TV/Radio Station Names

[evac-q8r]

Does anyone know how TV/Radio station names are given? The ones that start with a "w". For example, WOWI, WGNT, WAVY, WTKR, etc. Is there a special meaning or format to these names. Somebody please enlighten me.

EVAC

[hard candy]

W's are east of the Mississippi River and K's are west of the "Ol Man River". And the rest of can be random or requested as long as another station is not using it.

[mdwatts]

'W' are American and 'C' are Canadian, but I'm not sure if the three remaining letters stand for anything in particular.

I did a Google search for 'radio station naming convention' and found

http://earlyradiohistory.us/1914reg.htm

that might answer your question.

[ph34r]

And they are assigned by the FCC, although you can request a certain combination if it is available...

[evac-q8r]

Thanks guys for all the help and so soon. I didn't realize that so many people were up this early and on their computers. Thanks for the link mdwatts.

Oh, I have another question. Since the letters following the first are randomly chosen what is the purpose of having these names. Does it serve to distinguish between two stations using the same frequency? That's the very first thing that comes to mind.

EVAC

[hard candy]

I think it is to distinguish between two different transmitters, like ham radio has call signs.