By Thomas Mulvoy, Jr.
October 3, 2004

I know that radio station WEEI took its call letters from the old Edison
Electric Illuminating Co. way back when. Do stations like WBZ and WNAC,
(which was a radio station, too, once), have any such corporate
connections? -- Mary L., Boston.

There's only one person to go to with your question, and she is Donna
Halper, a media historian and instructor in the Journalism Department at
Emerson College. Says Halper:

"Well, the short answer is some do have a unique history, but in Boston,
most do not. Back in the old days, before the FCC, the Department of
Commerce assigned the call letters, usually in sequential alphabetical
order. First, they had three letter calls, and when those ran out, they
moved to four letters, with W for stations in the east and K for the west.
Some call letters originally had belonged to ships at sea -- after the
tragedy of the Titanic, the Radio Act of 1912 said all ships had to have a
wireless station on board in case of emergencies. WBZ, for example, used to
belong to one of those ships in the era before commercial radio. Sometime in
the early 1920s, a few station owners asked the Department of Commerce to
give them special call letters that stood for a slogan. WGN in Chicago, for
one, was owned by the Chicago Tribune newspaper, which had as its slogan the
'World's Greatest Newspaper.'

"Although some myths have sprung up, WNAC in Boston (which went on the air
first as 'The Shepard Station' in late July 1922, owned by the Shepard
Department Stores and John Shepard III) didn't stand for anything. It was
assigned in alphabetical order (WNAA, WNAB, WNAC, etc).

"Greater Boston's first station, the pioneering WGI in Medford Hillside
(where Tufts College is) was sequentially assigned, too, also in 1922.
Before that, it used ham radio call letters, 1XE (the X stood for
experimental, because the government thought radio was going to be a fad).
The great old call letters of WBZ, which first went on the air in
mid-September of 1921 in Springfield, not Boston, didn't stand for anything,
either. And although the story exists that WHDH stood for 'We Haul Dead
Haddock' (the station originally went on the air in Gloucester), it, too,
was another set of call letters that didn't stand for anything in particular
when it was assigned in 1929.

Interestingly, the Gloucester station that was its predecessor did have call
letters that stood for something: The owners, the Matheson family of
Gloucester, originally went on the air in 1926 and requested the call
letters WEPS (for Ethel Pearl Stevenson, the maiden name of Mr. Matheson's
wife). Briefly, in 1927, there was a home shopping station (really!) in
Boston, owned by the Shepard Stores, and it used the requested call of WASN
(All Shopping News).

"In addition to WEEI, which was a requested call letter and did stand for
the original owners, Edison Electric Illuminating Co., there were others of
the same ilk. WNBH in New Bedford, for example, stood for the New Bedford
Hotel, where its studios used to be. Still, Ms. Halper said, most Greater
Boston stations just took whatever call letters the Commerce Department, the
Federal Radio Commission (after 1927), then the FCC (after 1934) handed out.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...do_they_mean/#

Mike Terry wrote:
By Thomas Mulvoy, Jr.
October 3, 2004

I know that radio station WEEI took its call letters from the old Edison
Electric Illuminating Co. way back when. Do stations like WBZ and WNAC,
(which was a radio station, too, once), have any such corporate
connections? -- Mary L., Boston.

There's only one person to go to with your question, and she is Donna
Halper, a media historian and instructor in the Journalism Department at
Emerson College. Says Halper:

"Well, the short answer is some do have a unique history, but in Boston,
most do not. Back in the old days, before the FCC, the Department of
Commerce assigned the call letters, usually in sequential alphabetical
order. First, they had three letter calls, and when those ran out, they
moved to four letters, with W for stations in the east and K for the west.
Some call letters originally had belonged to ships at sea -- after the
tragedy of the Titanic, the Radio Act of 1912 said all ships had to have a
wireless station on board in case of emergencies. WBZ, for example, used to
belong to one of those ships in the era before commercial radio. Sometime in
the early 1920s, a few station owners asked the Department of Commerce to
give them special call letters that stood for a slogan. WGN in Chicago, for
one, was owned by the Chicago Tribune newspaper, which had as its slogan the
'World's Greatest Newspaper.'

"Although some myths have sprung up, WNAC in Boston (which went on the air
first as 'The Shepard Station' in late July 1922, owned by the Shepard
Department Stores and John Shepard III) didn't stand for anything. It was
assigned in alphabetical order (WNAA, WNAB, WNAC, etc).

"Greater Boston's first station, the pioneering WGI in Medford Hillside
(where Tufts College is) was sequentially assigned, too, also in 1922.
Before that, it used ham radio call letters, 1XE (the X stood for
experimental, because the government thought radio was going to be a fad).
The great old call letters of WBZ, which first went on the air in
mid-September of 1921 in Springfield, not Boston, didn't stand for anything,
either. And although the story exists that WHDH stood for 'We Haul Dead
Haddock' (the station originally went on the air in Gloucester), it, too,
was another set of call letters that didn't stand for anything in particular
when it was assigned in 1929.

