? (Modern Industry) / WBRU

One of my favorite songs of the 1980s comes from the debut EP from the ska/punk band Fishbone. It's inexplicably titled "? (Modern Industry)" and consists mainly of radio station call letters being sung over a funky groove. Some nice logos start appearing at about the 1:16 mark, a few of which from stations that I'm sure never played this oddball song when it came out in 1985. Call letters scroll at the bottom of the screen the whole way through and most of them seem to be from actual stations, many of which still exist today.

            The first call letters mentioned in the song are from WBRU, a Modern Rock station from (W) BRown University in Providence, Rhode Island. WBRU was the first student owned-and-operated college station in the United States dating back to 1936. Today they are one of the few college stations that operate on a commercial basis. The staff is a mix of students and professionals and receives no funding from Brown University. 

This sticker is circa 1981 when WBRU was a freeform Album Rock station. A coupon from the old Strawberries Records & Tapes store can be faintly seen on the backside of the sticker.

Rush Gets Rammed

Conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh was dropped from the group looking to buy the St. Louis Rams football team. Limbaugh predictably blamed “the left” in this country from preventing his bid to become an NFL owner. The even blowhardier Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have tried to block Rush from buying the team because of his past comments, particularly one about Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb being overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.

103.3 KLOU is an Oldies/Classic Hits station in St. Louis, Missouri. They were the Rams flagship station from 2000 until 2008. Until they lost the rights to Rams games this year to WXOS, KLOU's HD2 station carried "All Rams Radio," a year-round playback of entire past games.



960 AM KZIM (ZIMmer Radio Group--the former owners) is a News/Talk station licensed to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I find this sticker confusing. KZIM is located in Rush Limbaugh's hometown and carries his program but is saying that Rush is NOT right? Am I missing something here?

KBTN

KBTN is a Classic Country station in market #237 (Joplin) and licensed to Neosho, Missouri.

KANW

Albuquerque, New Mexico's KANW is the oldest FM station in the Land of Enchantment, dating back to 1951. It's a public radio station owned by Albuquerque Public Schools and plays mostly Spanish music along with National Public Radio programming. This sticker is made to look like New Mexico's godawful license plates. I'm trying to think about how annoyed I would be if I lived there and was forced to attach this screaming banana-yellow plate on my car. Truly one of the ugliest in all America.

Stars

A few stickers and a keychain from "Star" branded stations, a name so stunningly boring it makes "Mix" stations look exciting by comparison. It's the radio equivalent of naming your dog Spot. My records show that I have 60 stickers from "Star" stations...here are three of them:

CFSR is an Adult Contemporary station licensed to Abbotsford, British Columbia. It's a repeater station of 98.3 CKSR from nearby Chilliwack, BC.

KIOI is a Hot Adult Contemporary station from San Francisco, California. Around 2001 "Star 101.3" had an 80s emphasis in their playlist but they're now a traditional Hot AC outlet. The KIOI call letters come from their 101 position on the radio dial.

WBAM was a Top-40 station from Montgomery, (W) AlaBAMa. They're currently a Country station known as "Bama Country 98.9" with the same call letters.

WBZX / WRKZ

"99.7 The Blitz" WRKZ is an Active Rock station licensed to Columbus, Ohio.  They've been branded as "The Blitz" twice, the first time from 1992 to 2008 as WBZX and from 2010 until now.  In between, they were known as "The Rock".

The Buffalo Bills Are Horrible

The team that I love makes me want to puke. I watched the "highlights" of Buffalo vs. Cleveland on the internet and I'm not sure I've seen a worse Bills team since the 2-14 disasters of the mid 1980s. The Browns threw for 23 yards and an interception....and won! Injuries claimed two more players for the season. Our fraud of an offense scored one measly field goal against the 32nd rank defense. The Bills have lost two games in a row to teams who were previously winless. Buffalo hasn't made the playoffs since 1999. I could go on but it makes my stomach hurt and my blood pressure rise. I feel bad for my son who just this season is starting to "get" the game and asks "Why can't the Bills do that?" whenever he sees other teams execute well. I have cursed him to a life of professional football heartbreak and I feel terrible about it. For better of for worse we're still planning on making the 6 hour trek to Buffalo in late November for a game against the Dolphins. By then I expect a new coach and an awful lot of paper bags on the heads of fans who deserve better. I know you know this Ralph Wilson, you 90 year old coot. Fire the entire staff and, for once, pay a coach who knows how to win...there's plenty of them out there.

550 AM WGR is a Sports station licensed to Loserville Buffalo, New York.

Actual sticker sighting #3 - WDVE

Drove 8 hours to my grandma's house to celebrate her 90th birthday today. Just as we pulled onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike we came up on an ancient, rusted-out Ford pickup with this sticker on the tailgate:

The truck must have been at least 25 years old and it also had a Pittsburgh Penguins WDVE static sticker on the back window.

WDVE is a heritage Rock station from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The call letters are derived from "DoVE," a nod to the late 60s/early 70s "peace & love" hippie era when the station stopped simulcasting their sister station (KQV) and switched to Album Rock. They started out using an automated AOR service called "Love" which was delivered via tape. In 1970 they began using live DJs for their free-form Album Rock format. Currently WDVE would be considered a Classic Rock station.

WRVO

WRVO (W Radio Voice of Oswego) is a public radio station broadcasting from the State University of New York at Oswego. Programming, featuring the usual National Public Radio offerings, is simulcast on three additional stations as well as four translators.

WVIC

WVIC was a Rock station licensed to East Lansing, Michigan. Not sure if this sticker dates back to the 1970s when WVIC FM simulcast the Top-40 of their AM sister station during the day and played progressive rock at night or if it's from a later Rock format. 94.9 FM is currently Classic Rocker WMMQ.

