Why do radio stations always have the letters W, R, X and Z in them?!
Question: Why do radio stations always have the letters W, R, X and Z in them!?
Answers:
United States
In the United States, broadcast stations have call signs between three and six characters in length, though the minimum length for new stations is four letters!. An additional suffix may also be added, indicating a specific broadcast service type!. Full-power stations receive four-letter call signs, while broadcast translator stations usually receive call signs with five or six characters, including two or three numbers!. Generally, call signs begin with K west of the Mississippi River, and W to the east!.
New full-power stations were formerly assigned sequential call signs if the permittee does not choose one of their own; these were always four letters, of which the third was the least-significant digit and the second was the most-significant digit of the sequence number!. (Callsigns which were already assigned are skipped in the sequence!.) Hence, many very early stations, like WMAQ Chicago (now WSCR) and WMAF Round Hill, South Dartmouth, Massachusetts (now defunct) were assigned W-A- or K-A-) call signs!. The current FCC rules require a permittee to explicitly select a callsign before putting a station on the air for the first time!. Prior to that time, permits for new stations are either listed simply as NEW, or referenced by the file number of the original application, in the FCC's public records!.
[edit] Short call signs
In the 1920s, many stations were assigned three-letter call signs; these have been grandfathered under the current system, even though many such stations have changed owners!. Such stations include KOA in Denver, Colorado, WGN in Chicago, Illinois, and WRR in Dallas, Texas!. (WRR is an unusual case in that the call sign was moved from the original AM station to a commonly owned FM station, formerly WRR-FM, before the AM was sold!.) The Federal Communications Commission for many years maintained a policy of "drop it and lose it forever" with respect to three-letter call signs, but recently allowed KKHJ (930 Los Angeles) to reclaim its historic three-letter call, KHJ!.
The FCC allows FM and TV stations under common ownership with a three-letter AM or FM in the same market to use five-letter (three plus –FM or –TV suffix) call signs; for example, KGO-TV in San Francisco or WMC-FM in Memphis!. In some cases, such as WIL-FM in St!. Louis, the five-letter callsign may outlive the three-letter call sign on which it is based!. There is also the unusual case of Baltimore's WJZ-TV, which was allowed to adopt the call sign despite the fact that there was no longer a WJZ radio; when there was, it wasn't in Baltimore; and it hadn't been owned by the same company since the 1920s!. Stations which have been "conformed" in this manner may keep the five-letter call sign even after they are no longer co-owned with the "parent" station (although this was not the case prior to the mid-1980s)!. WWL (AM) and WWL-TV in New Orleans would be an example of eponymous stations no longer under common ownership!.
Extremely early call signs used in the 1910s and into the early 1920s were arbitrary!. The U!.S!. government began requiring stations to use three-letter call signs around 1912, but they could be chosen at random!. KDKA initially broadcast as 8XK before gaining its well-known letters in 1920!. The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC of San Jose, California used the call sign 6KZ!.
[edit] K and W
New broadcasting stations are assigned call signs beginning with K, if they are west of the Mississippi River, and beginning with W if they are east of the river!. Again, some early stations have been grandfathered, so there are four broadcasters with a K prefix east of the Mississippi, and a few dozen with a W on the west side!. (There are more grandfathered W stations because the dividing line used to be two states farther west!.) Some examples would be KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, KYW in Philadelphia, and WACO in Waco, Texas, which also has the distinction of being one of only two radio stations whose call sign is the same as its community of license!.[1] Stations located near the Mississippi River may have either letter, depending on the precise location of their community of license and on historical contingencies!. Minnesota and Louisiana are allowed to use both call letter prefixes since the Mississippi river flows through both states rather than forms their borders!. Metro areas that straddle different states on both sides of the river, such as Saint Louis, Memphis and the Quad Cities area of Iowa/Illinois, have stations with both call letter prefixes, due to the stations' towers themselves being placed on either side of the river!. [[1]]
The FCC allows derived call signs in the same market as a commonly-owned AM or FM without respect of the boundary, so stations may establish common branding across bands and services!. One famous example was the case of the former KWK in St!. Louis, which after several petitions was permitted to change the call sign of its sister FM station in Granite City, Illinois, then WWWK(FM), to KWK-FM!. Later, the AM would change its call sign and the FM became KWK(FM), thereby becoming an exemplar of both categories of grandfathered stations!.
The assignment of K and W prefixes applies only to stations in the broadcast radio and television services; it does not apply to weather radio, highway advisory radio, or time signal stations, even though these are all broadcasts in the usual sense of the word, nor does it apply to auxiliary licenses held by broadcast stations, such as studio-transmitter links and inter-city relay stations!.
