The Radio Brand Name Game Part I

Radio Stations have brand names like any other product. At the Top of the hour the DJ never says "You are listening to WJRD 1150AM" Ok, Public Radio uses a full legal ID. And bless them for that, I always know who I'm listening to as I travel.

Regardless above 91.9 on the FM dial the DJ gives a Brand name: "Power 92, B103, 95Rock, Star 102, Mix96 etc. This is different from a slogan. Jack is a brand name. "We play anything" is a branding statement also called a slogan. It's not that different from other product slogans Coke and Pepsi for example: Gotta have it... The Joy of Cola... Can't Beat the Real Thing
More Slogans for brown fizzy water here: http://www.geocities.com/colacentury/

The most over-used Radio Brand names are as follows:
Hot: Anything Hot. Hot Jams, Hot beats, Hot 93, Hot flava, Hot Country. Everything is hot apparently.
Hits; Hits 96, Best hits, Greatest hits... they're selling the best of collection.
Kiss: Kiss FM, Kissing, Kissin', Kiss Country, Kissing Country, Kiss rock... they are very affectionate.
Lite: Lite rock, Lite FM, Lite Miami, Lite Mix, Lite Radio, Lite 100. All low calorie
Magic: Magic 101, Magic FM, Majic, Majik, Magik AC, Soft ac a couple Smooth Jazz
Mix: The Mix, The Mixx, Go Mix, Mix 93, Lite Mix, Favorite Mix, My Mix...
Oldies: Your Oldies, Jammin' Oldies, Oldies stations refer to themselves almost exclusively as Oldies + frequency; Oldies93, Oldies 93.3, Oldies94... there's one for every slot on the dial.
Power: Power 101, Power Jamz, Power 98... always Rap or R&B. Rock stations never have power for some reason.
Rock: Rock 92, Rock 101, 93 Rock, Z-rock no variation here at all, just rock.
Star: Star 100, Star FM there must be 3,000 of these.
Sunny: There is one of these in Philly. To me they seem endangered with the growth of the Jack format. These are universally AC and Soft AC.
The Beat: The beat Jams, 100.3 The Beat... dance CHR, Urban in some markets.
The Buzz: always The Buzz. bad speakers buzz.
The Eagle: Rock and country. They probably boycotted the dixie chicks 6 years ago.
The Edge: just like the buzz except edgier...
The Fox: The Fox Rocks, I cant watch Fox TV. It's like getting your news directly from Dick Cheny. It's just not a reliable resource.
Wild: They're always wild. Rotation is stale but they feel wild. That's whats important.

There is a glut of lesser but still probably licensed brands: The point, The Peak, The Mountain, The Bull, The Hawk, The Zone, The Rooster, The Rocket, The Source, The Score, the Ticket, The River, The Planet, The Lake, The candle, The Club, The Choice, The Core, The Frog, The Coast, The Cat, The Bone, The Bear, The Bay , The Arrow, Praise, Live, Kool, Bob-Tom-Dave-Frank-Jack-Simon-Joe-Mike-Sam-Ben... the whole glut of Jack-like stations.

Then there is a slew of single letter brand names: 99X, La M, J105, B101,K-rock, Z95, Q 92, V103... not terribly imaginative there's a whole set of K's for some reason K-Bull, K-Frog, K-rock, K-Day, K-Dove, K-Hits, K-Earth, K-Happy, K-Jazz, K-Lite, K-Love....

There are a few very orignal brands out there:
KHIP: The Hippo-http://www.thehippo.com/
KFNK: Funky Monkey http://www.funkymonkey1049.fm/
WMJC: The Island, http://www.island943.com/
KEDA-AM: Jalepeno Radio, http://www.keda1540.8k.com/
WMOJ: Mojo 94.9 http://www.mojo949.com/
KMEZ: Old School102, http://www.oldschool1029.com/
WYUU: Outlaw 925, http://www.925country.com/
WQBW: the Brew. http://www.973thebrew.com/main.html
KSOP: The Cowboy, http://www.ksopcountry.com/
KYOT: The Coyote, http://www.kyot.com/