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 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.
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