Call Letters that Reflect Defunct Formats/Brandings

[desertv]

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".

KYOT had its beginnings as easy-listen KRFM, calls later changed to KQYT (Quiet FM). In the 80s it became top 40 KOY-FM (Y-95-home of those bumper stickers that the creative could convert into a "naughty" message), then finally KYOT

[Wright County Guy]

Twin Cities:

KYCR  -- for "Your Christian Radio".   While still owned by Salem, it is now a Business-talker.

KFXN AM -- former sports talk station to reflect sister-station KFAN.  KFXN calls have migrated to FM, but KFXN-AM is now Hmong radio, and under different ownership.

Honorable Mention: KLCI-FM, which was supposedly changed for a format flip to AAA as "Alice 106" that never materialized.  Was and is Country. 

[danikayser84]

Albany, NY:

- WKLI-FM 100.9: Now an Active Rock station, the WKLI calls are still present despite not having used the "K-Lite" moniker for about 15 years
- WZMR 104.9: Now a Country station, the WZMR calls have remained on 104.9 since it moved in from Johnstown and became a Modern Rock format... Z104.9 failed after several months, and it flipped to "Smooth Jazz", then Urban AC "Love FM", then "Froggy 104.9/107.1", then Alternative again as "The Edge", and is now "The Cat"... yet the calls never changed

[Scott Fybush]

Surprisingly few here in Rochester.

WHTK 1280 got its calls when it was doing "Hot Talk" in the early 1990s and kept them as it evolved into a sports station; remarkably, they even carried over to an FM (WHTK-FM 107.3) that didn't become a simulcast until long after the flip to sports. Even more remarkably, the "Hot Talk" slogan remained in use for the first few years of the sports format. (There was still some talk on the schedule then, most notably Don & Mike.)

I suppose WCMF 96.5 sort of counts - the calls were original to the station in 1960 when it signed on with classical music, owned by the Classical Music Service. "WCMS" was taken, down in Norfolk VA, so they took the closest calls they could get and kept them after the station went to rock in 1969.

And I suppose WPXY 97.9 sort of counts, too - those calls showed up around 1977 when the former WROC-FM became "Pixy," with beautiful music. The calls survived the format, which flipped to top-40 in the early 1980s.

[Ultimajock]

...KFWB/980 Los Angeles: although the call sign was issued sequentially by the Commerce Department in 1925, the station's original owner was the Warner Bros. movie studio, and the original use the Warners had for the station was to promote the studio's movie releases (and, starting in 1930, Brunswick Records releases), as well as aiding the development of Warner Bros.' Vitaphone sound motion picture technology. Warner Bros. sold off KFWB in 1950, and coincidentially the station was bought by Westinghouse Broadcasting in 1966. Westinghouse's successor, CBS Corporation, has since put the KFWB license into a trust...

[desertv]

...KFWB/980 Los Angeles: although the call sign was issued sequentially by the Commerce Department in 1925, the station's original owner was the Warner Bros. movie studio, and the original use the Warners had for the station was to promote the studio's movie releases (and, starting in 1930, Brunswick Records releases), as well as aiding the development of Warner Bros.' Vitaphone sound motion picture technology. Warner Bros. sold off KFWB in 1950, and coincidentially the station was bought by Westinghouse Broadcasting in 1966. Westinghouse's successor, CBS Corporation, has since put the KFWB license into a trust...

In fact, in several of the Looney Tunes cartoons of the 30s-40s, when there is a radio microphone shown it is lettered "KFWB"

Meanwhile in NYC, there was WMGM, owned by Leow's Theatres, who also owned MGM

[radiophiler]

Philadelphia, PA:

92.5 WXTU, now country, obtained those call letters during a brief period as an urban station. The station was trying to emulate WKTU in NYC.

WUSL, now Power 99 an urban station, got those call letters when it was country US-1.

WJBR, now AC, was Just Beautiful Radio.

WMGK, now classic rock, was Magic 103, AC.

[GSP163]

In the NYC area:

91.1 WFMU - Freeform - Calls stood for FM Upsala (College) which closed in 1995
101.5 WKXW - Now Talk "New Jersey-101.5" - Goes back to the "Kix 101 1/2" days
106.3 WHCY - Now Hot AC "Max 106.3" - Goes back to when it was "Hot Country"
107.1 WXPK - Now AAA "The Peak" - Goes back when it was K-107 as a simulcast of CHR WSPK 104.7 K-104
107.1 WWZY - Now AC "The Breeze" - Goes back to the Country Quadcast "Y-107"
107.1 WWYY - Now Rock "The Bone" - Goes back to the Country Quadcast "Y-107"

620 WSNR - Now Ethnic - Goes back to when it was "Sporting News Radio"
910 WRKL - Now Spanish - Goes back to when it was local radio for Rockland County

[RobynWattsV2.0]

A few more from the Carolinas and Georgia:

93.3 WERO/Washington, NC: Calls date back to when the station was 70s/80s Rock Oldies "Arrow 93" from 1996, now is Hot AC-leaning Top 40 as "Bob 93.3".

