Re: Country Calls (was Censorship at WTKK)

[Chuckigo@aol.com]

In a message dated 08/10/2000 7:38:08 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
brian_vita@cssinc.com writes:

<< Back in the old days of two country stations in Boston (WBCS and WCLB) 
 didn't management state that the change from WCLB to WKLB was to avoid 
 confusion in the ratings with WCRB? "And now the Ozark Blues Boys will play 
 'Homage to the Queen'"...
 Brian
 Extra points - I forget - was WCLB/WKLB the property that GM owned or 
acquired? >>

Brian...

    the Fairbanks research felt that the "sound alike" calls of WCLB and WCRB 
were too close for comfort, and requested the WKLB moniker, still being 
"Boston's Country Klub".  This was after much effort in distinguishing the 
two sets by having the on-air announcers do an homage of sorts to the old " w 
 Nnnnn   b c" by having us beat the "L" out of the calls...   " w c  L  b".
   yes, GM purchased 105.7 WKLB and kept the country format on 96.9 but 
switched the calls.  (yes, made us sound funny after spending two years of 
informing everyone that "we don't spell country with K"... )  but, for what 
it's worth, the calls have held and now i'm pleased to pass along absolute 
major kudos to the staff at WKLB, 99.5 for the best Country book EVER in 
Boston.  after four years of dealing with, first the call letter changes, 
then the frequency shift, the format is going strong and sounding excellent.  
(yes, i miss doing shifts on Country 99.5...)
   one other note on the call letters:  in 1977, the carrier current station 
(AM 64) at Grahm Junior College held a contest to pick new call letters.  the 
old WCSB (Cambridge School of Broadcasting) was felt to be outdated.  so the 
winning entry reflected the four buildings in which the college was housed:  
Wadsworth, Kenmore, Leavitt and Beacon.  yes, i heard from far too many 
classmates about how i'd gone full circle.  (WKLB).  somewhere in the attic 
is a very brittle reel-to-reel aircheck.  and there it will stay.  

- -Chuck Igo (the "worst jock on 64 WKLB in 1977", as i was informed, in 
1989, by a former Grahm classmate... hopefully i didn't retain that nickname 
in the 90's...)