Information on the development & styles of vintage call letter plates (microphone flag). Do you have flag in your collection? Email us a picture to add to our gallery. MBiniasz@me.com
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So What Are Microphone Flags & Call Letter Plates Worth?
I frequently get asked about the value of microphone flags.
Over the course of the last 5 years, auction prices have gradually increased. 2023 selling prices range from $175 to $500. A number of factors that determine microphone
value are:
- Market
Size – Generally, flags from top 25 market stations have a higher value
than flags used at small market, low powered or rural stations.
- Station
History – Was the flag used at a pioneer, heritage station? Was the station
part of network (NBC, CBS, Mutual, ABC, Don Lee, etc.)? Was the station known
for a particular broadcast personality?
- Photographic
Evidence – Is there an archival image of a similar flag in use? This helps
to determine the flag’s provenance and age.
- Type of
Microphone Used – It has been noticed that flags for larger studio
microphones like RCA 77s, 44s and Western Electric 638Bs command a slightly
higher value.
- Flags
With Side Plates – Usually a three-pieced set with side plates are more desirable to collectors.
- Mic Flag
& Microphone Matched – If sold with a microphone, did the flag and mic
come from the same station?
- Authentic
Survivor or Reproduction – In the 1990s, a large number of reproduction
flags representing broadcast networks (Voice Of America, NBC, CBS, etc.) and
large heritage stations (KDKA, WNBC, etc.) were cast. These are generally of
high quality and look great on display but have not increased in value from
their original retail selling prices.
- Mounting Brackets/Original Hardware - Flags that come with original mounting rings, screws.
I’d be happy to assist you in determining a fair market
value for your flag. Email me at mbiniasz@me.com
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| Collection of vintage radio station microphones from RCA, Western Electric, Electro Voice and Shure |
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| A rare survivor. Vintage microphone flag from KDKA Pittsburgh on a Western Electric 618a. KDKA is widely known as the first "commercial" radio station in the United States. In 2020, the station is celebrating its 100th anniversary of signing on (November 2, 1920) |
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| Before he was the first host of NBC's Today Show, Dave Garroway worked at KDKA, In this image circa 1938-1940, Garroway is seen using a WE 618a microphone with flag similar to the one in my collection. |
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| WJW Radio, Cleveland, Ohio - flag on a Western Electric 633A. Broadcasting pioneer Alan Freed used this style of microphone during early remote rock & roll broadcasts and concerts. ABOUT WJW: Signed on the air from Mansfield, Ohio on November 12, 1926 under the ownership of John Weimer, the "JW" in the call letters. WJW moved to Akron in 1932 and made a final move to Cleveland in 1943. Soupy Sales, known as Soupy Hines, worked at the station in the 50s. In 1951, Alan Freed joined WJW and began making music and radio history by playing and promoting rhythm & blues music performed by black artists and began using the term "rock & roll." While at WJW, Freed organized some of the first rock and roll concerts in history. Freed left WJW in 1954 for WINS, New York City, but he established WJW as a premier rock and roll outlet. WJW was also home to Pete "Mad Daddy" Myers and a young Casey Kasem. The call letters WJW were dropped by radio in 1985 but survive in use by television station. |
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| WOAI AM…a station that helped to launch a radio empire. The station ranks as the oldest in San Antonio having signed on the air in 1922. In 1941 WOAI became one of twelve radio stations in the United States to be designated its own unduplicated or “clear channel” frequency as part of an emergency information system. Fast forward to 1975 when the station was sold to a fledgling radio company established by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs. With the WOAI purchase the company took the name “Clear Channel Communications” based on WOAI’s frequency/power allocation. Eventually Clear Channel would own 1,200 radio stations (Now iHeartMedia Inc.). The WOAI flag on this RCA 88a came from the estate of former WOAI engineer Hoxie M. Mundine. |
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| WLAC Radio, Nashville, TN - Microphone is a Western Electric 633 |
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| Similar microphone flag use on the original radio version of Meet the Press. The program first aired as The American Mercury Presents Meet the Press, a 1945 program over the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS). The show presented as a promotional showcase for Lawrence E. Spivak's magazine, The American Mercury. Image from a Life magazine article from March 13 1948. Caption reads ''Martha Taft (center) gasps at sharp question as Washington newsmen, Adams, Childs, and Spivak laugh. Martha Rountree (right) runs program.'' |
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| RCA 77 Microphone Flag, WHER, Memphis, TN |
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| Rebecca “Becky” Burns Phillips, wife of Sun Records & WHER owner Sam Phillips in front of WHER microphone with featured flag. Phillips is currently the subject of the new Sun Records series on CMT television.ocumented as the first "All-Girl" radio station when it went on the air in October 1955. Staffed almost exclusively by women (including broadcasting pioneer Vida Jane Butler), the station spawned a series of imitators, but later evolved into a mixed-gender staff rechristened WWEE. The radio station was the brainchild of Sam Phillips, who used a portion of the $35,000 he made from the sale of Elvis Presley's recording contract to RCA Records to finance the station. A portion of the balance of the funding came from Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, who also provided the station's first home, in a part of the third Holiday Inn ever built. Sam Phillips CMT Sun Records |
