11. What is the oldest FM station in North America?
12. What is the oldest FM station in New York City?
13. What early pioneer in FM radio killed himself, thinking his life's work was a failure?
14. Where is the tallest broadcasting tower in North America?
15. How many stations east of the Mississippi River have call signs beginning with a K?
16. How many stations west of the Mississippi River have call signs beginning with a W?
17. Are there any radio station call signs in North America that don't begin with a W, K, C or X?
18. How many stations have call letters that spell out their city of license?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
11. Oldest FM Station in USA... Major Edwin Armstrong began FM experiments for RCA from the Empire State Building in 1934, although
NBC, part of RCA at the time, didn't put a real FM station on the air until 1940. Later in 1934, the Buffalo Evening News started W8XH,
simulcasting WBEN at around 60 MHz, which puts it between the old FM band (42 - 50 MHz) and the current FM band (88 - 108 MHz).
Today that station is 102.5 WTSS. In Meriden CT, W1XPW (now 105.9 WHCN Hartford) went on the air in 1936, in the old FM band (42 -
50 MHz). In Detroit, W8XWJ (now 97.1 WXYT-FM) also went on the air as an Apex Band station in 1936, sister station to WWJ. They
were followed by General Electric's W2XDA Schenectady (later WGFM, then WGY-FM, now 99.5 WRVE) at 48.5 MHz. WGFM was the first
FM station to broadcast fulltime in stereo, in June 1961.
-----------------------
12. Several stations can make the case for being the New York area's first FM station... WNYE-FM, WOR-FM, WQXR-FM or was it W2XMN
in Alpine NJ that was on the air from the 1930s to the 50s? In 1938, the city's Board of Education began airing classroom instructional
broadcasts in the Apex band, between 25 and 42 MHz. This station became 91.5 WNYE-FM. Because the Apex band is a short distance
from the FM band, WNYE-FM is credited as going on the air in 1938. In August of 1939, WOR began experimenting with FM broadcasts
as W2XWI from its AM transmitter site in Carteret, NJ. That station moved to New York to became WOR-FM, and is today 98.7 WEPN-FM.
The first permanent commercial FM station in five boroughs of New York City was W2XQR (later WQXR-FM, now 96.3 WXNY). It went on
the air at 42.3 MHz in November 1939, simulcasting WQXR-AM. In January of 1940, NBC put W2XWG on the air, later WNBC-FM and now
97.1 WQHT. CBS followed in 1941 with W67NY at 46.7 MHz (now 101.1 WCBS-FM), with its transmitter originally atop 500 Fifth Avenue.
---------------
13. In 1934, Major Edwin Armstrong, working for NBC's parent company, RCA, began FM experiments from the Empire State Building.
After leaving RCA, Armstrong put his own FM station, W2XMN, on the air in 1939, from a tower in Alpine NJ, just north of NYC. He used
his own money, although that station stopped broadcasting in 1954 after Armstrong's suicide. It's a sad but interesting story that
Armstrong was at first encouraged by RCA, his employer, to experiment with FM radio. But when NBC chief David Sarnoff heard its better
sound quality, he worked to stop the development of FM, fearing it would ruin NBC's investment in its chain of AM stations. Reports say
the legal hassles between Armstrong and RCA are what drove him to jump from his apartment's 13th floor window, believing his life's
work was a failure.
---------------
14. Tallest Broadcasting Tower... KVLY 11 Fargo has a 2,063 foot tower in Blanchard, North Dakota, which was the tallest structure in the
world when it was built and remains the tallest in the U.S. today. Nearby, KXJB 4 Valley City-Fargo (now KRDK) put up a tower that is three
feet shorter. When it was completed, workers put a four foot flagpole on top, temporarily making the KXJB tower the world's tallest
structure. Today it is the fifth tallest structure in the world, just behind the KVLY tower. Both towers are more than 600 feet taller than the
Empire State Building. The FAA and FCC now discourage the construction of broadcasting towers taller than 2000 feet. In Canada, the
tallest broadcasting structure is the CN Tower in Toronto at 1815 feet.
---------------
15. Stations east of the Mississippi with K call signs... There are 15, not counting stations in markets straddling the Mississippi River (such
as St. Louis, Memphis and the Quad Cities) or in markets in the two states where the Mississippi passes through the middle (Louisiana and
Minnesota). Stations in those markets and states can have call signs that begin with either a K or W, regardless of whether they are
physically located east or west of the Mississippi. The 15 stations east of the Mississippi with K call signs that are outside those markets
and states are...
