K-Bull 93 becomes 93.3 The Bull

[CAwasinNJ]

It's a rebranding, and yet it isn't. Radio Insight says there are no other changes. ( radioinsight.com/headlines/241847/kubl-rebrands-as-93-3-the-bull/ ) I don't know enough about country to be able to sense any shift in the music mix. The only real takeaway I see is being more specific with the .3 of the frequency. I wonder if that part has something to do with being flanked on both sides (93.7 and 92.9) by KKUT The Wolf at the south end of the valley. Why they'd change the branding slightly but not that much is more of a mystery. Their ratings have fallen quite a bit over the last few years and making a change to try and fix that makes sense, but why such a relatively small one? According to the RI article and the station website it doesn't look like they even have a PM Drive DJ. I'd probably start there.

[oldiesfunhouse]

I've always thought that, based on their call letters, KUBL, they shouldn't have been K-Bull but Utah's Bull or the Bull. I think KBUL was already taken which is why they went with KUBL but to call it K-Bull didn't make sense since the b and the u were flipped. But, sadly in my opinion, call letters seem to have less and less to do with branding anymore. KYMV has had two re-brands since "You're Movin". I never understood why they didn't change KBJA's call letters to KTKK. Z104 doesn't even have a z in its call letters. I know the owner of KSOP is in this group so I'm curious if you thought about seeing if the calls KUTZ or KUZC or something similar were available and then just kept the KSOP call on the AM frequency. You can't argue with success, though. Z104 is now the highest rated of the three FM country stations.

[CAwasinNJ]

Ad agencies (to whatever extent Z104 might have contact with them) would know them by their call letters. It's also a locally owned station and the call letters reflect that (Salt Lake, Ogden, Provo.) They owners probably like them too. There's also no particular reason to have call signs match the positioning. KHTB, KENZ and KRSP haven't had any connection for a long time, KRSP for decades. KUDD's calls' connection to it's positioning were tenuous at best when it was Dianna, but other than that nothing. I could go on...

[henry]

Remind me how many times 94.1 has "rebranded without rebranding"

Oldies 94.1

94.1 KODJ

Superhits 94.1 KODJ

Oldies 94.1... again

94.1 KODJ... again

[oldiesfunhouse]

Of course you're right, CA, but it seemed, when I was a kid, call letters meant a lot more than they do now and it frustrates me a little when I think of cool call letters and look them up on Wikipedia, only to find out that some station still has them but they were used for a previous format. If I ruled the world, (and I'm sure there are lots of really good reasons why it's a very good thing that I don't), I would give stations perks that used their call letters as part of their positioning instead of just saying them really fast at the top of the hour hoping that people will miss them. One dumb kid's opinion.

[friendlee]

OFH, I agree with you! A long time ago a station's call letters were something worn with pride. Whether you were number one with a 25 share (!) or that little station you weren't really sure if anyone was listening to, your calls were a badge of honor. Something worth defending. Something unique. Something NO ONE ELSE COULD SAY! Now, between positioning statements and marketing ploys, often a station's calls are buried in the music bed behind the studio sponsorship messaging and a laundry list of cities served. And the imaging? One only needs to recall WFLZ, Tampa "The Power Pig". Really?

Yup, once upon a time, a station's call letters were the only imaging you needed because your hard work, your dedication, your belief in this medium we call radio was represented by 3 or 4 letters, beginning with a K or a W repeated every 3 or 4 minutes, before and after every spot break, before, between, and after every song!

Ok, time to go back on my meds....!

[CAwasinNJ]

I understand and sympathize, but at the same time the need for call signs doesn't really exist anymore. Back a hundred years ago there needed to be a way to identify a station that was causing a problem. Today, anyone who needs to can figure it out in other ways and probably will. I don't think other countries like Canada even use their call signs on air at all. (Maybe seattlefollower can confirm that.) I think it's probably well past time to modernize the on air ID system, maybe taking the inaudible system translators and boosters use and applying that to full service stations.

Friend does have a good point about call signs being unique...usually. I'll point out the branding in San Francisco of KNBR on both the real KNBR 680 and 104.5 as well was on 1050 that's really KTCT, but that's the exception rather than the rule. There's nothing preventing a station owner from coming up with a unique positioner regardless of whether they use a call sign or not. Most just don't bother. Off the top of my head, how about "The Avalanche" for a rock format. Or "The Student Xperience" for a student run station. Or whatever. It's not that hard.

[oldiesfunhouse]

I'd always thought KRLX would be good call letters for a relaxing music station. But then I found out KRLX was bing used by, I believe, Karlton College. KRL for Karlton, and X being the Roman Numeral ten Krl-ten.

That's a bit of a stretch but I like it.

I totally agree with Friendlee and, CA, I appreciate your sympathy. (smiley face). Are sympathy and sympathizing the same thing? Now why would you have the call letters KTCT, be on 1050, and not call yourself Ten Fifty the Ticket? I think they used to. I've always thought either Broadway or Smith/Bonneville should acquire 630 with the call letters KTKK and call it 630 The Ticket. Or maybe even Cumulus and put CBS Sports Radio on it. Have a great weekend all.

[David]

In regards to use of radio station call letters in Canada, I can confirm that AM stations in Canada still ID at the top of the hour. I've noticed this on several occasions when I've been DX'ing the AM broadcast band. The exception would be the CBC AM stations, which almost always identify as CBC Radio One, CBC Radio Two, etc. The CBC stations like CBU on 690 and CBR on 1010 are still assigned call letters, however.

[CAwasinNJ]

I believe the KNBR branding was/is bigger. You go with your strength.

David, is what you're hearing an actual ID or are they just saying the call sign?

Back to Friend's point, even if a call sign wasn't legally required anymore there's no reason I can think of that they couldn't be used anyway. Most of us probably remember the days years ago when TV stations went off the air overnight and they gave a laundry list of information at sign on and sign off. I don't think any of that was required but they did it anyway.

[amanuensis]

As I have posted before, KSL AM used to do a very elaborate live call-sign at midnight on Sunday/Monday. I had an aircheck with it from the early 1980s. It went something like this. "This is the clear-channel voice of Mountain America, 1160 KSL broadcasting from studios in Salt Lake City with transmission facilities in the Oquirrh Mountains with an output power of 50,000 watts as authorized by the Broadcast Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, DC beginning another week of broadcasting activities. At the sound of the historic Nauvoo Bell the exact time will be twelve midnight." All of this was said as a voice-over to Seasons, an instrumental piano composition of Charles Fox. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyl6wyaWVvw