Hobbies are our cultural minutiae. It's only because of the internet that such otaku can discover each other. The Plasticville USA collectors have cataloged and posted the complete line of plastic models produced by Bachmann Industries. And while there is a TV Transmitting Station, (#1618) there is no Radio Transmitting Station. It's a shame.
But there is a real WPLA. Currently 1670 WPLA-AM is a radio station broadcasting sports radio to Macon, GA. It's owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications. But they only picked up the WPLA callsign in 2010.
From 1949 to 1996 the calls lived at 910 AM in Plant City, FL. (Actually it was on 1570 for the first 7 years) The station served both Tampa and Lakeland, FL. In those 5 decades it bore many formats: Country, oldies, AC, and eventually sports talk which it now bears again in Macon. In Plant City, 910 now carries satellite religious programming as WTWD-AM. This formerly small town community-oriented station bears some resemblance to the plasticville model. More here.
There was also a WPLA-FM on 93.3 in Callahan, FL just north of Jacksonville, FL from about 1996 to 2008. It broadcast modern rock and alternative music. Today it's WJBT and airs rap music.
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Where do the collectors post their collections?
ReplyDeleteBTW, The New Yorker has an article explaining the Sony radio SRF-39FP's long-lasting popularity in American prisons:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/01/the-ipod-of-prison-sony-radio.html?currentPage=all
(The article is from January 16, 2014, so it's free to read right now.)
great read, thanks!
ReplyDeleteMy young childhood brain scrambled the call letters on this model with the call letters of my hometown station WLAP
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