Ok, d00dz, I’m confused on this one. What, exactly, do the letters that make up radio station names mean? Nobody I know can figure out just what they stand for!
I’m the mighty Bonecrusher and I crushed NYC
Wasn’t nearly half as bad as they made it look like on TV
I jumped down off the empire state and landed on my head
Got up and did a little funky dance just to prove I wasn’t dead!
All Canadian radio station call letters start with the letter “C”.(CFCF-Montreal: "Canada’s First, Canada’s Finest) Although this stands for “Canada” many stations have used the “C” from something else as well.
For example: CFRB (Toronto) “Coming From Rogers Broadcasting”
CKAN (York Region) “Covering Keswick, Aurora (and) Newmarket”
There’s plenty more: (CFYI-Information station --FYI, get it?)
Out of Buffalo there’s WGR (aka GR’55) which stanfd for “Wireless George Rand.”
My fate keeps getting in the way of my destiny.
Mexican stations begin with X.
As for the other letters, they are chosen by the station; the only rule is that it be unique. Often the letters do have a meaning of some sort. For instance (from some radio and TV stations I know, some now defunct):
WGY – G for General Electric, Y for the last letter in Schenectady, its location.
WGFM – General Electric FM station
WRPI – Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute’s college station.
WRUC – Radio Union College
WTEN – TV station channel 10.
WLVI – TV Channel 56 in Boston (clever and subtle)
WOLF – situated on Wolf Rd. in Syracuse.
WNBC, WCBS, WABC – flagship stations for their respective networks.
WNHC – New Haven, Connecticut
WTRY – Troy, NY
WAST – Albany, Schenectady, Troy. Now it’s WNYT for New York Television
WMHT – Mohawk Hudson Television
WUSV – Union Street Video
WNET – National Educational Television
WKRP – Carp 
Nowadays, it’s likely the letters are chosen to look like an easily promotable word:
WRVR – “The River”
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.
Try this link for a list of call letter names:
Sorry about the link. You cannot link directly to the document. Click Here and navigate through the site.
Radio stations being “called” anything is a fairly new thing. Yes, older stations were named after the owners to a degree, but they didn’t really tout that fact too much, certainly not like you heear how WZZZ is actually alled “Z-Rock” and WQQQ is called “Q-107.”
Yer pal,
Satan
http://www.raleighmusic.com/board/Images/devil.gif
TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
Two weeks, four days, 3 hours, 48 minutes and 4 seconds.
726 cigarettes not smoked, saving $90.79.
Life saved: 2 days, 12 hours, 30 minutes.
What I found interesting in traveling the country is the lack of uniqueness. Every city has a “River”, “Kiss FM”, “K-Rock”, or some other lame marketing scheme. I guess the call letters now are picked by the way they roll of the tongue or their marketability.
Give the the old guy picking the records himself anyday.
And as far as call signs go, there is a legal requirement that the station identify itself at (or close to) the top of every hour. Used to be this would be a stentorian voice or a musical jingle (“W-L-S, Chi-ca-go!”) Now, usually, it’s 10 before the hour, tucked in between commercials, and mumbled very quickly. (I suppose it’s to divert attention from the fact that the station that serves your metro area is actually licensed to a town 30 miles outside town that is still POd that somebody bought THEIR station that had THEIR news and THEIR high school football games so it could pull a 1 rating in the metro market playing “The Best Mix of the 80s, 90s, and Today”.)
I know way too much about radio. I was always told I had a perfect face for radio.
I had once heard that the call letters for Chicago’s WGN stands for “World’s Greatest Newspaper” so named by Tribune owner Colonel Mc.Cormick. I do know he announced the contest to design the Trib Tower as a contest to design “the world’s most beautiful building for the world’s greatest newspaper.” So that can’t be far off.
The Impossible is out of your price range.
We are running a special on The Highly Improbable, though.
