TV CALLS THAT REPRESENT A CITY, PLACE OR GEOGRAPHIC AREA

[W2JUV_AL]

In Upstate NY:

WUTR Utica-Rome
WAST Albany-Schenectady-Troy (former calls, now WNYT)

 

[Joey1986]

A bunch of stations here in Los Angeles with call letters containing "LA":
(I'm listing them by their old analog/current virtual channel numbers, rather than their physical RF channel numbers, if the latter differs from the former)

KTLA channel 5 (CW)
KXLA channel 44 (Multilingual indie)
KJLA channel 57 (LATV)
KFLA-LD channel 8 (RTV)
KNLA-CD channel 20 (HSN) (The -CD suffix means digital Class A, for those to whom that may be unfamiliar)

(There are a bunch of them on the radio around these parts, too, but those don't belong in this thread.)

 

[firepoint525]

WBBJ-TV, channel 7, Jackson, Tennessee, Bahakel Broadcasting, Jackson (owner)

 

[KML0224]

In reference to WBMG-TV, it makes me think of Binghamton, NY: WBNG-TV (CBS) channel 12.

Also, I remember channel 62 of Kingston, NY. Their old call letter were WTZA-TV. I wonder if that had anything to do with the Tappan Zee Bridge downstream?

 

[KeyTimes950]

WPXI - We're Pittsburgh's Eleven (XI)
WTOV - Television for the Ohio Valley
WPGH - "PGH" is a locally used abbreviation for Pittsburgh
WPCB - Pittsburgh Christian Broadcasting

First off, Freddy, let me tweak one of those: Western Pennsylvania Christian Broadcasting, the original name of the company now called Cornerstone TeleVision.

Staying in this market, WPMY - Pittsburgh's MY-TV
WPTT - Original callsign for Pittsburgh's Channel 22 (now WPMY)
WPTT also is the former callsign of a McKeesport-licensed talk radio station.
WPCW - Pittsburgh's CW - once known as WJNL which actually stood for the owner of the station (forgive me for not remembering his name) but also called to mind its original hometown of Johnstown.
I believe WJAC also stood for Johnstown Automobile Co. or some similar company name. That is still the callsign for what began as Channel 13 and now is on Channel 6.
With my luck someone else also mentioned all these, but there are others I recall as well.
More later.

 

[KeyTimes950]

WWCP-8 Johnstown, PA ... w West Central Pennsylvania

Did anyone mention WHP-21 Harrisburg, PA?

WPSX-3, now WPSU-3, either way Penn State (University), licensed by the way to Clearfield, PA.

 

[KML0224]

And I'm sure that WJAC-TV (NBC) channel 6 of Johnstown, PA today could stand for Johnstown/Altoona/Clearfield.

 

[mjlarochelle]

Some others from Canada...mostly from CBC O&OS...

CBNT St. John's, Newfoundland
CBHT Halifax
CBCT Charlottetown
CBMT Montreal
CBOT Ottawa
CBWT Winnipeg
CFYK-TV YellowKnife

CJOH-TV Ottawa-Hull
CHOT-TV Hull-Ottawa
CKWS-TV Kingston Whig-Standard (newspaper)
CFTO-TV Toronto, Ontario
CKCO-TV Kitchener and Central Ontario
CFPL-TV London Free Press
CKNY-TV North BaY
CITO-TV Timmins, Ontario
CKPR-TV Port ARthur (original city of license, now Thunder Bay)
CKRD-TV Red Deer (defunct)
CJDC-TV Dawson Creek
CFTK-TV Terrace-Kitimat

 

[crainbebo]

MORE!

KSAN-San Angelo [Ch. 3, NBC]
KTXS-TeXaS [Ch. 12 Abilene, ABC]
KTAB-Television Abilene [Ch. 32, CBS]
KTTZ-Texas Tech [Ch. 5 Lubbock, PBS]
KLCW-Lubbock CW [Ch. 22, The CW]
KACV-Amarillo College Voice [Ch. 2, PBS]
KAMR-Amarillo [Ch. 4, NBC]
KSWK-Southwest KS [Ch. 3 Lakin, PBS]
KQCD-Queen City Dickinson [Ch. 7, NBC]
KMOT-Minot [Ch. 10, NBC]
KBMY-Bismarck Mandan [Ch. 17, ABC]
KNDX-North Dakota FoX [Ch. 26, FOX]
KXND-FoX North Dakota [Ch. 24, FOX]
KRWF-Redwood Falls [Ch. 43, ABC, semi-satellite of KSTP/5]
KAAL-Austin/Albert Lea [Ch. 6, ABC]
WABG-ABC Greenwood [Ch. 6, ABC]
WHLT-We're Hattiesburg/Laurel Television [Ch. 22, CBS]
WAGM-Aroostook Garden of Maine [Ch. 8 Presque Isle, CBS]
WNNE-Northern New England [Ch. 31, NBC]

-crainbebo

 

[Bluenoser]

Also, I remember channel 62 of Kingston, NY. Their old call letter were WTZA-TV. I wonder if that had anything to do with the Tappan Zee Bridge downstream?

