Call Letters that Reflect Defunct Formats/Brandings

[Mastaclocksetta]

I'm not on this board of Radio-Info that often. But I thought of another game that could fit on here. It's about call letters that reflect formats no longer broadcast or brandings no longer used on radio stations. Here goes!

Los Angeles (my local market)
KXOL-FM 96.3: Left over from when this station was Spanish-language adult contemporary-formatted "El Sol 96.3." Now Hispanic Rhythmic-formatted "Latino 96.3."
KYSR-FM 98.7: Left over from when this station was hot adult contemporary-formatted "Star 98.7." Now modern rock-formatted "98-7 FM."
KDLD-FM 103.1: Left over from when this station was Dance-formatted "KDL 103.1." Now Regional Mexican-formatted "El Gato 103.1." (El gato means "the cat" in Spanish, for those who don't know.)
KBIG-FM 104.3: Left over from when this station was rhythmic adult contemporary-formatted "K-BIG 104." Now hot AC-formatted "104.3 MYfm."
KMPC-AM 1540: Left over from when this was a sports-formatted station affiliated with Sporting News Radio (now known as Yahoo! Sports). Now an affiliate of Radio Korea. The KMPC call letters were previously on 710 AM on the L.A. radio dial when the 710 frequency was home to a talk station. 710 AM is now KSPN, the L.A. affiliate of ESPN radio.

San Diego/Tijuana (a neighboring market to the south)
KBZT-FM 94.9: Left over from when this frequency was home to oldies station K-Best 95. Now rock formatted as FM 94/9.
XESURF-AM 540: Left over from when this station simulcasted Los Angeles-based 1260 AM back when the L.A. station had the K-Surf branding and adult standards format. Now the former is religious as an affiliate of Radio Zion.
XESPN-AM 800: Left over from when this was the San Diego market's affiliate of ESPN Radio. Now Spanish-language news/talk.
KCEO-AM 1000: Left over from when this station broadcast a business news format. Now religious formatted as an affiliate of Immaculate Heart Radio.
XEPRS-AM 1090: Left over from when this station was soul music-formatted "The Soul Express." Now carries a sports format.
KLSD-AM 1360: Left over from the progressive talk format this station once carried. Now "Xtra Sports 1360."
KFSD-AM 1450: Left over from when this station was simulcasted on 94.1 FM (which is now KMYI "Star 94.1"--the KMYI call letters are left over from when this was "My 94.1" with the current format). Now 1450 carries the business news format discarded by KCEO.

What are some such call letters from your local and/or neighboring markets? Discuss!

[raccoonradio]

WVTK Port Henry NY "V_ermont TalK" (COL just across the line) but not talk now. (AC-oldies?)
Slogan is Addison County's Radio station...Addison county _VT_...

WBOQ 104.9 Gloucester MA, oldies but had been classical (W-Bach) yrs ago

[MarcB]

Hartford, CT - 105.9 WHCN. - Originally for Hartford's Concert Network. (along with WBCN in Boston and WNCN in NYC). Went to Rock than Classic Rock and is now Classic Hits The River 105.9

Naugatuck, CT - 1380 WFNW. Calls stood for Financial News Waterbury. Station has been foreign language for years. First Portugese then Spanish as Galaxia 1380. Now still Spanish, but not sure what Spanish format.

Hartford, CT - 93.7 WZMX. - When they first came on the air in 1991 (after the station was dark and later running NOAA Weather Radio for a few months) they were HOT AC MiX 93.7, the Z doesn't stand for anything. After several different incarnations of Classic Hits in 1999 they went to Infinity Broadcasting's Jammin Oldies format known as Dancin' Oldies Z-93.7 - the MX stood for nothing. Since March 2001 they've been hip-hop HOT 93.7

Hartford, CT - 1410 WPOP. - Calls date back to their days as a Top 40 powerhouse, playing POPular Music. As of March 5th it's FOX Sports Radio 1410 (after being ESPN Radio 1410 since 1998 and before that One-on-One Sports since 1997).

[michael hagerty]

Phoenix:

KJZZ-FM 91.5: Was once a non-commercial jazz music station and called itself K-Jazz. Has been mostly NPR news and talk for 15 years or so, but still plays about 8 hours of jazz each night.

KYOT-FM 95.5: The station was known as "The Coyote", playing smooth jazz, for almost 20 years. It's now an R&B oldies station calling itself "Eva 95.5".

KZON-FM 101.5: Long, long ago an album alternative station branded as "The Zone", it's now a rhythmic CHR called "101.5 Jamz".

KEXX-FM 103.9: Was alternative "The X" until earlier this year, when it became classic hits "My 103.9".

KZZP-FM 104.7: Legendary CHR call letters dating back to 1981. Has been using the "KISS-FM" branding for close to a decade.

KTAR-AM 620: Legendary call letters associated with the frequency since the 1920s, and with news/talk for more than 30 years. Now branding itself as "Arizona Sports 620".

KIDR-AM 740: A "Radio AAHS" affiliate in the 90s, the call letters stood for "Kid Radio". Long since Spanish.

KMVP-AM 860: Call letters meant to evoke "Most Valuable Player" as a sports station. Has been Gospel for a couple of years.

KKNT-AM 960: The "NT" stood for News/Talk. They now brand as "The Patriot".

KDUS-AM 1060: Call letters meant to symbolise "The Deuce" as the station was nicknamed KUPD-2. Now branded as "The Fan".

KSUN-AM 1400: Spanish language now branded "Radio Fiesta".

[KeithE4]

Phoenix:

KJZZ-FM 91.5: Was once a non-commercial jazz music station and called itself K-Jazz. Has been mostly NPR news and talk for 15 years or so, but still plays about 8 hours of jazz each night.

