Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-05
HISTORY OF RADIO
CALLS DESCRIBED.
Department of Commerce
Assigns Letters According .
to Berlin Conference.
BY l.. A. CORRIDOR.

BY L. A. CORRIDOR,
Radio Division, Department of Commerce.
No doubt there are thousands of
radio enthusiasts who have deliberated
as to why call letters are assigned to
radio stations, especially broadcasting
stations, and as to what significance
there Is in the different groups of
these letters.
In the early days Of radio. or wire
less, as this science OF communication
at one time was called, there was not
very much system in the use Of these
calls for station Identification.
After the establishment of the Radio
Division Of the Department Of Com
merce, on July /, 1911, to enforce the
provisions Of the radio act of June "a.
1910, which was the first radio act
enacted in the United States, and, fol-
lowing the ratification of the Berlin
Convention Of 1908, this country was
allocated all combinations beginning
with N, w and all of the K combina-
lions, with the exception of certain
calls then assigned to stations of other
countries. Subsequently, all the K,
and w calls, with the exception of
the groups beginning with KA, KB
and KC, were reserved for the United
States.
Calls AlIocated.
The Radio Division, in order that
the identification of stations may more
readily be ascertained, allocated all K
calls to land stations on the Pacific
Coast and to ships plying the Atlantic
Ocean and Gulf Of Mexico stations
The w calls were allocated to Atlantic
and Gulf Coast stations and stations
on the Great Lakes. Ships plying the
Pacific Ocean also were assigned w
calls. This practice worked smoothly
until the opening of the Panama Canal.
From that time on, with ships going
from one ocean to the other, either
K or w calls were of necessity used
and assigned to vessels in both oceans.
During the infancy of radio prac-
tically all land stations were on the
coast as all communication was done
between ship-to-shore stations. there
being no point-to-point communica-
ton between stations within the coun-
try. K calls at the time of the be-
ginning of broadcasting were assigned
to inland stations east or west of the
Mississippi River; however, after the
first broadcasting stations were erect
ed, that river was made the dividing
line of K and w calls. KDKA, East
Pittsburgh, and KYW, Chicago, are
among the pioneer broadcasting sta
tons, which accounts for these sta
tons having K calls assigned to them.
Letters Exhausted.
Along about 1917, when this country
entered the world conflict, the call
combination of three letters were ex-
hauSted, making it necessary for the
grouping of an additional letter The
International Radiotelegraph Confer
ence held at washington in 1927 allo-
Gated the remaining combinations be-
ginning with KA, KB and KC to the
United States, due to the arrange
ment decided upon to assign only
three-letter calls to stations in the
international service-that is, land
stations communicating with ships at
sea and land stations communicating
with foreign countries. The number
of stations Of this category had in
creased tremendously. Four-letter calls
under the convention are now as
signed to ships and land stations in
domestic point-to-point service and
five-letter calls are given to radio
equipped aircraft
Shortly after the inception of broad
casting the idea Of giving calls to
broadcasting stations that would have
and, to begin with, assigned KOP to a
station Of the Detroit Police Depart
ment which since then has been placed
out Of commission. With the popu-
larity of this call came a deluge of
requests for calls designating the
initials Of a slogan, the owners name,
the name of q city or State In which
. station may be located.
Calls Represent Slogans.
The station Of the Radio Corpora
ton In Washington asked for WRC,
which readily can be seen to stand
for Washington Radio Corporation.
Then along came number of others,
including WGN, Chicago which stands
for the slogan of the Chicago Tribune;
WCCO. st. Paul, Washburn Crosby
Co.; WACO, Waco, Tex, as one can
observe, spells the name of the city
in which this station is located; VIVID,
Mooseheart, ILL, forgetting the initial
letter which must be assigned, stands
for James j. Davis, director general
of the Loyal Order. of the Moose, for
mer Secretary of Labor and now junior
Senator from Pennsylvania; WMNdN,
Paramount, w. Va, stands for Senator
Mansfield M. Nicely of that state:
WGP, Atlantic City, Worlds Greatest
Playground, Is very appropriate. There
are many others using exceptionally
appropriate calls. In Florida, at Miami
6cdCll, OluCldlS COulQ IlOC assign CIle
call requested, but thinking of Florida's
semi-tropical climate, assigned WHO'D,
which became the initial letters Of
that stations slogan, viz, wonderful
Isle Of Dreams" The corporate name
of this station Is now Isle Of Dreams
Broadcasting Co. A number of broad
casting stations which are incorporated
have used their call letters for their
corporate name or as the name Of
ownership.
Old Calls ReaSsigned.
A number of the calls used today
were formerly assigned to stations now
out Of existence, some Of which have
had stormy experiences. KGB, now
assigned to q station. the transmitter
Of which is located in San Diego and
the studio in Los Angeles, was at one
time used by the steamer D. N.
sunk by submarine of
the French coast in 1917. KOB, State
College. New Mexico, was formerly
used by the steam screw Princess Anne
up to the time she broke in two on
Rockaway Shoals. New York, with a
cargo loss of 100000. Radio played
an important part in the rescue Of
the 1o6 persons on board.
In each of the three-letter call
groups allocated It will be seen that