ggn information systems Call Letters New information as of: November 18, 2002 |
| The story behind many of
the call letters currently in my DataBase. The
call letters on this page are FM & TV only, and fall within the time span of this webpage (late 30's to the 70's). Some are obvious, some not, others far reaching. NOTE: Sorted alphabetically by state then by call. # indicates out of target area. White indicates recent addition, clarification and/or change. |
| # | WASH | WASHington DC, city of license | |
| # | WBKB | Balaban/Katz Broadcasting, owner. CH 4 Chicago. Formerly W9XBK. Balaban/Katz (Paramount), ABC merger moved combined facilities to ABC's WENR CH 7, returned as WBKB, became WLS-TV. Channel 4 became CBS o&o WBBM. In 1953 CH 4 is deleted, WBBM moves to CH 2 when Zenith loses experimental license. | |
| # | WETA | Greater Washington Educational Television Association, owner. CH 26, Washington, DC | |
| # | WFIL | Phonetic spelling of Philadelphia, city of license. CH 6, became WPVI | |
| # | WGN | World's Greatest Newspaper. Chicago Tribune, owner. CH 9 | |
| # | WMFM | Milwaukee FM, city of license. Formerly W55M, became WTMJ-FM | |
| # | WMIT | Mount MITchell, NC, transmitter location. Formerly W41MM. Later returned to service by other | |
| # | WNBQ | National Broadcasting (NBC), owner. Q represent wmaQ, the radio affiliate. CH 5, Chicago. Became WMAQ | |
| # | WNBW | National Broadcasting-Washington (NBC), owner. CH 4. Became WRC | |
| # | WPVI | Philadelphia channel six (roman numeral), formerly WFIL | |
| # | WRCV | RCA Victor, RCA/NBC owner. CH 3, Philadelphia. Formerly WPTZ, became KYW | |
| # | WTMJ | The Milwaukee Journal, owner. Formerly WMFM. | |
| # | WTTG | DuMont's Dr. Thomas T. Goldsmith. DuMont owned station, CH 5, Washington DC. | |
| # | WTTW | Window To The World, slogan. CH 11, Chicago. Educational | |
| # | WTZR | TV station of Zenith Radio, owner. CH 2, Chicago. Original assignment was CH 1. Call letters assigned, but never used. Experimental call W9XZV. Became WBBM in 1953 when Zenith lost it's experimental license. | |
| # | WWZR | Zenith Radio, owner. Chicago. Formerly W51C. Became WEFM | |
| CT | WDRC | Doolittle Radio Corporation, owner. Hartford. Formerly W65H. Became WFMQ. WDRC later returned on new channel. | |
| CT | WEDH | EDucational Hartford, city of license. CH 24 | |
| CT | WEDN | EDucational Norwich, city of license. CH 53 | |
| CT | WFMQ | Frequency Modulation Quality slogan. Hartford. Formerly WDRC-FM, became WHCN | |
| CT | WGTH | General Teleradio and (Hartford) Times-Hartford, co-owners, CH 18, Hartford. Became WHCT. | |
| CT | WHCN | Hartford Concert Network, owner. Formerly WFMQ. | |
| CT | WHCT | Hartford CBS Television, CBS o&o. CH 18. Formerly WGTH | |
| CT | WHNB | West Hartford/New Britain. city of license. CH 30. Formerly WNBC. | |
| CT | WNBC | New Britain, CT, city of license, CH 30. Became WHNB. Calls later used in NYC. | |
| CT | WNHC | New Haven, CT, city of license. CH 8. Original assignment was CH 6. Became WTNH | |
| CT | WTHT | The Hartford Times, owner | |
| CT | WTIC | Travelers Insurance Company, owner. Hartford | |
| CT | WTNH | Television, New Haven, formerly WNHC | |
| MA | WBCN | Boston Concert Network, owner. Originating station for the Concert Network. | |
| MA | WBMS | World's Best Music Station, slogan, Boston. Short-lived early post-war FM. Frequency later returned as WBCN | |
| MA | WBUR | Boston University Radio, owner. | |
| MA | WCOP | Original studio location (1934) COPley Plaza Hotel, Boston. Remained in COPley Square for life of the call letters. Urban legend has it as "COPpertone", a company product, when owned by Plough. | |
