# Radio station that broadcasts only the time **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570 "2015-09-10T21:18:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/1 "2015-09-10T21:18:26Z")
Long ago there was a radio station, maybe shortwave, that only broadcast announcements of the time. IIRC, the GMT was announced every 10 seconds, with beeps in between at 1 second intervals. What was that station? And what happened to it? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/2 "2015-09-10T21:21:00Z")
Possibly [WWV](http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/wwv.cfm): > [@](#): > > NIST radio station WWV broadcasts time and frequency information 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to millions of listeners worldwide. WWV is located in Fort Collins, Colorado, about 100 kilometers north of Denver. The broadcast information includes time announcements, standard time intervals, standard frequencies, UT1 time corrections, a BCD time code, geophysical alerts and marine storm warnings. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/3 "2015-09-10T21:21:04Z")
WWV? Still around. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/4 "2015-09-10T21:23:57Z")
WWV - That’s it! Thanks ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/5 "2015-09-10T21:40:16Z")
There are a lot of stations that broadcast the time. Back when I was in college (many years ago) I had a shortwave receiver and I used to set my watch by one of them. I did some googling and found this list: [http://www.dxinfocentre.com/time.htm](http://www.dxinfocentre.com/time.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/6 "2015-09-10T22:38:19Z")
Don’t all radio stations have to announce the time and their call letters periodically, no matter what sort of programming they feature? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/7 "2015-09-10T22:46:17Z")
> [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > Don’t all radio stations have to announce the time and their call letters periodically, no matter what sort of programming they feature? Assuming we’re talking about US broadcasters, [yes.](http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title47-vol4/xml/CFR-2012-title47-vol4-sec73-1201.xml) [Quote=FCC Regulations] **§ 73.1201** Station identification. (a) _When regularly required._ Broadcast station identification announcements shall be made: (1) At the beginning and ending of each time of operation, and (2) Hourly, as close to the hour as feasible, at a natural break in program offerings. Television and Class A television broadcast stations may make these announcements visually or aurally. [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/8 "2015-09-10T22:50:15Z")
I listened to that on shortwave as a kid. It was on 10Mhz… “dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum… At the tone, 15 hours, 46 minutes, coordinated universal time… BONG… dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum…” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/9 "2015-09-10T23:13:51Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Assuming we’re talking about US broadcasters, [yes.](http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title47-vol4/xml/CFR-2012-title47-vol4-sec73-1201.xml) Station identifications currently require the call letters and city of license but I don’t think they’re required to announce the time. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/10 "2015-09-11T04:08:33Z")
You’re hearing WWV on shortwave, perhaps on a radio like we had that had both weather bands and the WWV time band. It’s actually kind of cool to see how each minute is divided by the clicks, shown [here](http://tf.nist.gov/stations/wwv-wheel.htm). There is also WWVH in Kauai Hawaii, which we visited in 1986. There was a tourist guidebook that said you could visit them, and I was able to convince the wife to humor me and stop there (it’s kind of at the end of the road on the south side of the island). The security gate guard asked what we wanted, and they just waved us through. We entered the building and an engineer set down his sandwich and bag of chips and walked us around the atomic clocks, answering any questions we had. I could have upset the US time system by flipping a power switch (but I didn’t). I wonder if they still allow visitors due to security concerns. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/11 "2015-09-11T04:08:47Z")
There is also [WWVH](http://tf.nist.gov/stations/wwvh.htm) in Hawaii. WWV transmits continuously on 2.5, 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz. WWVH transmits on 2.5, 5, 10, and 15 MHz. Depends on what time of the day you’re listening as to which one you can pick up. Us ham operators know these things. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/12 "2015-09-11T15:59:13Z")
If you have an “Atomic Clock” that sets itself, that is usually/always accomplished by it syncing to the WWV broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/13 "2015-09-11T16:03:35Z")
By the way, there is a Twitter account that only broadcasts the time (actually my favorite Twitter account): [https://twitter.com/big\_ben\_clock](https://twitter.com/big_ben_clock) ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/14 "2015-09-11T21:08:39Z")
Canada broadcasts on station CHU from Ontario. WWV is sometimes difficult on the east coast. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has a web site: [http://time.gov/widget/widget.html](http://time.gov/widget/widget.html). It even measures the Internet time lag and displays the estimated error. It is usually accurate to within 0.2 seconds. I hit reload if the error is more than 0.3 seconds. Now that long distance is free, the National Bureau of Standards has a recording at 202 762 1401. Keep in mind that cell phones may have a lag of about 0.3(?) seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-station-that-broadcasts-only-the-time/730570/15 "2015-09-12T02:40:48Z")
I always rather liked WWVB, which broadcasts on a much lower frequency of 60 kHz (IIRC). It broadcasts a time code, rather than an audio signal. Those “Atomic Clock” devices that use radio generally use this signal.