Hacker News Reader

Comment by _bxg1 | Hacker News Reader

Something I've always wondered is where the channel "names" come from. The ones that are usually 4-6 characters, seemingly random, often starting with K or W for some reason. Like KVUE or W2XMN or KLTY.

View on HN

Thats just a callsign, all callsigns in the US start with K, W, AAA-ALZ or N, commercial broadcast services use K and W exclusively. Commercial Broadcast stations are generally three or four letters, with a suffix like -FM, -TV, -DT, -LP, or -FM1, its even possible to have multiple suffixes stacked KWWW-LP-FM1.

Translators can have even more characters and are a combination of numbers and letters.

Experimental stations are generally W or K a region digit, and three letters starting with X, these are issued out of the pool of callsigns used for amateur radio stations.

Buiness band and GMRS licenses use the same format, generally three or three letters starting with K or W, and three or four numbers.

See for more information: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?&mc=true&node=sp47.1.2...

> often starting with K or W for some reason

All commercial radio and television stations in the US have call signs starting with K or W. The division is geographic -- west coast stations use K; east coast stations use W. (The dividing line is, roughly speaking, drawn at the Mississippi River.)

It took me a while to realize there was any geographic significance. I live in a metro area split by the Mississippi, so we have a roughly 50/50 ratio of K and W stations.

Plenty of exceptions though. e.g. KDKA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and WACO Waco, Texas.

Of course somebody has compiled a list of the exceptions: https://earlyradiohistory.us/kwtrivia.htm

What I would really like to know is - why did they choose the letters W and K?

The term you're looking for is "call sign". K and W have been assigned to the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITU_prefix

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_signs_in_the_United_State...

These seem to be commonly used in the USA - are they used elsewhere?

Personally haven't seen them anywhere else at least. While the stations might or might not have call signs on paper, they are certainly not used in any way a listener would notice. (Of course I can only speak for the countries I've been to.)

In Canada, you hear them all the time. Like CFOX/Vancouver, or VOCM/Saint John.

In Japan, as well. JODW/Tokyo, and others. The only exception I've heard in Japan is Eagle 810, which operates from a U.S. military base.

They used to be used in the UK (BBC radio was 2LO), but were phased out almost a century ago, kept only by Amateur Radio users.

Definitely used to be a thing in New Zealand AM broadcast stations. For example, here's an old antenna sign: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tzbJYT3nGpHELPWk6

I think the FM callsigns for the same station were different (four characters rather than three), however could be related, but the callsigns were eventually dropped or incorporated into the station name as it stopped being a thing broadcast stations needed to announce (or maybe even have.) For example, as the station that had that antenna above started FM, it had a callsign but now it's just left in the name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZM_Wellington

I think they would be less prominent in the USA if stations weren't required to identify. We have a station in Phoenix that identifies as KISS FM, a brand that originated with KIIS-FM out of LA. But every once in a while they will say their real callsign KZZP.

Same on TV, when I was a kid our PBS stations always went by KAET, later on they went by the channel number Eight. Now that people might not even be watching on a channel (streaming) they just go by Arizona PBS, but every once in a while they show their station callsign and the call sign of all the translators (stations that transmit identical signal in other parts of the state)

These seem to be commonly used in the USA - are they used elsewhere?

They're used everywhere, but not every country requires them to be spoken aloud. They can be transmitted or recorded in other methods that are not audible to the listener.

Japan, for example, uses the American method. You can hear it if you stream JODW/Tokyo.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com