Does CBS Radio plan on giving 97.1 a new set of calls with the new format? I would say KAMP would be good. Not sure if they are used or not. Anyone know if CBS plans on changing them?
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Will 97.1 AMP Radio Get New Calls?
- Thread starter radiolives
- Start date
Ken said:
It'd be nice if they could buy them from the LPFM that currnetly holds the calls. But in the LA world of PPM, calls are singularly unimportant. What matters is electronic detection of the signal, not correct identification by the listener.
Calls are an anachronism dating back 90 years or more. Today's newer uses of radio are used to names, as in "www.somename.com" and not identifiers, as in "www.W147X285.com." Station names that can also be website names and eMail addresses are far more important.
DavidEduardo said:
What David says makes absolute sense but it represents just another way radio loses its character. The with every change radio becomes more commoditized and less differentiated in the minds of the user.
"Was it Jack or Joe that I was listening to? Does it even make a difference?"
ChannelFlipper said:
Station names are so much easier to remember than call letters, most of which are known because the station is old...
We don't give our kids code names, and most Americans can't remember the license plate number of their own car. Station names often are descriptive, helping listeners identify the destination that fits their mood. Names have character, while call letters are just codes.
In most of the world where there is commercial radio, call letters are not used or seldom used.
I'm reminded of having an American vendor require call letters for a contract with a station in Buenos Aires. Nobody in the station new the call letters, so we had to call the government, where it took them several days to let us know what they were. And I can't remember the call letters of several of the stations I owned in the 60's... but I sure remember the names of the stations, the names of the jocks or news and sportscasters... even the shows. But not the calls.
DavidEduardo said:
Well things sure have changed since I was a teen. WABC, WMGM, WHN, WINS, WMCA, WNEW, WNEW-FM, WPLJ, WKTU, WIBG, WPEN, WFIL, KYW, WnnnnnnnBC, WCBS, WWDJ, shall I go on? Are consumers (of radio) THAT stupid and moronic as to not associate a series of ONLY 4 letters (most license plates have 6-7 characters) with the format of the station? I had no problem. 8)
Even some of those had their slogans or nicknames... 77W-A-B-C and sometimes W-A-Beatle-C; Ten-Ten Wins; WMCA Good Guys; 92 KTU, WIBBAGE Radio 99; Fabulous56 WFIL.
Having said that, today marketing is more important than anything else, so having a "brand" name is what people today grow up knowing.
SuperRadioFan said:
In those days, each market had a much smaller array of significant stations.
In my original hometown, there were really only 6 fuller signal stations in the late 50's and early 60's, plus a suburban Class IV and a downtown 1 kw high band daytimer. Today, the market has 40 stations licensed to it, about 20 of which are significant AM or FM signals. That's three times the number, on two bands.
For a while, stations used the traditional call letters, or looked for clever, pronouncable sets of letters like Wixy or Kabl that had some kind of fabricated or real meaning. But making a brand out of 4-letter combinations that start with a W or a K was difficult. When the FM band became viable, the innovators decide to use letters and dial positions or names (Q-102 or Z-93 or The Fox or Easy 106) and made logos that were visually memorable and appealing.
It certainly was not due to name alone, but the FMs that did this sort of thing killed the AMs, starting with the younger end of the audience. Today, the only group that really has some attachement to call letters is now over 60 or so.
Yet if you look at products, you know that very few use "codes" like Formula 409 or WD 40. Most have names like Charmin and Downy and Sugar Pops and CocaCola and Big Mac. Would you order a hamburger called "67Zyq28?"
Yes, having consumers in a crowded environment understand how to find you, what you are and when to use your product is critical today. Poor brands die, unbranded items are called "generic." I don't want a generic radio station.
You know this is about the fifteenth time you guys have had this conversation. Doesn't it ever get old? Kind of like those 4 letter calls of yesterday. KAMP 97.1 so much easier to remember though! 97.1 KAMP let us amp you up. Last time I looked those 4 letter calls are required once an hour so why not make the most of them?
Interesting discussion. 97.1 changed to KLSX when they went Classic Rock but did not change calls when they went Talk so they may not make it a priority to change calls this time either. I hope they do though. KAMP seems like the logical choice but they'll have to convince that Alaskan school to give it up. I guess only true radio fans like call letters. There is something romantic about the legendary calls letters in radio. That top-of-the-hour ID is always cool to hear for us fans, even if the average listener doesn't care. Is it terribly time consuming or otherwise expensive to change calls? If not, why not do it for the sake of tradition?
CBS Radio did give new calls to both New York and Chicago Fresh stations. They also changed the calls when B 94 came back to Pittsburgh, PA. So who knows what will happen with the 97.1 calls if they will be changed or stay.
