rockingham City is in the south
Asheville is in the west...Asheboro is in the center
One wonders if a delivery driver's concept of hell is the Carolinas.
Later....
Henderson is in the east...HendersonVILLE is in the west
Lenoir County is in the east...Lenoir City is in the west
Rockingham County is in the north...Rockingham City is in the south
Asheville is in the west...Asheboro is in the center
One wonders if a delivery driver's concept of hell is the Carolinas.
Later....
This thread also asks about call letters like WCIV channel 4 on TV ie: the WC IV is the roman number for 4. What do some of the call letters of other stations stand for?
Some of the more memorable ones:
WLS - World's Largest Store, Sears Roebuck and Co. which was the original owner.
WSM - We Shield Millions, slogan of the insurance company that was the original owner.
WWL - Wide World Loyola, Loyola University, original station owner.
WOWO - (Fort) Wayne Offers Wonderful Opportunities.
Some upstate SC and Western NC stations:
WAIM - Anderson Independent/Mail, original station owner
WELP - Easley Liberty Pickens
WESC - Easley South Carolina, station's original community of license
WFBC - First Baptist Church, also We Foster Better Citizenship, used by Channel 4 TV which once was WFBC.
WSPA - SPArtanburg
WLOS - Wonderful Land Of Sky
Of course everyone's favorite:
WYFF - Were Your Friend Four
WLS - World's Largest Store, Sears Roebuck and Co. which was the original owner.
WSM - We Shield Millions, slogan of the insurance company that was the original owner.
WWL - Wide World Loyola, Loyola University, original station owner.
WOWO - (Fort) Wayne Offers Wonderful Opportunities.
Some upstate SC and Western NC stations:
WAIM - Anderson Independent/Mail, original station owner
WELP - Easley Liberty Pickens
WESC - Easley South Carolina, station's original community of license
WFBC - First Baptist Church, also We Foster Better Citizenship, used by Channel 4 TV which once was WFBC.
WSPA - SPArtanburg
WLOS - Wonderful Land Of Sky
Of course everyone's favorite:
WYFF - Were Your Friend Four
Can't forget this 'unique' one...
WMUU - World's Most Unsusual University
and
WLFJ - With Love From Jesus
just a random - WPTF in Raleigh, NC - "We Protect the Family", from back when it was owned by an insurance company.
WMUU - World's Most Unsusual University
and
WLFJ - With Love From Jesus
just a random - WPTF in Raleigh, NC - "We Protect the Family", from back when it was owned by an insurance company.
2 more I just remembered:
Charlotte's WBT, owned at one time by a local Buick dealer: Watch Buicks Travel. Currently the station says it stands for We Broadcast Talk.
Also, around 1970 there was a little station here in the Greenville area, WBBR at the time, whose call was alleged to have stood for We Burn Beatles Records. I don't know how much truth there is to that one. That call is now on a New York City station: Bloomberg Business Radio
Charlotte's WBT, owned at one time by a local Buick dealer: Watch Buicks Travel. Currently the station says it stands for We Broadcast Talk.
Also, around 1970 there was a little station here in the Greenville area, WBBR at the time, whose call was alleged to have stood for We Burn Beatles Records. I don't know how much truth there is to that one. That call is now on a New York City station: Bloomberg Business Radio
In Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point
WKRR, We Keep Rednecks Rocking. They use that one on the air every now and again.
WMFR - We Make Furniture Right - High Point where the World Furniture Market is held
WSJS - Winston-Salem Journel Sential - the original owners
WHPE - We're High Point Enterprise - original newspaper owner
WMAG - Magic
WUAG - We're University At Greensboro
WPCM - We Play Country Music - when the station went news talk the calls moved to the sister AM where they now play Beach Music. Only Curtis Media could do something like that.
WBAG - We're Burlington And Graham
WCOG - We're City of Greensboro
WREV - Reidsville
WKRR, We Keep Rednecks Rocking. They use that one on the air every now and again.
