CMJ New Music

I subscribe to a few music magazines--Rolling Stone, Paste, Spin and, until they went belly-up, Blender. I also get CMJ New Music Monthly which I honestly thought had ceased to exist as I hadn't gotten an issue for months. I didn't think anything of it because their timeliness has been spotty for years. When a "new" issue did arrive it was frequently outdated. The latest one which I received in the mail yesterday is dated June 20th and their charts are from the first week of July. It's probably a good idea that they dropped the "Monthly" from their title and just go by "CMJ New Music" now. I always liked CMJ (which stands for College Music Journal and covers indie/"alternative" music) because it came with a sampler CD and has turned me on to countless bands since I started subscribing in 1994. Now the physical disc is gone too and only available as a download. Too bad they didn't offer subscribers a choice between CD and download like Paste did recently. For some reason I still want the compact disc.

96 FM WCMJ has nothing to do with the College Music Journal and wouldn't be caught dead playing Art Brut, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Animal Collective or any other beloved CMJ band. They're a Contemporary Hit Music station licensed to Cambridge, Ohio.

WHLI

WHLI (We're Hempstead Long Island) is an Adult Standards station licensed to Hempstead, New York. They were a Top-40 station for much of the 1970s but switched to Standards in 1979. This probably attracted some of the station's original listeners from when they went on the air in 1947.

Dart on Map - WQTE

Occasionally I like to throw a virtual dart at a map and find the closest radio sticker that I have to where it landed. The dart this time ended up next to the Lenawee County Airport in Adrian, Michigan.
"Q95" WQTE is a Country station licensed to Adrian, MI.

Sunday Sticker - KFIA

KFIA is a Religious Teaching station in Sacramento, California and licensed to Carmichael, CA.

Radio Obsessive Profile #3

I was recently interviewed via email by Jennifer Waits from the blog Radio Survivor. Besides writing for RS, Jennifer is the founder and editor of Spinning Indie, a fantastic blog focusing on college radio. She's also a DJ at KFJC in the beautiful San Francisco Bay area. For those curious to know how this whole radio sticker collecting nonsense got started, click here. KFJC is the campus station at Foothill College located in Los Altos Hills, California. They will celebrate their 50th anniversary in October of this year.

The cover of a KFJC program guide.

Cheap Sunglasses

Just as every station known as "Kicks" is required by law to be a Country station, every "Cool" or "Kool" seems to carry an Oldies format. All three of these stations have different owners and are in no way related but somehow ended up with virtually identical logos. I have 59 stickers from "Cool"/"Kool" stations...I would guess about a third of them are sporting these same Wayfarers.

WQQL - Springfield, Illinois

KAMS - Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. Now a Country station "K-Kountry 95."

WQLD - Luverne, Alabama. Now a Gospel station "Hallelujah 104.3" WHLW.

Banana 101.5 WWBN

WWBN is an Active Rock station in Flint, Michigan that has been using the elongated fruit branding since 1994. "Banana 101.5" is licensed to Tuscola, MI.
Bite me.

KASH

KASH 1600 AM was a 1970s-era Top-40 station in Eugene, Oregon.

WTHU

WTHU went on the air in Thurmont, Maryland on June 12, 1967. An old Broadcasting Yearbook from the 1970s said their format was "Mod Country" while other sites listed them as Adult Standards or Middle-of-the-Road. WTHU is now a Religious station after being sold to the Christian Radio Coalition in 2008.

WCDW

"Cool 106.7" WCDW is a Classic Hits station licensed to Port Dickinson, New York near Binghamton.  The bottom sticker dates to when they broadcast at 100.5 FM licensed to Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.

Sunday Sticker - KFBN

KFBN is a Religious Teaching/Gospel station in Fargo, North Dakota don'tcha know...

KDAY

KDAY is a Mainstream Urban station in Los Angeles, California. This sticker is circa 2005 when they were exclusively Hip-Hop but they've since added R&B to their Rap format and are now known as "93.5 The Beat FM." KDAY is licensed to Redondo Beach, California.

KDAY FM is a resurrection of the original KDAY AM, which was a Hip-Hop/Dance/Pop/R&B station in the 1970s and 80s. "15-80 K-DAY" was sold in 1991 and is currently KBLA, a Spanish Religious station. KDAY AM was licensed to Santa Monica, California.

WINC

WINC is a Hot Adult Contemprorary station licensed to WINChester, Virginia. Their signal reaches parts of West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington DC and, of course, northern Virginia. The 92.5 frequency began as WRFL (W Richard F Lewis--the station founder) in 1941. The WINC call letters have been in use since 1981.

KTAM

KTAM is a Regional Mexican station licensed to Bryan, Texas. The call letters refer to Texas A&M University but I can't seem to find a past relationship between that school and the station.

CKIK

CKIK is a Contemporary Hit Music station licensed to Red Deer, Alberta. "Kraze 101.3 FM" began broadcasting just 13 days ago.

WEER

According to a September 1981 article in the Free-Lance Star from Fredericksburg, Virginia, WEER was a "cross-sectional music station that predominantly featured progressive rock but ranged from blues, jazz and bluegrass to big band music." Sounds interesting....and like something you'd almost never hear from a commercial radio station today. WEER was licensed to Warrenton, VA.

WODL

106.9 FM WODL was an Oldies station in Birmingham, Alabama from 1992 until 2001. In the 1970s and early 80s 106.9 FM was a dominant Top 40 outlet known as "Kicks 106" WKXX. The frequency is now home to a Classic Hits station, "106.9 The Eagle" WBPT. WODL was licensed to Homewood, AL.

In 2001 WODL moved to 97.3 FM and continued with the Oldies format which lasted until 2004.

Sunday Sticker - KFAX

KFAX (K Fast Accurate EXclusive--from a previous News format. The first all-news radio station in the country, in fact) is a Christian Talk station from San Francisco, California. Another KFAX sticker can be seen here.

National SCRABBLE® Championship

It's Day 1 of the 2009 National SCRABBLE Championship which is taking place right here in Dayton, Ohio. Last year it was held in Orlando, Florida. Dayton is certainly no Orlando. Sorry about this week's entertainment options SCRABBLE players! Downtown is crawling with quirky people bordering on madness mensa-level geniuses carrying their own SCRABBLE boards and timers. They've memorized "vowel dump" words, OO-words and every Q word without a U after. My friend Robb from North Carolina is a competitive player and is staying at my place this week. Good luck to ya buddy!

Here are a couple of stickers whose call letters and frequency resemble SCRABBLE tiles.


KPSU (K Portland State University) is a student-run, Freeform station from Portland, Oregon. All music and other programming heard on the station is chosen by the DJs. They've been on the air at 1450 AM and campus-wide at 98.1 FM since 1994.

KSDS

88.3 KSDS is a commercial-free Jazz station from San Diego, California. They've been broadcasting from San Diego City College since 1951 and have carried a Jazz format since 1973.