List of three-letter broadcast call signs in the United States

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This is a list of radio and television broadcasting stations in the United States that are currently assigned three-letter call signs.

Contents

Overview

In the United States, all radio and television broadcasting stations that are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are assigned official, distinct call signs. Organized broadcasting began in the U.S. in the early 1920s on the AM band — FM and television did not exist yet. Initially most broadcasting stations were assigned three-letter calls; however, a switch was made in April 1922 to primarily four-letter calls, after the number of stations had increased into the hundreds. For a few years thereafter a small number of new three-letter calls continued to be issued. Although most of the original three-letter calls were randomly assigned, these later calls were often specially requested to match station slogans. The last new three-letter call was assigned to station WIS (now WVOC) in Columbia, South Carolina on January 23, 1930. Since then, three-letter calls have only been assigned to stations, including FM (beginning in 1943) [1] and TV (beginning in 1946), [2] which are historically related to an AM station that was originally issued that call sign.

This review only includes FCC-licensed stations. Not included are unlicensed operations, such as carrier current, cable TV, and Internet stations — for example, San Diego State University's "KCR" — which have adopted call-letter-like identifiers that are not officially issued by the FCC. Also not included are stations which use, as slogans, three-letter truncations of their official four-letter call signs; for example, the full call sign for radio station "KOH" in Reno, Nevada is actually KKOH, and "WTN" in Nashville, Tennessee is actually WWTN. In addition, stations which formerly had three letters but have since changed (such as Albuquerque, New Mexico's KKOB, formerly KOB) are not listed.

As of January 2025, there are a total of 101 AM, FM and TV stations in the United States that are assigned three-letter call signs. This is divided between only 67 different three-letter calls, because in many cases the same call sign is used by more than one station, although a given call sign is never assigned to more than one AM, FM or TV station. These 67 different three-letter call signs are currently grouped as follows:

Assignments

Listed below are all the assignments as of January 2025:

AM radio (52 stations)

FM radio (28 stations)

In cases where an AM station exists with the same "base" call letters as an FM station, the FM station is required to include an "-FM" suffix as part of its call sign. If no AM station is currently using the same base call sign, then the "-FM" suffix is optional.

Television (21 stations)

As with FM stations, if an AM station currently exists with the same "base" call, a TV station must include a suffix to differentiate itself, but this suffix is optional if no AM station currently exists. TV stations may select either "-TV" or "-DT" as their suffix.

Other stations of note

Related Research Articles

Call signs are frequently still used by North American broadcast stations, in addition to amateur radio and other international radio stations that continue to identify by call signs worldwide. Each country has a different set of patterns for its own call signs. Call signs are allocated to ham radio stations in Barbados, Canada, Mexico and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WSB (AM)</span> Clear-channel news/talk radio station in Atlanta

WSB is a commercial AM radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. It simulcasts a news/talk radio format with 95.5 WSBB-FM, Doraville. WSB and WSBB-FM are the flagship stations for Cox Media Group which also owns three other Atlanta radio stations and WSB-TV. WSB is among the highest billing stations in the U.S. The station's studios and offices are in the WSB Television and Radio Group Building on West Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KKOB (AM)</span> Radio station in Albuquerque, New Mexico

KKOB is a commercial AM radio station, licensed to Albuquerque, New Mexico and owned by Cumulus Media. Its news/talk format is branded as "96.3 Newsradio KKOB", reflecting a simulcast with co-owned KKOB-FM 96.3 MHz. Studios and offices are located in Downtown Albuquerque. KKOB is the oldest station in New Mexico and is the state's primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KYW (AM)</span> All-news radio station in Philadelphia

KYW is a commercial AM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest continuously operating radio stations in the United States, originating in Chicago before moving to Philadelphia in 1934. KYW's unusual history includes its call sign of only three letters, beginning with a K, rare for a station in the Eastern United States. It broadcasts an all-news radio format and is branded as "KYW Newsradio". KYW serves as the flagship station of Audacy, Inc. KYW's studios are co-located within Audacy's corporate headquarters in Center City Philadelphia and its transmitter and two-tower directional antenna array are located in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westinghouse Broadcasting</span> Former broadcast company, merged with CBS

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WJZ-TV is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios and offices on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore, adjacent to the transmission tower it shares with several other Baltimore broadcast outlets.

WOI – branded Iowa Public Radio – is a non-commercial AM radio station licensed to Ames, Iowa, and serving the Des Moines metropolitan area. Owned by Iowa Public Radio, it is a listener-supported public radio station airing a news and talk format. WOI is the flagship station for Iowa Public Radio's News Network, affiliated with NPR, Public Radio International and the BBC World Service. Its transmitter is located at a two-tower array off Zumwalt Station Road near Y Avenue, southwest of Ames.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WJZ (AM)</span> Radio station in Maryland, United States

WJZ is a commercial AM radio station in Baltimore, Maryland. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts a sports betting radio format, carrying the BetQL Network during the day and evening, with Infinity Sports Network heard nights and weekends. Its studios are on Clarkview Road in Baltimore, off Jones Falls Expressway.

In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigned by a government agency, informally adopted by individuals or organizations, or even cryptographically encoded to disguise a station's identity.

The Marconi Radio Awards are presented annually by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to the top radio stations and on-air personalities in the United States. The awards are named in honor of Guglielmo Marconi, the man generally credited as the "father of wireless telegraphy". NAB member stations submit nominations. A task force determines the finalists and the Marconi Radio Award Selection Academy votes on the winners, who receive their awards in the fall.

In commercial radio, a heritage station is an AM radio station that has broadcast a specific format for a sustained period of time, since its beginning; usually since the 1930s or 1940s, in some cases the 1920s. Also, the call letters will have remained the same for most of the station's life.

WSUI is a public radio station in Iowa City, Iowa. It is owned by Iowa Public Radio, Inc. and is a member of Iowa Public Radio's news network. Its signal serves most of eastern Iowa. WSUI is one of two National Public Radio member stations in the region, along with 90.9 KUNI in Cedar Falls. WSUI's sister station is classical music outlet 91.7 KSUI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WJZ-FM</span> Radio station in Maryland, United States

WJZ-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Catonsville, Maryland, and serving the Baltimore metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. through licensee Audacy License, LLC, and it broadcasts a sports radio format. Local shows are heard on weekdays, with programming from the Infinity Sports Network airing nights and weekends. The station's studios and offices are located in Towson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NAB Crystal Radio Awards</span>

The NAB Crystal Radio Awards are presented annually by the National Association of Broadcasters to American radio stations. The award was established in 1987 to recognize radio stations for year-round commitment to community service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WBZ-FM</span> Sports radio station in Boston

WBZ-FM is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, WBZ-FM is the Boston affiliate for Fox Sports Radio; the flagship station for the New England Patriots, Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, and New England Revolution radio networks; and the radio home of Fred Toettcher, Scott Zolak, Mike Felger, Tony Massarotti, and Bob Socci. The WBZ-FM studios are located in Waltham, while the station transmitter resides in the Boston suburb of Newton. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WBZ-FM broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infinity Sports Network</span> Sports radio network

Infinity Sports Network is an American sports radio network. It debuted as CBS Sports Radio with hourly sports news updates on September 4, 2012, and with 24/7 programming on January 2, 2013.

The following television stations broadcast on digital channel 32 in the United States:

Call signs in the United States are identifiers assigned to radio and television stations, which are issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and, in the case of most government stations, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). They consist of from 3 to 9 letters and digits, with their composition determined by a station's service category. By international agreement, all call signs starting with the letters K, N, and W, as well as AAA-ALZ, are reserved exclusively for use in the United States.

Broadcast call signs are call signs assigned as unique identifiers to radio stations and television stations. While broadcast radio stations will often brand themselves with plain-text names, identities such as "cool FM", "rock 105" or "the ABC network" are not globally unique. Another station in another city or country may have a similar brand, and the name of a broadcast station for legal purposes is normally its internationally recognised ITU call sign. Some common conventions are followed around the world.

References

  1. "Standard Broadcast Station Call Letters for All Outlets Starting Nov. 1, FCC Rule", The Billboard, September 4, 1943, page 7.
  2. "Call Letter Style Adopted For Video", Broadcasting, August 19, 1946, page 82.

See also