--KDKA-AM-FM-TV Pittsburgh - a
--KQV (AM) Pittsburgh (temp. off the air) - a
--KYW-AM-TV Philadelphia - a
--KFIZ (AM) Fond du Lac, WI - a
--KTGG (AM) Spring Arbor, MI - b
--KJWP (TV) Wilmington, DE - e
--KYTN (FM) Union City, TN - d
--KYAI (FM) McKee, KY - e
--KDTI (FM) Rochester Hills, MI - e
--KRIQ (FM) Richton, MS - e
--KOUI (FM) Louisville, MS - e
--KRLE (FM) Carbon Hill, AL - e
--KSPP (FM) Rhinelander, WI - f
a) KDKA, KQV, KYW and KFIZ date back to the earliest days of broadcasting, before the K-W split was strictly followed. KYW has moved
several times in its history, spending time in Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia, but all cities well east of the Mississippi.
b) FCC confusion apparently led to K call letters being assigned to Spring Arbor, Michigan. It seems someone at the FCC, when
assigning the station random call letters, looked at the application and misread MI as Missouri, which is west of the Mississippi River.
c) KJWP, Channel 2, moved from Jackson WY to the Philadephia market, using a law passed by Congress in analog days, encouraging
VHF move-ins, when Delaware and New Jersey had no commercial VHF television stations. Despite the move east, KJWP Wilmington DE
kept its old call letters, and is now the Me-TV affiliate for Philadephia. Its sister station in the NYC market originally had the call letters
KVNV, because it also moved from the West. But it has since switched to a call sign beginning with a W, WJLP in Middletown NJ.
d) KYTN in Union City, TN is near the Kentucky-Tennessee border and requested the FCC grant these call letters that contain the postal
abbriviations for both those states. This is a case similar to the FCC allowing a station in Waco TX to get the call sign WACO.
e) Educational Media Foundation, the K-Love and Air-1 religious broadcaster, and the Hispanic Family Christian Network, another
religious broadcaster, have moved several stations or construction permits from west of the Mississippi to east of the river, along with those
stations' K call signs: KYAI, KDTI, KRIQ, KOUI and KRLE.
f) The reason why KSPP, a Catholic station in Wisconsin, was granted K call letters is not apparent.
Left off the list are KDWZ and KUWS in Superior, WI. They are far east of the Mississippi River. But they are part of the Duluth market,
which, based in Minnesota, has both W and K call letters. There is also KQMP in Hollywood MS, a few miles east of the Mississippi
River. The station is just within the Memphis market, which also has both W and K call signs.
-------------
16. Stations west of the Mississippi with W call signs..... There are 32 "W" stations west of the Mississippi, not counting markets or
states that straddle the river. In the earliest days of broadcasting, the Eastern Time Zone and most of the Central Time Zone were in
the W part of the country. The K-W dividing line originally followed the western borders of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and
the Dakotas. That's why some of the oldest stations in those states, plus Iowa and Missouri, have W call signs. (Arkansas also falls
into this catagory but no W stations remain in Arkansas.) By 1923, the dividing line had been moved to the Mississippi River, but
stations with W call letters were allowed to keep them. If they built or acquired an FM or TV station, they could share their W call
signs with those stations too. Over the years, many signed off or chose conventional K call letters after an ownership or format
change, but these still remain.
There are no stations still on the air with W call signs in the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones, or in Hawaii or Alaska. A few existed in
the early days of broadcasting, even one in Alaska. But today, there's no western equivalent to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh having
stations with call letters starting with a K. And only a few new west-of-the-Mississippi W call signs have been granted by the FCC in
recent years, all in Central Time Zone states.
North Dakota...WDAY-AM-FM, Fargo - a
South Dakota...WNAX-AM-FM, Yankton - a
Nebraska...WJAG (AM), Norfolk - a
...WOWT (TV), Omaha - c
Kansas...WIBW-AM-FM-TV, Topeka - d
Oklahoma...WKY (AM), Oklahoma City - a
...WWLS-FM, The Village - b
...WBBZ (AM), Ponca City - ?
Missouri...WHB (AM), Kansas City - a
...WDAF-TV, Kansas City - b
...WDAF-FM, Liberty - b
...WMBH (AM), Joplin - d
...WGCQ (FM), Hayti - d
Iowa...WOI-AM-FM-TV, Ames - a
...WHO-AM-TV, Des Moines - a
...WMT (AM), Cedar Rapids - c
...WDBQ (AM), Dubuque - c
...WSUI (AM), Iowa City - c
Texas...WOAI-AM-TV, San Antonio - a
...WBAP (AM), Fort Worth - a
...WFAA-TV, Dallas - b
...WACO-FM, Waco - c
...WTAW (AM), College Station - a
...WTAW-FM, Buffalo - a
a - An AM station that signed on before January 1923, in one of the nine Central Time Zone states that were originally in W territory but
are now in K territory. The station has stayed on the air continuously with its original W call sign. It may also have an FM and/or TV
station sharing its call letters.
b - An FM or TV station that once had been co-owned with an original W station on AM. It kept its W call sign, even though the AM
station later changed its call letters to begin with K, or went off the air.
c - A station that originally had call letters beginning with W and later changed to a new set of W call letters. The FCC allowed these
stations to continue using a W call sign, even though it is not the original one.
d - WIBW originally went on the air in Logansport, Indiana, in 1926. Its owners moved it to Topeka, Kansas, the following year. WMBH
first signed on in Chicago and was later moved to Joplin, Missouri. WGCQ in Hayti, Missouri, has a similar story. It originally went on
the air on the East side of the Mississippi. It later moved its city of license to Hayti, only a couple of miles west of the river, while
keeping its call sign.
-------------
17. Call signs not beginning with a W, K, C or X... Because Newfoundland was not part of the Canadian Federation until 1949, three AM
stations in St. John's that signed on before 1949, and are still on the air today, have call signs beginning with a V, not C.
--590 VOCM
--800 VOWR
--1210 VOAR
In 1982, VOCM put an FM station on the air. That station was able to share its sister station's call sign, so it became VOCM-FM, a
classic rock station at 97.5. VOCM-FM is the only station on the FM dial in North America with call letters that don't start with a W, K, X
or C.
------------
18. There are three stations with call letters that spell out their city of license...
a - 99.9 WACO-FM in Waco, Texas.
b - 1250 WARE in Ware, Massachusetts.
c - 90.3 WISE-FM in Wise, Virginia
12. What is the oldest FM station in New York City?
13. What early pioneer in FM radio killed himself, thinking his life's work was a failure?
14. Where is the tallest broadcasting tower in North America?
15. How many stations east of the Mississippi River have call signs beginning with a K?
16. How many stations west of the Mississippi River have call signs beginning with a W?
17. Are there any radio station call signs in North America that don't begin with a W, K, C or X?
18. How many stations have call letters that spell out their city of license?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
11. Oldest FM Station in USA... Major Edwin Armstrong began FM experiments for RCA from the Empire State Building in 1934, although
NBC, part of RCA at the time, didn't put a real FM station on the air until 1940. Later in 1934, the Buffalo Evening News started W8XH,
simulcasting WBEN at around 60 MHz, which puts it between the old FM band (42 - 50 MHz) and the current FM band (88 - 108 MHz).
Today that station is 102.5 WTSS. In Meriden CT, W1XPW (now 105.9 WHCN Hartford) went on the air in 1936, in the old FM band (42 -
50 MHz). In Detroit, W8XWJ (now 97.1 WXYT-FM) also went on the air as an Apex Band station in 1936, sister station to WWJ. They
were followed by General Electric's W2XDA Schenectady (later WGFM, then WGY-FM, now 99.5 WRVE) at 48.5 MHz. WGFM was the first
FM station to broadcast fulltime in stereo, in June 1961.
-----------------------
12. Several stations can make the case for being the New York area's first FM station... WNYE-FM, WOR-FM, WQXR-FM or was it W2XMN
in Alpine NJ that was on the air from the 1930s to the 50s? In 1938, the city's Board of Education began airing classroom instructional
broadcasts in the Apex band, between 25 and 42 MHz. This station became 91.5 WNYE-FM. Because the Apex band is a short distance
from the FM band, WNYE-FM is credited as going on the air in 1938. In August of 1939, WOR began experimenting with FM broadcasts
as W2XWI from its AM transmitter site in Carteret, NJ. That station moved to New York to became WOR-FM, and is today 98.7 WEPN-FM.
