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Will Clear Channel change WOR call letters
- Thread starter wabc860
- Start date
Very highly unlikely. As Bongwater notes, these are historic, heritage call letters. Yes, there has been some negativity attached to them over the years (when he was at FIL in Philly Joey Reynolds used to refer to OR as "Wrinkle Oriented Radio" and while he was the the only one saying it publicly, many chuckled approvingly at it). But it's tried to move away from that with some of the political shows it's tried over the past few years. WOR's image may need an adrenalin shot, it would be a huge mistake to change call letters.
It will be a very unwise move to change the WOR call letters. As pointed out, these are heritage call letters that have been associated with the 710 KHz band for many, many years. Leave the call letters alone and concentrate on improving programming, imaging, sales and the overall station presentation.
According to Radio Insight:
"The station’s lineup will feature mostly Premiere Radio Networks content including Glenn Beck 6-9am, Rush Limbaugh 9am-12pm, Sean Hannity 12-3pm, Andy Dean 6-9pm, Clyde Lewis 9-10pm, and George Noory 10pm-6am. They will be joined by a local program hosted by Bill Manders from 3-6pm."
Yawn. I'd call it "Sour Talk" ... as in, it's a lineup that's pretty stale.
It would be a horrible idea to change WOR or any historic three OR four letter callsign. Rules do allow them to go back to three letter callsigns, fortunately. Too bad the FCC doesn't have more rules like that, like returning to old facilities when the new facilities are obviously worse. With the call letter shortage, three letter calls would allow another potential 26X26X2 callsigns, minus the ones used elsewhere like WWV and present AMs. Art Vuolo suggested to ABC/ESPN executives that WEVD 1050 change back to WHN, but of course they insisted on WEPN. I would limit it to stations in the same general market area as the original three letter callsign, and perhaps the same owners or LMAers, like perhaps WQEW could adopt the WHN callsign. WQEW rarely if ever uses call letters except in the Top of the Hour ID anyway.
It would be a huge mistake if they did.
I was at WPHT when it changed its call letters from WCAU in Philly. WOR is more iconic, but WCAU still carried some weight from Facenda and CBS. It was a mistake.
I was at WPHT when it changed its call letters from WCAU in Philly. WOR is more iconic, but WCAU still carried some weight from Facenda and CBS. It was a mistake.
I'm vague on this. If Clear Channel parked the letters WOR on another of their stations, and later changed their mind from whatever new the call letters became, could the WOR calls return to 710?
Or is it a case of use 'em or lose 'em ?
Maybe a better question is could Clear Channel be permitted to mothball a 3-letter call on an existing station from their shelves?
Even if THAT station already had a 3-letter sign ?
On prestigious calls : The WNEW calls (another legendary set) went on a Florida vacation for a while, then came back north to Washington DC. But they were, of course, four letters.
Disagree about the calls being irrelevant vis-a-vis the PPM -- in the * overall * picture. For many decades, WOR has used them throughout the hour as their aegis. Changing them, diluting them, or minimizing their authority or tradition would be a bad move. With the many programming changes of the past, the faithful WOR call sign quite possibly is the biggest reason for those PPM numbers being there in the first place.
In fact (albeit just a bit more than casual observation) WOR's 12+ numbers in various books have stayed healthy and even went up a tick, with the PPM methodology.
Or is it a case of use 'em or lose 'em ?
Maybe a better question is could Clear Channel be permitted to mothball a 3-letter call on an existing station from their shelves?
Even if THAT station already had a 3-letter sign ?
On prestigious calls : The WNEW calls (another legendary set) went on a Florida vacation for a while, then came back north to Washington DC. But they were, of course, four letters.
Disagree about the calls being irrelevant vis-a-vis the PPM -- in the * overall * picture. For many decades, WOR has used them throughout the hour as their aegis. Changing them, diluting them, or minimizing their authority or tradition would be a bad move. With the many programming changes of the past, the faithful WOR call sign quite possibly is the biggest reason for those PPM numbers being there in the first place.
