Sunday, December 20, 2020

CKJD


CKJD launched in the late 1960s from Sarnia, Ontario with a Middle-of-the-Road format.  Their original dial position was 1250 AM but moved to 1110 AM in 1977.  CKJD ceased to be in 1988 after flipping to Country and changing their call letters to CKTY.

Saturday, December 19, 2020

WDFH

The history of WDFH goes back to 1968 when they were an ultra-low power Part 15 station operating legally without a license.  This continued until 1982 when they started to be heard on television as background on the local cable system's bulletin board channels.  Broadcasting at 90.3 FM began in 1995, was interrupted for almost a year in 1997, and then continued until 2013 when they became part of New York Public Radio.  WDFH stood for either (W) Dobbs Ferry High or Wild Dogs From Hell depending on who you talk to.  They were licensed to Ossining, New York.  The 250-watt station is now WQXW and rebroadcasts the Classical music of NYPR's WQXR.
 

Friday, December 18, 2020

WGSA

1310 AM WGSA was licensed to Ephrata, Pennsylvania from 1955 until going off the air permanently some time in the late 80s or early 90s.  This message board thread includes a sizeable entry from a former WGSA employee and Arcane Radio History did a great write-up on the history of this defunct station.
 

Thursday, December 17, 2020

2ZB

Wellington, New Zealand's 2ZB went on the air in 1937 at 980 on the AM dial.  They moved to 1035 AM in 1978 and added a signal at 89.8 FM in 1991.  A couple years later the 1035 AM frequency became an outlet of the nationwide Newstalk ZB network.
 

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Cannes Radio



Cannes Radio broadcasts to the French Riviera area of southern France.  They are heard at 91.5 FM in Cannes and 91.3 FM in Nice.  The top sticker may or may not be related to the current Cannes Radio.  If you know, leave a comment.

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

WWMY

"Star 102.9" WWMY was on the air in Raleigh, North Carolina from around 2001 until 2005.  According to Wikipedia, formats during that time included All-80s, Hot AC, Classic Hits and Oldies.  It's unclear what format they were when this sticker was printed or what "IKJ" refers to.  If you know, leave a comment.
 

Monday, December 14, 2020

WPJB

 

105.1 FM WPJB went on the air in Providence, Rhode Island in 1948. They were originally owned by the Providence Journal Bulletin newspaper from which their call letters were derived.  "JB105" was a Top-40 station in the mid-1970s but had switched to Rock in the early 80s.  A station sale spelled the end for WPJB in 1985 but the call letters reappeared in 1990 as an Adult Contemporary outlet now broadcasting at 102.7 FM.  


Sunday, December 13, 2020

WMAC


AM 940 WMAC is a News/Talk station in (W) MACon, Georgia.
 

Saturday, December 12, 2020

WHUR


96.3 FM WHUR is an Urban Adult Contemporary station in Washington DC.  They are owned and operated by Howard University, making them a rare commercial station that is owned by a college or university.  The Washington Post newspaper donated what was then WTOP-FM to the school and they began broadcasting with the WHUR call letters in 1971.  The 16,500-watt station initially carried a Jazz format before switching to Urban AC some time in the 1990s.
 

WDLX / WGHB



AM 930 WDLX and AM 1250 WGHB are simulcast Sports stations in the Greenville/New Bern area of North Carolina.  The "Pirate Radio" branding and color scheme are in reference to East Carolina University's athletics for which they are the flagship station.
 

Friday, December 11, 2020

WANR

1520 AM WANR (W All-News Radio) broadcast to Toledo, Ohio some time in the 1970s.
 

Thursday, December 10, 2020

KSEI


 
930 AM KSEI is a News/Talk station in Pocatello, Idaho.  The 5,000-watt outlet went on the air in 1926.

KPCC


89.3 KPCC is licensed to Pasadena, California and broadcasts to greater Los Angeles via multiple translator and booster stations.  They are owned by (K) Pasadena City College and went on the air in 1957.
 

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

KGRV

A static cling sticker from 700 AM KGRV, a Religious station licensed to Winston, Oregon.
 

Monday, December 7, 2020

KCHUNG

1630 AM KCHUNG is a community radio station in the Chinatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.  They operate under the FCC's Part 15 rules which allows for very low power transmissions without having a license.  KCHUNG's hyper-local broadcasts went on the air in 2011 and cover an area of approximately two or three city blocks.
 

Saturday, December 5, 2020

CFOK



CFOK was on the air at 1370 AM in Westlock, Alberta from 1975 until 2011.  They then shut down their AM transmitter and began broadcasting at 97.9 FM. 

