Anyone wanting a cheap piece of Portland Radio history cannot go wrong with a KGW EKKO stamp. Issued in the late 1920s and early 1930s, there was millions of EKKO stamps sold or given to listeners. And they were pretty much without value in the 1970s and beyond.

But the creation of eBay has led to a gradually increasing value, with prices over $100 for some popular stations before the recent "Worldwide Financial Crisis". This may be a good time to buy, if you interested.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150324956546

But don't get crazy about it. There are still lots of KGW EKKO stamps out there. Personally, I pay $7-$15 depending on how much I want a stamp. And precious few are on my list of Wants. Even the KHJ stamp I bought a few years back was as an investment. And I grabbed a KJR stamp recently that had been mislabelled. Another sold last night for about twice what I paid.

Is that the KJR that used to be KOMO or the KOMO that used to be KJR?

Affirmative.

People will think we're making this up!

I was thinking the same thing while typing!

Yes, I will admit that the KOMO and KJR call letter swap (1940s?) has always dampened my enthusiasm for a KJR EKKO stamp. "Should I collect a KOMO EKKO stamp instead, because it became KJR?"

It couldn't have been more than a year ago, I finally learned that 3 letter call letters were being given out in the late 1920s, while four letter call letters were the Norm in the early 1920s. Which kind of "knocks into a cocked hat" the notion that three letter calls meant the station is older. Admittedly, stations like KOL signed on in 1922, but under four letter calls.

No promises that it will stay reasonable, but the KGW stamp has two days to go, and only has one bid, so is still at 99 cents.

KGW calls came from the original allocation. KEX & KXL calls came much later after four letter calls were introduced.

May 6, 1944 was the call switch date for KJR & KOMO.