In fact (albeit just a bit more than casual observation) WOR's 12+ numbers in various books have stayed healthy and even went up a tick, with the PPM methodology.
The "rules" about three-letter calls are not codified anywhere in Part 73, or elsewhere. They're handled in an informal, unwritten way by the callsign desk at the Media Bureau...but here's what I've teased out from following their precedent over the years:
Three-letter calls cannot be moved from market to market. If CC wants to move WOR, it can move WOR to another station in the New York market, but not elsewhere.
Three-letter base calls can be reused in other services, but only in the same market. 105.1 (or 100.3, or 104.3, or whatever) could become WOR-FM. 105.9 in Hartford could not.
Three-letter calls cannot be transferred to an unrelated owner. While CBS could allow some operator elsewhere to to put a "WINS-FM" on the air in a different market (or even in NYC), Clear Channel won't be able to allow a "WOR-FM" or "WOR-TV" under other ownership elsewhere. (However: an owner with three-letter calls across multiple services can sell them to different owners and allow them to keep the calls, so CBS could keep WJZ-TV in Baltimore and sell WJZ(AM) and WJZ-FM to different owners without a forced call change. This of course is a change in the rules from the days when WOR-TV had to change calls when ownership split from WOR AM).
Three-letter calls can be revived after being dropped...sometimes. It's very much at the whim of the callsign desk staffers to decide whether to grant a request. They've granted requests in the past (KHJ, KUT, KRE) and denied requests in the past. They are not governed by any black-and-white rule, just years of precedent and whatever leverage any given owner's DC lawyer can bring to bear. As a general rule of thumb, the FCC seems loath to restore a three-letter call to someone other than the owner/station who gave it up. KUT is an exception, sort of.
Three-letter calls cannot be moved from market to market. If CC wants to move WOR, it can move WOR to another station in the New York market, but not elsewhere.
Three-letter base calls can be reused in other services, but only in the same market. 105.1 (or 100.3, or 104.3, or whatever) could become WOR-FM. 105.9 in Hartford could not.
Three-letter calls cannot be transferred to an unrelated owner. While CBS could allow some operator elsewhere to to put a "WINS-FM" on the air in a different market (or even in NYC), Clear Channel won't be able to allow a "WOR-FM" or "WOR-TV" under other ownership elsewhere. (However: an owner with three-letter calls across multiple services can sell them to different owners and allow them to keep the calls, so CBS could keep WJZ-TV in Baltimore and sell WJZ(AM) and WJZ-FM to different owners without a forced call change. This of course is a change in the rules from the days when WOR-TV had to change calls when ownership split from WOR AM).
Three-letter calls can be revived after being dropped...sometimes. It's very much at the whim of the callsign desk staffers to decide whether to grant a request. They've granted requests in the past (KHJ, KUT, KRE) and denied requests in the past. They are not governed by any black-and-white rule, just years of precedent and whatever leverage any given owner's DC lawyer can bring to bear. As a general rule of thumb, the FCC seems loath to restore a three-letter call to someone other than the owner/station who gave it up. KUT is an exception, sort of.
KHJ in LA came back. That was a good idea, as has been pointed out, because as a Spanish language station the previous call letters KKHJ en espan~ol had unfortunate and unintended nasty implications. I am all for preserving historic call letters. I'd like to see KQW back in San Francisco, it would be good to see WOV and WHN back in New York.
Anyone who thinks that a company like CC cares a bit about what's been said in these posts about history etc doesn't know today's broadcasters. They could care less about ANYTHING buy $$$$$$
People here need to get real. Look around you...do you really think radio is being run today by anyone who cares a bit about history or tradition?
People here need to get real. Look around you...do you really think radio is being run today by anyone who cares a bit about history or tradition?
wadio,
If Glen Beck is on from 6-9AM, where does that leave John Gambling?
Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy
If Glen Beck is on from 6-9AM, where does that leave John Gambling?
Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy
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