KQBZ

KQBZ "100.7 The Buzz" was a "Hot Talk" station aimed primarily at a male audience. They were on the air in Seattle, Washington from 1999 to 2005. 100.7 FM is currently KKWF "The Wolf" airing a Country format.
Former syndicated talk show host Tom Leykis did afternoons on "The Buzz" from his Los Angeles home base of KLSX. When callers became tiresome or unwanted, Leykis used to "blow them up" by playing an explosion sound effect while he hung up on them. After awhile, callers simply said "Blow Me Up Tom" when they knew they were about to get kicked off the air. The catchphrase was also the last words spoken on his show before KLSX flipped from Talk to CHR in 2009. The Tom Leykis Show is set to return as a podcast on April 2, 2012 according to his website.

KIKN

KIKN was a Country music station licensed to Port Angeles, Washington. They went off the air in 2006 after Salem Communications, who bought the station in 2002, boosted sister station 1300 AM KKOL to 50,000 watts necessitating that 1290 go silent.
If Zack Taylor ever comes across this and wants his publicity photo removed, email radiodecals@gmail.com and I'll give it the boot.

Radio Board Game - WBT

I first read about this radio-themed board game dating from the 1920s over at Jose Fritz's excellent Arcane Radio Trivia blog. Two to four players each start at a different "Tune In" station in the northern part of their time zone and try to be the first to get to the "Sign Off" station which is WFAA in Dallas, Texas...although it appears way south of Dallas on the map. Click it to enlarge. The blue routes are shorter but filled with danger (Static! Antenna Down! Poor Reception!) and the red routes are longer but easier going.
Of the 40 stations shown on the board, 12 still exist on the AM dial with the same call letters. (Two others--KFJM-Grand Forks, North Dakota and KFKX-Hastings, Nebraska are now on FM instead of AM. KOB in Albuquerque, New Mexico is still around too although their calls are now KKOB.) I have stickers from 10 of the 12:

KLZ - Denver, Colorado
WOI - Ames, Iowa
WKY - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
WWJ - Detroit, Michigan
WTAM - Cleveland, Ohio
WHAS - Louisville, Kentucky
KDKA - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
WBZ - Boston, Massachusetts
WDAE - Tampa, Florida
and
WBT - Charlotte, North Carolina

1110 AM WBT is a 50,000-watt, clear-channel News/Talk station that went on the air in 1922. The call letters were assigned by the Department of Commerce but unofficially stood for Watch Buicks Travel after the original owners sold it to a local Buick dealer. Much of their programming is locally produced including Keith Larson's show on weekdays from 9am to noon.

LAMA! is a greeting of sorts or verbal "high five" between Larson and his "self-selecting" club of listeners. When asked what it means he apparently dodges the question but the audio drop he uses is taken from Bill Murray's character in Caddyshack. (At the :55 second mark.)

KMYI

"Star 94.1" KMYI is a Hot Adult Contemporary station in San Diego, California.

The KMYI call letters date back to 2001 when they were known as "My 94.1" which also had a Hot AC format.

KABG

"Big 98.5" KABG was an Oldies station from Los Alamos, New Mexico. In 2007 they shifted to a Classic Hits format featuring more songs from the 1970s and 80s than a traditional Oldies station would play.

Australia Day

8HA (8 Heart of Australia) went on the air in 1971 and was the first commercial radio station in Alice Springs, Australia.
Happy Australia Day everybody!

Radio Deejay

Radio Deejay is a private, nationwide radio network based in Milan, Italy. They began broadcasting in 1982.

Radio Bulgaria

Radio Bulgaria has been the official international broadcasting station of Bulgaria since 1930. They currently broadcast on short and medium wave to five continents in eleven languages although shortwave transmissions will cease on February 1, 2012. Радио България is based in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Squirrel Appreciation Day

Two days ago I somehow forgot to acknowledge Squirrel Appreciation Day which is celebrated every January 21st. S.A.D. was started by animal rehabilitator Christy Hargrove who is affiliated with the Western North Carolina Nature Center.
The only thing I've ever appreciated about a squirrel was the brief entertainment value it provided when I saw it fall out of a very tall sycamore tree. It hit the ground and was stunned for a few seconds before scurrying off. Then there was the time a squirrel got trapped in a supposedly squirrel-proof bird feeder and died. It had to be removed before it stiffened up. I didn't appreciate that at all.


1240 WSQL plays hits from the 1950s through 1990s and is located in Brevard, North Carolina. It is an increasingly rare breed--a music-based AM with lots of local content broadcasting live from a window overlooking Main Street.

The station call letters and mascot are a reference to Brevard's large population of white squirrels. Over 1/4 of all squirrels in town are a white variant of the Eastern Grey Squirrel (not albino as I would have thought) and a 1986 city ordinance established the entire city limits as a squirrel sanctuary.

European Music Radio

A crappy photograph of an oversized paper sticker from European Music Radio. An unlicensed, pirate broadcaster, EMR began regular shortwave transmissions in 1977 from "somewhere in Europe." After being raided by the authorities in 1980, EMR moved their broadcasts from the UK to the Netherlands until 1983 when they went off the air. They returned in '86 for a brief time only to go silent again until 1996. In 2002 they became a legal broadcaster using facilities in Milan, Italy and later originating from Latvia. EMR most recently was based in Germany. This short video aircheck reveals their continued broadcasting as of November, 2011.