Call letters certainly don't mean much anymore...but stations generally like to have their calls look somewhat like their moniker.
I've noticed that the owners will keep the old calls if they think they might be useful later..so they hold on to them. For example, "Star 101.3" in San Francisco is still KIOI (the station used to be K-101). Alt rock station "Live 105" is still KITS (it was Hot Hits KITS about 20 years ago). I assume in both cases it's because the owners think the calls are clever might be useful later, and don't want to give them up.
On the other hand, the KLSX calls really don't have any cute or clever connotation that I'm aware of, so CBS will probably change them.
I've noticed that the owners will keep the old calls if they think they might be useful later..so they hold on to them. For example, "Star 101.3" in San Francisco is still KIOI (the station used to be K-101). Alt rock station "Live 105" is still KITS (it was Hot Hits KITS about 20 years ago). I assume in both cases it's because the owners think the calls are clever might be useful later, and don't want to give them up.
On the other hand, the KLSX calls really don't have any cute or clever connotation that I'm aware of, so CBS will probably change them.
KLSX = ClassicsLkeller said:
Before that they were:
KHTZ = K-Hits
Sometimes a station, such as one that I understand you admired in your youth (like me) - KEZY does not have a cute or clever connotation but its calls have significant heritage value in their market. Not only does KLSX have a clever connotation, but you could argue that it has held those calls long enough to attach a bit of heritage value to them too. And, if hypothetically, AMP were to one day push KIIS out of the format, they could then claim to be the oldest CHR in the market, making them a classic (KLSX).
Sidebar to KLSX equaling "classics"...
The classic rock station in the Phoenix market (KSLX-FM Scottsdale)
had to settle for a trumped-up phonetic of "classics" since KLSX was
already taken, but "KSLX" sounds more like "K-Slacks."
The classic rock station in the Phoenix market (KSLX-FM Scottsdale)
had to settle for a trumped-up phonetic of "classics" since KLSX was
already taken, but "KSLX" sounds more like "K-Slacks."
4
4UH8SIMBKAGN
Guest
Before KLSX they were KBZT, K-Best 97 FM. Before KHTZ, it was KGBS but they were country as both KHTZ and KGBS.David at USC said:
Does anyone have a logical explanation as to why the Clear Channel stations use "fake" call letters in the call letter portion of the RDS??
Most radios omit that part in their display, but I used to own a Microsoft Zune, and it didn't. Any CC station I tuned in here in Florida (whether Miami, West Palm, or Ft. Myers), showed a fake set of "K" calls (one even called itself "KAKA"). Then, I was over in y'alls neck of the woods in the South Bay with my Zune one weekend, and the CC stations there didn't even show their legit calls, instead showing some made up set of "K" calls.
Don't really understand why they did it...Maybe someone can shed light on this.
Most radios omit that part in their display, but I used to own a Microsoft Zune, and it didn't. Any CC station I tuned in here in Florida (whether Miami, West Palm, or Ft. Myers), showed a fake set of "K" calls (one even called itself "KAKA"). Then, I was over in y'alls neck of the woods in the South Bay with my Zune one weekend, and the CC stations there didn't even show their legit calls, instead showing some made up set of "K" calls.
Don't really understand why they did it...Maybe someone can shed light on this.
Well, you folks can forget the idea of changing the calls to KAMP. You'd have to to go through a school in Alaska to get them: http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=KAMP&sr=Y&s=C
G
Grk_ScorpioInTheMIA
Guest
Why would CBS radio go through the hassle of getting the KAMP calls. Two examples of two stations that have flipped and not changed calls. WLVE-FM flipped from smooth jazz "Love 94" to rhythmic AC "93.9 MIA". WOCL-FM "O- Rock" flipped from alternative to oldies as "Sunny 105.9". Both stations have had the same calls for over 25 years.
It also has a lot to do with the ad community. They look at ratings, which list call letters. It's why CBS probably never changed KCBS-FM to something that looked like "JACK". Buyers look for the same call letters. In the ad community, as of right now, AMP is KLSX,. And to the audience, it's AMP, 97.1 or some combination of both. Another point, younger listeners, like those AMP targets, don't have much history with call letter brands, unlike those of us who grew up with 93 KHJ or 77 WABC. In LA, the younger crowd recently has spent time listening to stations with names, KISS, POWER, K-ROCK and a myriad of Spanish language stations. (Even the TV stations have "names" now.... CBS2, ABC7, FOX5). Call letters don't resonate with today's youth the way they did with prior generations because they just aren't as prominent on the stations they favor.
Im surprised CBS Radio didn't move the KCBS-FM calls to San Fran on 106.9 where CBS moved their news talker to FM.
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