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.

Australia Day

January 26th is Australia Day, a national holiday commemorating the arrival in 1788 of a fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain. They landed in Sydney Cove, raised the Union Jack and proclaimed British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia. Today the holiday is celebrated like our 4th of July, with parades, barbecues and a general sense of national pride (unless you're an indigenous Australian, some of whom refer to today as Invasion Day.) It wasn't until 1935 that all states and territories used the name Australia Day to mark the date. Not until 1994 did Australians consistently celebrate today as a public holiday.

4BK began broadcasting to Brisbane at 1290 AM in 1930. Five years later they moved to 1300 AM before settling at 1296 AM in 1978.



In 1990 the station became 4BBB and began broadcasting on the FM band at 105.3 as "B105."

R.I.P. Air America

By now you've probably heard about the demise of the liberal talk network Air America which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last week. The network went on the air in 2004 but was beset by financial difficulties and an unstable talent lineup throughout its short history. At its peak, AA had over 100 affiliate stations that carried some or all of its programming but only about half of those remained by the end. I occasionally listened to Al Franken's show on 1360 WSAI from Cincinnati before he left AA to become a U.S. Senator in 2007. I remember thinking he was kinda boring and unfunny for a comedian.

San Diego, California's Air America affiliate was AM 1360 KLSD (K Liberal San Diego.) It is that city's oldest radio station dating back to 1922. They've had a variety of formats over the years including Top-40, AOR, News and Adult Standards. KLSD is currently a Fox Sports Radio affiliate known as "Xtra Sports 1360."

In 2006, a woman was allegedly fired from her job for displaying an Air America KLSD bumper sticker.

WLOW

1980's Broadcasting Yearbook lists Aiken, South Carolina's WLOW AM as Top-40 although they were probably still an MOR station when this 1970s-era sticker came out. By 1981 they had switched calls to WKTX while WLOW FM became WPBM. After that it's a complete mystery what happened to these frequencies. There are no longer any stations licensed to Aiken at either 1300 AM or 95.9 FM although there is a WLOW at 107.9 FM further downstate in Port Royal with a Soft AC format. I also wonder if there is a story behind the carousel...or whatever that thing is. Anybody know?

WHUB

WHUB AM is a Classic Country/Southern Gospel station from Cookeville, Tennessee. They went on the air in 1940 followed by WHUB FM in 1964. At some point the FM half moved up a notch to 98.5 which is currently Top-40 WGIC "MaGIC 98.5"

WLAS

WLAS was a Country station licensed to Jacksonville, North Carolina. The call letters supposedly stood for (W) Land And Sea in reference to nearby Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune which is a leader in amphibious warfare training. WLAS went on the air in 1954 and eventually went dark in 1990 before returning two years later as "Hot Talk 910." The station was sold in 1996 and most recently was airing Spanish programming with the new call letters WSRP but it appears this has gone silent as well.

WGRP

WGRP AM is currently a Classic Country station licensed to GReenville, Pennsylvania. It's unclear what their format was when this sticker came out. Various Broadcasting Yearbooks from the 1970s don't list a format except to say that they carried 15 hours of Country & Western "specialty programming" per week and that WGRP FM simulcast 65% of WGRP AM's content. In 1981's Yearbook their format was listed as MOR. Around 1985 WGRP FM changed calls to WEXC and later became a Christian CHR outlet as "Freq 107." Last year they switched their branding to "Indie 107.1"

KQWC

KQWC AM began as KJFJ (owned by the Daily Freeman Journal newspaper) when it first went on the air in 1950. In the early 1970s the new owners combined KJFJ with the recently acquired KQWC which was at 95.9 FM. Today KQWC AM carries a Nostalgia format known as "Magic 1570." KQWC FM moved down a notch to 95.7 FM and is currently "Q95," an AC Oldies station. Both are licensed to Webster City, Iowa.

WIRB

WIRB (WIRegrass Broadcasting) was an AM/FM combo broadcasting from Enterprise, Alabama. It's unclear if they simulcast the same programming or if one was "Swingin' Country Sounds" and the other was "Pops Past and Present." The FM half is now WDJR, a Country station known as "The Big Dog 96.9" while the AM side ceased to exist altogether.

KDDD

I finally began organizing my miniature radio stickers this past weekend. They would have been lost or crushed if they lived in the bins with the regular sized stickers so for years I tossed them into a cookie tin and forgot about them.

Now I’m about a third of the way through sorting them and giving each state or province their own envelope.

I’ve also found a few duplicates for trading that I didn’t know I had. One other thing I rediscovered was a series of vintage stickers that I’m guessing came out around the early 1970s for various stations around the country. Most are rectangular or square with rounded edges and brown paper backing, although a few are round or even shield shaped. They also have a feel to them similar to a patch...almost like they were made of denim (click the sticker to see the texture better.) I’ll be posting one of these classic stickers every day this week.

We’ll start with KDDD AM & FM from the panhandle city of Dundas, Texas.

The DDD comes from the song I’m a Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas which was penned by bandleader and songwriter Phil Baxter in the 1920s. Shortly after World War II, KDDD went on the air and used Ding Dong as its theme song and later commissioned an artist to create the station mascot of a cartoon cowboy with microphone. Today KDDD FM is an Oldies station with a heavy local news/sports/weather emphasis. The AM side doesn't appear to have a presence on the internet but is either Country or Spanish depending on which website you believe.

Camel Wrestling

I've heard of bull fighting, cock fighting and dog fighting but camel wrestling is a competition I'd never heard of. The largest camel wrestling festival will be held today in an ancient stadium near Selçuk in western Turkey. The sport takes place between two male Tülu camels who wrestle in response to a nearby female camel in heat. A winner is determined when one camel falls down or runs out of the arena. Even though these massive camels (some weigh almost one ton) seem like they could do some major damage, the sport is rather mild compared to other one-on-one, animal-based sports which often lead to the participants death. The camels merely buck up side-by-side or lock necks and try to trip each other.

KMLE is a long-time Country music station in the Phoenix, Arizona market and licensed to Chandler, AZ.