Interestingly, the Gloucester station that was its predecessor did have call
letters that stood for something: The owners, the Matheson family of
Gloucester, originally went on the air in 1926 and requested the call
letters WEPS (for Ethel Pearl Stevenson, the maiden name of Mr. Matheson's
wife). Briefly, in 1927, there was a home shopping station (really!) in
Boston, owned by the Shepard Stores, and it used the requested call of WASN
(All Shopping News).

"In addition to WEEI, which was a requested call letter and did stand for
the original owners, Edison Electric Illuminating Co., there were others of
the same ilk. WNBH in New Bedford, for example, stood for the New Bedford
Hotel, where its studios used to be. Still, Ms. Halper said, most Greater
Boston stations just took whatever call letters the Commerce Department, the
Federal Radio Commission (after 1927), then the FCC (after 1934) handed out.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...do_they_mean/#



Jeff Millers Radio/TV history pages have a section listed for call
letter meanings. It's at
http://members.aol.com/jeff560/call192x.html

A lot of those stations are long gone however.

Charlie

--
To respond by Email remove never- from address

Charlie wrote in message ...
Mike Terry wrote:
By Thomas Mulvoy, Jr.
October 3, 2004

I know that radio station WEEI took its call letters from the old Edison
Electric Illuminating Co. way back when. Do stations like WBZ and WNAC,
(which was a radio station, too, once), have any such corporate
connections? -- Mary L., Boston.

There's only one person to go to with your question, and she is Donna
Halper, a media historian and instructor in the Journalism Department at
Emerson College. Says Halper:

"Well, the short answer is some do have a unique history, but in Boston,
most do not. Back in the old days, before the FCC, the Department of
Commerce assigned the call letters, usually in sequential alphabetical
order. First, they had three letter calls, and when those ran out, they
moved to four letters, with W for stations in the east and K for the west.
Some call letters originally had belonged to ships at sea -- after the
tragedy of the Titanic, the Radio Act of 1912 said all ships had to have a
wireless station on board in case of emergencies. WBZ, for example, used to
belong to one of those ships in the era before commercial radio. Sometime in
the early 1920s, a few station owners asked the Department of Commerce to
give them special call letters that stood for a slogan. WGN in Chicago, for
one, was owned by the Chicago Tribune newspaper, which had as its slogan the
'World's Greatest Newspaper.'

"Although some myths have sprung up, WNAC in Boston (which went on the air
first as 'The Shepard Station' in late July 1922, owned by the Shepard
Department Stores and John Shepard III) didn't stand for anything. It was
assigned in alphabetical order (WNAA, WNAB, WNAC, etc).

"Greater Boston's first station, the pioneering WGI in Medford Hillside
(where Tufts College is) was sequentially assigned, too, also in 1922.
Before that, it used ham radio call letters, 1XE (the X stood for
experimental, because the government thought radio was going to be a fad).
The great old call letters of WBZ, which first went on the air in
mid-September of 1921 in Springfield, not Boston, didn't stand for anything,
either. And although the story exists that WHDH stood for 'We Haul Dead
Haddock' (the station originally went on the air in Gloucester), it, too,
was another set of call letters that didn't stand for anything in particular
when it was assigned in 1929.

Interestingly, the Gloucester station that was its predecessor did have call
letters that stood for something: The owners, the Matheson family of
Gloucester, originally went on the air in 1926 and requested the call
letters WEPS (for Ethel Pearl Stevenson, the maiden name of Mr. Matheson's
wife). Briefly, in 1927, there was a home shopping station (really!) in
Boston, owned by the Shepard Stores, and it used the requested call of WASN
(All Shopping News).

"In addition to WEEI, which was a requested call letter and did stand for
the original owners, Edison Electric Illuminating Co., there were others of
the same ilk. WNBH in New Bedford, for example, stood for the New Bedford
Hotel, where its studios used to be. Still, Ms. Halper said, most Greater
Boston stations just took whatever call letters the Commerce Department, the
Federal Radio Commission (after 1927), then the FCC (after 1934) handed out.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...do_they_mean/#



Jeff Millers Radio/TV history pages have a section listed for call
letter meanings. It's at
http://members.aol.com/jeff560/call192x.html

Missing from the list is "KSFO" for San Fancisco Oakland


A lot of those stations are long gone however.

Charlie

A few in our area -

WNBP = Newburyport, 1450 AM = NBP, obvious
WBOQ = Gloucester, replaced WVCA (Voice of Cape Ann), WBOQ orignally was
an all classical station and the BOQ was to represent "Bach".
WCCM = Haverhill, 1490 AM. The station was orignally at 800 khz in
Lawrence. "CCM" was supposed to somehow represent "800" in Roman numerals.
It's a stretch.
WLLH = Lawrence and Lowell (two synchronous transmitters at 1400 am) =
Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill, but Haverhill never got a transmitter
WPAA-FM, Andover - Phillips Andover Academy, a low-power class D that's
still on the air

..

