# Fake Radio and TV Stations in Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048 "2005-09-23T14:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/21 "2005-09-23T21:48:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **WXYZ** was Billy Batston’s station in the original **Captain Marvel** He’s at WHIZ now, which is terribly amusing to me. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/22 "2005-09-23T21:49:55Z")
> [@JerH](#): > > WNYX in New York, from _Newsradio_. 585 AM on your radio dial. (Sorry, I just got the DVD set today and I’m ODing on it.) ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/23 "2005-09-23T21:51:42Z")
> [@Max Carnage](#): > > KBBL (from the Simpsons) KBBL appears to come from “babble,” and KBBL appears to be a talk radio station. (“No sports, no news, no information- for mindless chatter, we’re your station!”) Shows include typical morning-zoo jocks Bill and Marty and the Rush Limbaugh-esque conservative Birch Barlow. In the “Colonel Homer” episode of the series, we discover the hick side of Springfield, including country music station KUDD (“Don’t touch that dial- you’ve got KUDD on it!”) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/24 "2005-09-24T03:56:42Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Originally Posted by CalMeacham > > WXYZ was Billy Batston’s station in the original Captain Marvel > > He’s at WHIZ now, which is terribly amusing to me. He was always there, I think. Captain Marvel debuted in 1940 in…_Whiz Comics._ WXYZ was a real station in Detroit years before. (_The Lone Ranger_ began there.) The _Airplane!_ guys must have been a team during the '70s. I remember not only a WZAZ, but a KZAZ, on some sitcom or another. Probably my favorite radio movie, _The Big Broadcast of 1932,_ took place at station WADX, flagship of the George Burns Broadcasting Company. They had a studio cat, and a mike that jumped up and down on its stand when Cab Calloway’s band played a hot number. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/25 "2005-09-24T04:12:40Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **WPLJ** in the Frank Zappa song. Later, a station in New York City took the call letters, so it now exists, but it was fictional when Zappa wrote the song. Huh? WPLJ stands for White Port Lemon Juice, and has nothing to do with radio or tv call letters: \*You take the bottle You take the can Shake it up fine you get a good good wine White Port Lemon Juice (yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah) White Port Lemon Juice White Port Lemon Juice, ooh what it do to you The ‘W’ is the White The ‘P’ is the Port The ‘L’ is the Lemon The ‘J’ is the Juice White Port Lemon Juice White Port Lemon Juice White Port Lemon Juice, ooh what it do to you Well I feel so good I feel so fine I got plenty of lemon I got plenty of wine White Port Lemon Juice White Port Lemon Juice White Port Lemon Juice, ooh what it do to you\* This is just a snippet of the song; there are several more verses, and all of them are about the sheer joy of White Port Lemon Juice. (Go to the store when they open up the door and say please please please please gimme some more!) It really does make you feel so fine. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/26 "2005-09-24T04:15:33Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Captain Marvel debuted in 1940 in…_Whiz Comics._ Which is why him being at WHIZ is amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/27 "2005-09-24T04:27:18Z")
Not sure about the actual station call letters … but Samuel L. Jackson was the lone DJ Mister Senor Love Daddy on station We-Love (WELV?) in DO THE RIGHT THING. I always thought station XERB in AMERICAN GRAFITTI was fictional since it didn’t begin with a W or a K – shows you what I [know.](http://www.pugetsoundradio.com/xerb.com/xerbhistory) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/28 "2005-09-24T05:10:49Z")
KACL 780 AM from Frasier. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/29 "2005-09-24T05:36:08Z")
Fifteen years or so ago, a show called “WIOU” ran for a few episodes. It was about a troubled, about-to-go-under TV station in a major city, but the call letters in the title were just a joke (like St. Eligius was called St. Elsewhere). Its true call letters were WNDY (as in, the Windy City). I can barely remember my own phone number, but I can’t get that WIOU crap out of my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/30 "2005-09-24T07:36:37Z")
If I may note…the [List of Fictional Radio Stations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_radio_stations) and [List of Fictional Television Stations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_television_stations). ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/31 "2005-09-24T08:25:24Z")
From **Queens of the Stone Age’s** _Songs for the Deaf_ album, we’re introduced to: **WOMB** “if you’re good, [she’ll] let you crawl back in. But in the mean time, here’s something you should get down on your knees and worship.” and **KRDL** “the Curdle. We spoil music for everyone!” and **KLON** “Clone radio: We play the songs that sound more like everyone else, than anyone else… L.A.'s infinite repeat.” ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/32 "2005-09-24T09:40:50Z")
Currently at Tokyo Disneyland, a special event show for Halloween features a radio station program called “WDED, Ghost Radio Live!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048/33 "2005-09-24T16:24:09Z")
While doing research on experimental TV I came upon the movie _Murder by Television_ (1935). The TV station ID’d as “ZY3, White Plains, NY.” This gave me a chuckle. Any NY experimental call would have been W2X––. [size=1]The movie wasn’t much, BTW. The TV angle was played out in the first 5 minutes. The rest was Bela Lugosi questioning people in the drawing room. The same script could have been used for _Murder by Bad Shellfish, Murder by Portland Cement,_ or _Murder by Two Small Puncture Wounds to the Neck._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-radio-and-tv-stations-in-fiction/323048.md?page=1)