Oldest (or furthest west) “W” station?

[comfortably_numb]

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)

 

[boba]

WFAA ch. 8 Dallas

 

[osu1991]

OKC and Tulsa are all K no W’s here.

 

[comfortably_numb]

OKC and Tulsa are all K no W’s here.

It looks like there is WQOS306 from Enid, but it is offline

 

[mdonnelly]

From Wikipedia:
The westernmost station in the continental United States beginning with W is WOAI in San Antonio. WVUV-FM in Fagaitua, American Samoa, is the westernmost station with a W call sign.

American Samoa - can't get much further West than that.

 

[Peter Parker]

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.

 

[danristheman]

Why do they have K or W as their first letter in the stations call sign?

 

[Juan]

K supposed to be west..w in east..kyw in Philly screws that up a bit

 

[Mister B]

There is also this very interesting story of how a K is located in Delaware. KJWP

 

[jayn_j]

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.

 

[comfortably_numb]

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

 

[comfortably_numb]

There is also this very interesting story of how a K is located in Delaware. KJWP

Very interesting story. Seems they fought the FCC (and won).

 

[Justin Hill]

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).

 

[jayn_j]

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.

 

[Justin Hill]

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."

 

[Mister B]

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.

 

[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.

 

[comfortably_numb]

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.

 

[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

 

[comfortably_numb]

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?