New Toppy Home

All Post
Featured Sounds
Site News
Site Updates

Manchester, New Hampshire

August 12, 2022

Let's close out another week of postings & contributions with some Manchester, New Hampshire IDs from 2021, thanks to both Scott Fybush and Steve Worth. See you next week!

The Twin Cities

August 11, 2022

Enjoy some Minneapolis/St. Paul audio -- thanks to Noah Bliese for sending these IDs along!

Elmira

August 10, 2022

Here's some nifty new Elmira, New York audio, thanks to Scott Fybush.

Chicago

August 9, 2022

Here's some new Chicago IDs from contributors Jeremy Andrews, Chris Cervantez, and Scott Fybush.

Hope you had a great weekend. Thanks for the e-mailed contributions; we appreciate them! Here's some new audio from James H. & Scott Fybush from Utica, New York, including several stations new to Toppy! We'll have audio later this week from around the country. Stay tuned!

Portland, Maine

August 6, 2022

Here's some Portland-Lewiston, Maine audio from contributors Scott Fybush and Steve Worth. This includes a few new frequencies that weren't already on our website. Have a great weekend!

Cleveland

August 4, 2022

Here’s some Cleveland audio from last year, thanks to Scott Fybush. This audio includes some updated IDs and a new FM ID never heard before on Toppy.

Las Vegas

August 3, 2022

Here's some Las Vegas audio from last year and this year, thanks to Scott Fybush. This audio includes a new LPFM ID never heard before on Toppy.

Baltimore

August 2, 2022

Here's some new Baltimore audio, thanks to Scott Fybush. We'll be back tomorrow with more IDs. Have a great day!

Kansas

August 1, 2022

Here's some new IDs from Salina-Manhattan, Kansas, and from Topeka, Kansas. Thanks to contributor Andrew Jacob Cummings for the new sounds.

End of Content.

We can’t possibly get everywhere to record IDs, so we rely on you to record for us. Here’s how you can help:

Do:

• Record 30 seconds on either side of the ID
• Record off the air
• E-mail your audio file to tophour@gmail.com
• Include the month and year the ID was recorded

Don't:

• Record only the ID
• Record off the internet
• Record from poor quality source
• Forget to share details of the recording

If you aren’t sure what we’re looking for or just generally have questions, just ask: tophour@gmail.com.

Sometimes, a station uses it’s call letters — KDWB, WABC, KOIT — and it’s fairly easy to suss out which station it is. But maybe your town has a station that calls itself “Star” or “KISS FM” or “Z100” or whatever. Believe it or not, so does pretty much every other town in America. So, a lot of times, the only way to tell for sure exactly what station you’re listening to is its’ legal ID.

Simply put, the legal ID is a station’s legal call letters, followed by the city the station is licensed to. The only things permissible between the calls and the COL are the licensee’s name, the frequency and the channel number.

If you want to get into the real nitty gritty, click here to read the legalese.

While taking classes at Brown Institute, Minneapolis’ venerable radio training school and also working at a suburban computer store, Tophour founder Brian Davis was introduced to the brand-new World Wide Web. (Yeah, it’s been a minute.) After stumbling on bostonradio.org, hours were spent listening to clips of New England stations, most of which were legal IDs. Several years later, Tophour was started to recreate this early Interwebz experience.

After Brian stepped back for family reasons, management of Toppy was taken over by like-minded radio nerds like current site editor Blaine Thompson.

Wanna contribute? Comments? Questions? Analysis? Send us an e-mail: tophour@gmail.com!

Do:

Don't:

Check These Out

Northeast Radio Watch

Tower Site of the Week

News From RadioInsight

Format Change Archive