User:Gatorman/TV Station Callsign Meanings

This will be a list of callsign meanings of ALL full-power television stations, PAST AND PRESENT. Please help add to this list.

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

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) Since 2001
 * KRPA 2000-2001
 * 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: An effort to tie the suburban area, in the shadow of Los Angeles, together
 * KADY-TV, 1988-2005: Named after Kady, the daughter of former owners/husband-and-wife Meshulam Riklis and Pia Zadora, which in turn was the name of the character Zadora played in her breakthrough movie Butterfly, financed by her husband Riklis
 * KHIZ 64 (unknown)
 * KVVT, 1986-92: (Victor Valley Television)
 * KEEF-TV 68 (defunct, 1987) (unknown)
 * KVST, 1974-76: Viewer Supported Television

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
 * 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))

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 E'mbrace)
 * 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: Greater Lehigh Valley
 * 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

 * KTVU 2  Founded in 1958 TV "You"
 * KRON 4  Founded in 1949 San Francisco ChRONnicle, the local newspaper and owner
 * KPIX 5  Founded in 1948   Abbreviation for "Pictures"
 * KGO-TV 7  Founded in 1949   Inherited call sign from KGO (AM), which started as "General Electric Oakland"
 * KQED 9  Founded 1954  QED = "Quod Erat Demonstrandum."
 * KOFY-TV 20 Since 2006 a return to Coffee (below)
 * KBWB 1998-2006  Ownership change and affiliation with The WB
 * KOFY 1986-1998  Owner James Gabbert purchased the radio station and matched call signs.  Coffee also provided the casual nature he presented the programming, as in "Drop by for a cup of coffee."
 * KTZO 1980-1986  The ZO was part of a logo the look like 20 the channel number
 * KEMO 1967-1981 Part of a network of stations all named by Initials of original owner Daniel H. Overmyer's children
 * KBAY-TV 1950's construction permit  San Francisco BAY
 * KTSF 26  Founded 1976  "Television San Francisco"
 * KMPT 32  Since 1991  "Minority Television Project"
 * KQEC 1970-1988 Sister to KQED, off air for long periods of time until FCC revoked license
 * KNEW 1968-1970 Sister station to WNEW
 * KSAN 1954-1968  San Francisco
 * KICU 36  Since 1981  "I see you"
 * KGSC 1967-1981  "Greater Santa Clara Valley
 * KBCW-TV 44 Since 2006  The CW
 * KBHK 44  1968-2006  "Kaiser Broadcasting, Henry Kaiser"
 * KEMO-TV 50  Since 2011  Now a sister station to KOFY, took KOFY's original callsign
 * KFTY 1981-2011  FiFtY
 * KCSM-TV 60  Since 1979  College of San Mateo Operated on channel 14 from 1964
 * KDTV 14  1975-1979 on Channel 60  On March 5, 1979, KCSM and KDTV effectively traded channel positions

Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex

 * KDFW 4(Dallas-Ft. Worth)
 * KXAS 5(Texas)

Boston/New Hampshire
WCVB 5 (Channel V (5 in Roman numeral) Boston)

Atlanta

 * WAGA 5 (Atlanta, GA(Georgia))
 * WXIA 11 (XI(Roman Numeral 11) Atlanta or 11 Alive)
 * WPCH-TV 17  Since 2007 Owner Peachtree Broadcasting
 * WTBS 1979-2007  Turner Broadcasting System in turn named for Ted Turner
 * WTCG 1970-1979 "Watch This Channel Grow"
 * WJRJ 1967-1970  Jack Rice, Jr., original owner

Houston

 * KPRC 2 (Inherited from KPRC radio, meaning Post Radio Company or Cotton Port Rail Center [sic])
 * KUHT 8 (University of Houston Television)
 * KHOU 11(Houston)
 * KTRK 13 (Opted not to utilize its radio partner calls KTRH)
 * KTXH 20(Texas-Houston)