[BC] KLEO, KOOK & KOMA -- Oooooops....

[Mark Humphrey]

On 12/4/06, Stan Tacker <stacker at krvt.com> wrote:

> Sadly, KOMA's owners, Renda, changed the calls to KOKC a few years ago.  The
> KOKC calls had been held by a Guthrie, Oklahoma station for years.  It's one
> thing to rename a station, but to rename it with calls held by a puny
> station in the same market, just doesn't make much sense.

I wonder if a programming consultant came in and said "I don't care
about the station's heritage or how long you've had the KOMA callsign,
you must get rid of it -- it scares listeners away because it sounds
like 'coma'."

I'll bet that's the same reason WORK in York, PA changed their
original callsign. "Who wants to listen to a station if it means
work?"

Too often in this business, changes are made only for the sake of
change, and to prolong the existence of the "changer".  I once worked
in a station where the GSM would move sales people around to different
desks whenever the department didn't make budget.  This was a
highly-visible "response" to the problem, something he could present
to his superiors as a "solution", except I doubt it had any meaningful
effect.

Mark