# TV and radio station call letter history and long-distance viewing **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2023, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566 "2023-10-14T14:30:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/21 "2023-10-14T22:23:55Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > [**My uncle**](https://www.amandfmmorningside.com/wpgc_marv_brooks.html) was a broadcaster and a DJ at WPGC-FM (Prince George’s County) in the 60’s. I remember him well. Not to mention Barry Richards, ‘the boss with the hot sauce.’ ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/22 "2023-10-14T22:25:43Z")
> **[WJHU](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJHU)** > > WJHU is a radio station based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Johns Hopkins University owns the station, a community radio station with student volunteers, who are mainly on-air deejays and other program hosts. Programming blocks are divided into formats, dealing mostly with music, sports and cultural life: classical, dance, folk, jazz, public affairs, sports, rap, and rock formats — along with a few specialty shows outside any of the formats. Its studios are located on the Homewood campus. > WJHU had... > In 1977, the student managers of the station and the university administration agreed to push for an FCC license to broadcast on 88.1 FM.[1] Official and budgetary support from the university administration made this possible, and final approval for a 10-watt station on 88.1 FM came from the FCC in 1978.[2] > Faced with FCC deregulation of low-wattage FM stations in the early 1980s, and in order to protect the frequency, the student managers decided to apply for a 25,000 watt license, which would extend the audience throughout the Baltimore and Washington DC area.[2] This became the largest radio station power increase on record.[citation needed] The application was approved in 1982, however the station went off the air in 1983-4 due to renovation of AMR II in which the studios were located.[3] The station returned to the air in February 1985.[3] > In the summer of 1985, the university hired a full-professional staff to run WJHU.[2][3] Broadcasting classical music and talk, it quickly out-paced its classical competition (WBJC) and scored solid audience numbers. Over the years it progressively added more content from National Public Radio and its partners, shifting to the format of news/talk in the daytime and overnight weekday hours, and music (mainly jazz) programming during evenings and nights. > WJHU became the area National Public Radio affiliate,[2] and in the fall of 1998, it added overnight coverage of World Radio Network (WRN). ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/23 "2023-10-14T23:02:34Z")
Nice to know, thanks. I only listened to them for 1 year, when I lived in the freshman dorms. They could be fun and quirky, or just weird or all 3 at once. When I moved out of their range (living a whole 100 yards away from AMR II) I sort of forgot about them. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/24 "2023-10-14T23:10:34Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Two big radio and TV stations in Chicago are WLS and WGN. WLS was owned by the Sears department store chain and stands for World’s Largest Store. WGN was owned by the Chicago Tribune newspaper and stands for World’s Largest Newspaper. > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > You forget the 3rd one, WBBM: World’s biggest BM. > > (They claim it stood for We Broadcast Better Music). PBS station WTTW is “Window to the World”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/25 "2023-10-14T23:15:33Z")
Another Chicago one: WFLD-TV, which was originally an independent, before joining the new Fox network in the 1980s, was named for Field Enterprises: the station’s original owner, which was run by heirs of Chicago retailing pioneer Marshall Field. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/26 "2023-10-15T00:10:11Z")
My college radio station was WRUC, for “radio Union College.” It started broadcasting in 1919, making it one of the oldest in the country. There’s WTEN channel 10 in Albany and there once was a Boston station, channel WLXI, cannel 56. Origins should be obvious. WNHC was out of New Haven, Connecticut. WGY came from the first letter of “General Electric” and the last letter of “SchenectadY.” In Albany, WAST (Albany, Schenectady, Troy) became WNYT. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/27 "2023-10-15T02:07:27Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > What is now 1590 WFBR in Baltimore is not the original WFBR, which was on 1300kc for decades. Thank you for that – I’m not going crazy after all; I _knew_ there had to be radio in Balto before 1963. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/28 "2023-10-15T02:09:13Z")
WOC is one of the oldest stations in my region. Being in Davenport, IA, yes, folks, that does indeed stand for “World of Chiropractic.” In the 1930s, huckster Norman Baker had a short-lived station in nearby Muscatine called KTNT. It stood for “Know The Naked Truth.” ---
**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:** [October 15, 2023, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/29 "2023-10-15T04:07:52Z")
As a kid in the 1970s, living on a farm in eastern South Dakota, we were pretty bored during hot and humid summer afternoons (before the internet and even before we had A/C). I was flipping the rotary tuner on our B&W TV, and noticed a pretty clear picture and sound on channel 2. Intrigued, I watched the soap opera until there was a break for station identification. Flagstaff Arizona!!?! I’ve learned that it a effect of atmospheric reflection or bouncing, and not really unusual. The signal disappeared after about 45 minutes, so this isn’t really what the OP asked about, but pretty memorable. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/30 "2023-10-15T04:17:56Z")