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| A rare piece of Chicago, Illinois broadcasting history. WGN Radio microphone flag. The vintage mic is a Western Electric 618a -ABOUT WGN: One of America’s great radio stations. The WGN call letters refer to the Chicago Tribune meaning "World's Greatest Newspaper." Signed on the air in 1924. WGN serves as the flagship radio outlet for Chicago Blackhawks hockey and is best known for its long association with the Chicago Cubs from 1925 to 2014--the last 56 years of that period as the exclusive flagship station. Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray, just two of the Hall of Fame broadcasters heard on WGN. |
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| A mic flag like ours used on WGN-TV in 1948. The finals of the Golden Gloves was the first scheduled televised show on WGN-TV with Jack Brickhouse, center at table, as the first voice at the Chicago Stadium on March 5, 1948 |
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| Vintage microphone and flag from KLZ Radio, Denver, Colorado - The city's first radio station, signed on in 1922. The microphone is a Western Electric 618A. The microphone flag was made by Hugh Lyons & Company of Lansing, Michigan - KLZ: A mile high pioneer, KLZ-AM signed on in 1922 as Denver’s first commercial radio station. KLZ was first licensed as a broadcasting station on March 10, 1922 to the Reynolds Radio Company. However, the company's president, Dr. William D. "Doc" Reynolds, Jr., had been making experimental broadcasts since 1920, and the station traditionally traced its founding to that year. The call letters originally belonged to a ship named the “Speedwell” which was lost at sea on September 29, 1920. Superstition precluded call signs of ships being assigned to other ships, so they became available for land based stations. Reynolds was randomly assigned KLZ. |
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| Mel Torme (2nd from right) singing with a quartette in front of a WE 618A microphone with KLZ flag |
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| KYW Cleveland, microphone |
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| WOR, New York City, NY Mutual Radio. Flag mounted on a Western Electric 633a microphone |
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| Secretary of State John Foster Dulles stands behind WOR/Mutual microphones with same style of flag. |
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| WTMA, Charleston, South Carolina - vintage flag on a RCA 74-B microphone |
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| WTMA's Bill Walton with flag and microphone |
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| KTTV, Los Angeles, CA. Vintage flag on an WE 633a microphone. Call letters stand for "Times Television" reflecting the original owner, the LA Times newspaper |
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| Vintage microphone flag from KTTV Television, Los Angeles, CA. Station signed on in 1949, owned by the LA Times and CBS. Currently known as FOX 11. |
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| Pioneer radio station WRR, Dallas TX microphone and call letter flag |
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| Vintage WCAU Radio Microphone and Station Flag, Philadelphia, PA |
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| Vintage WCAU Radio Microphone and Station Flag, Philadelphia, PA |
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| WEBR Vintage Microphone Flag, Buffalo, New York |
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| Pioneer Philadelphia, PA Radio Station WIP |
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| A rare example of microphone flag from KDKA Pittsburgh, PA. The station is regarded as the first commercial radio station in America signing on in 1920 |
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| Another image of a KDKA microphone flag in use. The microphone is a Western Electric 618a. |
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| Vintage KDKA Microphone, Pittsburgh, PA |
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| WJW Cleveland, Ohio - Legendary radio station known for its pioneer disc jockey Alan Freed. WJW was early to adopt rock & roll as a commercial radio format. |
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| WJW's Alan Freed uses a Western Electric 633a microphone during an early rock & roll concert in Cleveland. The WE mic can be seen in the center. |
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| WLAC Radio, Nashville, TN Music City, USA ABOUT WLAC: Signed on November 24, 1926 by the Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Nashville, Tennessee with call letter that reflected its ownership. In 1942, the station increased its power to 50,000 watts reaching parts of 28 states and three Canadian provinces. Although its daytime programing featured a full service of network shows, local news, farm reports, and “middle of the road” music, it was its nighttime programing that created an American broadcasting legend. Beginning in the 1950s and continuing through the 70s, WLAC was home to a legendary group of rhythm and blues broadcasters that included Bill "Hossman" Allen, Gene Nobles, John “R” Richbourg and Herman Grizzard. The station’s clear channel status brought “race music” to African-American and young white listeners and influenced a generation of musicians. For example, Duane & Greg Allman credited WLAC as being a source of inspiration for their artistic development. The station was a pioneer in the promotion of the careers of James Brown, Ray Charles, B. B. King, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard among others. |
