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User:Gatorman/TV Station Callsign Meanings

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This will be a list of callsign meanings of ALL full-power television stations, PAST AND PRESENT. Please help add to this list.

New York City

[edit]
WCBS-TV 2 (Columbia Broadcasting System)
WCBW, 1941-46: Columbia Broadcasting W
WNBC 4 (National Broadcasting Company)
WNBT, 1941-54: NBC Television
WRCA-TV, 1954-60: Radio Corporation of America (RCA, NBC parent at the time)
WNYW 5 (What New Yorkers Watch)
WABD, 1944-58: Allen B. DuMont (DuMont Television Network founder)
WNEW-TV, 1958-86: New York
WABC-TV 7 (American Broadcasting Company)
WJZ-TV, 1948-53: New Jers(Z)ey (original WJZ radio location)
WWOR-TV 9 (World of Radio)
WOR-TV, 1949-87: World of Radio
WPIX 11 ("PIX" (pictures; the New York Daily News was known as the "Picture Newspaper"))
WNET 13 (National Educational Television (PBS forerunner))
WATV, 1948-58: Atlantic Television (former owners)
WNTA-TV, 1958-62: National Telefilm Associates (former owners)
WNDT, 1962-70: National Educational Television
WLIW 21 (Long Island West)
WNYE-TV 25 (New York Education)
WPXN-TV 31 (Paxson)
WUHF-TV, 1961: Ultra High Frequency
WNYC-TV, 1962-96: New York City
WBIS-TV, 1996-97: Business Information Station
WXTV 41 (WX Television)
WNJU 47 (New Jersey UHF)
WNJN 50 (New Jersey Network)
WTBY-TV 54 (Trinity Broadcasting New York)
WFTI-TV, 1980-82: Family Television, Inc.(original owners)
WLNY 55 (Long Island New York)
WLIG, 1985-96: Long Island G
WNJB 58 (New Jersey Brunswick)
WRNN-TV 62 (Regional News Network)
WTZA, 1985-95: Tappan Zee to Albany, station's broadcast range as "Hudson Valley" station
WMBC-TV 63 (Mountain Broadcasting Corporation)
WFME-TV 66 (unknown)
WFTY-TV 67 (Telefutura New York)
WSNL-TV, 1973-86: (unknown)
WHSI-TV, 1986-2001: Home Shopping I
WFUT-TV 68 (Telefutura)
WWRO-TV, cp: (unknown)
WBTB-TV, 1974-76: Blonder-Tongue Broadcasting
WTVG, 1976-77: (unknown)
WWHT-TV, 1977-86: Wometco Home Theatre
WHSE-TV, 1986-2001: Home Shopping E

Los Angeles

[edit]
KCBS-TV 2 (Columbia Broadcasting System)
KTSL-TV, 1948-51: Thomas S. Lee (former owner)
KNXT, 1951-84: News-Express Television (after KNX radio's former owners, the Los Angeles Evening Express)
KNBC 4 (National Broadcasting Company)
KNBH, 1949-54: NBC Hollywood
KRCA-TV, 1954-60: Radio Corporation of America (RCA, NBC parent at the time)
KTLA 5 (Television Los Angeles)
KABC-TV 7 (American Broadcasting Company)
KECA-TV, 1949-54: Earl C. Anthony (former owner)
KCAL-TV 9 (California)
KFI-TV, 1948-51: Farmer's Information
KHJ-TV, 1951-89: Kindness, Happiness, and Joy
KTTV 11 (Los Angeles Times Television (former owners))
KCOP-TV 13 (Copley Press (former owners))
KMTR-TV, 1948: K.M. Turner Radio Corporation (owners of KMTR radio and former channel 13 owners)
KLAC-TV, 1948-54: Los Angeles, California
KKOG-TV 16 (defunct, 1968-69) (Kalifornia's Koast of Gold)
KSCI 18 (Science of Creative Intelligence, a philosophy whose leader was former station owner, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.)
KWHY-TV 22 (Why (a question prefix))
KBIC, 1954: (unknown)
KIIX, 1962-63: (unknown)
KPOL-TV, 1964-66: Metropolitan (from co-owned KPOL-AM/FM)
KVMD 23 (unknown)
KVCR-TV 24 (Valley College Radio)
KCET 28 (Community Educational Television)
KPXN 30 (Paxson)
KHOF-TV, 1969-85: King's Hall Of Fame (religious station)
KAGL-TV, 1985-91: (unknown)
KZKI, 1991-97: (unknown)
KMEX-TV 34 (Mexico)
KTBN-TV 40 (Trinity Broadcasting Network)
KLXA-TV, 1967-77: (unknown)
KXLA 44 (KX Los Angeles) Since 2001
KRPA 2000-2001
KFTR-TV 46 (Telefutura)
KBSA, 1972-77: Broadcasting Service of America (original owners)
KIHS, 1984-86: "IHS" is a monogram of the Latin words for "Jesus Christ" (station was owned by the Catholic Church)
KHSC, 1986-2002: Home Shopping Club
KOCE-TV 50 (Orange County Education)
KVEA 52 (Vea ("watch" in Spanish))
KMTW-TV, 1966-68: Mount Wilson Broadcasting (former owners)
KBSC-TV, 1968-1985: Kaiser Broadcasting Southern California
KAZA-TV 54 (Azteca America)
KDOC-TV 56 (Dynamic Orange County -or- Doctor Gene Scott)
KJLA 57 (KJ Los Angeles)
KSTV, 1990-98: (unknown)
KLCS 58 (Los Angeles City Schools)
KRCA 62 (Riverside, California)
KSLD-TV, 1988-90: (unknown)
KBEH 63 (unknown)
KTIE-TV, 1985-88: An effort to tie the suburban area, in the shadow of Los Angeles, together
KADY-TV, 1988-2005: Named after Kady, the daughter of former owners/husband-and-wife Meshulam Riklis and Pia Zadora, which in turn was the name of the character Zadora played in her breakthrough movie Butterfly, financed by her husband Riklis
KHIZ 64 (unknown)
KVVT, 1986-92: (Victor Valley Television)
KEEF-TV 68 (defunct, 1987) (unknown)
KVST, 1974-76: Viewer Supported Television