The first permanent commercial FM station in five boroughs of New York City was W2XQR (later WQXR-FM, now 96.3 WXNY). It went on
the air at 42.3 MHz in November 1939, simulcasting WQXR-AM. In January of 1940, NBC put W2XWG on the air, later WNBC-FM and now
97.1 WQHT. CBS followed in 1941 with W67NY at 46.7 MHz (now 101.1 WCBS-FM), with its transmitter originally atop 500 Fifth Avenue.
---------------
13. In 1934, Major Edwin Armstrong, working for NBC's parent company, RCA, began FM experiments from the Empire State Building.
After leaving RCA, Armstrong put his own FM station, W2XMN, on the air in 1939, from a tower in Alpine NJ, just north of NYC. He used
his own money, although that station stopped broadcasting in 1954 after Armstrong's suicide. It's a sad but interesting story that
Armstrong was at first encouraged by RCA, his employer, to experiment with FM radio. But when NBC chief David Sarnoff heard its better
sound quality, he worked to stop the development of FM, fearing it would ruin NBC's investment in its chain of AM stations. Reports say
the legal hassles between Armstrong and RCA are what drove him to jump from his apartment's 13th floor window, believing his life's
work was a failure.
---------------
14. Tallest Broadcasting Tower... KVLY 11 Fargo has a 2,063 foot tower in Blanchard, North Dakota, which was the tallest structure in the
world when it was built and remains the tallest in the U.S. today. Nearby, KXJB 4 Valley City-Fargo (now KRDK) put up a tower that is three
feet shorter. When it was completed, workers put a four foot flagpole on top, temporarily making the KXJB tower the world's tallest
structure. Today it is the fifth tallest structure in the world, just behind the KVLY tower. Both towers are more than 600 feet taller than the
Empire State Building. The FAA and FCC now discourage the construction of broadcasting towers taller than 2000 feet. In Canada, the
tallest broadcasting structure is the CN Tower in Toronto at 1815 feet.
---------------
15. Stations east of the Mississippi with K call signs... There are 15, not counting stations in markets straddling the Mississippi River (such
as St. Louis, Memphis and the Quad Cities) or in markets in the two states where the Mississippi passes through the middle (Louisiana and
Minnesota). Stations in those markets and states can have call signs that begin with either a K or W, regardless of whether they are
physically located east or west of the Mississippi. The 15 stations east of the Mississippi with K call signs that are outside those markets
and states are...
--KDKA-AM-FM-TV Pittsburgh - a
--KQV (AM) Pittsburgh (temp. off the air) - a
--KYW-AM-TV Philadelphia - a
--KFIZ (AM) Fond du Lac, WI - a
--KTGG (AM) Spring Arbor, MI - b
--KJWP (TV) Wilmington, DE - e
--KYTN (FM) Union City, TN - d
--KYAI (FM) McKee, KY - e
--KDTI (FM) Rochester Hills, MI - e
--KRIQ (FM) Richton, MS - e
--KOUI (FM) Louisville, MS - e
--KRLE (FM) Carbon Hill, AL - e
--KSPP (FM) Rhinelander, WI - f
a) KDKA, KQV, KYW and KFIZ date back to the earliest days of broadcasting, before the K-W split was strictly followed. KYW has moved
several times in its history, spending time in Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia, but all cities well east of the Mississippi.
b) FCC confusion apparently led to K call letters being assigned to Spring Arbor, Michigan. It seems someone at the FCC, when
assigning the station random call letters, looked at the application and misread MI as Missouri, which is west of the Mississippi River.
c) KJWP, Channel 2, moved from Jackson WY to the Philadephia market, using a law passed by Congress in analog days, encouraging
VHF move-ins, when Delaware and New Jersey had no commercial VHF television stations. Despite the move east, KJWP Wilmington DE
kept its old call letters, and is now the Me-TV affiliate for Philadephia. Its sister station in the NYC market originally had the call letters
KVNV, because it also moved from the West. But it has since switched to a call sign beginning with a W, WJLP in Middletown NJ.
d) KYTN in Union City, TN is near the Kentucky-Tennessee border and requested the FCC grant these call letters that contain the postal
abbriviations for both those states. This is a case similar to the FCC allowing a station in Waco TX to get the call sign WACO.
e) Educational Media Foundation, the K-Love and Air-1 religious broadcaster, and the Hispanic Family Christian Network, another
religious broadcaster, have moved several stations or construction permits from west of the Mississippi to east of the river, along with those
stations' K call signs: KYAI, KDTI, KRIQ, KOUI and KRLE.
f) The reason why KSPP, a Catholic station in Wisconsin, was granted K call letters is not apparent.