For example, the time signal stations WWV and WWVH are located in Colorado and Hawaii, respectively!. (WWV originally began in Maryland and was later moved west!. However, even ignoring that fact, U!.S!. government-owned stations are overseen by the NTIA and not the FCC, and are thus not subject to the FCC's rules on call signs; most do not have call signs at all!.)
NOAA Weather Radio stations clustered between 162!.4 and 162!.55 MHz have call signs consisting of a K or W followed by two or three letters, and two digits!. The K and W prefixes are both used interchangeably on both sides of the Mississippi River (e!.g!., KHB36 in Washington, D!.C!. and WXK25 in El Paso, Texas)!.
Highway advisory radio stations scattered throughout the AM band use call signs consisting of K and W followed by two or three letters and three digits!. As with weather radio, K and W calls are both used on both sides of the Mississippi River!.
Call signs in the western United States are often confused with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) airport codes because both make use of four-character codes that begin with the letter K!. Examples include KSFO (which simultaneously refers to San Francisco International Airport and KSFO (AM) radio), KLAX (which simultaneously refers to Los Angeles International Airport and KLAX-FM), and KDFW (which simultaneously refers to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and KDFW-TV)!.
[edit] Suffixes
FM radio and television call signs may be followed by a dash and the two-letter class of station: –FM, –LP, –TV, or –CA!. For digital television, the –HD and later –DT suffixes are usually not used (one exception being KKYK-DT), as the digital channel is not usually licensed separately from the analog!. (Some radio owners using the iBiquity HD Radio IBOC system have expressed a desire for –HD call signs, but this is unlikely to happen because HD Radio is a subcarrier service on the same frequency!.) Occasionally, an FM or TV station may have one or more boosters, which amplify and reradiate the main station's signal to overcome terrain obstacles!. In this case, the main portion of the call sign remains the same (unlike translators), and the boosters are given sequential numeric suffixes like –FM1, –TV2, –3, and so forth!.
It should be noted that the -FM or -TV suffix is not required to be assigned to TV or FM stations, except where there is another station that shares the same 3- or 4-letter base call sign!. AM radio stations never have an -AM suffix!.
Low-power TV and FM stations share the –LP suffix!. Class A TV stations, which are LPTV stations that receive protection from interference by primary stations, use the –CA suffix!. When low-power and class-A TV stations operate in ATSC digital, they instead receive the suffixes –LD and –CD, respectively!.[2]
[edit] Translators
FM and TV translator stations are assigned sequential call signs!. They use an appropriate initial letter followed by a two- or three-digit channel number, and then a two-letter sequential suffix!. For example, a TV translator on channel 4 might have the call sign K04AX (though it is much less common for TV translator channels to be between 2 and 13)!. Digital translator stations are assigned call signs in the same manner, except that the letter D may be appended (e!.g!., K04AX or K04AX-D)!. The FM band also has channel numbers starting at the number 200 (or 201 for practical purposes), although they are almost unknown to regular listeners who usually tune in to a station based on its frequency!. W201AA was the first FM translator at 88!.1 MHz, for example!. Such call signs are never reused by another station!.
[edit] Station identification
Many stations prefer not to use call signs at all, since a slogan is more easily remembered by listeners (and those filling in diaries for the Arbitron radio ratings)!. However, in the U!.S!., the Federal Communications Commission does require periodic identification using the formal call sign, as close to the top of each hour as possible, at a "natural break in programming"; this rule is now rarely enforced!. Stations are also required to identify their community of license!.[3] There are some unusual cases, though, such as the low-frequency WWVB time station!. Because of the station's narrow signal, that station only broadcasts a one biWww@Enter-QA@Com
In the United States, broadcast stations have call signs between three and six characters in length, though the minimum length for new stations is four letters!. An additional suffix may also be added, indicating a specific broadcast service type!. Full-power stations receive four-letter call signs, while broadcast translator stations usually receive call signs with five or six characters, including two or three numbers!. Generally, call signs begin with K west of the Mississippi River, and W to the east!.
New full-power stations were formerly assigned sequential call signs if the permittee does not choose one of their own; these were always four letters, of which the third was the least-significant digit and the second was the most-significant digit of the sequence number!. (Callsigns which were already assigned are skipped in the sequence!.) Hence, many very early stations, like WMAQ Chicago (now WSCR) and WMAF Round Hill, South Dartmouth, Massachusetts (now defunct) were assigned W-A- or K-A-) call signs!. The current FCC rules require a permittee to explicitly select a callsign before putting a station on the air for the first time!. Prior to that time, permits for new stations are either listed simply as NEW, or referenced by the file number of the original application, in the FCC's public records!.
