Call letter origins

[Runrigger]

Found a few of these from RI & nearby Mass. Seems giving radio stations peoples' names is nothing new with a couple of calls originating as initials for an engineer & an owner's wife. I love the one for WATD.
WARA Attleboro, MA Attleboro Radio Associates
WATD Marshfield, MA We're At the Dump, where the transmitter was located
WBRU Providence, RI BRown University or BRUins
WCOD Hyannis, MA Cape COD, MA
WDDZ Pawtucket, RI DZ = 'Disney' (Radio Disney)
WEAN Providence, RI We Entertain A Nation
WEEI Boston, MA Edison Electic Illuminating
WFHN Fairhaven, MA FairHaveN
WGNG Pawtucket, RI Gold 'N Great, was WPAW, now WDDZ
WICE Providence, RI ICE = 'Ice' for broadcast of hockey games
WJAR Providence, RI John Arthur Reilly, stations first engineer
WKFD Wickford, RI WickForD
WLKW Providence, RI L=Roman 50, KW; was 50 Kw at 990 kH
WLNE New Bedford, MA We Love New England
WMVY Tisbury, MA Martha's VineYard
WNBH New Bedford, MA New Bedford Hotel
WNRI Woonsocket, RI Northern Rhode Island
WPAW Pawtucket, RI PAWtucket, later WXTR, WGNG, WICE, WDDZ
WPJB Providence, RI Providence-Journal Bulletin
WPLM Plymouth, MA PLyMouth or We Play Lovely Music
WPRI(TV) Providence, RI Providence, Rhode Island
WPRO Providence, RI Providence, Rhode Island
WRIB Providence, RI RI Broadcasting
WSAR Fall River, MA We Show Advertising R)esults
WSRS Worcester, MA Worcester's Stereo Radio S)tation
WVBF Framingham, MA Virginia B Fairbanks, wife of owner
WWON Woonsocket, RI WoONsocket, now WOON

 

[JustinT]

> WCTK has a sister country station WCTY in Norwich
> Connecticut. I'm sure the CT letters for both are there
> because of the format.

I'd bet the CT in the calls of 98.1 WCTK stands for Cat, with the K in there for a phonetic spelling of country.

Wasn't 93.3 called "Sunny" at a time? I'd thought that was where the SNE came from. It could also refer to Southern New England.

 

[ScottBurns]

> > WCTK has a sister country station WCTY in Norwich
> > Connecticut. I'm sure the CT letters for both are there
> > because of the format.
>
> I'd bet the CT in the calls of 98.1 WCTK stands for Cat,
> with the K in there for a phonetic spelling of country.
>
> Wasn't 93.3 called "Sunny" at a time? I'd thought that was
> where the SNE came from. It could also refer to Southern New
> England.

Didn't Cat Country at one time refer to themselves with the letter "K"? This predates my knowledge of the market. Several other country stations nationwide once used a form of the "K" moniker. For example, there has been "K Country" (there still is, Ocala, Florida) and also "The Country K."

 

[epsilon]

> Found a few of these from RI & nearby Mass.

Back in the 50s and 60's when they were all Classical music stations,
WBCN stood for Boston Concert Network, WHCN Hartford Concert Network,
WNCN New York Concert Network, etc.

WSVP (early 70s) was Suburban Voice of Providence.

WCOP - COPley Square, Boston, where the studios were located. (Corner of Exeter Street and Newbury Street, IIRC).

During it's tenure as the all-sports pre-cursor to the current WEEI, Eddie Andelman used to say that WHDH stood for "We Hate Designated Hitters".

 

[DG02816]

Les..

When I was Chief Engineer of WBSM New Bedford in 83,there were some of the old pattern maps from WPJB 1420 still in the file cabinet. I was of the impression that 1420 Providence was fulltime rather than a daytimer....



Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740

Chester/Philadelphia