Re: Oldies 1-0-3 POINT 3

[mwaters@wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>I wrote:
>>        Seems to me that WODS is just catching up to the need to give its
>>dial position digitally because nearly all car radios and now many (most?)
>>others that are in service are digital. If the station just calls itself
>>103, it could be on any one of
>>five channels on the radio and listeners are confused. They may tune to
>>another station in the 103s instead when looking for you. You want them to
>>go right to you.
>>
Ed Hennessy wrote:
>
>Having spent way too much time in the car the last month, I've noticed the
>same happening on WDRC-FM in Hartford.  They still call themselves "Big D
>103" but sometimes will add '102.9 FM' before or after that.  They tell
>folks where they are, yet keep the identitity of Big D that they've had for
>15 years.
>
>On the other hand, I have never heard any station assigned to 107.9 call
>themselves anything but 'nickname 108' because they have a unique identity
>as the only station 'on' 108.  Others, as Martin indicate, can be on any of
>5 frequencies near a center frequency.
>

        WDRC-FM has what I call its ratings-period station break that it's
been using during parts of the year for the past several years. In some
hours, it uses a very well-produced top-hour ID which is really an extended
version of its usual legal (a slogan with the legal as a jingle). It's very
blunt. The announcer says "Our call letters are WDRC-FM. Our dial position
is 102.9.  Big D-103." [Jingle.] In its case, part of its concern is not to
be confused with WDRC (AM), which in its top-40 heyday used the handle of
Big D. Its jingles all say 103, but the jocks and recorded promos sometimes
give the exact dial position. It's unusual, though, to hear a station using
the terms "call letters" and "dial position" on the air at all.

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