[edit] Short call signs
In the 1920s, many stations were assigned three-letter call signs; these have been grandfathered under the current system, even though many such stations have changed owners!. Such stations include KOA in Denver, Colorado, WGN in Chicago, Illinois, and WRR in Dallas, Texas!. (WRR is an unusual case in that the call sign was moved from the original AM station to a commonly owned FM station, formerly WRR-FM, before the AM was sold!.) The Federal Communications Commission for many years maintained a policy of "drop it and lose it forever" with respect to three-letter call signs, but recently allowed KKHJ (930 Los Angeles) to reclaim its historic three-letter call, KHJ!.
The FCC allows FM and TV stations under common ownership with a three-letter AM or FM in the same market to use five-letter (three plus –FM or –TV suffix) call signs; for example, KGO-TV in San Francisco or WMC-FM in Memphis!. In some cases, such as WIL-FM in St!. Louis, the five-letter callsign may outlive the three-letter call sign on which it is based!. There is also the unusual case of Baltimore's WJZ-TV, which was allowed to adopt the call sign despite the fact that there was no longer a WJZ radio; when there was, it wasn't in Baltimore; and it hadn't been owned by the same company since the 1920s!. Stations which have been "conformed" in this manner may keep the five-letter call sign even after they are no longer co-owned with the "parent" station (although this was not the case prior to the mid-1980s)!. WWL (AM) and WWL-TV in New Orleans would be an example of eponymous stations no longer under common ownership!.
Extremely early call signs used in the 1910s and into the early 1920s were arbitrary!. The U!.S!. government began requiring stations to use three-letter call signs around 1912, but they could be chosen at random!. KDKA initially broadcast as 8XK before gaining its well-known letters in 1920!. The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC of San Jose, California used the call sign 6KZ!.
[edit] K and W
New broadcasting stations are assigned call signs beginning with K, if they are west of the Mississippi River, and beginning with W if they are east of the river!. Again, some early stations have been grandfathered, so there are four broadcasters with a K prefix east of the Mississippi, and a few dozen with a W on the west side!. (There are more grandfathered W stations because the dividing line used to be two states farther west!.) Some examples would be KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, KYW in Philadelphia, and WACO in Waco, Texas, which also has the distinction of being one of only two radio stations whose call sign is the same as its community of license!.[1] Stations located near the Mississippi River may have either letter, depending on the precise location of their community of license and on historical contingencies!. Minnesota and Louisiana are allowed to use both call letter prefixes since the Mississippi river flows through both states rather than forms their borders!. Metro areas that straddle different states on both sides of the river, such as Saint Louis, Memphis and the Quad Cities area of Iowa/Illinois, have stations with both call letter prefixes, due to the stations' towers themselves being placed on either side of the river!. [[1]]
The FCC allows derived call signs in the same market as a commonly-owned AM or FM without respect of the boundary, so stations may establish common branding across bands and services!. One famous example was the case of the former KWK in St!. Louis, which after several petitions was permitted to change the call sign of its sister FM station in Granite City, Illinois, then WWWK(FM), to KWK-FM!. Later, the AM would change its call sign and the FM became KWK(FM), thereby becoming an exemplar of both categories of grandfathered stations!.
The assignment of K and W prefixes applies only to stations in the broadcast radio and television services; it does not apply to weather radio, highway advisory radio, or time signal stations, even though these are all broadcasts in the usual sense of the word, nor does it apply to auxiliary licenses held by broadcast stations, such as studio-transmitter links and inter-city relay stations!.
For example, the time signal stations WWV and WWVH are located in Colorado and Hawaii, respectively!. (WWV originally began in Maryland and was later moved west!. However, even ignoring that fact, U!.S!. government-owned stations are overseen by the NTIA and not the FCC, and are thus not subject to the FCC's rules on call signs; most do not have call signs at all!.)
NOAA Weather Radio stations clustered between 162!.4 and 162!.55 MHz have call signs consisting of a K or W followed by two or three letters, and two digits!. The K and W prefixes are both used interchangeably on both sides of the Mississippi River (e!.g!., KHB36 in Washington, D!.C!. and WXK25 in El Paso, Texas)!.
Highway advisory radio stations scattered throughout the AM band use call signs consisting of K and W followed by two or three letters and three digits!. As with weather radio, K and W calls are both used on both sides of the Mississippi River!.
Call signs in the western United States are often confused with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) airport codes because both make use of four-character codes that begin with the letter K!. Examples include KSFO (which simultaneously refers to San Francisco International Airport and KSFO (AM) radio), KLAX (which simultaneously refers to Los Angeles International Airport and KLAX-FM), and KDFW (which simultaneously refers to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and KDFW-TV)!.
