nelson.oldradio.comCall Letter Origins

*** UPDATE: We are saddened to report that Bob Nelson passed away in early 2019. At this time, the site has been preserved for those of you who enjoy this research. However, additions/corrections are on hold for now, until we determine who, if anyone will be the "new curator" of the call letter Origins. (If you are interested in volunteering, let us know.) Oldradio’s Radio/TV Station Release Number 346 - from 21 May 2018 The resource for Radio History on the Web is Barry Mishkind’s Broadcast Archive at OLDRADIO , the primary site for this listing of broadcast call letter origins. Of course, there’s much more information at OLDRADIO about pioneer radio stations, broadcast history and current industry issues as well. Copyright 1988-2020 by Barry Mishkind - This release of freely available Radio has grown to now include over 3645 radio and television station call letters and the significance of these call letters. In most cases, the call letters are still currently being used in the city of license shown in the list itself. If you wish to contribute or make a correction, send e-mail in plain text form ( no HTML accepted) to xxxx with the word ORIGINS included as part of the subject line. Last Modified - $Date: 2018-05-21 14:20:58-05 $ Here’s the latest Call Letter ORIGINS list. That’s the link directly to the ever-growing and frequently-updated compilation of the station call letters. After checking out the list, come back since the remainder of this document contains some interesting in-depth narratives about particular call letters and other historic as well as meta information.Thanks to Walter J. Hughes of Delhi Public Radio for this information: I started a low power FM in 2014 in Delhi Township, Ohio, a Cincinnati suburb. We’re known as Z98 and our call sign is WDTZ-LP W)e’re D)elhi T)ownship’s Z)98. An an editorial aside, the collater of this list well remembers hearing a station with a similar callsign not too far from Cincinnati. It’s WGTZ in Eaton, OH which had the memorable (and perfectly legal) hour ID of: WGTZ, Eatin’ Dayton Alive! Many thanks to Mr. George DeVault, President, Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation in Kingsport, Tennessee for an extensive list of new call letter origins and corrections. One notable example of a callsign’s meaning, near the collator of this list, is about three hours down the road in Huntsville, Texas. It’s KSAM 101.7 , named to honor Sam Houston , onetime senator from Tennessee and governor of the Volunteer State. Houston’s victory at San Jacinto in 1836 secured Texas’ independence and he later served as President of the Republic, Senator of the Lone Star State and Governor. His final resting place is at Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville. But within the 101.7 coverage area, Tennessean turned Texan, Sam Houston, lives on with KSAM . An influx of new additions, corrections and deletions have occurred in the wake of an article, Meaning of radio station call letters , posted on 21 March 2009 by David Pescovitz, at Boing Boing. In order to protect the privacy of those who responded via e-mail, attributions are not revealed here. However, an off-site database correlating the contributors to the call signs is maintained. All of the call letters in the list are provided by those who contribute using e-mail. I simply compile the listing, using a variety of text-processing tools on a Linux platform, based upon the information submitted in this manner. Admittedly, some of the meanings may have been applied after the calls were randomly assigned. Also, given the rapid pace of change in broadcasting, call letters often migrate to another location and what was once meaningful in one city no longer pertains in the new locale. The importance of call letters by radio stations has diminished over the years. In particular, changes in audience measurement methodology by Arbitron can track listening by means other than recalling a sequence of letters. In fact, broadcast facilities in a number of countries rarely, if ever, use the assigned callsign on the air, preferring to be known by a slogan that better brands the identity of the station. An article concerning Southwest Airline’s stock ticker symbol of LUV merits a mention. It’s really not too much of a stretch to draw an analogy between a NYSE or NASDAQ symbol and broadcast call letters. Some San Francisco lore comes via contributor Bill Ruck, a volunteer at the former KPH facility in Marin County, CA, who writes: Regarding KNBR , San Francisco: Original call sign was KPO . Then after WWII it was KNBC for a while. When NBC wanted that call in Los Angeles they changed the station call to KNBR . When Susquehanna Radio bought it there was some consideration of requesting the original three letter call from the FCC, but finally corporate decided that owning a three letter call 50 kW Clear Channel station (which the President really wanted) might be too confusing to the listeners, so it stayed KNBR. Now Cumulus. The NBC FM station was first KNBC-FM ; then KNBR-FM ; then KNAI News And Information (short lived), then KYUU ("for you"), and a dozen different ones since then. I think now it is KFRC , although those of us that have been around for along time will always consider "KFRC" to be "The Big 610". Another call sign, although not broadcast, history: PH was a maritime station started in 1905 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Letters were chosen as the "sine" following wireline telegraph practice. That station became KPH and is still licensed to Globe Wireless. I volunteer to operate and maintain the former KPH facility in Marin County that is now owned by the National Park Service. The KPH Project story can be found at the Maritime Radio Historical Society . Other San Francisco call history. KDFC , originally on 102.1 MHz started by and owned by Ed Davis, Sundial Broadcasting, is considered to be Damn Fine Classics. KFOG ’s signature was a steam diaphone fog horn. It signed on as KBAY . KSFR (long gone) was San Francisco Records. All three stations were classical at one time. KDFC exists as a non-commercial station but still classical music. KPOO was a Lorenzo Milam station. He thought that "POO" was as close to bad taste as the FCC would allow. KGEI (now dark shortwave international broadcast) is General Electric International. Signed on as W6XBE. KRCA we now know was the call sign used during WWII by RCA Communications for OWI international broadcast from KET/KPH transmitter site in Bolinas, CA. The origin of Baltimore’s WCBM is shown as C)hateau B)altimore M)aryland, from the Chateau Hotel on Charles Street, the station’s location in the 1920’s. Ira Kroll, MD of Baltimore shares this story or interest with a alternate explanation (a la HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey ): Well, it might be a backronym, but, one of the stories going around Baltimore is that WCBM got its call letters from the other, major station in Baltimore, WBAL. One more than B is C, one more than A is B, one more than L is M. Thus, WCBM is "better" or more "advanced" than its competitor WBAL. Another Baltimore station is of interest as Hal Martin, Senior Director of Marketing of CBS Radio-Baltimore explains: Hi, Bob! I can’t say for certain (because I wasn’t around!) but I believe the original meaning of the calls WFBR was "First Baltimore Regiment" and not "First Baltimore Radio." Supposedly, the original location of the studio was in the First Baltimore Regiment Armory, located on Preston Street in Baltimore City. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to verify that so it could, potentially, just be an old radio "legend." I enjoyed looking at your website! The subject of the K and W prefixes to calls letters used in the United States is interesting in its own right. It’s enough of a frequently asked question that a link to Thomas White’s K/W Call Letters in the United States is provided for your convenience. The W was appropriated for slogans such as WIP ’s W)ireless i)n P)hiladelphia and in Pensacola, WCOA...