Greg and Joan wrote:

A few in our area -

WNBP = Newburyport, 1450 AM = NBP, obvious
WBOQ = Gloucester, replaced WVCA (Voice of Cape Ann), WBOQ orignally was
an all classical station and the BOQ was to represent "Bach".
WCCM = Haverhill, 1490 AM. The station was orignally at 800 khz in
Lawrence. "CCM" was supposed to somehow represent "800" in Roman numerals.
It's a stretch.
WLLH = Lawrence and Lowell (two synchronous transmitters at 1400 am) =
Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill, but Haverhill never got a transmitter
WPAA-FM, Andover - Phillips Andover Academy, a low-power class D that's
still on the air

.

WPFB AM & FM in Middletown, Ohio was owned by Paul F Bradeon, and
another station he owned was WPBF so it is rather obvious he used his
initials.

--
Beware of those who suffer from delusions of adequacy!

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

WPFB AM & FM in Middletown, Ohio was owned by Paul F Bradeon, and
another station he owned was WPBF so it is rather obvious he used his
initials.

I could offer tons more, but isn't someone collecting these and putting them on
a website, or am I not recalling correctly?


--
JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

"In case anyone was wondering, that big glowing globe above the Victor
Valley is the sun." -Victorville _Daily Press_ on the unusually large
amount of rain the Southland has gotten this winter (January 12th, 2005)

In message , Michael A. Terrell
writes
Greg and Joan wrote:

"CCM" was supposed to somehow represent "800" in Roman numerals.

C = 100
CC = 200
M = 1000
CC before M = 1000 - 200 = 800
You know it makes sense!
Ian.
--

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...
Greg and Joan wrote:

A few in our area -

WNBP = Newburyport, 1450 AM = NBP, obvious
WBOQ = Gloucester, replaced WVCA (Voice of Cape Ann), WBOQ
orignally was
an all classical station and the BOQ was to represent "Bach".
WCCM = Haverhill, 1490 AM. The station was orignally at 800 khz
in
Lawrence. "CCM" was supposed to somehow represent "800" in Roman
numerals.
It's a stretch.
WLLH = Lawrence and Lowell (two synchronous transmitters at 1400
am) =
Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill, but Haverhill never got a
transmitter
WPAA-FM, Andover - Phillips Andover Academy, a low-power class D
that's
still on the air

.

WPFB AM & FM in Middletown, Ohio was owned by Paul F Bradeon, and
another station he owned was WPBF so it is rather obvious he used
his
initials.

WMAL - Washington, DC - for the M A Lease Optical Company They sold
the station to NBC in the 1930s, but the call persists to this day.

Steve Sobol wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

WPFB AM & FM in Middletown, Ohio was owned by Paul F Bradeon, and
another station he owned was WPBF so it is rather obvious he used his
initials.

I could offer tons more, but isn't someone collecting these and putting them on
a website, or am I not recalling correctly?

Steven J. Sobol

Sorry, but I stumbled across this thread and just added a couple
calls that I knew about. I'm disabled now, but I was a radio and TV
broadcast engineer in the '70s, '80s and '90s

As far as someone creating a website, I like the idea. Btw, WSM in
Nashville claims it means "We Shield Millions" because it was started by
an insurance company.

A local Christian TV station bought an existing low power station in
Lake county Florida. The call letters were WIYE so they cam up with "We
Inspire You Everyday" Later, they went full power and changed their
call to WACX for "ACTS TV" because it was as close as they could get to
what they wanted.

My first job in radio was at the 980 Khz AFRN station at Ft Greely,
AK in '73 and '74. It was 95 percent tube equipment and had a really
worn out Gates BC250 transmitter that was patched together by countless
emergency repairs that were never done right. The studio was a real
dump, and over the years someone had put layer after layer of house
paint on the audio board and some of the other equipment. It was a case
study in how not to do radio or TV.

We also had a 500 watt B&W TV station on Ch 8 that was a joke. A lot
of equipment failures that put it off the air every night and the
typical military attitude of not letting yo fix a problem, and not
allowing any downtime. Those were the days!


--
Beware of those who suffer from delusions of adequacy!

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

There are some that I came upon:
WGY 810 kHz, Schenectady, NY "G" for General Electric, "Y" last letter in
Schenectady.
KGO 810 kHz, San Francisco, CA "G" for GE, "O" last letter in San
Francisco. GE owned both stations many years ago.
WROW 590 kHz, Albany, NY "Row!" (like a dog growling) "Watchdog of the
Capital District".
WPTR 1540 kHz, Albany, NY (back in the 1960s), Patroon Broadcasting Corp.
WROV 1240 kHz, Roanoke, VA (back before 1990s) "RO" for Roanoke, "V" for
Virginia.
WSLS 610 kHz, Roanoke, VA (Before 1980), Shenandoah Life (insurance) Station
WQBA 1140 kHz, Miami, FL (Spanish speaking) Q, pronounced "coo", BA as in
"bah". Said together, it is "Cuba" as said in Spanish.