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A "K" set of call letters in Kenucky
- Thread starter radiorob2.0
- Start date
Yup....There are other K-calls east of the Mississippi River. Try KTGG-1540 in Michigan. And of course, Pennsylvania has KYW in Philadelphia plus KDKA and KQV in Pittsburgh. I am sure there are others. There are MANY W-calls WEST of the Mississippi River particularly in Texas, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and others.
This station was originally authorized to construct at Brownfield, Texas in 2005. It was assigned the calls KCWV, which were changed to KMLU in 2006.
It never received a license-to-cover for operation in Texas. In 2007 it applied for permission to relocate to Kentucky, and in 2009 that permission was granted. ("major modification of construction permit". It doesn't happen very often, and it's VERY unusual to relocate several hundred miles, but it's not entirely unprecedented.)
So the K callsign moved to Kentucky with the station. The FCC apparently didn't require the station to change call letters when it moved across the Mississippi. It's a bit (but only a bit) more surprising they allowed the station to change the calls from KMLU to KYAI *after* it moved to Kentucky.
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For KTGG, the rumor has it the station requested WSAE. (to go with co-owned WSAE-FM) A Commission clerk saw "MI" as the station location and thought it meant Missouri. Since Missouri is west of the Mississippi, obviously WSAE is not a suitable call for a MI station & this station should be assigned the next K call available, KTGG. That is strictly a rumor.
I think KQV and KYW are mysteries. (KYW was initially located in Chicago but of course that's W territory too) KDKA was issued at a time when four-letter K calls were being assigned to *all* radio stations. That practice only lasted a few weeks, and the other two broadcast stations licensed during that period went out of business a few years later.
The K/W dividing line was not initially the Mississippi River. It was the western borders of North Dakota/South Dakota/Nebraska/Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas. (because the distinction was intended to be between maritime shore stations on the East/Gulf Coasts vs. those on the West Coast) A number W stations were licensed in those six states, as well as Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, before the dividing line was moved.
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Another long-distance move has brought another K call into the east just yesterday. KJWY, a full-power digital TV station, is now on the air from Philadelphia. (city of license is Wilmington, Delaware) KJWY moved from Jackson, Wyoming.
It never received a license-to-cover for operation in Texas. In 2007 it applied for permission to relocate to Kentucky, and in 2009 that permission was granted. ("major modification of construction permit". It doesn't happen very often, and it's VERY unusual to relocate several hundred miles, but it's not entirely unprecedented.)
So the K callsign moved to Kentucky with the station. The FCC apparently didn't require the station to change call letters when it moved across the Mississippi. It's a bit (but only a bit) more surprising they allowed the station to change the calls from KMLU to KYAI *after* it moved to Kentucky.
========================
For KTGG, the rumor has it the station requested WSAE. (to go with co-owned WSAE-FM) A Commission clerk saw "MI" as the station location and thought it meant Missouri. Since Missouri is west of the Mississippi, obviously WSAE is not a suitable call for a MI station & this station should be assigned the next K call available, KTGG. That is strictly a rumor.
I think KQV and KYW are mysteries. (KYW was initially located in Chicago but of course that's W territory too) KDKA was issued at a time when four-letter K calls were being assigned to *all* radio stations. That practice only lasted a few weeks, and the other two broadcast stations licensed during that period went out of business a few years later.
The K/W dividing line was not initially the Mississippi River. It was the western borders of North Dakota/South Dakota/Nebraska/Kansas/Oklahoma/Texas. (because the distinction was intended to be between maritime shore stations on the East/Gulf Coasts vs. those on the West Coast) A number W stations were licensed in those six states, as well as Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, before the dividing line was moved.
========================
Another long-distance move has brought another K call into the east just yesterday. KJWY, a full-power digital TV station, is now on the air from Philadelphia. (city of license is Wilmington, Delaware) KJWY moved from Jackson, Wyoming.
only slightly off-topic...but there's also KYTN-FM licensed to Union City, TN
The only obvious (to me, at least) "K"-east-of-the-Mississippi calls that haven't already been brought up are KFIZ in Fond du Lac, Wisc. The original AM station has apparently used them continuously since sign-on (around 1922)--while they were also later used on a (failed) co-owned TV station, and on its co-owned FM station for about a decade (although its current calls [WFON] are apparently also its original ones). Ironically enough, that FM station still uses "K" for its branding.
WFON was not originally co-owned with KFIZ, it was a later acquisition.
Yeah, I'm not sure how they got KFIZ. My guess is it was a portable station which launched from a west-of-the-Mississippi River location & found itself in Fond du Lac when the government decided to stop licensing portables. (that's how WBBZ landed in Oklahoma)
Yeah, I'm not sure how they got KFIZ. My guess is it was a portable station which launched from a west-of-the-Mississippi River location & found itself in Fond du Lac when the government decided to stop licensing portables. (that's how WBBZ landed in Oklahoma)
Duluth, MN/Superior, WI has been a mixed W and K area for decades. I think the original stations here (WEBC and KDAL) may have existed before the east-west division started, and were "grandfathered" in; but there have been many more since. We currently have WEBC, KDAL, WDSM, WWJC, WGEE and KQDS AM; WWAX, KQDS, KDAL, KTCO, KLDJ, KDWZ, KZIO, KKCB and KBMX FM; KUWS, WSCD, WSCN, KUMD and WSSU college/educational FMs, WJRF, KDNI and KDNW non-commercial religious FMs; and KDLH, KBJR, WDSE, WDIO and KQDS TV. Defunct stations of the past have included WREX, WSBR, WQMN, WIGL, WAKX, KPIR, WGGR, WDTH, KXTP, WAVC, KBXT, KRBR and KHQG radio and WFTV and KDUL-TV.
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Right, that one started out with "KYTN" only as the nickname back about 1987, but only much more recently became the actual call letters of the station. I had a thread about that on the Tennessee board, inquiring if KYTN was now the actual call letters of that station. And of course, it turns out that it is.
http://radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?646422-KYTN
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Brand new & soon on the air:
KJWP(TV) Ch 2 Philadelphia (moved from Jackson WY)
KVNV(TV) Ch 3 Middletown Township, N.J. (moved from Ely, Nevada)
KJWP(TV) Ch 2 Philadelphia (moved from Jackson WY)
KVNV(TV) Ch 3 Middletown Township, N.J. (moved from Ely, Nevada)
FWIW, KJWP signed on from Philadelphia earlier this week. (actually, the city-of-license is Wilmington, Delaware but the transmitter is indeed in Philly)
IIRC the KVNV transmitter will be on Manhattan.
Arguably, neither station is actually "new", both have operated from their original Western locations before moving across the Mississippi.
IIRC the KVNV transmitter will be on Manhattan.
Arguably, neither station is actually "new", both have operated from their original Western locations before moving across the Mississippi.
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