Might also refer to the coverage area...I've seen WTZA videos on YouTube that include the slogan "from the Tappan Zee to Albany"...

 

[firepoint525]

WPSD--Paducah, Kentucky (Sun-Democrat, co-owned newspaper)

Just to clarify, the Paducah Sun-Democrat dropped the "democrat" from their name, so as not to seem political.

WKRN--(Knight-Ridder) Nashville, Tennessee (former owner)

Their SF station is KRON, so I did not know of a Nashville connection here. I seriously doubt that the "N" in KRON has any Nashville connection

WNPT---Nashville Public Television

What about their previous call letters, WDCN?

 

[trapper12]

WYMT Hazard, Ky, Were Your Mountain Television, WDKY, Danville, KentuckY. May be a little off subject but WBIR in Knoxville is named after its founder Jay BIRdwell. WVLT in Knoxville is named after an entity know as the Volunteers of Tennessee. Were VoLunteer tv.

 

[wbhist]

WKRN--(Knight-Ridder) Nashville, Tennessee (former owner)

Their SF station is KRON, so I did not know of a Nashville connection here. I seriously doubt that the "N" in KRON has any Nashville connection

It didn't. KRON was originally in reference to the station's original owner - the San Francisco Chronicle.

WYMT Hazard, Ky, Were Your Mountain Television.

Its prior calls, WKYH, referred to the state of Kentucky and the town of Hazard.

 

[NeilRattigan]

A few from the past

WGLV(TV) Greater Lehigh Valley...Easton, PA
WLEV-TV LEhigh Valley...Bethlehem, PA
WKNA-TV KaNAwha Valley...Charleston, WV
WDEL-TV Wilmington, DELaware

 

[bpatrick]

Ch. 5 in Lubbock's call letters used to be KTXT (TeXas Tech).

WBRC Ch. 6 Birmingham (calls are for its original owner, Birmingham
Radio Corporation)

WVTM Ch. 13 Birmingham (for Vulcan (the statue of the god of the
forge that stands on Red Mountain) Times Mirror, former call letters
WAPI stood for onetime owner Alabama Polytechnic Institute, better
known as Auburn University)

WMGT Ch. 41 Macon, GA (Macon, Georgia Television)

WKMG Ch. 6 Orlando (call letters today are for Katharine M. Graham, since
Post-Newsweek owns the station; original calls were WDBO, for "Way Down
By Orlando")

WPBF Ch. 25 West Palm Beach (West Palm Beach, Florida)

And I'm wondering if WEHT Ch. 25 Evansville, IN refers to Henderson, KY
as well as Evansville?

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I would think WEHT-25 in fact stands for "Evansville/Henderson Television".

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

A few others from my neck of the woods, New England (note that to make it easier to point out call letters, some words normally capitalized begin with lower-case letters):

WLVI-56: Roman numerals for 56 (analog-era channel number; was previously WKBG, which stood for the former co-owners Kaiser broadcasting/Boston Globe)

WSBK-38: Stock ticker symbol for former owner Storer Communications.

WGBH-2: Great Blue Hill, original transmitter location.

WCVB-5: Channel V (roman number for 5) Boston.

WSMW-27: State Mutual of Worcester (insurance company and original owner; now Univision affiliate WUNI).

WWLP-22: William L. Putnam (founder and original owner).

WLNE-6: used slogan "We Love New England".

WENH-11: Educational tv for New Hampshire.

WEDH-24: EDucational tv for Hartford.

WMUR-9: francis MURphy, founder and original owner.

WMTW-8: MounT Washington (original transmitter location)

WCSH-6: Congress Street Hotel (Portland, ME), original studio location.

WHCT-18: Hartford, ConnecticuT (city of license, now WUVN).

WSBE-36: (Rhode Island) State Board of Education (original owners; station is in the process of being spun-off from state ownership to a local nonprofit foundation).

WNHT-21: New Hampshire Television (now defunct).

WJZB-14: John Z. Buckley, station executive (now defunct).

 

[therealjm12]

Surprised no one has mentioned (or did & I missed it) WWNY Watertown, N. Y. and WCNY Syracuse- Central N. Y.

 

[RyanHoward]

WPCW - Pittsburgh's CW - once known as WJNL which actually stood for the owner of the station (forgive me for not remembering his name) but also called to mind its original hometown of Johnstown.

WJNL, the old Johnstown Ch. 19 calls, came from the JaNeLle Construction Company, its owner at the time.

 

[Charles1]

WBRC Ch. 6 Birmingham (calls are for its original owner, Birmingham
Radio Corporation)

WVTM Ch. 13 Birmingham (for Vulcan (the statue of the god of the
forge that stands on Red Mountain) Times Mirror, former call letters
WAPI stood for onetime owner Alabama Polytechnic Institute, better
known as Auburn University)

Actually, WBRC stood for Bell Radio Corporation.

And the original call letters of Channel 13 were WAFM (Alabama's FM), in reference to its FM sister station that had recently signed on when the station debuted in 1949. It later was known as WABT (Alabama's Best Television). WAFM-FM and WABT both changed their call signs in 1958 to WAPI-FM and WAPI-TV in order to establish uniformity between the AM station, FM station and TV station.