College Radio Week - KMNR

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, virtually every college student in the country has made their way back to campus to begin Fall classes. In this back-to-school spirit I've decided to post nothing but college radio stickers for the next seven days. 

We'll begin with 89.7 FM KMNR from the University of Missouri-Rolla (now known as the Missouri University of Science and Technology.) KMNR began broadcasting in 1964 as KMSM before switching to their current call letters in the early 1970s. The 1850-watt free form station is staffed entirely by students. KMNR's brilliant product parody decals are some of the best radio stickers in existence.

 

ESPN Turns 30

ESPN (which used to stand for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) originally went on the air on this date in 1979. Since then, the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" has expanded into multiple cable channels, a magazine and a radio network while becoming the dominant network for sports on television. ESPN Radio was launched in 1992 and has hundreds of affiliate stations that use some or all of ESPN's programming.

KXTK serves the San Luis Obispo area and is licensed to Arroyo Grande, California.

Sunday Sticker - KGCB

KGCB is a Contemporary Christian station licensed to Prescott, Arizona. Along with three translators, KGCB now goes under the branding "Radio Shine."

Despite being landlocked and mostly desert, Arizona actually does have some lighthouses. The Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club has been building reduced-size replicas of famous lighthouses from the United States and Canada. Eighteen have been completed so far.

WSUI

WSUI claims to be the oldest educational broadcasting station west of the Mississippi River. It began in 1919 as 9YA, an experimental station operating out of the Physics Building of the University of Iowa. They gained their full license in 1922 as WHAA and switched to their current call letters three years later. WSUI is licensed to Iowa City, Iowa.

WNYN

WNYN was a satellite-fed Classic Rock station licensed to Athol, Massachusetts. WNYN became WXRG in 2008 and simulcasts an Adult Album Alternative format as "The River" with WXRV (Andover, MA) and WLKC (Campton, New Hampshire.) The WNYN call letters now belong to an Adult Hits station in Whitefield, New Hampshire known as "Free 99.1"

Michael Jackson Is Back (From the Dead)

By now you've probably seen or heard about the video that purports to show Michael Jackson hopping out of a coroner's van. It's a hoax of course, made by the German broadcaster RTL to demonstrate how easy it is for the internet to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories. The grainy footage is convincingly amateurish but its briefness and lack of seeing Jackson from the front make it ultimately underwhelming. This didn't stop hoardes of hysterical Jacko fans from thinking that the King of Pop was alive while simultaneously proving RTL's assertions.



The Michael Jackson on this sticker refers to the English-born, Los Angeles-based talk show host. He worked at 1260 AM KGIL in LA for just under a year after a 30 year career at KABC. Both Jacksons have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame but Wacko's was innaccessible at the time of his death due to a movie premiere. Distraught fan's instead used the radio host's star around which to build memorials to their fallen pop idol.

KGIL is licensed to Beverly Hills, California. Just last month they dropped News/Talk and flipped to a mix of Oldies and Adult Standards as "Retro 1260."

Clear Channel Mixes

Three Adult Contemporary logos from Clear Channel Communications.

KDMX - Dallas, Texas

WMVX - Cleveland, Ohio.  Currently "106.5 The Lake"

WMTX - Tampa, Florida

KUMM

89.7 FM KUMM is a 500-watt Alternative station from the University of Minnesota Morris. The call letters are derived from the school's name but the single sperm cell in their logo leaves little doubt about which "KUMM" they're referring to. With call letters like that it's a short leap to provocative station slogans such as "Sowing The Seeds Of New Music Since 1972" and "KUMM Is For Lovers."  KUMM's website has shirts and stickers for sale so support college radio and pick one up here.

2QQ

2QQ was a 70s & 80s Hits station from Palmerston North, New Zealand. This sticker is from around 1989 before they shifted to a more Contemporary Hit format and later became Classic Rock. 90.6 FM is currently part of the ZM Radio Network of CHR stations throughout New Zealand.

Sunday Sticker - KFSG

KFSG (named after the International Church of the FourSquare Gospel) was an Adult Contemporary Christian station in Los Angeles, California. KFSG started out at 1080 AM back in the 1920s before ending up at 96.3 FM around 1970. In 2001 KFSG moved again, this time to 93.5 FM where they dropped the music and went to Religious Talk. This lasted until 2003 when they were sold to the Spanish Broadcasting System. 96.3 FM is currently KXOL, a Rhythmic Latin station known as "Latino 96.3."

KAFM

88.1 KAFM is a locally owned, operated and programmed community station licensed to Grand Junction, Colorado. Most of the station personnel are unpaid volunteers. KAFM celebrated their 10th anniversary in March of this year.

KFIN

KFIN is a Country station licensed to Jonesboro, Arkansas.

KLBJ

KLBJ 590 AM is a News/Talk station in Austin, Texas.  It was once owned by the family of President Lyndon Baines Johnson who used his initials for the call letters.

Sister station KLBJ FM carries a Rock format.

The front and back of KLBJ FM t-shirt.

WABB

WABB (W Alabama's Best Broadcasters) is a heritage Contemporary Hit Music station licensed to Mobile, Alabama. They went on the air in 1973 and originally simulcast with their sister station WABB 1480 AM. WABB FM was an Album Orinted Rock station for awhile before switching to CHR in 1984.

Gene Simmons Turns 60

I was looking at a list of famous people who share my birthday today:

Monty Hall
Sean Connery
Regis Philbin
Rollie Fingers
Rob Halford
Geoff Downes
Elvis Costello
Tim Burton
Billy Ray Cyrus
Claudia Schiffer
and
Gene Simmons from KISS who turns 60. Gene really, really, really, likes money. Did you know that he trademarked the moneybag logo with the dollar sign on it? I thought that image had been used for years and was in the public domain. Apparently he used to turn the S of his last name into a dollar sign when signing autographs. A lawyer said he should copyright the two slashes going through the S which he did. He then got a copyright for the moneybag too.

WRIF is a heritage Rock station in Detroit, Michigan. Previous WRIF stickers can be found here.

KPRS

KPRS (K People's Radio Station) is an Urban Contemporary station licensed to Kansas City, Missouri. They began broadcasting in 1950 which makes "Hot 103 Jamz" the oldest continuously African American-owned radio station in the United States.

Sunday Sticker - KFLR

KFLR is a Contemporary Christian station licensed to Phoenix, Arizona. It is one of 18 stations and translators in the Family Life Radio Network based in Tucson, Arizona.

KHYI

KHYI is not a typical Country music station and might best be described by their Yahoo! Groups Fan Site:

KHYI 95.3 (www.khyi.com) is the biggest and best Americana station in the world (or at least, Dallas), and it's all about the music. Call it "insurgent country", "No Depression" music, alt.country, or whatever you like... what it ain't is Garth, Shania, Billy Ray, or any of the rest of that NashVegas crap!

This sticker came out around 2002 and they've since changed their branding to "95.3 FM The Range" but they still carry an "Alternative/Outlaw/Classic Country" format with an emphasis on local Texas artists. KHYI is licensed to Howe, Texas and is a rimshot into the Dallas/Ft. Worth market.

WSPD

Former plumber and current colossal blowhard Joe Wurzelbacher might soon have a regular gig at News/Talker WSPD in Toledo, Ohio. Wurzelbacher made his radio debut last Tuesday night on the “Eye On Toledo” program. “There’s a possibility radio and WSPD could be part of his future,” said program director and stunt hiring enthusiast Brian Wilson. “Joe the Plumber” became a household name when he talked on-camera with then-candidate Obama about his small business tax plan during last year’s presidential campaign.

Radio K 107.5

Google didn't offer any information about Radio K but I do know that it's from Vicenza, Italy. The US flag and probable "American Music" format might have something to do with the fact that the United States Army's Camp Ederle is based in Vicenza.