The Tubes - WRIF

The Tubes are one of my favorite bands of all time. They've been around since the early 1970s but I first discovered them as a kid after checking out a cassette copy of their excellent 1979 television concept album Remote Control from the local library. Their music is a blend of top-notch musicianship, over-the-top theatricality, a wicked sense of humor and just great songs. They are probably best known for the Top-10 song "She's A Beauty" from the Outside Inside album but one of my favorites is the super funky "Tip of My Tongue" from that same record. Check out those horns!



This is one of dozens if not hundreds of band stickers from WRIF in Detroit. The Tubes logo dates it to 1981 when they released the awesome Completion Backwards Principle album featuring the killer "Talk To Ya Later." Crank it up!

KVNO

90.7 FM KVNO is a Classical station broadcasting from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

WVRT

WVRT "Variety 97.7" is a CHR station licensed to Mill Hall, Pennsylvania. They are now branded as simply "V97."

Radio Sticker of the Day Mailbag - KXO

Today I received a nice mix of American, European and Canadian radio decals from Roberto in Italy.

One of the stickers he included was from KXO which is an Oldies station licensed to El Centro, California. AM 1230 went on the air in 1928.

WBEN

"95.7 Ben FM" is an Adult Hits station from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is named for Benjamin Franklin--American inventor, printer, writer, politician and signer of the Declaration of Independence--who was born on this day in 1706.

Martin Luther King Day

KMSO "Mountain FM 102.5" is an Adult Top-40 station in Missoula, Montana.

KMTK "99.7 The Mountain" is a Country station licensed to Bend, Oregon.

KWMT was an Adult Album Alternative station in Tucson, Arizona from 2003 to 2011. 92.9 FM is currently Hot AC "My 92.9" KMIY.

Sticker Board #1A

Despite what I wrote here, this is the actual first sticker board that I made back in 1997. It's on a regular sheet of corrugated cardboard unlike the other 26 which are on larger sheets of poster board. Click the pic to enlarge.

The station stickers are from left to right, top to bottom:

WMOT - Murfreesboro, Tennessee
WHUS - Storrs, Connecticut
"The X@105.9" WXDX - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
"Q97.9" WJBQ - Portland, Maine
"Mix 96" I think this is from WSTO in Owensboro, Kentucky. Can anyone confirm?
CORRECTION: Mix 96 is from WMTX- Clearwater, Florida
"Oldies 101.7" WLDE - Fort Wayne, Indiana
WAMH - Amherst, Massachusetts
WEGL - Auburn, Alabama
KCBI - Dallas, Texas
WDVE - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
WGBH - Boston, Massachusetts
WMNF - Tampa, Florida
"Mix 96" CKRA - Edmonton, Alberta
WMCN - St. Paul, Minnesota
WCSB - Cleveland, Ohio
KLOG - Kelso, Washington
"97 OKK" WOKK - Meridian, Mississippi
WCBM - Baltimore, Maryland
WTMD - Towson, Maryland
WONB - Ada, Ohio
"Young Country 105.3" KYNG - Dallas, Texas
WUFT - Gainesville, Florida
KSAN - San Jose, California
"Z95.3" CKZZ - Vancouver, British Columbia
WGAR - Cleveland, Ohio
WNUR - Evanston, Illinois
"Star 94 FM" WSTR - Smyrna, Georgia
KGGO - Des Moines, Iowa
WQTE - Adrian, Michigan
"Mix 102.5" WMXE - Adrian, Michigan
"100.5 The Fox" WTFX - Louisville, Kentucky
"Hot 102" WLUM - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

WOR

WOR has been broadcasting from New York, New York since 1922. In 1927 they moved from 740 AM to 710 AM and that same year became a charter member of the CBS Radio Network. In the early 1940s their city-of-license changed from Newark, New Jersey to New York City. For much of its existence WOR was a Full Service station including talk shows, music and 15 minutes of news at the top of every hour. By the mid-1980s the music was gone and they were almost exclusively a Talk station. The station with New York City's only three letter call sign is now a News/Talk station airing mostly conservative talk shows including Lou Dobbs and Michael Savage. WOR will celebrate its 90th birthday next month.

WJCX

WJCX is a Religious station licensed to Pittsfield, Maine.

WCRV

AM 640 WCRV is a Religious Teaching station licensed to Collierville, Tennessee near Memphis. They are one of about 90 stations in the Bott Radio Network whose flagship is KCCV in Kansas City, Missouri.

KUGS

KUGS is a 100-watt, student-run, Freeform station from Western Washington University in Bellingham. KUGS went on the air in 1974 and in 2007 became the second radio station in the United States to broadcasting over the internet (after WXYC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.)

KONE

"Rock 101" KONE plays too much Led Zeppelin in Lubbock, Texas.

Big Dogs

At the park yesterday with my Boston Terrier 'Czeslaw', my girlfriend's Black Lab 'Jake' and Doberman 'Emily.'

"Big Dog 95-9" KKBD is a Classic Rock station in Fort Smith, Arkansas and licensed to Sallisaw, Oklahoma.
"Big Fog 97.9" KXDG is a Classic Rock station licensed to Webb City, Missouri.

"Big Dog 92.7" CHBD is a Country station from Regina, Saskatchewan.

KFWB

980 AM KFWB was put on the air in Los Angeles, California in 1925 by Sam Warner, the founder of Warner Brothers Studios. However, the "WB" in the call letters did not stand for Warner Brothers as some think--the Department of Commerce assigned the calls sequentially at the same time as KFWA in Ogden, Utah and KFWC in San Bernardino, California. KFWB was an all-News station from 1968 until 2009 when they converted to their current News/Talk format.

The KFWB call letters can be heard signing off in this cartoon produced by Warner Brothers in 1940. It appears at around the 5:25 mark.