Left off the list are KDWZ and KUWS in Superior, WI. They are far east of the Mississippi River. But they are part of the Duluth market,
which, based in Minnesota, has both W and K call letters. There is also KQMP in Hollywood MS, a few miles east of the Mississippi
River. The station is just within the Memphis market, which also has both W and K call signs.
-------------
16. Stations west of the Mississippi with W call signs..... There are 32 "W" stations west of the Mississippi, not counting markets or
states that straddle the river. In the earliest days of broadcasting, the Eastern Time Zone and most of the Central Time Zone were in
the W part of the country. The K-W dividing line originally followed the western borders of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and
the Dakotas. That's why some of the oldest stations in those states, plus Iowa and Missouri, have W call signs. (Arkansas also falls
into this catagory but no W stations remain in Arkansas.) By 1923, the dividing line had been moved to the Mississippi River, but
stations with W call letters were allowed to keep them. If they built or acquired an FM or TV station, they could share their W call
signs with those stations too. Over the years, many signed off or chose conventional K call letters after an ownership or format
change, but these still remain.
There are no stations still on the air with W call signs in the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones, or in Hawaii or Alaska. A few existed in
the early days of broadcasting, even one in Alaska. But today, there's no western equivalent to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh having
stations with call letters starting with a K. And only a few new west-of-the-Mississippi W call signs have been granted by the FCC in
recent years, all in Central Time Zone states.
North Dakota...WDAY-AM-FM, Fargo - a
South Dakota...WNAX-AM-FM, Yankton - a
Nebraska...WJAG (AM), Norfolk - a
...WOWT (TV), Omaha - c
Kansas...WIBW-AM-FM-TV, Topeka - d
Oklahoma...WKY (AM), Oklahoma City - a
...WWLS-FM, The Village - b
...WBBZ (AM), Ponca City - ?
Missouri...WHB (AM), Kansas City - a
...WDAF-TV, Kansas City - b
...WDAF-FM, Liberty - b
...WMBH (AM), Joplin - d
...WGCQ (FM), Hayti - d
Iowa...WOI-AM-FM-TV, Ames - a
...WHO-AM-TV, Des Moines - a
...WMT (AM), Cedar Rapids - c
...WDBQ (AM), Dubuque - c
...WSUI (AM), Iowa City - c
Texas...WOAI-AM-TV, San Antonio - a
...WBAP (AM), Fort Worth - a
...WFAA-TV, Dallas - b
...WACO-FM, Waco - c
...WTAW (AM), College Station - a
...WTAW-FM, Buffalo - a
a - An AM station that signed on before January 1923, in one of the nine Central Time Zone states that were originally in W territory but
are now in K territory. The station has stayed on the air continuously with its original W call sign. It may also have an FM and/or TV
station sharing its call letters.
b - An FM or TV station that once had been co-owned with an original W station on AM. It kept its W call sign, even though the AM
station later changed its call letters to begin with K, or went off the air.
c - A station that originally had call letters beginning with W and later changed to a new set of W call letters. The FCC allowed these
stations to continue using a W call sign, even though it is not the original one.
d - WIBW originally went on the air in Logansport, Indiana, in 1926. Its owners moved it to Topeka, Kansas, the following year. WMBH
first signed on in Chicago and was later moved to Joplin, Missouri. WGCQ in Hayti, Missouri, has a similar story. It originally went on
the air on the East side of the Mississippi. It later moved its city of license to Hayti, only a couple of miles west of the river, while
keeping its call sign.
-------------
17. Call signs not beginning with a W, K, C or X... Because Newfoundland was not part of the Canadian Federation until 1949, three AM
stations in St. John's that signed on before 1949, and are still on the air today, have call signs beginning with a V, not C.
--590 VOCM
--800 VOWR
--1210 VOAR
In 1982, VOCM put an FM station on the air. That station was able to share its sister station's call sign, so it became VOCM-FM, a
classic rock station at 97.5. VOCM-FM is the only station on the FM dial in North America with call letters that don't start with a W, K, X
or C.
------------
18. There are three stations with call letters that spell out their city of license...
a - 99.9 WACO-FM in Waco, Texas.
b - 1250 WARE in Ware, Massachusetts.
c - 90.3 WISE-FM in Wise, Virginia
Last edited: