5 ms·

Non-USA resident here. Can someone explain all the four-letter news station names to me? Why not brand them with something more memorable / locally nuanced?

airza 3y ago
they are using their radio call sign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_signs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_signs_in_the_United_State...
bombcar 3y ago
They are from the radio call signs - K or W is the first for almost all of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_call_signs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_call_signs
- DonHopkins 3y ago
  The other thing that might not be obvious to non-residents is that K is for West of the Mississippi, and W is for East. It must be weird to live near the Mississippi and get a mix of K and W station call signs!
  - bombcar 3y ago
    W is for East. What a country!
    - irrational 3y ago
      Originally W was supposed to be for the West side, but there was a bureaucratic screw up and they were switched. As for why K and W, nobody is sure why those two letters, but it might be related to Morse code.
  - polpo 3y ago
    In St. Louis most stations are K but there are a few Ws.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    I knew this was the general rule, but also knew about KDKA-Pittsburgh (a very old station, east of the Mississippi). In looking into why that one got a K, I found this that might be interesting to people reading this far down this subthread: https://archive.is/HpUc3 https://archive.is/HpUc3
    - tzs 3y ago
      For a W west of the Mississippi a good example is WACO in Waco, Texas, which is also one of only 3 stations whose callsign is the name of their city. (The other two are WARE in Ware, Massachusetts, and WISE in Wise, Virginia).
  - selimthegrim 3y ago
    Can confirm in New Orleans WYLD has their transmitter in Algiers on the west side of the river and I’m sure that situation applies to other stations can’t recall any Ks around here
sokoloff 3y ago
The FCC licenses are given with those station identifying letters and there’s a requirement to broadcast the station ID periodically. Many stations have an additional brand (often <affiliate city> “Fox Boston”), but they still have to use the FCC ID as well. One of my favorite station IDs was an independent local analog UHF channel 56 with call letters WLVI. I heard those letters for years before I realized it was 56 in Roman numerals.
- bombcar 3y ago
  This is why it became common; the FCC requires you say the station ID once every period of time (10? 30?) so people became very used to hearing it. You can think of it as the "smash like and subscribe" of the radio days!
  - acheron 3y ago
    Station ID is every hour. Also you have to say it in a very specific format: Call letters, city; or call letters, frequency, city. No additional words in between: “WKRP in Cincinnati” would be invalid. TV stations are allowed to do it visually. When I was young it was common to see it as a full screen ID in between shows (often with a quick weather report, “time and temperature”). Later most stations I saw quit that and just put it as a bug at the bottom of the screen over top of the show.
    - rob74 3y ago
      Including your frequency is especially effective for customer retention - I still remember the MW frequency of one of my favorite radio stations from my youth because it was included in the name, even though I listened to it via satellite ("Virgin 1215" - apparently it's called Absolute Radio now, and medium wave transmissions were discontinued on 20 January 2023: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Radio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Radio).
    - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
      I always wondered why they chose "WKRP" and whether it had to do with spelling "crap" in a censor-evading manner.
bin_bash 3y ago
Well they are memorable for the people that live in the area—at least that was the case when broadcast TV/radio was important. There really wasn't a need for them to be decipherable to outsiders since historically they would be outside of the broadcast range.
- DonHopkins 3y ago
  They all come with cute little jingles of people singing the letters! KOME: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rMhtoniG82o https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rMhtoniG82o (I wish I could find a recording of the one that went;: "Don't touch that dial!!! You've got KOME on your radio." or "The KOME spot on your FM dial.") Vintage WWDC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPybevwjinM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPybevwjinM
  - wiredfool 3y ago
    I still know wwdc is dc101. Impressionable youth and all that.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
bmitc 3y ago
The history of these channels is old, dating back to radio times before TV.
cbhl 3y ago
This Wikipedia article provides a good overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_signs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_signs_in_the_United_State...
alistairSH 3y ago
Other posts covered the details. Similar to the airport codes, just national instead of international... WRC-TV - NBC Washington similar to... KIAD - Dulles International

airza 3y ago

they are using their radio call sign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_signs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_signs_in_the_United_State...

