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.

Contents

[edit] New York City

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

[edit] Los Angeles

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)
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: (unknown)
KADY-TV, 1988-2005: Named after Kady, the daughter of former owners/husband-and-wife Meshulam Riklis and Pia Zadora
KHIZ 64 (unknown)
KVVT, 1986-92: (Victor Valley Television)
KEEF-TV 68 (defunct, 1987) (unknown)
KVST, 1974-76: Viewer Supported Television

[edit] Chicago

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))

[edit] Philadelphia

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: (unknown)
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== KQED. Channel 9, San Francisco. Founded 1954. QED = "Quod Erat Demonstrandum."

[edit] Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex

KDFW 4(Dallas-Ft. Worth)

[edit] Boston/New Hampshire

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

[edit] Washington, D.C.

[edit] Atlanta

WAGA 5(Atlanta, GA(Georgia))
WXIA 11 (XI(Roman Numeral 11) Atlanta or 11 Alive)

[edit] Houston

KUHT 8(University of Houston Television)
KHOU 11(Houston)
KTXH 20(Texas-Houston)