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wNbc

Ai4i

Ai4i

How come (according to radio-locator.com) no AM or FM radio station in the United States has grabed this prestigous (sp?) call sign?
 
I am guessing NBC owns the call letters, since they own and operate WNBC-TV. I think if anyone wanted to use those calls, they would need permission. Even still, for a non-NBC broadcaster to use those call letters would technically be using their intellectual property.
 
DToTheJ said:
Even still, for a non-NBC broadcaster to use those call letters would technically be using their intellectual property.
Click to expand...
I don't think government issued call letters constitute intellectual property. Did the Soviet secret police ever attempt to sue KGB, San Diego?
 
We just had that issue in Knoxville TN. Citadel was leasing WNOX, a 100000 watt flamethrower for news-talk. In the wake of the Citadel bankruptcy, the lease was cancelled and Citadel moved the format to a rimshot. The owner of WNOX did not release the calls and started a rival talk format. Citadel had to re-brand.
 
As long as WNBC is using the calls for TV, no one else can have them. Groups like CC will often "warehouse" callsigns they aren't using but don't want to lose, which is why WBCN is now an expanded band sports station.
 
Thank you for confirming my thought:

gr8oldies said:
As long as WNBC is using the calls for TV, no one else can have them.
Click to expand...

Likewise, if a TV station wanted to change their call letters to WNEW (or legally, WNEW-TV), they could not do so, since CBS owns the WNEW calls (parked on an urban station in West Palm Beach).

I think a low-power TV station even wanted to use the callsign WKRP, but MTM (or whomever now owns the rights to the TV show) forbade them the opportunity.
 
DToTheJ said:
Thank you for confirming my thought:

gr8oldies said:
As long as WNBC is using the calls for TV, no one else can have them.
Click to expand...

Likewise, if a TV station wanted to change their call letters to WNEW (or legally, WNEW-TV), they could not do so, since CBS owns the WNEW calls (parked on an urban station in West Palm Beach).

I think a low-power TV station even wanted to use the callsign WKRP, but MTM (or whomever now owns the rights to the TV show) forbade them the opportunity.
Click to expand...

Actually, someone did grab the WKRP calls during the series run. The station was located in Georgia. Consider the source, but here is what wiki has on line.

"The first assignment of the callsign was in September 1979,[10] to a new, daytime only, AM station in Dallas, Georgia, in the metro Atlanta area. At first, the FCC denied the call letters to the new station, stating that MTM had a 'hold' on the callsign. When the station's lawyer pointed out to the FCC, "MTM is neither a licensee, nor a permittee. Therefore, MTM has no legal basis to reserve the WKRP callsign", they allowed the assignment. In August 1989, the station switched to its current calls, WDPC."

There is more in the WKRP in Cincinnati wiki entry.
 
Truthfully, NBC could have allowed Emmis Communications - or whomever bought the 660 facility - to continue to operate WNBC-AM as its' own station. (Yes, I know that Emmis solely wanted WFAN on that frequency, and to upgrade WQHT-FM's coverage area as well; that never was in doubt.)

If I'm correct, at that time, the FCC allowed for the same callsign to be shared between a radio or TV station, should they be passed into separate ownership. Which was how, when WMAQ-AM in Chicago was sold off to Westinghouse (and became an all-news station a la WINS), they were able to retain that callsign - and even shared studio space and resources with NBC O&O WMAQ-TV - up until their 2000 demise.

Not saying it COULDN'T happen, because NBC-U/Comcast, if they wanted to, could either make a deal with a radio station group to use the WNBC calls, or reenter the radio business. Either option has a less-than-zero percentage of happening, but logically, the option is always open. But NBC-U/Comcast holds the rights to the WNBC calls outright.
 
Just it case it went unnoticed, ever since viewing Howard Stern's first movie, Body Parts, we have been referring to the station as wNbc.
 
Really now...
It wasn't until Howierd's MOVIE that we called it WNNNNBC?
Wow...that's a new one.
I guess Stern INVENTED the way the station was vocallized. Hmmm...
I was wrong all these years. I learn something new every day!

BE BIG!
Big Jay Sorensen
formerly of The Joey Reynolds Show
And The TIME MACHINE on 66 WNNNNBC[/b][/b]
 
We are always several years aback on movies.
Perhaps it is time for us to find this one.
 
These companies are extremely possessive about their call letters. Disney still owns the rights to WABC and KABC and licenses them to Citadel.
 
gr8oldies said:
I actually don't care for Stern at all but I have to admit I liked the movie.
Click to expand...

IIRC, Methany even admitted once that he liked Stern's portrayal of him. At the very least, he didn't mind it one bit.
 
I don't know that Disney could force WABC and KABC to drop the call letters. Logos and intellectual property, yes. In Knoxville, Citadel had no legal claim to take WNOX to its new frequency.
 
ai4i said:
Just it case it went unnoticed, ever since viewing Howard Stern's first movie, Body Parts, we have been referring to the station as wNbc.
Click to expand...
The station's on air inflection came as a result of emphasising the letter different from WABC. I recall them doing that as early as 1979 when their slogan evolved into "The next ONE". Meaning, they were going to be the next number one station.

After WKTU beat WABC in 1978 with the all disco station, the market showed the venerability of WABC. Different stations tried different promotions to give the image they were Number 1.

99x tried to take that position image from different promotions such as a specialty program called "The Number 1 Radio Program" where they counted down only those songs that were number #1 according to Billboard Magazine's list of top 100 songs.

WBLS added more mainstream hits as well.

Howard may have still been in Detroit. "Body Parts" didn't hit the screen until the mid 90's.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
So if a court decides that a callsign qualifies a intellectual property, but the FCC doesn't care, one station can scream all hour "Hot WAAA", "Big WAAA", "The Most Music on WAAA", but @ the top of each hour, they whisper under loud music, "waaa is really wbbb, Knoxville", while their crosstown competitor screems "Number One WBBB", "The Music You Love Best on WBBB", "The Best Music on WBBB", all hour and then they whisper once each hour, "wbbb is really waaa, knoxville". We would love it...absolutely love it.
 
ai4i said:
So if a court decides that a callsign qualifies a intellectual property, but the FCC doesn't care, one station can scream all hour "Hot WAAA", "Big WAAA",
Click to expand...

As Greater Media did when it bought WRC from NBC in the 80s. They continued to use the "WRC" letters on air and in advertising, except at the top of the hour, when they said the new legal ID: WWRC.
 
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