bombcar 3y ago

They are from the radio call signs - K or W is the first for almost all of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_call_signs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_call_signs

DonHopkins 3y ago
The other thing that might not be obvious to non-residents is that K is for West of the Mississippi, and W is for East. It must be weird to live near the Mississippi and get a mix of K and W station call signs!
- bombcar 3y ago
  W is for East. What a country!
  - irrational 3y ago
    Originally W was supposed to be for the West side, but there was a bureaucratic screw up and they were switched. As for why K and W, nobody is sure why those two letters, but it might be related to Morse code.
- polpo 3y ago
  In St. Louis most stations are K but there are a few Ws.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  I knew this was the general rule, but also knew about KDKA-Pittsburgh (a very old station, east of the Mississippi). In looking into why that one got a K, I found this that might be interesting to people reading this far down this subthread: https://archive.is/HpUc3 https://archive.is/HpUc3
  - tzs 3y ago
    For a W west of the Mississippi a good example is WACO in Waco, Texas, which is also one of only 3 stations whose callsign is the name of their city. (The other two are WARE in Ware, Massachusetts, and WISE in Wise, Virginia).
- selimthegrim 3y ago
  Can confirm in New Orleans WYLD has their transmitter in Algiers on the west side of the river and I’m sure that situation applies to other stations can’t recall any Ks around here

sokoloff 3y ago

The FCC licenses are given with those station identifying letters and there’s a requirement to broadcast the station ID periodically. Many stations have an additional brand (often <affiliate city> “Fox Boston”), but they still have to use the FCC ID as well. One of my favorite station IDs was an independent local analog UHF channel 56 with call letters WLVI. I heard those letters for years before I realized it was 56 in Roman numerals.

bombcar 3y ago
This is why it became common; the FCC requires you say the station ID once every period of time (10? 30?) so people became very used to hearing it. You can think of it as the "smash like and subscribe" of the radio days!
- acheron 3y ago
  Station ID is every hour. Also you have to say it in a very specific format: Call letters, city; or call letters, frequency, city. No additional words in between: “WKRP in Cincinnati” would be invalid. TV stations are allowed to do it visually. When I was young it was common to see it as a full screen ID in between shows (often with a quick weather report, “time and temperature”). Later most stations I saw quit that and just put it as a bug at the bottom of the screen over top of the show.
  - rob74 3y ago
    Including your frequency is especially effective for customer retention - I still remember the MW frequency of one of my favorite radio stations from my youth because it was included in the name, even though I listened to it via satellite ("Virgin 1215" - apparently it's called Absolute Radio now, and medium wave transmissions were discontinued on 20 January 2023: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Radio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Radio).
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    I always wondered why they chose "WKRP" and whether it had to do with spelling "crap" in a censor-evading manner.

bin_bash 3y ago

Well they are memorable for the people that live in the area—at least that was the case when broadcast TV/radio was important. There really wasn't a need for them to be decipherable to outsiders since historically they would be outside of the broadcast range.

DonHopkins 3y ago
They all come with cute little jingles of people singing the letters! KOME: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rMhtoniG82o https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rMhtoniG82o (I wish I could find a recording of the one that went;: "Don't touch that dial!!! You've got KOME on your radio." or "The KOME spot on your FM dial.") Vintage WWDC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPybevwjinM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPybevwjinM
- wiredfool 3y ago
  I still know wwdc is dc101. Impressionable youth and all that.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

bmitc 3y ago

The history of these channels is old, dating back to radio times before TV.

cbhl 3y ago

This Wikipedia article provides a good overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_signs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_signs_in_the_United_State...

alistairSH 3y ago

Other posts covered the details. Similar to the airport codes, just national instead of international... WRC-TV - NBC Washington similar to... KIAD - Dulles International