What do the letters at the begining of a radio stations name stand for?

Question

You know like WPGC or WKYS

Answer 1

they don't typically stand for anything. they are call letters assigned by the fcc to identify the station. most call signs are four letters long in the us, and begin with a 'w' if they're registered east of the mississippi river, and a 'k' if they're west of it. but there are a few exceptions. by doing a search for the stations you gave as examples, i can see that they both broadcast from the washington dc area, just by their call letters alone.

some of the oldest call letters DO have a story behind them, they actually do stand for something. WGN was originally assigned to a station owned by a chicago newspaper (the chicago tribune i believe)... World's Greatest Newspaper. WCSC: We're Charleston South Carolina. and so on...

Answer 2

They're call letters assigned by the Federal Communication Commission. I don't know about now, but in the past, all stations west of the Mississippi began with the letter "K", and east of the Miss. began with the letter "W".

Answer 3

Stations west of the Mississippi River begin with K, east of the river begin with W

Answer 4

W or K are US based stations
C is for Canadian stations
the FCC assigns call letters (check with them for more detail)
W or K are for both TV and radio

Answer 5

It's their call letters so they can be recognized who they are and where they are transmitting from.

Answer 6

its a ID tag to show they had the right to that frequency.

Answer 7

they uniquely identify the transmitter license