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| WOL Radio, Washington, DC, RCA 50-A Microphone. WOL provided FDR's Fireside Chat feed to the Mutual Network. ABOUT WOL: Originally known as WRHF when it first went on the air on December 22, 1924. The station changed call letters to WOL on November 11, 1928. In 1936, WOL joined the Mutual Broadcasting System and became a critical component supplying the network with public affairs programing from the nation’s Capital. WOL microphones were part of Mutual’s broadcasting of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats. On January 26, 1950, the F.C.C. approved a call letter swap with WWDC. The change took place February 20, 1950. The new WOL was Washington's top rated rhythm and blues music station through the 1960s and 1970s. |
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| Eleanor Roosevelt at Washington, D.C. Radio station WOL presenting a "My People" program devoted to African Americans. A RCA 50A microphone featuring our WOL flag can be seen being used in this image taken on February 13, 1943. |
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| KSTP St. Paul Minneapolis, MN flag on an RCA 88a microphone. ABOUT KSTP: The flagship AM radio station of Hubbard Broadcasting, which also owns several other television and radio stations across the United States. KSTP's AM signal at 1500 kHz is the product of a 1928 merger between two other Twin Cities stations. WAMD ("Where All Minneapolis Dances") and KFOY had each started broadcasting a few years earlier. Stanley E. Hubbard's WAMD went on the air for the first time on February 13, 1925, originally broadcasting live dance music from a local ballroom. It is claimed that this was the first radio station to be completely supported by running paid advertisements. One of the popular broadcasts on the station was the KSTP Sunset Valley Barn Dance. |
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| KSTP 88a RCA microphone in use with boxer Joe Lewis. |
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| WSLI, Jackson, MS (Mississippi) |
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ABOUT WSLI - WSLI became Jackson, Mississippi’s second radio station when it went on the air in September of 1938. It was owned by the Standard Life Insurance Company and the call letters “WSLI” represented the name of the licensee. It signed on from studios located in the Robert E. Lee Hotel. The transmitter was located on High Street, near the Pearl River. WSLI was affiliated with NBC’s Blue Network. L.M. Sepaugh was named the first Manager. WSLI had the distinction of employing Mississippi’s first women announcers, Miss Nancy Chambers and Miss Virginia Metz.
The station was originally located at 1450am; moved to 930am. Call letters changed sometime around 2006. Currently known as WSFZ, “SuperSport 930.” As some point, the station was sold to Mississippi College. In 1998 Russ Robinson secured a deal to buy the station and moved WSLI off campus. Finding office space in Clinton, Robinson said a large majority of the equipment was obsolete and the station pretty much started from scratch.
One of the station’s longtime broadcasters was James Huston Neal, affectionately known as "Farmer Jim.” Neal joined WSLI in 1947 and was given the job of reading the early morning farm reports. As his popularity increased, the station gave Neal the nickname "Farmer Jim," claiming he woke up with the chickens each morning. Farmer Jim's formula was successful by including a little down home humor, a little news, a little music, ad-libbed commercials and an imaginary sidekick named “Feist Dog.” Neal’s had the top rated radio program in Jackson for over 40 years until his retirement in 1997. He passed away in 2006.
Other Facts:Hank Williams performed live on the Farm Jim Show on 2/21/50. WSLI Bob Rall was credited for founding one of the first “talk shows” in Jackson. 1953, WSLI-TV Ch. 12 signed on by Jackson Daily News as a CBS affiliate. WSLI-TV merged with WJTV-TV in 1955 after purchase by the Hederman family, owners of The Clarion-Ledger, bought the Daily News
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| WGN Chicago, Radio - RCA Vintage microphone with flag |
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| WGN announcer Jack Brickhouse, reports from a boat with Fire Chief Anthony J. Mullaney. |
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| KYW: Group W’s (Westinghouse Broadcasting's) famous set of “traveling call letters”. KYW was founded in Chicago in 1922, calls moved to Philadelphia in 1934, transferred to Cleveland in 1956. Returned to Philly in 1965 where the calls currently reside. This flag dates from KYW's Cleveland era |
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| Vintage flag from KYW Philadelphia, PA |
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| WSB Radio, Atlanta, Georgia - A pioneer station in the Southern United States. Vintage Microphone Flag Western Electric 639a |
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| Legendary WRR broadcaster Jim Lowe holding a RCA 88-A and vintage WRR mic flag |
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| WNYC Western Electric “8 Ball” Model 630-A - ABOUT WNYC signed on air July 8, 1924. Owned by City of New York, the station became one of the first municipality owned broadcasting stations in the United States. This “public” frequency was one of the stations that formed National Public Radio in 1971. The 630a first appeared in Western Electric ads & catalogs in 1935 and can be seen being used in archive photos until the late 40s. |
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| Vintage microphone flag from WWJ Radio, Detroit, Michigan. Considered one of the pioneer, if not first, commercial radio stations in the world. Signed on August 20, 1920. |
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| Microphone flag from WWJ radio, Detroit. Made to fit a Western Electric 630a |
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| A one-time, Top40 powerhouse in Rochester, New York - WBBF |
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NOTE: I am a collector of Buffalo, New York radio and television artifacts. I am most interested in trading for stations such as WGR, WBEN, WEBR, WBNY, WHDL, WJJL, WKBW, etc. Please contact me at mbiniasz@me.com if interested in trading.
