Why are US radio stations named "W***"?

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Hi,

topic says it all. I was always wondering why they are all called W plus 3 letters, like WINS or WFMU. What does it mean? Why has such scheme been chosen? Please explain this to a non-american

Michael

[Opus106]

Not all of them are named that way.

Broadcast stations in North America generally use call letters in the international series. There are some common conventions followed in each country. In the United States, the first letter generally is K for stations west of the Mississippi River and W for those east of the Mississippi; all new call signs have been 4-character for some decades, though there are historical 3-character calls still in use, such as WSB Atlanta, WBZ Boston, WGN Chicago, WSM Nashville, WRC Washington and KOA Denver.

There are a number of exceptions to the east/west rule, such as KDKA in Pittsburgh and WFAA in Dallas-Fort Worth, but these are historical artifacts from a rule change in the 1930s, and most of the exceptions are located in the states immediately to either side of the river. The westernmost station in the continental United States beginning with W is WOAI in San Antonio. WVUV-LP in Pago Pago, American Samoa, is the westernmost station with a W call sign. KYW in Philadelphia is the easternmost station with a K call sign.

Source

I don't know why those particular letters are used.

[Opus106]

I don't know why those particular letters are used.

I suppose I know now. [Link -- I can't guarantee the authenticity of the information.]

[mc ukrneal]

Hi,

topic says it all. I was always wondering why they are all called W plus 3 letters, like WINS or WFMU. What does it mean? Why has such scheme been chosen? Please explain this to a non-american

Michael

Here is a site that details the history of K/W: http://earlyradiohistory.us/kwtrivia.htm

Here is an excerpt from this site: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2303/why-do-u-s-radio-call-letters-start-with-w-in-the-east-and-k-in-the-west-revisited

"Fed up with this, the head of the federal Bureau of Navigation, Eugene Tyler Chamberlain, decided that an 1884 statute empowered him to assign marine-radio call letters and he proceeded to do so. Ships on the Atlantic and gulf coasts were assigned calls beginning with K, and those on the Pacific coast and Great Lakes were assigned calls beginning with W. No one knows why these letters were chosen, although Thomas speculates somewhat wanly that perhaps W stood for west. A weakness of the scheme, Thomas points out, was the existence of the Panama Canal, which permitted ships in the Atlantic to sail into the Pacific and vice versa, thus making a mess of the whole system. Still, it was progress.

In 1912 Congress empowered the Bureau of Navigation to license land stations. Official documents issued in 1913 boldly declared the government's intention of following the maritime practice of assigning W calls to stations in the west and K calls to stations in the east. Unfortunately, the instructions seem to have gotten a little scrambled on the way down to the clerks at the front desk, who proceeded to do things the opposite way, assigning K calls to land stations in the west and W calls to stations in the east. (One supposes that the Great Lakes = W thing threw everybody off.) Evidently deciding to go with the flow, the brass stated in the next year's bulletin that the Pacific coast would get W for ships and K for land stations, the Atlantic and gulf coasts would get K for ships and W for land stations, and the Great Lakes would get W for everything. "

This seems to conflict with some other info posted, so it seems that perhaps there is more speculation than actual fact left to us.

[springrite]

KWTF Talk Radio. My favorite.

Well, I only listened to it once as I was driving across the country. There was a pilitical talk show followed by chilli cook-off special. WTF indeed.

[The Six]

The best radio stations all start with K. Fact.

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

The best radio stations all start with K. Fact.

And with W. Period. (WDR  )
You already may have profited from WDR and the "fee" we have to pay here -> WDR Symphonieorchester. In Germany, everybody who has a radio or television has to pay the Öffentlich-Rechtlichen ("public law"?) like ARD, ZDF, SWR (you may know as well), WDR, BR ...

Thanks for the information, btw.