94.3 WRHD/Greenville, NC: Calls originally were on 103.7/Williamston, North Carolina (now WTIB) as part of a simulcast with then-CHR WRHT/Morehead City, NC (more on them in a moment). Both stations was billed for years as "The Hot FM" and in 2007, the format was moved to the lower powered 94.1 and 94.3 frequencies, which both were eventually killed off for Talk. In 2010 the WRHD call sign was moved to 94.3 and the format was changed to Hot AC as "Star 94.3".

96.3 WRHT/Morehead City, NC: Calls originally were AC format "The Wright FM" (named after The Wright Brothers, which tested the airplane   in nearby Kitty Hawk). Went Top 40 as "The Hot FM" after WERO's predecessor, WDLX, abandoned Top 40 for AC in early 1991. Station is now "Thunder Country".

105.7 WMKS/Clemmons, NC: Calls were for Urban AC "105.7 Kiss FM", now is CHR as "105.7 Hit Music Now".

96.7 WLTY/Cayce, SC: Calls were for Light AC "Lite 96.7", now is Variety Hits as "96-7 Steve-FM".

93.3 WCHZ/Warrenton, GA: Calls originally were on 95.1/Harlem, GA (now WGAC-FM) for a Modern Rock format as "Channel Z 95.1", now used for Active Rock "95Rock". Swapped frequencies and formats with News/Talk WGAC-FM in 2011, moving WCHZ to 93.3 and a low-powered translator on 95.5.

97.3 WAEV/Savannah, GA: Calls were for AC formatted "97Wave", Now is CHR as "97.3 Kiss-FM".

102.1 WZAT/Savannah, GA: Calls were for AC/Oldies (and later CHR and Album Rock/Alternative) formatted  "Z-102", now "102.1 ESPN Sports".

106.1 WFXH/Hilton Head, SC: Calls were for Classic Rock "Fox 106.1", now used for Active Rock "Rock 106.1".

198.7 WYKZ/Beaufort, SC: Calls were for CHR and AC "98.7 Kiss-FM", now is "98.7 The River" with AC format.

103.1 WOLT/Greer, SC: Calls were for Oldies as "Oldies 103", paired with 103.9 WOLI. Now is CHR with brokered programming as "103.3 Spin-FM".

103.9 WOLI/Easley, SC: Calls were for Oldies as "Oldies 103", paired with 103.3 WOLT. Now is Spanish CHR as "La Nueva 103.9".

Robyn

[Bongwater]

In Puget Sound:

CHMJ 730 Vancouver (originally stood for Mojo, a sports/guy talk station, now all traffic)

KGMI 790 Bellingham (Originally a dyslexic spelling of International Good Music, an automated radio system with a classical/B-EZ format KGMI's previous owner's specialized in during the '50s to early '70s. Now News/Talk)

KHHO 850 Tacoma (Fox Sports affiliate, Originally known as "K-H2O", a South Puget Sound talk station.)

KIXI 880 Mercer Island-Seattle (The "IXI" were the Roman numerals for 91 or 910 kHz, KIXI's original frequency)

KBAI 930 Bellingham (Talk, calls held over from their Big Band/Oldies format "The Bay")

KARR 1460 Kirkland (Family Radio, the KARR calls stood for - what else? - "Car", used during their Adult Standards format prior to the Family Radio takeover in 1986)

KLFE 1590 Seattle (Conservative Talk, calls held over from their prior religious format as "K-Life")

CKZZ 95.3 Vancouver (Adult CHR "Virgin Radio", calls held over from their Dance/CHR format as "Z" (or, being a Canadian station, "Zed 95.3")

KPLZ 101.5 Seattle (This station's call letters originally stood for Disco formatted "K-Plus 101" in the late '70s. They became AC as "KPLZ The Music Magazine". Then "K-Plus" again as a CHR, then "Z-101.5 and KPLZ again, all doing CHR. Then became Hot AC "Star 101.5" in 1994, keeping the KPLZ calls through everything.)

KMCQ 104.5 (Covington-Seattle) This station was originally licensed to The Dalles, OR. The "MC" stood for "Mid-Columbia", a reference to "Mid-Columbia Broadcasters", KMCQ's owners in The Dalles and to the Columbia Gorge area where KMCQ originally broadcasted. KMCQ is now technically a Seattle station in every way, but still has it's heritage call letters from The Dalles.

CHBE 107.3 Victoria (Now known as "Kool FM", the CHBE calls are a holdover from their days as AC formatted "B-107.3")