Comments on: Martini on the Rockies

by: Dick Dedrick

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 22:42:00 +0000

In the spirit of Cliff Claven, Martini’s call letters are KTNI. And you’re right about the FCC and its way of going about designating call letters: W east of the Mississippi, K west … with some exceptions. KDKA is in Pittsburgh - and it’s considered to be the very first station. Stations originally could have three or four letters, but in time all stations would require four.

Are you people still with me? This gets even more interesting. There would be some stations west of the River with W-calls. WOW in Omaha comes to mind. Possibly the first calls to spell a word … although, to my knowledge, the station never used the word “wow” in its promotion. Same goes for WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. I’m not sure about WACO in Waco, Texas … which brings us to Gordon McClenden - a Texas broadcaster who did turn his call letters into words. Probably the first broadcaster to do so. KLIF was called “Cliff”; KELP was “Kelp”; KOST was “Coast”, etc.

One call letter story comes to mind, years ago in Nebraska. The Univertity of Nebraska requested the call letters KUNT for its station. The letters U-N-T stood for University of Nebraska Television. The FCC turned down the request.

I had one more story, but I forget what it was. Thanks for staying with me. dd

by: Diane

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 00:19:41 +0000

Icarus sure gets around. Denver looks pretty good, too. Back here in the east, I believe it is time for a martini (or something like that). Mmmm, maybe I’d better eat something (like dinner) first.

by: Ellen

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 23:04:12 +0000

Deb isn’t nuts. I did the call letters wrong this morning. I just corrected my mistake right before her comment went up, but she’s in the right here.

Mea culpa. This is what I get for living on the East Coast too much… I’ve started thinking in terms of Ws instead of Ks…

by: lorinda

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:48:24 +0000

I’m going to give you credit for Martini on the Rockies because you are as cool as if not more than the dj on the radio.

Have you seen Mim’s blog? She’s tutoring us on how to Icarus with beads–lovely.

Great pics. Love the prairie dogs fat belly. Can’t resist a fat belly (on a quadruped anyway).

by: Alex

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 18:07:41 +0000

I showed Shelley the picture of the prarie dogs and she said “Woo woo woo,” which I think translates to, “I’d have those guys in my jaws in about five seconds.”

by: debsnm

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 18:05:13 +0000

It’s one of the FCC’s weirdnesses that radio & TV stations east of the Mississippi all begin with W - West of the Mississippi they all begin with K. Don’t know why, it’s just a rule. Also don’t know why some TV stations only have 3 letters while most others have all 4. It’s the FCC, it’s the government, it’s weird.