| Most of them don't "stand' for anything. Although some were chosen for various reasons . Today, the applicant for a license can ask for any 4-letter combination that is not already taken, depending on its location, as long as it is not obscene or indecent. It is assigned by the Federal Commmunications Commission.
In the late 1920's and early 30's, the nations of the world developed the "call letters" or "call signs" to identify broadcasters, so listeners would be able to identify who they were listening to. By international convention, the USA stations were identified by the first letters W and K (a few old stations could have both no matter where they were located; but in the 1930's, the US established W stations on the East Coast and K on the West Coast (divided roughly at the Mississippi River. )Some older stations were "grandfathered in ", if they had call letters from the 20's, such as KDKA in Pittsburgh. Very old stations had 3-letters, such as WOR in New York, KFI in Los Angeles and KGO in San Francisco, KOA in Denver, KOB in Albuquerque etc. Originally, stations could ask for call letters, so some were chosen for the initials of the owners, or some other reason. Some were humorous, such as KABL in San Francisco, which had the Cable cars, or WHO , or WWVA for Wheeling, West Virginia, or KRON , which was owned by the Chronicle newspaper in San Francisco. There was an old station in Chicago, WEBH , since it broadcast from the Edgewater Beach Hotel. There is a KAML in San Francisco, with its mascot, a camel. And, of course, KISS !
Sometimes, Networks had stations that they gave their corporate initials (KNBC, or KCBS, or KABC, or WNBC, WCBS, etc..
Incidentally, stations broadcasting in Canada have 4 letters beginning with C . And Mexico has stations beginning with X . |