Chicago

[edit]
WBBM-TV 2 (World's Best Battery Maker, referring to WBBM radio's original owners Mallory Battery Company)
WBKB-TV, 1946-53: Balaban and Katz Broadcasting (former owners)
WMAQ-TV 5 (We Must Ask Questions)
WNBQ-TV, 1948-64: National Broadcasting Company Q
WLS-TV 7 (World's Largest Store, referring to WLS radio's original owners Sears, Roebuck and Company)
WENR-TV, 1948-53: E.N. Rauland (owner of WENR radio)
WBKB-TV, 1953-68: Balaban and Katz Broadcasting (former owners; Balaban and Katz, later renamed United Paramount Theatres, merged with ABC and divested itself of what is now WBBM-TV in 1953)
WGN-TV 9 (World's Greatest Newspaper, referring to the Chicago Tribune; both are owned by the Tribune Company)
WTTW 11 (Window to the World)
WYCC 20 (We're Your City Colleges)
WCIU-TV 26 (We're Chicago's I (First) UHF)
WFLD 32 (Field Communications (original owners))
WWTO-TV 35 (unknown)
WCPX 38 (Chicago PAX)
WCFL, cp: Chicago Federation of Labor
WCFC, 1976-98: Winning Chicagoland of Christ ([1])
WSNS-TV 44 (Essaness TV Corp. (original owners))
WPWR-TV 50 (Power)
WYIN 56 (We're Your Indiana Neighbor)
WXFT-TV 60 (WX Telefutura)
WBBS-TV, 1982-87: (unknown)
WEHS, 1987-2001: (WE Home Shopping Network)
WJYS 62 (Jesus Your Saviour)
WGBO-TV 66 (Grant Broadcasting O (former owners))
WFBN-TV, 1981-86: (Focus Broadcasting Network (original owners))

