Re: Fun with rimshotters

[Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com>]

>    I looked at all of the rest of Massachusetts. In addition to a bunch 
> of high school and college stations, those with -FM are: WFCC, WCOD, 
> WBEC, WBRK, WHYN, WMAS, WORC, WJFD, WOCN.

And in the case of WBEC-FM, WBRK-FM, WHYN-FM, WMAS-FM, WORC-FM and WOCN-FM, 
it *has* to be that way because
there's an AM with the same base call. (WOCN? Yup...but down in Miami, on 
1450...)

>    Because WGBH radio has no suffix, I take it that the current rule 
> doesn't require a suffix on an FM when there's a TV with the same calls, 
> because all TVs still have -TV as part of their calls? Yes? Since AMs 
> never have a suffix, that's when FMs must have one?

Yes and no. TV's don't automatically have "-TV" as part of the calls, as 
witness my own WOKR(TV) here in Rochester. I think - but
don't know for sure - that it would be acceptable to have a base call on 
WGBH(TV) and a suffixed call on WGBH-FM, though
that is not the case here. (It's WGBH-TV; the non-suffixed ones are 
WFXT(TV), WUNI(TV), WWDP(TV), WYDN(TV), WMFP(TV),
WUTF(TV) and WBPX(TV)...)

>    And, it just occurred to me: Regarding the many posts put here about 
> newspapers getting call letters "wrong" on technicalities regarding the 
> suffixes, I noticed recently that the AP stylebook, almost universally 
> used by newspapers, says to do it "wrong." It calls for the first 
> reference to be WBZ-AM or WGBH-FM or WCVB-TV, etc. Always with a 
> hyphenated suffix indicating AM or FM or TV.

I have been fighting this fight very much in vain with my local Gannett rag 
for many years now. I bristle when I see "WOKR-TV"
on a reference to channel 13, or "WHAM-AM" on their sister station. Despite 
(or perhaps because of) my wife's employment there
as a copy editor, my input on the matter is roundly ignored.

Canada, for what it's worth, automatically assumes an "-FM" or "-TV" suffix 
for all such stations.

-s