| MA | WCOZ | Format; “Cozy Listening”. Boston. | |
| MA | WCRB | Charles River Broadcasting, owner. Waltham/Boston. Later as Classical Radio Boston. | |
| MA | WCVB | Channel V (five) Boston. Channel assignment (Roman numeral) and city of license. | |
| MA | WEEI | Edison Electric and Illuminating Co, original owner. Long time CBS o&o station. | |
| MA | WERS | Emerson Radio Station, Boston. Owner: Emerson College | |
| MA | WFCR | Five College Radio, Amherst. Owners: Five area colleges. Earlier it was FOUR College Radio. | |
| MA | WGBH | Great Blue Hills, Milton, MA, transmitter location, | |
| MA | WGGB | Guy Gannett Broadcasting, owner. CH 40, Springfield. | |
| MA | WGTR | General Tire & Rubber, owner. Paxton, MA. Formerly W43B, now silent. Retuned by other into AM service. | |
| MA | WIHS | Catholic Archdiocesan Television Center, owner. CH 38, Boston. IHS a monogram for the Greek word Jesus. Became WSBK. Folklore has it as "In His Service". | |
| MA | WJZB | John Zimmerman Buckley, Director of
Springfield Televison, owners. CH 14, Worcester. Formerly
WWOR, station black, channel deleted |
|
| MA | WKBG | Kaiser Broadcasting/Boston Globe, co-owners. CH 56, Cambridge/Boston. Formerly WXHR-TV. Became WLVI | |
| MA | WLAW | LAWrence, city of license | |
| MA | WLVI | Channel 56 (Roman numerals). Cambridge/Boston. Formerly WKBG. | |
| MA | WMGT | Mount Greylock Television, transmitter location. CH 19, Adams, MA . Became WCDC. Original assignment was CH 74. | |
| MA | WPLM | PLyMouth, city of license. | |
| MA | WRLP | Roger L. Putnam. CH 32, Greenfield, MA/Keene, NH. Station is black | |
| MA | WRTB | Raytheon Television Broadcasting, owner. CH 2, Waltham/Boston. C.P., but was never on-air. CH returned as WGBH | |
| MA | WSBK | Stock market "ticker" symbol for owner, Storer Communications. CH 38. Formerly WIHS. | |
| MA | WSMW | Waterman broadcasting/State Mutual insurance/Worcester, co-owners & city of license. CH 27 | |
| MA | WSRS | Worcester’s Stereo Radio Station. Formerly WTAG-FM | |
| MA | WTAG | Worcester Telegram And Gazette, owner. Formerly W1XTG, became WSRS | |
| MA | WWLP | William L. Putnam, owner. CH 22, Springfield. Original assignment was CH 61. | |
| MA | WWOR | WORcester, city of license. CH 14. Became WJZB. | |
| MA | WXHR | Harvey Radio, owner. Cambridge/Boston. Experimental FM call was W1XHR. FM became WJIB. TV channel 56 formerly WTAO became WKBG. | |
| ME | WCBB | Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, owners. CH 10, Augusta. Educational | |
| ME | WCSH | Congress Square Hotel, studio location and owner. CH 6, Portland. | |
| ME | WGAN | Guy GANnett, owner. Portland. | |
| ME | WGUY | GUY Gannett, owner. Bangor. | |
| ME | WPMT | Portland Maine Television, city of license. CH 53, Portland. Station black | |
| ME | WTWO | Channel assignment. Bangor. Became WLBZ. | |
| NH | WDNH | Dover, NH, city of license. Became WOKQ | |
| NH | WEDB | EDucational Berlin. CH 40, Berlin. New Hampshire Public Television. Station is black | |
| NH | WEKW | Educational Keene, West. CH 52, Keene (western part of state) New Hampshire Public Television | |
| NH | WENH | Educational New Hampshire. CH 11, Durham. New Hampshire Public Television (Key station) | |
| NH | WGIR | Ernile GlRolimon, owner. Manchester. Fomerly WMUR. | |
| NH | WHED | Hanover EDucational. CH 15, Hanover. NHPTV. Station went black, returned as translator W15BK. | |
| NH | WKBR | Kilgore, Barkley, Rust, owners. Manchester. | |
| NH | WKNE | Keene, city of license. | |
| NH | WLED | Littleton EDucational. CH 49, Littleton. New Hampshire Public Television. | |
| NH | WLNH | Laconia NH, city of license | |