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Below are the vintage radio station flags that I am willing to consider trades. Mics and flags are also available for television, film and theatrical rentals.
KDKA - Pittsburgh, PA (made for a Western Electric 618A) KLZ - Denver, Colorado (made for a Western Electric 618A) KSTP - Minneapolis/St. Paul (fits a RCA 88-A) KTTV - Los Angeles, CA (fits a Western Electric 633A)
KYW - Cleveland, Ohio (made for a RCA 44) KYW - Cleveland, Ohio (made to be used on a mic stand) KYW - Philadelphia, PA (made for a RCA 88-A, WE 633A or EV 645/650) KPQ - Wenatchee, WA (made for Shure 556a) WBBF - Rochester, New York (fits a RCA 74-B) WCAU - Philadelphia, PA (fits various smaller sized microphones including WE 633a) WGN - Chicago, Illinois (made for a Western Electric 618A; fitted on a Shure 55)
WHER - Memphis, Tennessee (fits a RCA 77) WIP - Philadelphia, PA (fits Western Electric 639) WJR - Detroit. MI (made to be used on mic stand)
WJW - Cleveland, Ohio (fits a Western Electric 633A)
WLAC - Nashville, Tennessee (fits a Western Electric 633A) WNYC - New York City, NY (made for a Western Electric 630A) WOAI - San Antonio, TX (fits a RCA 88a)
WOL - Washington, DC (Fits a Western Electric 618A or RCA 50-A) WOR - New York City, NY (made for a Western Electric 633A)
WRR - Dallas, TX (made for a RCA 88-A) WSB - Atlanta, Georgia (fits a Western Electric 639) WSLI - Jackson, Mississippi (fits a Shure 556A) WTMA - Charleston, SC (fits a RCA 74-B)
WWJ - Detroit, MI (made to be used on a mic stand) WWJ - Detroit, MI (made for a Western Electric 630A)
Email me at mbiniasz@me.com if interested.
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Name Plate/Microphone Flag Manufacturers
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NOTE: Research ongoing. Two manufacturers supplied the majority of call letter plates/flags to radio station.
Hugh Lyons & Company, Lansing, Michigan - More to come
Glenn H. Walker Manufacturing Company, Norwood, Ohio - "Since 1935, Name Plates Our Business, Not A Sideline."
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| Sales sheet from Hugh Lyon & Co., Lansing, Michigan |
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| 1947 Sales sheet from Hugh Lyon & Co., Lansing, Michigan |
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| Sales Sheet from the Glenn H. Walker Mfg. Co., Norwood, Ohio |
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| Mic flag/plate sales sheet from the Glenn H. Walker Mfg. Co., Norwood, Ohio |
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| Standard Radio & Electronic Products Co (SREPCO) of Dayton, Ohio - 1948, Broadcasting Magazine |
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| 1940's era ad for Hugh Lyons Co, Lansing, MI. The company was one of the primary producers of microphone call letter plates/flags. |
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| Srepco, Radio Microphone Flags, Nameplates, etc - Dayton |
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| Srepco, Radio Microphone Flags, Nameplates, etc - Dayton |
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| Call Letter Plates from a 1953 Gates Catalog |
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Gallery of Microphone Flags
For research purposes. Looking for information on the history, fonts used & the production of mic flags from the 30s-60s. Images of flags from private collections, historic photographs or that have been for sale/auction.
NOTE: Most of these flags are NOT in my collection and I have no information about ownership or location. Email me if you have information about microphone flags - Rocketship7@aol.com
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| Hugh Lyons Company flag/plates |
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| From a 1942 Shure catalog - Model A72A - Call Letter Plate |
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| Hugh Lyons Company Flag/Plates for RCA 44s |
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| WIBU Microphone with flag as published in the August 1940 issue of Radio News. The flag was manufactured by the Glen H. Walker Mfg. Co., Norwood, Ohio |
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| Go Cubs! Go WGN! Microphone collector Marty Biniasz with a vintage WGN mic flag. |
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| Collection of vintage radio station studio microphones. Stations include WLAC Nashville, WJW Cleveland, WOL Washington, DC, WGN Chicago, WNYC & WEVD New York City |
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| Saluting two pioneer, centennial radio stations (1920-2020). WWJ Detroit - August 20, 1920; KDKA, Pittsburgh - November 2, 1920. Both stations claim to be the world's first commercial radio station. |
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