# Songs with local radio station call letters placed into the lyrics
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** music
**Created:** [January 21, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441 "2024-01-21T17:02:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/1 "2024-01-21T17:02:48Z")
I recently heard the song “Fire” by the Pointer Sisters and remembered how the
local radio station would insert it’s call letters into the lyrics. Like this:
_I’m ridin’ in your car_
_You turn on the radio_
**K-Earth 101**
_You’re pullin’ me close_
_I just say no…_
Was this done on radio stations in other parts of the country or just here in L.A.?
Were there other songs like this where a station’s call letters were inserted into
the lyrics? I think there were some others but can’t remember which ones.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/2 "2024-01-21T17:06:19Z")
> [@Changing lyrics for the radio](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lyrics-for-the-radio/989744/81):
>
> Aliotta, Haynes & Jeremiah had a local Chicago hit in the mid-1970s called [Lake Shore Drive](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YOrdtmG2IMM). One of the repeated lines is “Running south on Lake Shore Drive, heading into town”. In one of the verses, they add “Just slippin’ on by on LSD, Friday night trouble bound”. And later, "Just snaking on by on LSD, Friday night trouble bound. " (LSD is the nickname for Lake Shore Drive, in addition to acid.) One of the local Chicago radio stations would change “LSD” to the station call letters. I can’t re…
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### Author:  [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/3 "2024-01-21T17:14:05Z")
I remember hearing versions of Starship’s “We Built this City” where the talking part was replaced with a plug for whatever radio station was playing the song.
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/4 "2024-01-21T17:34:07Z")
I remember a version of Blue Swede’s “Hooked On A Feeling” with the local radio station call letters inserted into the opening "ooga chaka"s.
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### Author:  [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/5 "2024-01-21T20:11:14Z")
“Heard it on the X” by ZZ Top refers to X-Rock 80, a border blaster radio station that annoyed U.S. broadcasters for years.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/6 "2024-01-21T21:01:20Z")
When Harry Chapin did his WOLD when visiting Champaign Illinois, he put the name of the for-profit student station in place of those call letters. I assume he did that everywhere.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/7 "2024-01-21T21:03:23Z")
WKRP in Cincinnati:
> **[WKRP in Cincinnati Theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgrVP_J0BHk%2F)**
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/8 "2024-01-21T21:18:49Z")
Flipping the OP’s premise around, New York’s radio station WPLJ was named after a [song by the Four Deuces](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BdV1OpGKeg) (later [covered by Frank Zappa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb3Cu_Xrt_g)).
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### Author:  [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/9 "2024-01-21T21:37:04Z")
I remembered another one. In the song “Life is a Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)”
the line:
“Life is a rock but the radio rolled me”
was altered to be:
“Life is a rock but KHJ rolled me”
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### Author:  [@alfonzos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alfonzos)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/10 "2024-01-21T22:58:22Z")
WOUB in Athens Ohio would play its specialty version of the Chapin song often.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/11 "2024-01-21T23:15:55Z")
The Who’s 1967 album “The Who Sell Out” is a concept album whose songs are bound together by fictional radio announcements, jingles and ads. Some of those skits name-drop Radio London. My favorite has always been “Radio London reminds you: go to the Church of your choice”.
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TorwkR_cYZU/hqdefault.jpg "The Who Sell Out - "Radio London"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TorwkR_cYZU)
ETA: the Queens Of The Stone Age album “Songs For The Deaf” has a similar concept and also mentions radio stations, but I don’t know American radio well enough to assess if they are real or fictional.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2024, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/12 "2024-01-21T23:56:26Z")
They did that all over the US with that song. For example, where lived, one of the local Top 40 stations substituted “ **97 KREM** ” in the “turn on the radio” line.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2024, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/13 "2024-01-22T00:38:53Z")
Baltimore, too.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/14 "2024-01-22T00:46:23Z")
> [@X.L.Lent](#):
>
> I recently heard the song “Fire” by the Pointer Sisters and remembered how the
> local radio station would insert it’s call letters into the lyrics. Like this:
>
> _I’m ridin’ in your car_
> _You turn on the radio_
> **K-Earth 101**
> _You’re pullin’ me close_
> _I just say no…_
Heh. I’m used to the old Bruce Springsteen version where he calls out **KFI** (this was back in the days of Lohman & Barkley and Hudson & Landry, before **KFI** became a RWNJ talk station).
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### Author:  [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2024, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/15 "2024-01-22T00:51:50Z")
I should have googled my question first. I just now found a page with more info:
> **[Custom radio station call letters in songs](https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/custom-radio-station-call-letters-in-songs.75739/)**
>
> While browsing my collection, I came upon an acetate of "Fire" by The Pointer Sisters, which mentioned the call letters of one of my old radio stations...
Like **NDP** says in his post above this was done all across the USA.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/16 "2024-01-22T00:57:11Z")
The long-defunct Detroit station WDRQ would insert a stuttering “_Q-Q-Q_” into a song at every opportunity.
Two examples l remember:
From _Smokin’ in the Boys Room_: “You know that’s my cue-cue-cue…”
From _Every Picture Tells a Story_: “…or steal my daddy’s cue-cue-cue…”
mmm
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/17 "2024-01-22T02:00:47Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> From _Every Picture Tells a Story_:
Maggie May, to be precise.
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### Author:  [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2024, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/18 "2024-01-22T02:39:50Z")
U2 “Angel of Harlem”
“… On BLS I heard the sound
Of an angel.”
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### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2024, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/19 "2024-01-22T03:06:31Z")
This was the first thing I thought of.
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### Author:  [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2024, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-local-radio-station-call-letters-placed-into-the-lyrics/996441/20 "2024-01-22T05:00:40Z")
The very first time I heard Eminems “Without Me” it was a bootleg from the radio version so it went “Two Trailer Park Girls Go Round the Outside, Round the Outside, Round the Outside, Two Trailer Park Girls Go Radio One Outside, Radio One Outside, Radio One Outside” with Radio One crudely overlapping the original.
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