It was cut back to 5 hours (8 PM - 1 AM) since, like many other NPR stations, it fell in love with the BBC.

KTAR-AM 620: Legendary call letters associated with the frequency since the 1920s, and with news/talk for more than 30 years. Now branding itself as "Arizona Sports 620".

And originally stood for "Keep Taking (the) Arizona Republic," or "K-The Arizona Republic" (or maybe both) after the now-Gannett/KPNX-owned fishwrap bought it in 1929.  The Republic found out that its original choice for call letters, KREP, was confused for "something else," and changed the callsign a few months later.  The paper sold KTAR in 1946.

KMVP-AM 860: Call letters meant to evoke "Most Valuable Player" as a sports station. Has been Gospel for a couple of years.

It still has its finger in the sports pie, acting as the overflow station for ASU when KTAR airs a Suns game.

Others from Phoenix's past (in no particular order):

KRDS 1190 "Cards Country" - 1960s & '70s, well before the arrival of the football team.

KGME 1360/550 "The Game."  Still has the KGME call letters, but has been branded as "XTRA Sports 910" since moving to that frequency in 2000.

Speaking of 910, when it was country-music KJJJ in the '70s and '80s, it branded itself as "KJ-910."

KUPD 1060 "Cupid" when it was an early soft-rock station.  Now sports-blabber KDUS.

KSTM 107.1 "The Storm" as an album-rocker in the '80s.

KMEO 740/96.9 "Cameo" when it was an elevator music station in the '60s & '70s.

KFCB, the first station in Phoenix, branded itself with the slogan "Kind Friends Come Back" in the 1920s.  It became KOY in 1929.

KEDJ 106.3 "The Edge" in the '90s.  This alternative rock station was licensed to the hard-core, edgy town of Sun City.   Now Spanish-language KOMR.

[oldiesfan6479]

San Diego/Tijuana
KFSD-AM 1450: Left over from when this station was simulcasted on 94.1 FM (which is now KMYI "Star 94.1"--the KMYI call letters are left over from
when this was "My 94.1" with the current format). Now 1450 carries the business news format discarded by KCEO.

KFSD was also earlier calls (original?) for KOGO 600.

Phoenix:
KEXX-FM 103.9: Was alternative "The X" until earlier this year, when it became classic hits "My 103.9".

Classic rock, maybe?  When I've tuned in, I've heard songs that made me think I had dialed
up K-Slacks.  It certainly is not a sound-alike of KOOL-FM.

[Ultimajock]

...in New York, WCBS had been known as WABC from 1926 to 1946; that call sign was applied by then-owner Alfred H. Grebe for his Atlantic Broadcasting Company (the station went on the air as WAHG, using Grebe's initials, in 1924). WABC became a part-time CBS affiliate in 1928, sharing the affiliation with WOR; Bill Paley eventually bought Grebe out and WABC became CBS' second O&O (after Paley's WCAU Philadelphia). All of this was years before the Blue Network of NBC became the American Broadcasting Company and applied the WABC call sign to WJZ New York in 1953...

...and, of course, in Chicago, WLS originally stood for "World's Largest Store," the reference being to Sears, Roebuck & Co., the agricultural division of which was the original owner of the station. Sears soon decided that it made more sense to lease time on radio than own stations outright, so after a couple of years they sold WLS to Burridge Butler's Prairie Farmer newspaper. Somewhat similarly, WCFL, originally a station primarily operated to air labor union-related programming, kept its original call sign for some years after it was sold by its original owner, the Chicago Federation of Labor, to first the Amway Corporation (through its Mutual Broadcasting System subsidiary) and then to Heftel...

[borderblaster]

WULM, Springfield, Ohio stood for previous owner Urban Light Ministries. Now it's owned by Radio Maria and the same calls stand for "We're Under (our) Lady's Mantle"

WGTZ Dayton, Ohio never changed calls after blowing up CHR Z-93 for Variety Hits Fly 92-9. Calls stood for previous owner Great Trails Broadcasting and Z-93

WPTW-FM in Piqua Ohio picked up WCLR, formerly used in Chicago for "Clear 95". When it went oldies as Kool 95 the calls remained the same, and a second FM was added, renamed WZLR. WCLR became WDPT, WZLR became WDTP (I think), for an 80s format, but soon the WZLR calls were brought back as the former simulcast separated. While the original station is now WHIO-FM simulcasting News/Talk, WZLR remains as an 80s based Classic Hits station.

[RadioDaze]

Several of them in Raleigh-Durham, NC:

WQDR "Quadraphonic Rock", a country station since 1984.

WPTF "We Protect The Family", slogan of former owner Durham Life Insurance Company, which is now, itself, defunct.

WBBB "We're Building a Better Burlington", call letters moved in 1998 from AM in Burlington, NC to rock-formatted 96.1 FM in Raleigh.

WDCG "Durham's Country Giant". CHR G-105 hasn't played country since the late 1970s

WTIK "Where Tobacco Is King" The industry that built Durham is no longer a part of the local economy. The last cigarette rolled off the line 12 years ago.

WCMC "Country Music for Carolina" was the format of the station at 99.9 when it moved into the market from Chase City, Va., but the station's been sports since 2008.

[desertv]

"KGME 1360/550 "The Game."  Still has the KGME call letters, but has been branded as "XTRA Sports 910" since moving to that frequency in 2000."

1360 was originally the home of top-40 KRUX

"Speaking of 910, when it was country-music KJJJ in the '70s and '80s, it branded itself as "KJ-910."

Before the early 70s was KPHO radio-sibling to channel 5

"KUPD 1060 "Cupid" when it was an early soft-rock station.  Now sports-blabber KDUS."

KUPD was originally an easy listener.