Just a few more I know (from the Atlanta area)
WXIA - Channel 11, Atlanta (XI = 11)
WGST - Georgia STate broadcasting
WSB - We’re the South’s Best
WGTV - Georgia public TeleVision
WREK - Georgia Tech student station (Wreck)
WAGA - Atlanta, GA
“Radio stations being ‘called’ anything is a fairly new thing. Yes, older stations were
named after the owners to a degree, but they didn’t really tout that fact too much…”
As we’ve already heard, Chicago’s WGN stands for “Worlds Greatest Newspaper,” meaning the Chicago Tribune, which still owns WGN radio and television. Believe me, you knew – and you still are reminded – that the Cubs, the Tribune, and WGN are commonly owned.
And WLS Chicago is named for it’s original owners, the “World’s Largest Store,” Sears Roebuck & Company. Back in the '20s, Sears “cross-marketed” WLS and the radio sets it sold: in the catalog, they emphasized how the previously-isolated farmer could buy a radio (through the catalog, of course) and listen to farm-related programming on WLS. Sears doesn’t own WLS anymore, though.
So, no, the original owners of 1920s-era radio stations DID emphasize their ownership. Do you think omnipresent advertising and cross-marketing by conglomerate companies was invented in the last twenty years? Not by a bloody long shot!
I believe you can fulfill the location requirement through the use of a P.O. Box. For years, there was a WQBK in Rennselaer, when the station was in Glenmont – on the other side of the Hudson. But they had a P.O. Box in Rennselaer.
Other examples of what the letters mean:
WPLJ – named after the Frank Zappa song “WPLJ,” where the initial stand for “White Port and Lemon Juice” – sort of a wine cooler.
WSNY – In ScheNectadY
WYPX – one of several Pax network stations. All have PX for Pax in their call letters.
WTIC – Television In Connecticut
WHNB – Hartford - New Britain
WQED – Public TV station in Philadelphia. “QED” is, of course, the traditional letters put after a mathematical proof.
WAMC – Albany Medical Center/College
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.
I’ve heard this many times, and for the most part it seems to be true. However, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (considered by most to be west of the Mississippi), there are a number of stations whose call signs begin with “W.”
Most, to my recollection (I don’t live there anymore), start with “K”, but here are some notable exceptions:
WBAP 820 AM (News/Talk)
WRR ?? FM (Classical Music)
WFAA TV Channel 8 (Was the ABC affiliate, might still be)
Those are the only ones I can think of right off, but WBAP and WFAA, in particular, are both pretty significant (read - large audience) exceptions to the “rule.”
Are there any other metro areas in the US which have something of a mix? Does anybody know why these stations go against the normal call sign conventions?
There are some older stations that existed before the W / K rule was created that were allowed to keep their existing call letters. The oldest radio station in the country is KDKA, Pittsburgh, located well east of the Mississippi. I can STILL hear that damned jingle (descending melody) K … D … K … A … Pittsbuuuuurgh.
From the FCC website’s page on Station Identification and Call Signs:
[quote]
HOW CALL SIGNS ARE DESIGNATED
Since the early days of wireless telegraphy, starting with marine use, radio stations have had their own identification. Under international agreement, since 1927 the alphabet has been divided among nations for basic call sign use. The United States, for example, is assigned three letters–N,K, and W-- to serve as initial call letters for the exclusive use of its radio stations. It also shares the initial letter A with some other countries. The letter A is assigned to the Army and Air Force; N to the Navy and Coast Guard, and K and W to domestic stations, both government and non-government.
The Communications Act gives the FCC authority to designate call letters to all United States radio stations. This is done on an individual station basis. A and N block assignments are designated for government use. Further details on the FCC’s requirements for the identification of radio stations may be found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, Part 2, (Subpart D) of the rules. Some types of radio stations and equipment, such as radar stations and diathermy equipment, are exempt from such requirements.
BROADCAST STATION IDENTIFICATION
Broadcast stations in this country are assigned call signs beginning with K or W. Generally speaking, those beginning with K are assigned to stations West of the Mississippi River and in U.S. territories and possessions, while those beginning with W are assigned to broadcast stations East of the Mississippi River. During radio’s infancy, most of the broadcast stations were in the East. As stations began operating, the Mississippi became the dividing line between K and W call signs. The few exceptions to existing call signs within this system were assigned before the allocation plan was adopted. Station KDKA, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is one example.
