Call letters from my teenage years go off the air... for now

[damont]

I forgot to note this yesterday... The call letters of my favorite radio station in the mid-to-late 1970's are, at least for now, temporarily retired. WKAP-AM changed formats and call letters yesterday. Mind you, for the last two dozen years WKAP hasn't really had the format I listened to, and for the last ten years it hasn't even been on the frequency I listened to. But it is still a milepost of sorts.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKAP#Christian_programming ... "The switch ... has left the Lehigh Valley without an oldies music station. But at least three other Lehigh Valley stations [1400, 1100, and 1320 AM] may represent good candidates to adopt the Lehigh Valley's traditionally popular oldies music format in light of WKAP's programming change."

I actually hope that 1320 picks up the WKAP call letters it used to have, as well as the oldies format. Heck, since that particular format covers 1955-1973, I'd go further and suggest that it adopt a format closer to what it had in the late 1970's, which was top-40 but included a lot more album cuts and oldies than most top-40 formats. Expanding the range to 1955-1979 might bring in a wider audience. EDIT 07 Jan 2007: The WKAP calls are now on a station in Reading PA. Knowing this feels very weird to me.

Comments

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

Hmmm ... wonder why they chose 9/11 to start all-Christian (presumably evangelical Christian) programming....

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

While there could be some significance to Cheap Channel's choice of turnover date, it appears that the shift had been in the works for several months in hopes that it would increase ratings (and revenue of course). Whether the plan will work remains to be seen.