WMFR - We Make Furniture Right - High Point where the World Furniture Market is held
WSJS - Winston-Salem Journel Sential - the original owners
WHPE - We're High Point Enterprise - original newspaper owner
WMAG - Magic
WUAG - We're University At Greensboro
WPCM - We Play Country Music - when the station went news talk the calls moved to the sister AM where they now play Beach Music. Only Curtis Media could do something like that.
WBAG - We're Burlington And Graham
WCOG - We're City of Greensboro
WREV - Reidsville
I know what WABV stood for.. but I've never figured out what WZLA stood for.
WLMA stood for, under Ron Moore's ownership "WiLMa", his mother. Under the new owners, it stands for, "Wonderful Lifetime Memory Associations"
WLMA stood for, under Ron Moore's ownership "WiLMa", his mother. Under the new owners, it stands for, "Wonderful Lifetime Memory Associations"
A
Art Sutton
Guest
I believe that WWL actually stood for Wonderful Words of the Lord. Their slogan on the air until the University sold them was "The Apple of your Ear"
Also, I am pretty sure that WESC has always been licensed to Greenville. The call sign stood for We Entertain South Carolina. It began in Greenville on 660 with 5KW daytime only. In the early 1960s, it increased to 10,000 watts daytime, then SC's most powerful AM station. It didn't reach 50KW daytime until the 1980s. Even now, the station operates with 10,000 watts directional during critical hours (2 hours prior to sunset and 2 hours after sunrise. It has a special pre sunrise authorization granted with the cooperation of the 660 Clear Channel AM in New York which used to be WNBC. The founder and owner of WESC lived in New York, I think he was in the advertising business, and knew the movers and shakers at NBC. The 500 watts pre sunrise is also directional to protect the 660 NYC signal.
Also, I am pretty sure that WESC has always been licensed to Greenville. The call sign stood for We Entertain South Carolina. It began in Greenville on 660 with 5KW daytime only. In the early 1960s, it increased to 10,000 watts daytime, then SC's most powerful AM station. It didn't reach 50KW daytime until the 1980s. Even now, the station operates with 10,000 watts directional during critical hours (2 hours prior to sunset and 2 hours after sunrise. It has a special pre sunrise authorization granted with the cooperation of the 660 Clear Channel AM in New York which used to be WNBC. The founder and owner of WESC lived in New York, I think he was in the advertising business, and knew the movers and shakers at NBC. The 500 watts pre sunrise is also directional to protect the 660 NYC signal.
more kilowatts said:
Art Sutton said:
I stand corrected. The "We Entertain South Carolina" makes more sense anyway. That just goes to show I can't always believe everything I read on some web sites. Glad to have folks in the business that knows station history way better than I do.
By the way, I live just a few miles from the WLFJ (formerly WESC) 660 transmitter site. It is always fun to be listening when WLFJ 660 goes off at sunset and WFAN (formerly WNBC) comes booming in immediately. It happens pretty seamlessly especially when WFAN is coming in strong. Since they are both talkers you don't realize you are listening to another station until you figure out the talk has changed to sports.
IMHO, WLFJ 660 is one of the best sounding AM stations in the area. Their audio quality rivals that of some FM's, especially on a good receiver. The 50 kw signal certainly doesn't hurt things either!
Some of the small-town call-letters were used to tie into the communities they've served:
Examples include:
WALT=WALTerboro
WBCU=Broadcast Company of Union
WCAM=CAMden
WKSC=Kershaw, South Carolina
WCOS=Columbia's Own Station
Examples include:
WALT=WALTerboro
WBCU=Broadcast Company of Union
WCAM=CAMden
WKSC=Kershaw, South Carolina
WCOS=Columbia's Own Station
Wouldn't it be something if 660 was a 50kw clear channel station? Ha, I bet CC wouldn't LMA it then...entercom would be toast
carolinaradio said:
Not necessarily true... I'm sure Clear Channel has some daytimers in other areas and they operate them.