On the other hand I think sometimes the abbreviation came first and the radio owners struggled to find something it could mean. I remember a station KICD: “Keeps Information Coming Daily” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/31 "2023-10-15T04:22:32Z")
In Seattle, the NBC affiliate is KING, named for King County, WA, as it was the first station in the area. Its sister channel, which primarily shows syndicated programming and local news, is KONG. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2023, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/32 "2023-10-15T04:45:45Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > In any case, imagine my childhood delight when a new local television station arrived in town, CFCF channel 12, part of the fledgling CTV television network, and along with it, a wealth of new programs! It felt like Christmas morning! Yes, the CTV network. As a child in Calgary, we could get both CTV and CBC. On a good day, weather-wise, we might be able to pull in an American station in Montana. CBS, I believe. That’s how I got to see Captain Kangaroo. Snowy, but hey, it was Captain Kangaroo and I was a child. We moved back to Toronto, and I got to watch CFTO-TV ( **C** anada’s **F** inest, **T** oronto’s **O** wn, CTV network), and my parents insisted on listening to CFRB 1010 AM in the mornings. **C** anada’s **F** irst **R** ogers’ **B** atteryless, get it? I’m not sure that I do, but yes, that is the same Rogers that advertises Skydome in Toronto as “Rogers Centre,” and the hockey arena in Edmonton as “Rogers Place,” and to whom pretty much every Canuck owes money every month for cable TV, internet service, telephone service, cellphone service, and the like. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2023, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/33 "2023-10-15T06:41:23Z")
Speaking of WGN, the ABC affiliate in New Orleans is WGNO; the call sign originated in '72, covering “Greater New Orleans”. It was an independent station when Tribune Broadcasting bought it in '83; one could say it’s WGN in New Orleans. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/34 "2023-10-15T07:15:05Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > In the 1930s, huckster Norman Baker had a short-lived station in nearby Muscatine called KTNT. It stood for “Know The Naked Truth.” I thought those call letters sounded familiar, so I checked. There was a KTNT in Tacoma, Washington, when I was a kid. It was owned by the largest local newspaper, the Tacoma News Tribune, and signed on in 1953, making it the second oldest station in the Seattle area. They changed to KSTW in 1974, for Seattle-Tacoma Washington. Looks as though they’re still around. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/35 "2023-10-15T07:26:54Z")
Way back in 1930, in the experimental days of electromechanical TV, a play was broadcast in London and apparently picked up in Lisbon - but that was using medium-wave AM. I just mention it as a curiosity. [“The Man with the Flower in his Mouth” - all about the first ever tv play, by Derek Brady](http://www.tech-ops.co.uk/page142.html) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/36 "2023-10-15T07:47:59Z")
In Moscow, Idaho there is a station KREM ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/37 "2023-10-15T08:26:31Z")
In San Diego, the local PBS affiliate is called… KPBS. How a market that was so comparatively small at the time managed to snag that callsign I’ll never know. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/38 "2023-10-15T10:25:45Z")
I’m about 160 miles north of Milwaukee, in a fringe area at best for all TV stations, and outside the range of Milwaukee TV under normal conditions. But I have a directional antenna located in a tall pine tree, pointed south, towards the general direction of most “local” TV stations. In the forgotten analog era, I was occasionally able to pick up Milwaukee stations and ones across Lake Michigan (100 miles +) quite clearly on favorable nights. It was a positive factor that most signals were traveling over water. ETA: I did have an antenna (RF) amplifier, which was necessary to receive any TV at all (maybe still is). ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/39 "2023-10-15T11:25:29Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Much more recently in the era of digital TV, when I still lived in Toronto, I bought a flat style UHF outdoor antenna but never mounted it outdoors – I put it in the living room window behind vertical blinds. I mainly got it for reliable reception of local stations, but amazingly, I was able to get all four US networks from Buffalo and the surrounding area, a distance of as much as 80 miles. This was due to a couple of happy coincidences – the positioning of the antenna in the window happened to be pointing in almost exactly the right direction, there was unobstructed green space in front of the house, and of course the unobstructed expanse of Lake Ontario all the way to Buffalo. This works really well, unless you happen to have the much more powerful CN Tower sitting directly in the way between me and WGRZ in Buffalo. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566/40 "2023-10-15T13:29:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There’s WTEN channel 10 in Albany and there once was a **Boston station, channel WLXI, cannel 56**. Origins should be obvious. [emphasis added] Is it just me … ? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-radio-station-call-letter-history-and-long-distance-viewing/991566.md?page=3)