Since the beginning of broadcasting, stations have had the privilege of requesting specific call signs. In requesting their preferences for certain letters of the alphabet, broadcasters have presented combinations of names, places or slogans. For example, the letters NBC are used for stations owned by the National Broadcasting Company, CBS for those of the Columbia Broadcasting System, and ABC for the American Broadcasting Companies. Examples of individual station call letters are: WGN, Chicago (“World’s Greatest Newspaper”), WNYC, New York (New York City municipal station); KAGH, Crossett, AK, (“Keep Arkansas Green Home”); WIOD, Miami (“Wonderful Isle of Dreams”); WLS, Chicago (“Worlds Largest Store”); WACO, Waco Texas); WTOP, Washington, D.C. (“Top of the Dial”); KFDR, Grand Coulee, Washington, (Franklin D. Roosevelt); WCFL, Chicago (“Chicago Federation of Labor”); WMTC Vancleve, KY, (“Win Men to Christ”); WGCD, Chester, S.C. (“Wonderful Guernsey Center of Dixie”); Educational TV station WXXW, Chicago, uses the Roman numerals for its channel 20; and KABL, Oakland, CA, selected its letters to represent San Francisco’s famous cable cars. If a new broadcast station makes no specific request, it is assigned a call sign by the FCC. Since 1946 the FCC has not guaranteed specific call signs to be granted prior to the grant of a construction permit or special temporary authority.
As broadcast stations began to increase in the early 1920’s, the three letter call sign could no longer accommodate the growing number of stations, making it necessary to add a fourth letter.
With the advent of FM and TV in 1941, new call signs for all such stations were not assigned. Rather, since many FM and TV stations were operated by the same AM licensee at the same license area, the general practice was for the associated FM or TV station to simply add “-FM” or “-TV”, to the call sign of the co-owned AM station. International Radio Regulations do not require the use of call signs by broadcast stations if some other suitable means of identification is employed. For example, many foreign stations identify by announcing, "The Voice of … "or “Radio…”
Here’s a few TV and radio stations from New Mexico:
The most popular variant is KNMsomething. KNME is the local PBS station, KNMX is a Hispanic radio station, KNMQ used to be a radio station…
KRQE - local CBS station. It’s in Albuquerque. Get it? AlbuKRQE? (pause for gales of laughter to subside)
KOAT - ABC. I guess they just thought it looked nice.
KKOB - Often shortened to just KOB, this is NBC on both TV and radio.
There used to be a station called KIVA (it’s an Indian thing, look it up) which merged with the old Fox station to become KASA (oh, the pun of it all…).
Now, about my current home city, Lubbock: the college radio station and the local PBS station share the letters KTXT. The TXT is an obvious reference to Texas Tech.
KJTV - Fox. Just cuz it sounds snappy, once again.
KAMC - ABC. Oddly, they often refer to themselves as “K-Mac.” Why, I dunno.
KLBK - CBS. Pretty obvious reference to Lubbock.
KCBD - NBC. I have no freakin’ idea where they got this one.
Most popular radio station hereabouts is probably KFMX, known almost exclusively as just FMX. Others include KMMX (your music mix!) and my favorite in the call letter wars, KOHM. The local totally-hickified country station is KLLL. I believe they play up the fact that Ls look like boots.
Consarn it, I forgot to include a great call-letter related story. It’s almost certainly a UL, but it’s funny nonetheless.
North Texas University had, just like many universitys, a radio station. They chose call letters KNTU, to go with the college.
Later the university changed its name to University of North Texas. The call letters of the radio station, however, were not changed to reflect the new name. For obvious reasons.
Gotta disagree with you on one the items, tanstaafl. WGST originally belonged to Georgia Tech, formerly the Georgia School of Technology.
Here in Detroit there used to be a station called WLLZ, which they called Wheelz. The rumor, unsubstantiated, was that it stood for We Love Led Zeppelin. Of course the wheels makes sense because Detroit is the motor city.
We also have a WRIF, RIFF…