why do so many radio and television news stations in the US use four-letter acronyms as their names? (ex. WFSB, KLAN)
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They’re required to identify themselves by four letter callsigns by the FCC. It’s part of radio etiquette and picking a callsign is something you have to do
They are station identifiers. It lets the audience know that the station has a valid broadcast license. They are issued by the FCC and stations are required to display or announce their identifier a certain number of times per day/hour.
The FCC assigns stations east of the Mississippi river ID’s starting with W and west of the Mississippi they start with K. The remaining letters can be chosen by the station to represent their brand or location if the letter combinations are available. For instance, WLEX is broadcast out of Lexington KY or KPNX in Phoenix, AZ incorporate their location. A radio station that plays country music might have a station ID like WCCM to stand for Classic Country Music, or a talk radio station might be something like KTLK.
Radio station names (known as call signs) are assigned by the FCC, and they have a set of rules in place they use when assigning names.
The reason radio stations start with “W” or “K” is because in 1912 when the federal government first licensed radio stations, broadcasting stations were generally assigned call signs beginning with “K” when their community of license is located in the west, and with “W” in the east. The original boundary line ran northward from the Texas-New Mexico border. In early 1923 the boundary was moved to its present location of the Mississippi River, in order to better balance the populations in the two regions.
As others have said, it’s the call sign. Just wanted to note that the FCC is a member of the International Telecommuncations Union (ITU) which has defined call signs blocks for all nations, not just the United States.
Also, this is not only radio and TV but many transmissions – there are exceptions like CB radio or family radio service – but most other transmitters require a license and call sign. For instance amateur radio call signs in the US can begin with K or W, but also with A or N. Ham radio calls use a number to define the region. So for instance, my call sign starts KD4, with the 4 indicating the southeastern US.
Finally, I hope no radio or TV station uses KLAN!
It’s a legal thing.
Every radio operator is assigned a code. For broadcast stations, it’s 4 letters.
By law, radio operators must speak that code over the air, at the start of every transmission, and at regular intervals. Every operator gets a unique code, that isn’t shared. This way, listeners can very easily tell whose transmission they are receiving.
So, it’s natural to make that code into a brand.
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