Philadelphia

[edit]
KYW-TV 3 (Young Warriors)
WPTZ-TV, 1941-56: (unknown)
WRCV-TV, 1956-65: RCA Victor record label
WPVI-TV 6 (Philadelphia VI (6 in Roman numerals))
WFIL-TV, 1948-71: Filadelphia (phonetic spelling of Philadelphia)
WCAU 10 (randomly assigned by FCC)
WHYY-TV 12 (Wider Horizons for You and Yours)
WPHL-TV 17 (Philadelphia)
WPCA-TV, 1960-62: People's Christian Association
WNJS 23 (New Jersey Network South)
WTXF-TV 29 (meld of Taft and TVX broadcasting companies, both former owners)
WIBF-TV, 1965-69: William/Irwin/Benjamin Fox (original owners)
WTAF-TV, 1969-87: Taft Broadcasting (former owners)
WYBE 35 ('World You Believe and Embrace)
WUHY-TV, unknown, as an extension of WHYY: UHF WHYY
WLVT-TV 39 (Lehigh Valley Television)
WMGM-TV 40 (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (attempt to sell to the movie studio; unverified))
WCMC-TV, 1966-81: Cape May County
WAAT, 1981-84: (unknown)
WFPG-TV 46 (defunct, 1950s) (World's Finest Playground, slogan for Atlantic City)
WGTW-TV 48 (We're Great Television to Watch)
WKBS-TV, 1965-83: Kaiser Broadcasting System (former owners)
WTVE 51 (unknown)
WNJT 52 (New Jersey Network Trenton)
WMCN-TV 53 (Market Connect Network)
WWAC-TV, 1981-2003: WW Atlantic City
WPSG 57 (Paramount Stations Group, now CBS Corporation)
WGLV-TV, 1950s: Greater Lehigh Valley
WWSG-TV, 1981-85: William S. Gross (original owner)
WGBS-TV, 1985-95: Grant Broadcasting System (former owners)
WBPH-TV 60 (Beth and Pat Huber (owners))
WPPX 61 (Philadelphia PAX)
WTGI-TV, 1986-98: Television 61 (the "GI" closely resembles a numeral 61)
WHUM-TV 61 (defunct, 1950s) (Humboldt J. Grieg (original owner))
WWSI 62 (unknown)
WDKZ, cp, 1989: (unknown)
WACI, cp, 1989-2000: Atlantic City
WPHA, cp, 2000: (unknown)
WUVP-TV 65 (Univision Philadelphia)
WRBV, 1981-85: Renaissance Broadcasting of Vineland (original owners)
WSJT, 1985-86: South Jersey Television
WHSP, 1986-2002: Home Shopping Philadelphia
WFMZ-TV 69 (Family-Minded Zone)

San Francisco Bay Area

[edit]
KTVU 2 Founded in 1958 TV "You"
KRON 4 Founded in 1949 San Francisco ChRONnicle, the local newspaper and owner
KPIX 5 Founded in 1948 Abbreviation for "Pictures"
KGO-TV 7 Founded in 1949 Inherited call sign from KGO (AM), which started as "General Electric Oakland"
KQED 9 Founded 1954 QED = "Quod Erat Demonstrandum."
KOFY-TV 20 Since 2006 a return to Coffee (below)
KBWB 1998-2006 Ownership change and affiliation with The WB
KOFY 1986-1998 Owner James Gabbert purchased the radio station and matched call signs. Coffee also provided the casual nature he presented the programming, as in "Drop by for a cup of coffee."
KTZO 1980-1986 The ZO was part of a logo the look like 20 the channel number
KEMO 1967-1981 Part of a network of stations all named by Initials of original owner Daniel H. Overmyer's children
KBAY-TV 1950's construction permit San Francisco BAY
KTSF 26 Founded 1976 "Television San Francisco"
KMPT 32 Since 1991 "Minority Television Project"
KQEC 1970-1988 Sister to KQED, off air for long periods of time until FCC revoked license
KNEW 1968-1970 Sister station to WNEW
KSAN 1954-1968 San Francisco
KICU 36 Since 1981 "I see you"
KGSC 1967-1981 "Greater Santa Clara Valley
KBCW-TV 44 Since 2006 The CW
KBHK 44 1968-2006 "Kaiser Broadcasting, Henry Kaiser"
KEMO-TV 50 Since 2011 Now a sister station to KOFY, took KOFY's original callsign
KFTY 1981-2011 FiFtY
KCSM-TV 60 Since 1979 College of San Mateo Operated on channel 14 from 1964
KDTV 14 1975-1979 on Channel 60 On March 5, 1979, KCSM and KDTV effectively traded channel positions

Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex

[edit]
KDFW 4(Dallas-Ft. Worth)
KXAS 5(Texas)

Boston/New Hampshire

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WCVB 5 (Channel V (5 in Roman numeral) Boston)

Washington, D.C.

[edit]

Atlanta

[edit]
WAGA 5 (Atlanta, GA(Georgia))
WXIA 11 (XI(Roman Numeral 11) Atlanta or 11 Alive)
WPCH-TV 17 Since 2007 Owner Peachtree Broadcasting
WTBS 1979-2007 Turner Broadcasting System in turn named for Ted Turner
WTCG 1970-1979 "Watch This Channel Grow"
WJRJ 1967-1970 Jack Rice, Jr., original owner

Houston

[edit]
KPRC 2 (Inherited from KPRC radio, meaning Post Radio Company or Cotton Port Rail Center [sic])
KUHT 8 (University of Houston Television)
KHOU 11(Houston)
KTRK 13 (Opted not to utilize its radio partner calls KTRH)
KTXH 20(Texas-Houston)