WQBA

WQBA (W "Cuba") is a Spanish Talk station at 1140 AM in Miami, Florida. The station is popular among the large Cuban population there and used to identify themselves as "La Cubanisma" ("the most Cuban.") Their current slogan is "The Voice of Miami" ("La voz de Miami.") This sticker resembles the Cuban flag turned on its end with a single star replaced by the call letters.

KCMO

KCMO was (you guessed it!) an Oldies station licensed to Kansas City, MissOuri. Beginning in 1977 the 94.9 frequency hosted a variety of formats including Easy Listening, Country and Top-40. From 1989 until 2005 they found success as "Oldies 95." As the audience for true oldies got older and less attractive from an advertising standpoint, KCMO turned into a Classic Hits station playing songs from the mid 60s to early 80s.

WGFA

WGFA (World's Greatest Farming Area) is a News/Talk/Agriculture station licensed to Watseka, Illinois.  I love the old-timey hobo with the cigarette and top hat (click his stubbly face to enlarge)...you don't hear people say "I'm a lucky bum" much anymore. Hard to believe people actually stuck these to their car bumpers once upon a time.

CiTR

CiTR (Canadian Independent Thunderbird Radio) is the student radio station from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. I recently discovered the podcast of Nardwuar, a CiTR DJ who has hosted his own show there since 1987. It's a mix of indie rock and some of the most entertaining interviews I've ever heard. Nardwuar the Human Serviette (his full name) is a combination rock geek, confrontational interviewer and high-pitched, motor-mouthed hipster--imagine Andy Dick with an extensive musical knowledge. He usually starts each conversation with an off-putting "Who are you?" and ends with "Doo doodle doot doo" to which the interviewee must add the final "doot doo." Listen in amazement to his hilarious interview with Iggy Pop, him attempting to get Lemmy from Motorhead to add the final "doot doo," and getting hung up on by a grumpy Beck. Twenty-two years worth of interviews can be found at Nardwuar's website.

Mystery Sticker #9 SOLVED!

Anybody know where this Eagle 102.9 sticker is from? If it helps any, the backing has a coupon from a place called Buffalo's Cafe which expired in December of 1997.
Holy crap...I just Googled "Buffalo's Cafe" to try to figure out what part of the country this station is/was from and their website has a picture of "The Big Pounder." No wonder Americans are obese.
Anyway...if you have any info on this station email or leave a comment. A free Big Pounder will be yours with correct station identification.*

*This is a lie.

UPDATE:
"Eagle 102.9" was indeed from WPMX - Statesboro, Georgia as was mentioned in the comments.  The call letters moved to 94.9 FM and format flipped to Adult Contemporary but still with "The Eagle" branding.

KAHK

KAHK was a late 90s/early 2000s Classic Hits station licensed to Georgetown, Texas near Austin. The station currently carries a Latin Pop format as KHZS "107.7 Hitz FM."

KOMP

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

KOMP is an Active Rock station from Las Vegas, Nevada. They started out as KVEG "K92" with an Album Rock format then switched to Top-40 and became KENO FM. In the early 80s they flipped back to AOR as KOMP with the first song being played being "Long Live Rock" by the Who. The call letters are derived from "comps" (complimentaries) which are incentives that casinos use to keep their best customers coming back--everything from free drinks and meals to airfare and limos for the high rollers.

The boobs over at KOMP would sound great coming out of this radio.

Euro-style Car Stickers

Oval stickers with block letter abbreviations are a fairly regular sight today. It seems like every bozo in town has to tell you that he vacationed in the Outer Banks of North Carolina (OBX) or on Hilton Head Island (HH) or Yellowstone National Park (YNP.) I myself had an Ocean City (OC) on the back of my Blazer for a few years. These type of stickers originated in Europe to designate what country your vehicle is from. With a large number of small countries in a relatively compact area and where cross-border travel is common, Europe apparently feels the need to identify the country of origin of its cars. I'm not sure if this is a requirement or if it's just cool to slap a "GB" sticker on your Mini Cooper or a "DE" on your BMW. Seems like it would make more sense to just stamp the country code directly onto their license plates but what do I know.

These abbreviated, Euro-style decals have now invaded the world of the radio station bumper sticker:

WYCE (WYoming Community Education) is an independent community radio station licensed to Wyoming, Michigan. They are funded entirely by donations and operate with a mostly volunteer staff. WYCE carries a Variety format including Rock, Jazz, Blues and Folk music.

WTMT is a Rock station in Asheville, North Carolina and licensed to Weaverville, NC.

Vermont Public Radio is a network of about 20 stations and translators in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. It has been one of the most listened-to public radio stations per capita in the country despite being one of the smallest members of the National Public Radio system. The first station in the network was WVPR in Windsor, VT which went on the air in 1975.

KZZP

KZZP is a semi-legendary Top-40 station in Phoenix, Arizona. They became a CHR station in 1980 and pulled in monster Arbitron ratings the second half of that decade and into the 1990s. As with many Clear Channel-owned hit music outlets, the station now uses the "KISS FM" branding. KZZP is licensed to Mesa, AZ.

The front and back of a KZZP t-shirt.

WNWI WSBC

WNWI is an Ethnic radio station in Chicago and licensed to Oak Lawn, Illinois. The call letters stand for NorthWestern Indiana because they broadcast from Valparaiso, Indiana from the mid-1960s until 1998 before moving into the Chicago market. WNWI's schedule includes programming in Polish, German, Serbian and Croatian.

WSBC (World Storage Battery Company) is a time-brokered Variety station licensed to Chicago, Illinois. They carry programming in Russian, Spanish, Greek, Ukrainian and Romanian.

This above image is a magnet from the Torah Radio Network which might not exist anymore as their website URL is defunct.
G'mar Chatima Tova.