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The Fall Preview Issue

September 19, 2018
Remember when that fat, fat TV Guide would arrive in the mailbox in September, the only thing telling you what all three networks were going to be programming over the next 39 weeks? Here at Toppy, we're not quite so awesome (though you could argue we're just as stuck in the past!) But just like a TV network in the 1970s, we did sort of end up not programming very much new for you in August. We have a good excuse - we were on the road a lot over the summer, collecting great heaping gobs of IDs all over the Northeast and Midwest. And while it's not as amazing as, say, CBS' Saturday-night lineup in 1974, we do have lots of quality material to share with you (hopefully) every Wednesday for the next few months. New England? We'll have most of Massachusetts for you here. The entire I-80 corridor across Pennsylvania. More Chicago AMs and HD subs than you can shake a Sangean at! Youngstown! Columbus! Lima! It's all coming your way right here on Toppy, and over at Tower Site of the Week on Fybush.com (where the 2019 Tower Site Calendar starts shipping next week - but we digress...) And to kick things off, this week on Site of the Week and right here on Toppy, it's all the radio stations of the Y-Bridge City, Zanesville, Ohio (and the neighboring Cambridge market, too!)    

More new sounds near home

July 25, 2018
How about some very fresh audio this week? From Buffalo, we get to hear the brand-new WZDV 92.1, just days after it signed on in late May. From Syracuse, it's the new WZUN-FM/WZUN(AM) double ID from mid-July, just a couple of weeks after we got WZUN(AM) post-call change but pre-format change. (The AM was ESPN Deportes and is now "Sunny" AC, simulcasting WZUN-FM to feed a translator in Oswego County.) And we have a few new Geneva IDs, too...
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End of Content.

Contribute

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

35-yes

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

35-no

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.

About Tophour
What's A Legal ID?

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.

About Tophour

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.

Contact

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

tophour

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Northeast Radio Watch

Tower Site of the Week

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Format Change Archive