[edit] Suffixes
FM radio and television call signs may be followed by a dash and the two-letter class of station: –FM, –LP, –TV, or –CA!. For digital television, the –HD and later –DT suffixes are usually not used (one exception being KKYK-DT), as the digital channel is not usually licensed separately from the analog!. (Some radio owners using the iBiquity HD Radio IBOC system have expressed a desire for –HD call signs, but this is unlikely to happen because HD Radio is a subcarrier service on the same frequency!.) Occasionally, an FM or TV station may have one or more boosters, which amplify and reradiate the main station's signal to overcome terrain obstacles!. In this case, the main portion of the call sign remains the same (unlike translators), and the boosters are given sequential numeric suffixes like –FM1, –TV2, –3, and so forth!.
It should be noted that the -FM or -TV suffix is not required to be assigned to TV or FM stations, except where there is another station that shares the same 3- or 4-letter base call sign!. AM radio stations never have an -AM suffix!.
Low-power TV and FM stations share the –LP suffix!. Class A TV stations, which are LPTV stations that receive protection from interference by primary stations, use the –CA suffix!. When low-power and class-A TV stations operate in ATSC digital, they instead receive the suffixes –LD and –CD, respectively!.[2]
[edit] Translators
FM and TV translator stations are assigned sequential call signs!. They use an appropriate initial letter followed by a two- or three-digit channel number, and then a two-letter sequential suffix!. For example, a TV translator on channel 4 might have the call sign K04AX (though it is much less common for TV translator channels to be between 2 and 13)!. Digital translator stations are assigned call signs in the same manner, except that the letter D may be appended (e!.g!., K04AX or K04AX-D)!. The FM band also has channel numbers starting at the number 200 (or 201 for practical purposes), although they are almost unknown to regular listeners who usually tune in to a station based on its frequency!. W201AA was the first FM translator at 88!.1 MHz, for example!. Such call signs are never reused by another station!.
[edit] Station identification
Many stations prefer not to use call signs at all, since a slogan is more easily remembered by listeners (and those filling in diaries for the Arbitron radio ratings)!. However, in the U!.S!., the Federal Communications Commission does require periodic identification using the formal call sign, as close to the top of each hour as possible, at a "natural break in programming"; this rule is now rarely enforced!. Stations are also required to identify their community of license!.[3] There are some unusual cases, though, such as the low-frequency WWVB time station!. Because of the station's narrow signal, that station only broadcasts a one biWww@Enter-QA@Com
Depends, where you are!.!.!.!.
Each nation is assigned a set of letters to begin with to identify radio broadcasts that are licensed to that country!.
For example, the US is assigned K,N,W, and AA-AL in callsigns
N is reserved for government other utility call signs as well as the aa-al leaving the K and W as the beginning letters in them!.
However most radio stations pick their own call sign and R,X,And Z helps make up the call letters that sound like what they are trying to slogan the station to
Such as a station that wants to call itself Tiger, can't use the call WTGE as it's taken, But say calls itself WTGZ it's callsign still spells out a slanged Tiger but is still related to the slogan
Www@Enter-QA@Com
Each nation is assigned a set of letters to begin with to identify radio broadcasts that are licensed to that country!.
For example, the US is assigned K,N,W, and AA-AL in callsigns
N is reserved for government other utility call signs as well as the aa-al leaving the K and W as the beginning letters in them!.
However most radio stations pick their own call sign and R,X,And Z helps make up the call letters that sound like what they are trying to slogan the station to
Such as a station that wants to call itself Tiger, can't use the call WTGE as it's taken, But say calls itself WTGZ it's callsign still spells out a slanged Tiger but is still related to the slogan
Www@Enter-QA@Com
As for the "W": I believe that any broadcast (TV, Radio) station East of the Mississippi River their call letters will start with a "W!." Any station West of the Mississippi River will start with a "K!." Other than that I'm sure it's just a advertising psycology that "R," "X," "Z," and other "uncommon" letters will tend to stick in people's brains better than other letters!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
They don't!.
For the most part radio station east of the Mississippi start with W and those to the west start with K!. There are exceptions to this!. There are plenty of stations in the west with no W R X or Z!. There are plenty of foreign stations too with other combos (C for Canada, X for Mexico)!.
Www@Enter-QA@Com
For the most part radio station east of the Mississippi start with W and those to the west start with K!. There are exceptions to this!. There are plenty of stations in the west with no W R X or Z!. There are plenty of foreign stations too with other combos (C for Canada, X for Mexico)!.
Www@Enter-QA@Com
The letters are probably significant to something, and W,R,X,Z are cooler then A,B,C,Www@Enter-QA@Com
they stand for warts, rats, x-rays and zebras!. that is def why they have those letters!.Www@Enter-QA@Com
5 Live - has none of them!. Point proven wrong!. (I did have think a lot to be fair)Www@Enter-QA@Com
coincidenceWww@Enter-QA@Com