The first time that I heard "Magic" used as a station monicker, it was on Buffalo's "1080 Magic" WUFO, in 1981. To this day, "Magic" is used as a monicker for urban and soft rock stations. Does anyone know the history of how this came to be? Did or does the term have some hidden meaning, or was "Magic" just picked because a consultant or some station managers thought it sounded good on the air?

WMGQ predates that, being Magic as early as 1977.

Engineers have always referred to the FM band as f**king magic
when asked why questions about reception.

The old tuning eye on early radios is also known as a magic eye.

"RCA registered their first electron-ray tube, the 6E5, on June 27, 1935. This tube initially appeared in RCA’s console-model product line that same year. RCA was fearing a loss of market share to competitors’ new lines of very small and midget radios, many of which were designed and produced in Los Angeles. RCA’s promotion touted the "Magic Eye" as an elegant feature of their upper product line - where profit margins were greatest. Not surprisingly, the 6E5 wouldn’t fit inside the competitors’ smallest sets. The name "Magic Eye" quickly gained acceptance with the public as the standard identity for the electron ray tube and tuning eye feature in consumer radio sets, regardless of manufacturer. '


My guess is that someone used it in the earliest days of radio as the name for a program and some early 20th century program director expanded to calling a new format by that moniker.

Our own KMJK started as Soft Album Rock, then went to CHR, Soft AC, back to CHR, Classic Rock and AC. I'm sure it's mostly remembered as CHR.

At one point, I remember the word "variety" scoring high in listener focus groups. So many programmers would use "variety" in their station name or slogans.

There were a few songs in the 70's & 80's with "Magic" in the title making it a familiar word.
Magic Man-Heart
Magic-Pilot
Magic-Olivia Newton-John
You Can Do Magic-America

Did I miss any?

Magic-The Cars, which Z-100 was very late adding for some reason.

Here's something from 1936;

http://www.originaloldradio.com/magic_island.html

1945:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone%2C_the_Magic_Detective

Engineers have always referred to the FM band as f**king magic when asked why questions about reception.

And AM is "Almost Magic"!!

How about "Abracadabra-Steve Miller Band" ?

OH!.......never mind......

"Do You Believe in Magic", "This Magic Moment" and back to the 70s with "Strange Magic"

I remember KMJK when they launched as "Magic 107" having a rather distinct sort of soft rock format. (I think it was called "Beautiful Rock" and was syndicated by (?)TM) It seemed more sophisticated than the "love songs" sort of soft rock that came along later on K103. (maybe sort of a K103/KINK hybrid?) I liked it. Does anybody know more about that?

In the "Is KXL-FM Going Sports or Not?" thread, somebody posted a link that probably contains the correct answer to this question:

http://www.resumedesign.com/kratoville/jackjr/rise_and_fall.html

In that story,it is mentioned that Greater Media, in the early 1980s, had several of their stations running a company-proprietary soft hits format called "Magic." It is interesting that "cookie cutter" radio was going on back then, albeit on a much smaller scale.