Or as some of the DJs expressed it more graphically “Don’t touch that dial … it’s got KOME all over it!” I miss that station. They were still around well into the 80’s, when I moved to Mountain View.
[Brian Griffin/]“Shouldn’t there be an ‘o’ in 'country?”[/Brian Griffin]
My college radio station was (and is) KUMM. There was (and still is) also a commercial station in town with the call letters KKOK. Good times (then and now).
A co-worker listens to a San Antonio station calld, “The Outlaw.”
I was driving through some western state or another (Montana?), that had The Moose. Great station, too. A bit like The Mountain(s).
I love those calls. They make one think of a 1920-type station with a kite string aerial and a transmitter made out of a coffee can.
I can think of a name for “4KQ” but it wouldn’t be usable on air.
Detroit has Doug-FM, one of those variety stations that have sprung up like crabgrass across the country. Not too long ago, one of the local rock stations changed over to country and is now calling itself The Fox. The other two stations that I can think of right now take their names from their callsigns – WRIF The Riff (rock) and WNIC, Detroit’s Nicest Radio Station (elevator music).
[Quagmire]Nope![/Quagmire]
Reno has, in addition to the aforementioned Alice, the Bob, the River (classic rock), and the X. The X gets a pass from me, partially because its call letters are KTHX, but mostly because they play some really good music.
One of the country stations here in the Raleigh/Durham area has apparently recently renamed itself “The Rooster”. I have no idea what they used to be called (I just moved here a few months ago) but the TV ads promoting it are pretty stupid.
The station previously just used its call letters of WRDU. Long time rock, and then classic rock station. Also why the market doesn’t have Bob and Tom in the mornings anymore.
The rock station in Lloydminster, Alberta is The Goat. Can’t for the life of me figure out where that came from. It’s not from the call letters, CKLM, and it’s certainly not the aggressive predatory type animal (ie the aforementioned Bear, Wolf, etc)that you might expect of a rock station!
When I was a kid in Dayton, we had a country music station called WBVR - The Beaver. I couldn’t remember another FM station from my childhood, but that one sticks out.
There’s a DC station that recently changed its format from classic rock to some kind of mix, and now calls itself “The Globe.” Ugh. At least they kept the same DJs.
Among the various radio stations in New York are Jack FM, Fresh 102.7, and WFAN (which used to be WNBC, but changed its call letters when it became a sports network).
There’s actually a pretty good reason for radio stations picking those lame-ass names, and everyone on this thread has borne it out.
The reason is market recognition. Radio stations used to try to pick call letters that “spelled” something. I’ve worked for KUTI in Yakima, Wash., (The Country Cutie!) and K-Mod (although detractors started pronouncing it like comode, so it was changed). I listened to KIMN (just pronounced Kim) when I was growing up. The radio station I currently work for has call letters KPMX, which we used to call “The Mix” as in, the perfect mix of music. Of course, somewhere out there are radio stations KISS, KYSS, WOW, WNDR and so on.
Over time, of course, we began running out of call letter combinations beginning with K or W that would stand out. The next step, as radio dials became digital, was to focus on our frequency (we still brand my station as 105-KPMX). This gave listeners a “place to go” on the radio dial to find us.
Even that began to lose effectiveness when everyone started doing it, so management began to move toward simply naming their stations. Alice 97.3 in San Francisco is the original Alice, but Denver also has one, and if you Google “Alice + FM Radio” you get a half-dozen radio stations so-named on the first page. Peak, Hawk and Wolf are popular across the country. At our station, it’s about time to “re-brand” and we’re already working on an identity for “105.7 The River” because we’re on the South Platte River, and the river is vital to the local economy and identity. Our standard liner will be, “The best thing about northeast Colorado: The River runs through it.” Yeah, I know, corny as hell, but add some punchy music and a signature tone, it’s pretty damn sexy.
Nobody knows what the next fad in radio station branding will be after names, but whatever it is, it’ll be an attempt to create top-of-mind awareness in listeners’ heads, even if just for a little while.
That’s the one that is supposed to be environmentally friendly if I recall. weren’t they Arrow?
Edit:
Yes they were according to http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/02/bye_bye_classic_rock_dc_radio.html
I miss the original HFS
A local pop rock station has the WXXX call letters. I’d expect anyone who owned those letters to make some joke here and there… But listen to their station for 15 minutes and you’ll hear going into and out of commercial breaks one of the following “95 X-X-X”, “95 Xxxxxxxxxx”, “X-X-X, HHHHOOOOOOTTTTT Music”, and a couple others I can’t remember right off hand…
For the love of god… I get it… XXX… you’re making a reference to something sexual. Three times a commercial break. EVERY commercial break.
Ooh! Oooh! We’ve got one of those! Ours is 107.7 The Wolf - but I do live in Wolverhampton, and that’s a good enough excuse. Must admit I don’t listen to much radio at all, except for BBC 6 Radio because they play a lot of indie stuff.
Are all “The Wolf” Stations the same? We have one here in KC (I think), I went down to the radio station I listen to for a prize or something (The Buzz), and in the same building they had The Rock, and The Wolf, all owned by Entercom, I assume “The Wolf” stations are owned by Entercom.