Oldest (or furthest west) “W” station?

comfortably_numb

Dogs have owners, cats have staff
Original poster
Pub Member / Supporter
Nov 30, 2011
17,327
25,017
Kansas City / Las Vegas
A friend asked me the other day what the furthest west TV station with a “W” call is. I thought perhaps it was in Oklahoma City?

Also, can new broadcasters west of the Mississippi request a “W” sign now if they want? A newer LP in Topeka has one (WROB)
 
Not sure if you really want to know about the "oldest" but W2XB (now WRGB) was, I believe the first TV station with a W designation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: comfortably_numb
Why do they have K or W as their first letter in the stations call sign?
There was an international radio conference in 1912 in Luxemburg. They assigned letter prefixes by country. The US was given K, N and W. Also a few in the A series (AA, AB, etc)
Our department of commerce and later the FCC (after 1934) then created a system for assigning sequences based on those.
 
There was an international radio conference in 1912 in Luxemburg. They assigned letter prefixes by country. The US was given K, N and W. Also a few in the A series (AA, AB, etc)
Our department of commerce and later the FCC (after 1934) then created a system for assigning sequences based on those.

Nice signature, Jay ;)
 
K supposed to be west..w in east..kyw in Philly screws that up a bit

There used to be a TV station in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin that existed from 1968-1972 called KFIZ-TV. It was related to KFIZ AM radio, which is still on the air.

Pennsylvania has two K-stations: KYW 3 Philadelphia and KDKA 2 Pittsburgh. Both of those stations also have connections to radio as well.

Other than K and W, which are used in the states, there are some English-speaking Mexican-owned TV stations along the US-Mexico border with callsigns beginning with XE and XH (XHDTV 49, XHRIO 15 and until last year, XETV 6).
 
  • Like
Reactions: comfortably_numb
Other than K and W, which are used in the states, there are some English-speaking Mexican-owned TV stations along the US-Mexico border with callsigns beginning with XE and XH (XHDTV 49, XHRIO 15 and until last year, XETV 6).

San Diego network affiliates for CW and MyTV are both located in Mexico with XE callsigns. XE is for mexican stations, even though they are beamed toward the US.
 
San Diego network affiliates for CW and MyTV are both located in Mexico with XE callsigns. XE is for mexican stations, even though they are beamed toward the US.
XETV-TDT 6 is no longer a CW station. The CW affiliation moved to KFMB-TV 8.2. XETV-TDT 6 is now affiliated with Canal 5 as of last summer, but is still broadcasted out of Tijuana, BN, Mexico.

San Diego's MyNetworkTV affiliate is XHDTV-TDT 49 "My 13," beamed out of Tecate, BN, Mexico. That's "XH" in addition to "XE."
 
Yes, there are many XH prefixes across the river in Juarez, Mexico. I believe they ran out of XE's many years ago. Mexico also has many five letter call signs. They also retain a few three letter stations for the very old transmitters just like we have in the U.S.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Justin Hill
Yes, there are many XH prefixes across the river in Juarez, Mexico. I believe they ran out of XE's many years ago. Mexico also has many five letter call signs. They also retain a few three letter stations for the very old transmitters just like we have in the U.S.
In addition to three, four and five letters, they use six as well, XHTRES, channel 3, Mexico City is one such example of the six-letter callsign.
 
Trip is it possible for a TV station west of the Mississippi to request a "W" call today? My specific curiosity is the relatively new WROB in Topeka, Kansas being granted those calls for their LP.
 
Anyone can request anything they want. Whether or not it'll be granted is another story. Strictly speaking, W is limited to east of the Mississippi and K west of the Mississippi. It is possible for people to make mistakes.

- Trip
 
Anyone can request anything they want. Whether or not it'll be granted is another story. Strictly speaking, W is limited to east of the Mississippi and K west of the Mississippi. It is possible for people to make mistakes.

- Trip

So, this was an instance of the FCC making a mistake?
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts