When it comes to stations sharing the same calls, one with "K" and the other with "W," are there or have there ever been a pair geographically closer than co-owned KLPB (Lafayette LA) and WLPB (Baton Rouge LA)? Their current transmitters are just 65 miles apart (and their old analog transmitters were 73 miles apart). A rare case where a sizable population could under normal band conditions regularly receive both "K" and "W" variations of the same calls. Any others that even come close to this, currently or historically?
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This is pretty obscure and esoteric, but...
- Thread starter Stanislav
- Start date
Several examples in St. Louis.
Stanislav said:
I'm sure those two are the closest, but Minnesota also has two like occurrences. WCCO is in Minneapolis, while its full-power satellite station KCCO is in Alexandria. The two are roughly 125 miles apart, so a person in St. Cloud, which is midway between the two, might theoretically receive both. Farther apart are WFTC Minneapolis and full-power satellite KFTC Bemidji.
KML-224 said:
KDKA was a sequentially assigned set of call letters. The "W's" west of the Mississippi were issued when the dividing line was the Rocky Mountains.
Another fun fact, prior to broadcast radio and the Panama Canal the call letters indicated a ship or shore radio. A ship radio with a "W" set of call letters was in the Pacific Ocean while a west coast shore station had a "K" set of call letters. A ship radio with "K" calls was in the Atlantic Ocean while the east coast shore station had a "W" calls. That call letter format, with a few exception, carried on to broadcast radio.
KML-224 said:
The W's west of the Mississippi are for the same reason as KDKA, they were assigned before the Mississippi River dividing line.
There are a few other AMs in Iowa with W calls: WMT, Cedar Rapids; WHO, Des Moines; WOI, Ames. Also WMT-FM, WOI-FM, WOI-TV.
There is a strange one in Omaha, WOWT (TV)... it was WOW-TV, the co-owned AM was 590-WOW. One was sold off and the AM got to keep the WOW calls so the FCC for some reason approved WOWT for the TV station.
Much like the Nashville situation when National
Life and Accident Insurance Company sold off
WSM-TV and it became WSMV. Actually, WOWT
rolls off the tongue better than WOW-TV, just as
WBTV sounds better than its intended call letters,
WBT-TV.
KDKA and Philadelphia's KYW are the only "K" call
letters for television stations east of the Mississippi
AFAIK (Pittsburgh does, I think, have KQV radio).
But there are still quite a few "W" calls west; besides
WOWT I can think of:
WHO and WOI Des Moines, IA
WIBW Topeka, KS
WDAF Kansas City, MO
WDAY Fargo, ND
WFAA Dallas/Ft. Worth
WOAI San Antonio
and Minneapolis is on the west side of the Mississippi,
but that's where WCCO is; Duluth has WDIO.
That's just the television stations. There are "W" radio
stations like WBAP Ft. Worth, and one that has a place
in history (a dubious one, depending on your point of
view): WNAX Yankton, SD, where Lawrence Welk got
his start.
Life and Accident Insurance Company sold off
WSM-TV and it became WSMV. Actually, WOWT
rolls off the tongue better than WOW-TV, just as
WBTV sounds better than its intended call letters,
WBT-TV.
KDKA and Philadelphia's KYW are the only "K" call
letters for television stations east of the Mississippi
AFAIK (Pittsburgh does, I think, have KQV radio).
But there are still quite a few "W" calls west; besides
WOWT I can think of:
WHO and WOI Des Moines, IA
WIBW Topeka, KS
WDAF Kansas City, MO
WDAY Fargo, ND
WFAA Dallas/Ft. Worth
WOAI San Antonio
and Minneapolis is on the west side of the Mississippi,
but that's where WCCO is; Duluth has WDIO.
That's just the television stations. There are "W" radio
stations like WBAP Ft. Worth, and one that has a place
in history (a dubious one, depending on your point of
view): WNAX Yankton, SD, where Lawrence Welk got
his start.
