Shirts and Stix - KFOG

During a recent move I rediscovered a few boxes of old radio t-shirts that I had forgotten about. I have two dressers full of radio tees that I wear on a regular basis but all of these boxed ones are too small or ragged to actually wear (and I don't have it in me to actually throw them away.) For the next few days and occasionally afterward I'll post a picture of one of these vintage radio shirts along with accompanying sticker(s). We'll begin with northern California's KFOG.

KFOG (named for the Bay area's famous sea fog) is an Adult Album Alternative station from San Francisco, California. They also broadcast on KFFG at 97.7 FM licensed to Los Altos, CA. KFOG switched from Easy Listening to AOR in 1982 and has carried a rock-based format for over 27 years. At one point in the early 1980s the Bay area had six Rock stations, none of which survived until now except KFOG.

Actual Sticker Sighting #6 - WXKB

I went to the Cincinnati Bengals practice yesterday which was held at Welcome Stadium here in Dayton. Afterwards I saw this sticker on the back window of a car in the parking lot.

"B103.9" WXKB is a Top-40 station licensed to Cape Coral, Florida.

WFSR

1380 AM WFSR was on the air in Bath, New York from about 1962 until 1973. Various Broadcasting Yearbooks listed their format as either MOR or Variety until they went Country in 1974 as WGHT. 1380 AM is currently "The Sports Giant" WABH, an ESPN Radio affiliate.

KUYI

KUYI is a Native American public radio station licensed to Hotevilla, Arizona. Their programming is aimed primarily at the Hopi Reservation in northern Arizona. KUYI (pronounced "KUU-yi" or "goo-yee") means water in the Hopi language.

WAAF

WAAF is a Rock station in Boston, Massachusetts. Except for a brief fling with Top-40 in 1974 and a shift towards new wave/pop in 1983, WAAF has been a Rock station continuously since 1970. Their signal is now simulcast on WKAF 97.7 FM licensed to Brockton, MA while WAAF itself is licensed to Westborough, MA. All of their stickers have used the distinctive "paint strokes" logo since 1981.

KSTA

KSTA "K-Star 107.1" was a Country station from Coleman, Texas. The FM seems to be defunct but KSTA 1000 AM, also with a Country format and licensed to Coleman, has been on the air since 1951.

KKPT

"The Point 94.1" KKPT is a Classic Rock station from Little Rock, Arkansas.

The End of the World

KEBR is a Religious Teaching station licensed to Rocklin, California near Sacramento. They are one of about 160 stations and translators in the Oakland-based Family Radio network.

Last month, an unemployed Family Radio listener from Colorado Springs spent $1,200 on bus bench advertisments proclaiming THE END OF THE WORLD!!! These Armageddon ads read: "Save the date! Return of Christ May 21, 2011 wecanknow.com" along with a picture of someone writing it down in a daily planner (as if he would have otherwise forgotten that THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!!!) Read all about it here. Harold Camping, the president of Family Radio, previously predicted the return of Christ and subsequent Judgment Day to take place on September 6, 1994.

Yukon Discovery Day

The third Monday in August is Yukon Discovery Day which commemorates the anniversary of the discovery of gold in 1896 which started the Klondike Gold Rush.

The only items in my collection from Yukon are these stickers from CKRW in Whitehorse. CKRW AM & FM simulcasts a Hot AC format known as "The Rush," a nod to the Klondike Gold Rush.

KBRO

1490 AM KBRO is a Spanish-language Sports station licensed to Bremerton, Washington. They are one of about 30 stations in the ESPN Deportes radio network.

This sticker is from 1986 when it's unclear to me what their format was. A 1988 Broadcasting Yearbook lists them as Adult Contemporary while a Seattle radio board claims "1490 kept the country music throughout the 80s and early 90s." Anybody know for sure?

KAAK

"K99" KAAK is a Hot AC station from Great Falls, Montana.

Radio 88.6

Radio 88.6 has been broadcasting from Vienna, Austria since 1998. Starting in 2008 the station began using the motto "Wir Spielen Was Wir Wollen" ("We Play What We Want") which was inspired by the plethora of Variety Hits stations known as "JACK FM." Listening live while making this post I heard:

Hootie & the Blowfish "Only Wanna Be With You"
Bon Jovi "We Weren't Born to Follow"
Fiction Factory "Feels Like Heaven"
Deep Purple "Smoke on the Water"
OMC "How Bizarre"

This was a box of hard candy of some kind.  After many years it seemed to melt or disintegrate and ended up a sticky mess so I took a picture of it and threw it away.  The words translate to "let it melt on your tongue."

Vinyl Record Day

Today is Vinyl Record Day which is dedicated to "the preservation of the cultural influence, the recordings and the cover art of vinyl records." It also coincides with the day Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877.

WFMU is a Freeform station licensed to East Orange, New Jersey. They also run a fantastic blog and sell their supercool stickers at their online store. Another WFMU decal can be seen here.

Radio in the Movies #4 - "Talk to Me"

"Talk to Me" is a biopic of Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene (Don Cheadle) a Korean war vet and ex-con who became a prominent DJ on WOL radio in Washington DC. He also hosted his own television show, "Petey Greene's Washington" from 1976 to 1982. The movie begins with him in prison where he works as a jailhouse DJ and later sets up a ploy to talk down a suicidal inmate earning him a reduction in sentence. Program director Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) hires him at WOL where Petey pushes the envelope by talking openly about racism, sex, drugs, religion and other provocative subjects. Howard Stern was working at DC101 at the time and was influenced by Greene calling him "way ahead of his time." Stern later made an appearance (in blackface!) on his TV show.



"Talk to Me" apparently contains many factual inaccuracies and the "Inspired by a true story" on the movie poster is telling. Disagreements among Petey Greene's family, the movie's producer and other people portrayed in the film makes you wonder if anything but the most basic facts are true. An interesting story about it can be read about it here.

WOL 1450 AM is an Urban Talk station licensed to Washington, DC. They are the flagship station of Radio One, the largest radio broadcasting company that primarily targets African-American listeners.

WEW

St. Louis Missouri's WEW (We Enlighten the World) carries Brokered Ethnic programming including a mishmash of shows like The Croatian Hour, German Talk Radio, Polka Plus and Voice of West Bosnia. Two hours each weekday morning are devoted to Adult standards and Big Band music.
WEW is the oldest radio station west of the Mississippi River and their website claims that they're the second oldest in the country, having been licensed in April of 1921.

WXEW

840 AM WXEW "Radio Victoria" is a Spanish Variety station licensed to Yabucoa, Puerto Rico.

WOMP

WOMP was a Top-40 station from Wheeling, West Virginia until 2005. 100.5 FM is currently a Variety Hits station "Jack FM" WYJK. WOMP! (they really should have included an exclamation point after their call letters) was licensed to Bellaire, Ohio.

WKES

WKES (named after the KESwick Christian School who founded the station) is a Religious broadcaster licensed to Lakeland, Florida near Tampa Bay. They are one of 5 stations in Florida operated by the Moody Broadcasting Network.