Friday, December 4, 2020

Encouragement Media Group

I received a nice packet of stickers a few days ago from the Encouragement Media Group.  They operate six Christian radio stations in the Tyler/Longview area of northeast Texas.  Thank you for sending them Lynda!

KFRO/KZXM - Pittsburg/Bullard, Texas

 
 KGLY - Tyler, Texas
 

KLJT/KMPA - Jacksonville/Pittsburg, Texas



KVNE - Tyler, Texas

Thursday, December 3, 2020

KWTX

A magnet from CHR station 97.5 KWTX in (K) Waco, TeXas.
A reader of this blog sent along a vintage business card as well as some early 80s studio photos.  I've also included a station history that he provided.  Thanks Mike!  A rare KWTX-AM sticker and station history that Mike sent previously can be seen here.



 

Waco’s FM radio station once home to the ‘Golden Sound of Beautiful Music’ celebrates a golden anniversary

 

KWTX-FM celebrates 50 years of entertaining Central Texas listeners in 2020.

 

KWTX-FM’s inaugural broadcast was Dec. 7, 1970. The new Waco FM station at 97.5 MHz was owned and operated by KWTX Broadcasting Company, the licensee of KWTX-TV (Channel 10) and KWTX-AM (1230 kHz). All local radio and TV programming originated from the company’s Broadcast Center at 4520 Bosque Blvd. in Waco.

 

KWTX-FM’s transmitter and tower were located along I-35 near Lorena, Texas, a few miles south of Waco. The station transmitted at an effective radiated power of 71kW. Programming was sent from the Waco studio to the transmitter site by a microwave link licensed by the Federal Communications Commission as Auxiliary WAL 23.

 

Throughout the 1970s, the station aired easy-listening music in stereo with limited interruptions from 6 a.m. to midnight. Instrumental selections from albums by Percy Faith, Montovani, Ray Conniff, Ferrante and Teicher, Andre Kostelanetz, 101 Strings, plus many other similar musical artists were broadcast to listeners throughout Central Texas. The station also carried national news on the hour from the Mutual Broadcasting System. The local FM announcers gave the time and temperature on the quarter-hour and a short headline news report and weather forecast every half-hour.

 

Dave South, former KWTX radio program director and Texas A&M play-by-play sportscaster, recently recalled a few of the obstacles faced before and after the first broadcast.

 

“We put the station on the air with a very limited music library,” South said. “I had gone to Dallas a number of times begging the record distributors for any help they could provide, which wasn’t much.”

 

However, the station received programming help from an unexpected source. South received a letter from a man in Europe asking if the radio station played easy-listening music. The man’s father was an orchestra leader who had recorded 10 or 12 albums.

 

“He sent those albums to me,” South said. “We played just about every cut on each LP, and that increased our music library by 30 to 40 percent.”

 

South said station management would come into the control room occasionally and draw a line with a red grease pencil through album cuts they didn’t want to hear again.

 

“Lots of red circles became a part of our lives in FM,” South said.

 

On-air announcers also had to cope with working inside a small confined space, sometimes for up to six hours. The FM control room wasn’t much larger than a closet and crowded with equipment and storage shelves.

 

South said that it was often difficult to find someone willing to work long part-time hours for not much money – and who liked to listen to slow instrumental music.

 

“Our only full-time announcer was Clarence Garnes,” South said. “Clarence was a former radio guy and had a great voice. He was in his late 70s and smoked like a chimney. He didn’t make much money, but that was OK with him, because he was retired, and his wife had a good job at Baylor University.”

 

Many FM radio hosts brought “Beautiful Stereo Music” to Central Texas listeners for over a decade until the format changed in the early ’80s to personality DJs playing contemporary hits 24 hours a day.

 

A few other noteworthy changes to KWTX-FM have occurred. A new broadcast tower and transmitter facility was built near Moody, south of Waco, in 1979. FM power increased to 100kW in 1986. KWTX AM/FM/TV moved to a new facility at 6700 American Plaza in 1987. Both KWTX radio stations were sold to Gulfstar Communications in 1996, and are now owed by iHeartMedia. Today, KWTX AM, FM and other Waco iHeartMedia stations are located at 314 W. Hwy. 6.

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

95.8 Capital FM




95.8 Capital FM is a CHR station broadcasting from London, England.  They are one of a dozen Capital FM Network stations heard throughout much of England, Wales and Scotland.
 

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Bute Island Radio

Bute Island Radio is a community radio station broadcasting from Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland.