radio/tv stations?

Question

why do radio and television stations start with W if east of the mississippi and K if west of the mississippi with the exception of kdka tv 2 and kdka 1020am pittsburgh and i do understand that its one of the first broadcasters of media in the country. do they start with those letters because its federally mandated or what?

inquiring minds would like to know.

Answer 1

I believe the system started in the 1920's. Letters were assigned to each country, and the United States was given W's and K's. Some stations were grandfathered in. KDKA in Pittsburgh was the first station on the air in the country. KYW in Philadelphia has the same rights, and there are a few in the West with W's.

For comparison's sake, Canada's stations start with C's, but not all of the C's are available. CF's, CB's, and CK's are three examples. Cuba, meanwhile, I think uses CM's. Other countries also have similar assignments.

The World Radio TV Handbook has a lot of information about the stations of the world, and might be of interest.

Answer 2

The International Telecommunications Union (originally the Internation Telegraph Union) is a extra-governmental body that coordinates use of the radio spectrum worldwide. It assigned the call letter patterns for all transmitters. The US is allocated K, W, and some of N and A. The FCC assigns call letters within the US, and is responsible for the east/west split between W and K.
As far as I know, the N and A prefixes have not been used for commercial broadcast stations.

Answer 3

Yes, it is a Federal regulation, but stations that already had non-compliant call letters were allowed to keep them. Another example is WRR in Dallas, which I think may have been the first radio station in Texas. And WFAA, also in Dallas.