| NH | WLOB | Lincoln O’Brein, owner. Claremont. Became WTSV-FM | |
| NH | WMTW | MT. Washington, TX location. Formerly W39B. Became WMNE, now silent. Call later used by other.--TV CH 8. | |
| NH | WMUR | ex NH Gov. Francis P. MURphy, owner. Manchester. Radio became WGIR. | |
| NH | WNHS | New Hampshire Stereo. Manchester. Formerly WGIR-FM, after three years returned to WGIR-FM | |
| NH | WTSV | Twin State Valley, located in valley on border between NH and VT. Claremont. Formerly WLOB | |
| NH | WXPO | Named after New York World Fair Exposition of 1964/65, CH 50, Manchester. Station went black, returned later | |
| NH | WZID | “The Wizard” automation system. Manchester. Fomerly WKBR-FM | |
| NY | W(x)IV | Stations of Ivy Broadcasting. Formerly Rural Radio Network, WRR(x). | |
| NY | W2XBS | eXperimental Broadcasting System. CH 1 NYC. Became WNBT CH 4 | |
| NY | WABC | Atlantic Broadcasting Company. Original owner. NYC. Formerly W67NY. Became WCBS-FM.--Call later used by ABC o&o stations. | |
| NY | WABC | American Bdcstg Co, owner CH 7 NYC. Formerly WJZ-TV / WJZ-FM.--FM call originally used by CBS. | |
| NY | WABD | Allen B. Dumont, owner. CH 5, NYC. Formerly W2XWV. Original assignment was CH 4. Became WNEW-TV. | |
| NY | WAMC | Albany Medical College, owner. T.L. Mt. Greylock, Adams, MA. | |
| NY | WBAM | BAMberger Broadcasting Service, owner. NYC. Fomerly W71NY, became WOR-FM. | |
| NY | WBEN | Buffalo Evening News, owner | |
| NY | WCBS | Columbia Broadcasting System, owner. NYC. TV CH 2, formerly WCBW. --- FM formerly, WABC-FM (original) | |
| NY | WGFM | General Electric’s FM station, owner. Schenectady. Formerly W85A. | |
| NY | WGHF |
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| NY | WNBC | National Broadcasting Company. RCA/NBC owner. CH 4, NYC. Formerly WRCA | |
| NY | WNBT | National Broadcasting Television, RCA/NBC owner. CH 4, NYC. Formerly W2XBS, original assignment was CH 1. Became WRCA | |
| NY | WNCN | New York Concert Network, owner. | |
| NY | WNDT | New Dimension in Television, slogan. CH 13, Newark/NYC. Formerly WNTA, became WNET | |
| NY | WNET | New York city Educational Televison, owner. CH 13, NYC. Formerly WNDT. Call originally used in Providence. | |
| NY | WNTA | National Telefilm Associates, owner CH 13, Newark/NYC. Formerly WATV, became WNDT. | |
| NY | WPIX | slang for pictures. Television station of The Daily News, CH 11, NYC. FM formerly WGHF, WBFM. | |
| NY | WRCA | Radio Corporation of America/NBC owner. CH 4, NYC. Formerly WNBT, became WNBC | |
| NY | WRGB | Dr. W.R.G. Baker of General Electric Co. CH 6, Schenectady. Formerly W2XB. Original assignment was CH 4. | |
| NY | WRR(x) | Five stations of Rural Radio network, owner. Became Ivy Broadcasting, W(x)IV. | |
| NY | WTEN | Channel assignment,. Vail Mills/Albany | |
| NY | WTRI | TRI cities of Albany, Schenectady Troy. CH 35, Albany | |
| RI | WNET | E. Anthony d/b/a New England Television, owner. CH 16, Providence. station black. Call later used in NYC | |
| RI | WPJB | Providence Journal Bulletin, owner | |
| RI | WPRI | Providence, Rhode Island, city of license. Formerly WPRO | |
| RI | WPRO | PROvidence, ciy of license. TV Channel 12 became WPRI | |
| RI | WSBE | State Board of Education, owner. CH 36, Providence | |
| RI | WTMH | T. Mitchell Hastings, owner. Providence. Became WXCN. | |
| RI | WXCN | Concert Network, owner. “X” denotes first station owned by the Concert Network. Providence. Formerly WTMH. | |
| VT | WMVT | Mount Mansfield VT. Transmitter location. CH 3. Became WCAX-TV |
Click here to notify me of any erroneous information you may have found, including typos. Additional information welcomed. |