A
Art Sutton
Guest
Most of you probably already know that WIS stands for Wonderful Iodine State. There was an effort in the early 1900s to produce Iodine in the state of South Carolina as the state desperately tried to find something to kickstart the economy reeling from the destruction of the cotton crop by the boll weevil. Auto tags back in the early 1900s had Wonderful Iodine State on them so when WIS went on the air that was the slogan. Someone pulled some political strings because the FCC had long stopped issuing three letter call signs by the time WIS went on the air but this was granted and was the last one issued in the U.S.
WIS Radio was really the WSB of the state of South Carolina for a long long time on the radio dial. At one time, the owners of WIS also owned WSPA Radio and also put the 930 in Charlotte on the air. They were very aggressive in building the best technical facilities available at the time. It's fair to say in the early days, WIS with its 5000 watts on 560 could be heard statewide in the daytime. Receivers were a lot better in those days too as far as reception sensitivity was concerned plus there were so few stations.
A slight correction on WBCU. The corporate name of the licensee was Union-Caroilina Broadcating. When the FCC issued the call sign, they gave them the initials of the licensee corporation, backwards. When Ed Osborne and Jimmy Coggins bought the station in late 1952, they chose the name for their corporation to match the call sign...Broadcasting Company of Union. As part of its 50th anniversary in 1949, I changed the name of the corporation back to the original name of Union-Carolina Broadcasting Company which it remains today.
When it was built in 1949, WBCU was the second most expensive to build small market radio station in the state of South Carolina. Only WBSC in Bennettsville cost more. WBSC began on 1490 but moved to 1550 with 10,000 watts days and 5000 watts nights, with a 5 tower in line directional array at night. WBCU was built with its present facilities 1000 watts unlimited, 3 tower directional nights only. Since WBCU operated by remote control from its downtown Union studios, it had a staff of three engineers when it began because FCC regulations required someone on duty while the station was operating remote control. Later the rule was changed to only have an engineer on duty when directional. Until that rule was eliminated in the early 1970s, WBCU operated from its transmitter site half way between Union and Buffalo.
It's 1000 watts at night puts a consistent skywave signal into the Myrtle Beach area.
WIS Radio was really the WSB of the state of South Carolina for a long long time on the radio dial. At one time, the owners of WIS also owned WSPA Radio and also put the 930 in Charlotte on the air. They were very aggressive in building the best technical facilities available at the time. It's fair to say in the early days, WIS with its 5000 watts on 560 could be heard statewide in the daytime. Receivers were a lot better in those days too as far as reception sensitivity was concerned plus there were so few stations.
A slight correction on WBCU. The corporate name of the licensee was Union-Caroilina Broadcating. When the FCC issued the call sign, they gave them the initials of the licensee corporation, backwards. When Ed Osborne and Jimmy Coggins bought the station in late 1952, they chose the name for their corporation to match the call sign...Broadcasting Company of Union. As part of its 50th anniversary in 1949, I changed the name of the corporation back to the original name of Union-Carolina Broadcasting Company which it remains today.
When it was built in 1949, WBCU was the second most expensive to build small market radio station in the state of South Carolina. Only WBSC in Bennettsville cost more. WBSC began on 1490 but moved to 1550 with 10,000 watts days and 5000 watts nights, with a 5 tower in line directional array at night. WBCU was built with its present facilities 1000 watts unlimited, 3 tower directional nights only. Since WBCU operated by remote control from its downtown Union studios, it had a staff of three engineers when it began because FCC regulations required someone on duty while the station was operating remote control. Later the rule was changed to only have an engineer on duty when directional. Until that rule was eliminated in the early 1970s, WBCU operated from its transmitter site half way between Union and Buffalo.
It's 1000 watts at night puts a consistent skywave signal into the Myrtle Beach area.
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
They were country for a while.rf_chaser said:
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