WHHS rises from the grave

The self-proclaimed oldest high school station in the country, WHHS Havertown, PA is back on the air at its new home of 99.9. earlier this year the move-in of WSNJ (now WRNB) forced them off the air. [*note the WRDV repeater on 107.9 was also nixed] Radio One engineer, Steve Hemphill helped them win special temporary authority from the FCC to get back on the air at 99.9 immediately. They are currently waiting for license approval at that frequency to be granted.

This is not the first time they've changed frequencies. In 1992 they moved from 89.3 to 107.9, probably to decrease interference with WRDV in Levitttown. WHHS only has a class D license and can be forced off their frequency at any time. Their current frequency of 99.9 is also occupied by WODE in Allentown, PA. *Radio One is kindly accepting some 2nd adjacent interference to WPHI-FMon 100.1

WHHS is a fairly typical highschool radio station in many respects. Excepting that it produces a large number of radio professionals. Their current yield includes DJs at WMGK, WYSP, WXPN, and many other stations.

Remember to do Your Homework!

Three college stations this week lost their licenses because they didn't remember to file their license renewals. The irony to me is that many of these are managed by university faculty; the same faculty that harass students about doing their assignments on time.

KCUI-FM PELLA IA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
License cancelled and callsign deleted 6/24/2005

KDIC-FM GRINNELL IA GRINNELL COLLEGE TRUSTEES OF IOWA
License cancelled and callsign deleted 6/24/2005
http://kdic.grinnell.edu/

KDPS-FM DES MOINES IA DES MOINES INDEP. COM.SCHOOL DIST
License cancelled and callsign deleted 6/24/2005
http://www.kdpsradio.com/

Earlier this year WUOG in Athens, GA lost their license and went dark for 2 months. Last year WHCE in Richmond lost theirs as well; but did not have the courtesy to go black. The moral of this story? DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

The First Radio Sound Effect

Now that is arcane trivia. It is so arcane in fact, that I am not sure. I do know that the first recorded sound effect was of Big Ben striking 10:30, 10:45, and 11:00. It was recorded on a brown wax cylinder by technicians at Edison House in London. It was recorded July 16, 1890. This is also one of the very few recordings currently in the public domain.

In my mind DJs have always been the same sort of people, and probably jumped on that Sound Effect as soon as the wax cooled. But really, most early sound effects were from Foley work. The wide-spread use of recorded sound effects in radio (live or otherwise) was decades away. Say thanks to Vincent Voice Library at Michigan State University. More here.

Skip Pop Scratch

Great goddamn show with a brilliant show name, it just encapsulates everything archival and intellectual about roots music. Primarily a Triple A, Americana and Roots program; they bravely venture into blues, zydeco, folk, bluegrass and the archival beginings of almost everything else. They are equally likely to play Robert Johnson as the 32-30 Jug Band as Ella Fitzgerald or even Taj Mahal. Site here: http://www.skippopscratch.com/

They are a gleaming, shining three hour slot on KVCU 1190 AM. KVCU is located in Boulder, but manages some secondary coverage of Ft. Collins. Via DX? who knows. You might get lucky.
http://www.radio1190.org/

Years ago they were kind enough to send me an aircheck. You however, now can listen to them on the KVCU-AM web cast: http://www.radio1190.org/1190veryhigh.m3u

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/