Quincy IL, hannibal MO can get an assortment of both K and W calls on radio and TV (TV is KHQA, licensed to hannibal while WGEM is licensed to Quincy, though both stations have studios on the Quincy side). On radio you have KGRC Hannibal, WGEM AM and FM Quincy, WTAD, WQCY and others in Quincy and KHMO from Hannibal. Of course KMOX comes in but better on the Hannibal side.
bpatrick said:
The original call letters dividing line was west of the Mississippi (100 deg. longitude, I think) and included Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, and most of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas in the "W" section. When the line was moved to the Mississippi, existing stations were grandfathered in. In some cases, new "W" calls were allowed in the west and new "K" calls in the east if the TV station was co-owned with a radio station with grandfathered calls.
San Antonio's WOAI-TV used to be KMOL. Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV used to be WDTV back in its Dumont days.
Another "W" TV station licensed to a state west of the Mississippi is WDAZ Devils Lake ND.
Another "K" TV station licensed to a state east of the Mississippi is KBJR Superior WI.
If I'm not mistaken, because Minnesota and Louisiana lie on both sides of the Mississippi, stations in each state can use either "K" or "W". In those states, communities west of the Mississippi with "W" calls are WCCO, WUCW and WFTC, all licensed to Minneapolis MN. Communities east of the Mississippi with "K" calls are KTCA, KSTP and KTCI of St. Paul MN, KDLH and KQDS of Duluth MN, KRII of Chisholm MN and KGLA of Hammond LA.
Some of those "W" calls were issued sequentially like WDAF, WNAX, and others. The sequence was W_A_. Since at one time you could not have three letters in a row the series started WAAB, WAAC WAAD. You can tell the age of a station by that sequence. For instance WDAF received a license before WEAF or WHAS but a WBAP preceded WDAF.
As far as the battle over call letters after a sale really depends. WKBW-TV was able to take ownership and the radio station had to change. Today it is a moot point. Ironically, Clear Channel returned the heritage calls to co-owned radio and TV stations. WOAI, WHAM and others are associated with their sister station.
As far as the battle over call letters after a sale really depends. WKBW-TV was able to take ownership and the radio station had to change. Today it is a moot point. Ironically, Clear Channel returned the heritage calls to co-owned radio and TV stations. WOAI, WHAM and others are associated with their sister station.
dhett said:
I didn't think about KBJR; I must have thought it was a Duluth station.
There is only one "W" among the Big Three affiliates in that market.
KARE in the Twin Cities used to be WTCN.
In Louisiana "W" stations are located in New Orleans and Baton Rouge;
the rest of the state (Monroe, Columbia, Shreveport, Alexandria, Lake Charles)
uses "K."
Sitcoms that adhere to family values may not be educationally redeeming to be given an E/I nod...but here are such programs that do.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Beverly Hillbillies
Petticoat Junction
Green Acres
The Monkees
The Brady Bunch
The Partridge Family
Happy Days
Eight Is Enough
The Cosby Show
Lizzie McGuire
Sister,Sister
Touched By An Angel
and yes..(although I've watched only bits and pieces of it)
Hannah Montana
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Beverly Hillbillies
Petticoat Junction
Green Acres
The Monkees
The Brady Bunch
The Partridge Family
Happy Days
Eight Is Enough
The Cosby Show
Lizzie McGuire
Sister,Sister
Touched By An Angel
and yes..(although I've watched only bits and pieces of it)
Hannah Montana
...actually, the Mississippi River divides both Minneapolis and St. Paul into two sections apiece, so K*** and W*** for either city is well within the rules. And another K*** east of the Mississippi, although no longer used, was KFIZ-TV/34 Fond du Lac, Wisconsin from 1968 to 1972; its AM sister radio station, KFIZ, still exists there...dhett said:
dhett said:
But prior to KMOL-TV, it was--as now--WOAI-TV. The KMOL calls were the
result of a sale of either the radio or TV side (can't recall which) back when
you couldn't share calls if not co-owned.
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