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Why is it that American radio stations names always seem to start with the letter K?

Jack Hurley, Leeds, England
  • Only those stations west of the Mississippi river start with 'K'. The eastern stations generally begin with 'W'. But I still don't know why.

    Brian, San Diego, USA
  • The 'names' were/are originally call-signs, allocated by the US government. They start with K on one side of the Mississippi and W on the other. A fairly well-known piece of trivia.

    Dave, Portsmouth, UK
  • Actually, American radio stations will start with either a K (most stations in the west) or a W (most stations in the east). They're assigned when a station is licensed. However, why K or W I have no idea.

    Brett Thompson, New York, USA
  • According to the American Federal Communications Commission: "Since the early days of wireless telegraphy, starting with marine use, radio stations have had their own identification. Under international agreement, since 1927 the alphabet has been divided among nations for basic call sign use. The United States, for example, is assigned three letters--N,K, and W-- to serve as initial call letters for the exclusive use of its radio stations. It also shares the initial letter A with some other countries. The letter A is assigned to the Army and Air Force; N to the Navy and Coast Guard, and K and W to domestic stations, both government and non-government."

    Shaun Smith, Toronto, Canada
  • Do you really want to know? Apparently all the beginning letters of radio stations have been assigned based on geography, and the system stems from shipping call signs. For WAY too much information, see:

    Lori Wilkinson Rella, Sunnyvale, USA
  • Similarly, all Australian radio and TV stations until recently were prefixed by the postcode of the state they were broadcasting from...2 for NSW, 3 for Victoria etc a Sydney radio station would 2BL or 2CH, a Melbourne one 3LO or 3AW. When FM was introduced a third letter was added for FM stations, like 2RRR...

    Guy Hearn, Sydney, Australia
  • For the record, the prefix letters allocated to the USA are W, A, N and K.

    Robert Hanstock, Pangbourne England

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