National Flag of Canada Day

Today is National Flag of Canada Day which commemorates the inauguration of the national flag on this date in 1965. I had no idea that Canada's flag design was so recent. Prior to the current design, the Canadian Red Ensign was used which featured the British Union Jack and the Coat of Arms of Canada on a red background.

CFPL (Canada Free Press London) is a News/Talk/Sports station from London, Ontario.

You can see a CFPL-FM sticker here.

Year of the Tiger

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the year 2010 is the Year of the Tiger which begins today and lasts until February 2, 2011. The tiger was revered by the ancient Chinese for being a fearless fighter and for warding off household disasters such as thieves, fire and ghosts. Tigers are also excellent at cheating on their wives, driving into fire hydrants and swinging a mean set of clubs.

WXCT "Tiger Country 100.7" was a Country music station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from 1997 until 2001. The Tiger branding came about from their association with the mascot from Louisiana State University. The 100.7 frequency began as the Easy Listening/Jazz station WQXY in 1965. In the late 80s they flipped to Rock then Modern Rock as WTGE. 100.7 is still currently a Country station known as "the Tiger" although with the call letters WYPY.
Other tiger-centric stickers can be seen here. And here.

Dart on Map - CJRW

The random dart this time landed on the western tip of Prince Edward Island, Canada near the community of West Point.


CJRW was a Country music station from Summerside, PE. It's the only commercial station on the island not licensed to the capital city of Charlottetown. CJRW began broadcasting in 1948 at 1240 AM. They converted to FM in 1989 and moved to 102.1 as "C102." They are currently a Classic Hits station with the fantastic name "102.1 SPUD FM."

Just as depicted on the sticker, there is an actual lighthouse in West Point with rooms that can be rented for the night.

WIVY

"Y103" WIVY was a Top-40 station in Jacksonville, Florida. This sticker appears to be from the late 1970s which is when they switched from AOR to CHR. They apparently did well with listeners, at least according to these Arbitron ratings from 1980/81. The station later switched to Hot AC as WMXQ "Mix 103" and Eighties music as "102.9 The Point." It is currently a Modern Rock station known as "X102.9" WXXJ.

WIAL

"I94" WIAL is an Adult Contemporary station in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The station first went on the air with an Easy Listening format before switching to Top-40 in 1982. They later became a Hot Adult Contemporary station which is probably about the time this sticker came out. Since 2008 they've been a mainstream AC station. The "I94" branding comes from Interstate Highway 94 which stretches from Port Huron, Michigan to Billings, Montana and runs along the south and west side of Eau Claire.

KAST

KAST AM is a News/Talk station licensed to (K) ASToria, Oregon. Soft Rock KAST FM went silent in 2006.

WPGM

WPGM AM & FM is a Religious station licensed to Danville, Pennsylvania.

KSSI

KSSI is a Classic Rock station licensed to China Lake, California.

Saints Win The Super Bowl

The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl tonight defeating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17. It was also the most watched program in the history of U.S. television with 106 million viewers.

WQUE was a News/Talk station in New Orleans, Louisiana circa 1992. 1280 AM is currently WODT, an Urban Contemporary Gospel station.

Sabres vs Blue Jackets

We're headed an hour east to Columbus for tonight's hockey game between the Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets. The Sabres are clinging to a one point first place lead in the Northeast division while the Jackets sit in the basement of the Central division. The BJs recently fired their head coach which could mean they'll slump even further or provide a spark to play above their abilities. The Sabres have underperformed recently themselves going 2-7-1 in their last 10 games. Either way it'll be a fun night at Nationwide Arena.

WGR is the flagship station of the Buffalo Sabres. Previous WGR stix can be seen here. And here.

WWCD is a Modern Rock station in Columbus, Ohio and the FM flagship station of the Blue Jackets. "CD 101" is licensed to Grove City, OH.  Former Columbus Chill player (and later "CD101" DJ) Jim Ballantine became the first player in professional hockey to wear a three-digit number when he wore 101 to help promote the station.

I hope they didn't mind me stealing a bunch of their CD101 logoed pens from this table.

UPDATE: The Blue Jackets destroyed the Sabres 4-0. Depression ensues. It was great, however, to see so many visiting Sabres fans in attendance. An ESPN recap described them as a "huge throng" and at times they seemed to overtake every bar and restaurant in the Arena District of downtown Columbus. It would have been nice to give them something to cheer for.

KPEK

KPEK is a Hot Adult Contemporary station from Albuquerque, New Mexico. They went on the air in 1996 with a Modern AC format before shifting towards Alternative Rock then landing on their current format around 2003.

WLKQ

WLKQ 102.3 is a Regional Mexican station in Atlanta, Georgia. "La Raza" is simulcast on WNSY 100.1 which is licensed to Talking Rock, GA. Prior to the Spanish format they were an Oldies station known as "The Lake." WLKQ is licensed to Buford, GA.

Mystery Sticker #11 SOLVED!!

This impossible-to-identify sticker might not even be from a radio station. Maybe it's from a Country station at 1400 AM. Or not. If you know where it's from, post a comment...or just make something up and lie to me.

UPDATE: See comments.

WVLT

"92 First" was an Adult Contemporary station licensed to Vineland, New Jersey. WVLT (Vineland's LiTe) currently has an Oldies format known as "Cruisin' 92.1"

WTHK

WTHK "97.5 The HawK" was a Classic Rock station licensed to Burlington, New Jersey. 97.5 FM was the long-time home of WPST before the two stations swapped frequencies in 2005 with PST moving to 94.5 FM. The Classic Rock format gave way to Smooth Jazz WJJZ in 2006. Currently the frequency is home to WPEN "97.5 The Fanatic" a Sports station aimed at the Philadelphia market.

Sunday Sticker - KILA

KILA was a Contemporary Christian station from Las Vegas, Nevada. They originally went on the air in 1972 at 95.5 FM before moving to 90.5 in 1985. KILA became one of the dozens of stations in the SOS Radio Network in the early 2000s and became KSOS in 2005.

Today is Escape Day

The parade of fake, meaningless "holidays" continues with Escape Day. No one seems to know how Escape Day started or what one is exactly supposed to do to celebrate it although this Irish website has a few stupid ideas.

WSDP "88.1 FM The Escape" is an Alternative Rock station operating from Salem High School in the School District of Plymouth, Michigan. They went on the air in 1972 at 89.3 FM before swapping frequencies in 1977 with Eastern Michigan University's WEMU who were at 88.1 FM.

A pinback button (with an oddly offset "s" in music.)

National Puzzle Day

Did you know that every January 29th is "National" Puzzle Day? I put that word in quotes because I highly doubt that an act of Congress made this holiday truly national.

Here's a vintage jigsaw puzzle-shaped sticker from KUOM in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

KUOM is an Alternative/College Rock station operating from the University Of Minnesota. They also carry a variety of specialty music shows including Metal, Ska, Jazz, Hip Hop and Punk as well as news and sports coverage.
Radio experimentation at the university began as early as 1912. In 1922 the first broadcast license in Minnesota was granted to the UoM with the call letters WLB. This long history makes what is now KUOM the 10th oldest station still on the air and the oldest non-commercial radio station in the country.

This is a "Radio K" sticker showing the logo which was used from 1993 until 2007. You can see the current logo at their website.

KTTI

KTTI is a Country music station licensed to Yuma, Arizona.

Places I've Lived #4 - Middleport, New York

After leaving Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, in December, 1979 we packed up again and moved to the small, western New York town of Middleport. Actually, we weren’t in town at all but rather stuck out in the boonies in a house that sat on 4 acres of land. The first thing I noticed about this part of the country in winter was the amount of snow that seemed to fall every day. My dad hired a guy to keep our driveway cleared and soon there was what seemed like a mountain range of snow lining each side which lasted well into spring. Being a gravel driveway we endlessly picked rocks out of the grass that were packed in the snow after it finally melted. A friend had a skating pond in his backyard complete with lights, goals and plenty of extra skates for whoever wanted to join in on some pond hockey. One time, the woods across the street from our house flooded and then quickly froze allowing us to skate through the trees. I followed the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid closely as the USA hockey team and Eric Heiden provided unforgettable moments. These childhood memories are probably why I enjoy winter so much. The more it snows, the better mood I’m in.
A couple years after moving here, I met a friend who was an American Top-40 chart geek. He would listen to Casey Kasem’s countdown every week and write them all down in his meticulous handwriting. If he was ever unable to listen to the show his dad would drive him to the newsstand to pick up a copy of Billboard so he could hand copy the Top-40. His dad also had a large record collection--Bad Company, Devo, Black Sabbath, The Cars, Styx and the Woodstock Soundtrack were a few that I remember. It was around this time I started to listen to the radio...mostly WGRQ/WGRF, WPHD, CHUM FM, WUWU and, for the hits of the day, WNYS.

WNYS was a Top-40 station licensed to Buffalo, New York. The top sticker is circa 1983, the bottom is from 1986.