# Radio call letters that have local significance **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 4, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799 "2007-12-04T17:54:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/41 "2007-12-05T01:26:36Z")
Surprised nobody’s mentioned W **BAL** in **BAL** timore, the station is a 50,000 watt flamethrower, I’ve heard it in NYC on clear days. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/42 "2007-12-05T03:32:03Z")
In Minneapolis/St Paul there are: KSTP (K - St Paul) KMSP (K - Minneapolis, St. Paul) WLOL (W - Land of Lakes) WDGY (W - Dr. George Young (founder)) - OK, that’s not a place, but just a bit or trivia I learned once.) ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/43 "2007-12-05T03:38:10Z")
WLUP was mentioned. Prior to those call letters, it was WCFL, owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor. Who remembers Larry Lujack? ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/44 "2007-12-05T03:51:33Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] For example, 96.5 KOIT makes sense in SF, which has Coit Tower. Similarly, 104.5 KFOG is a good way to allude to the fog that’s a pervasive part of life in the City here. [/QUOTE] Yet you forget KSFO? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/45 "2007-12-05T03:52:00Z")
WSOY, “Y-103”, in Decatur, which billed itself as the “Soybean Capital of the World” for decades (we have a [Soy Capital Bank)](http://www.soybank.com/contact.htm), largely thanks to the presence of Archer Daniels Midland, until the city council decided to change the motto to, first, “Pride of the Prairie”, and then the slightly defensive “We Like It Here”. There is also a Soy City Motel. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/46 "2007-12-05T04:44:11Z")
Here in SoCal there’s KOST. Because, you know, we’re along the coast. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/47 "2007-12-05T05:21:46Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] I was always told that Chicago’s WBBM stood for World’s Biggest BM. Noone would tell me what the BM stood for, though. [/QUOTE] Per the station’s [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WBBM_%28AM%29), it originally meant World’s Best Battery Maker, a reference to the original owners, the Mallory Company (later Duracell). After a year or so the owners sold out Mallory and changed the slogan to We Broadcast Better Music. [KOIL](http://nebradio.tripod.com/koil.html), Omaha, was started in 1925 by a motor oil company. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/48 "2007-12-05T05:22:48Z")
We have KHOU here in Houston, TX. We also have KPRC, which started out doing farm reports. The PRC stands for Peas, Rice and Cotton. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/49 "2007-12-05T05:30:28Z")
[QUOTE=Olive, The Other Reindeer] OK - since I see some acronyms creeping in, WICC, in Bridgeport, CT got it’s name because when the station was founded, Bridgeport was the Industrial Capital of Connecticut. Olive [/QUOTE] And WTIC in Hartford is an acronym for Travelers Insurance Company. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/50 "2007-12-05T05:35:42Z")
There’s a station in Kemmerer, Wyoming, where it must get pretty cold in the winter. KBRR! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/51 "2007-12-05T05:40:10Z")
Indianapolis must be the all-time winner in word callsigns, having had at one time or another WIRE, WISH, WIFE, WTHR (channel THiRteen), and WNDY (W-Indy). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/52 "2007-12-05T14:01:23Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] They’re not radio call letters, but TV ones – they’re the Roman Numerals for the station. Like **WXXI** , PBS Channel 21 in Rochester, NY, or **WLVI** , independent channel 56 in Boston. I know there’s at least one more, and probably quite a few. [/QUOTE] If I recall things correctly, a Buffalo station found that it could use Roman numerals in the middle of **WIVB** , its callsign, to create the station’s slogan: “We’re For Buffalo.” I believe the station was Channel 4, as well, making the “IV” even more appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/53 "2007-12-05T14:31:04Z")
Lansing’s CBS TV is WLNS logically enough. WOOD tv radio in Grand Rapids has the city’s reputation as the furniture city as its origin. The television was renamed WOTV for some time before reverting back to WOOD. WWUP-TV in Sault Ste. Marie is named for the Upper Peninsula. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/54 "2007-12-05T16:33:36Z")
[WISE](http://www.wise.virginia.edu/college_relations/archive/2003/2003-09-08_wise_wvtf.html) in Wise, VA; operated by Virginia Tech. They purchesed it from UVA. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/55 "2007-12-05T16:50:23Z")
WAKE in Winston-Salem, NC; operated by Wake Forest University. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/56 "2007-12-05T16:54:55Z")
[QUOTE=Spoons] If I recall things correctly, a Buffalo station found that it could use Roman numerals in the middle of **WIVB** , its callsign, to create the station’s slogan: “We’re For Buffalo.” I believe the station was Channel 4, as well, making the “IV” even more appropriate. [/QUOTE] And before that, it was WBEN-TV, owned by the Buffalo Evening News. As far as I know, there is still a WBEN at 930 AM, but it hasn’t been operated by the News for ages. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/57 "2007-12-05T16:57:21Z")
[WING](http://www.wingam.com/home.asp) in Dayton, OH; originally named for that city’s role in the history of human flight. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/58 "2007-12-05T17:07:56Z")
[QUOTE=fishbicycle] WLUP was mentioned. Prior to those call letters, it was WCFL, owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor. Who remembers Larry Lujack? [/QUOTE] I never thought I would find occassion to post [these two old](http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/screen.php?c=413&m=lujack&p=1) Larry Lujack WLS commercials but [here they are.](http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/screen.php?c=493&m=lujack&p=1) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/59 "2007-12-05T17:14:01Z")
According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL), a station in Atlantic City was supposed to get WALL, named for its seawall, but a mix up led to them getting WMID instead and WALL went to a station in Middletown, NY. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799/60 "2007-12-05T17:29:28Z")
WBOX in Bogalusa, LA; possibly a reference to its cardboard, paper, and lumber industries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-call-letters-that-have-local-significance/428799.md?page=4)