call signs

[crossflix]

what do call signs stand for. Like for example boston news radio call station wbz, what is "bz"?

[glatt]

bz = byzantine

As in, the rules governing call signs are byzantine.

In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America[1] they are used as names for broadcasting stations. A call sign can be formally assigned by a government agency, informally adopted by individuals or organizations, or even cryptographically encoded to disguise a station's identity.

The use of call signs as unique identifiers dates to the landline railroad telegraph system. Because there was only one telegraph line linking all railroad stations, there needed to be a way to address each one when sending a telegram. In order to save time, two-letter identifiers were adopted for this purpose. This pattern continued in radiotelegraph operation; radio companies initially assigned two-letter identifiers to coastal stations and stations aboard ships at sea. These were not globally unique, so a one-letter company identifier (for instance, 'M' and two letters as a Marconi Station) was later added. By 1912, the need to quickly identify stations operated by multiple companies in multiple nations required an international standard; an ITU prefix would be used to identify a country, and the rest of the call sign an individual station in that country.[2]

[Spexxvet]

I don't know what BZ is, but here in Philadelphia, we have...

TV: WPVI, channel 6 P-Phila, VI - roman numeral 6
Radio: WIP radio - I - In P - Philadelphia
Radio - WFIL - Filadelphia
We used to have

TV: WPHL - PHL - Phila
TV: WKBS - Kaiser Broadcasting System
TV: WTAF - TAFt braodcasting

[crossflix]

ah, thank you very much

[glatt]

You're welcome.
And welcome to the Cellar.

[crossflix]

Originally Posted by glatt

You're welcome.
And welcome to the Cellar.

[Clodfobble]

It's also worth noting that everything east of the Mississippi starts with W, and everything west of it starts with K.

[crossflix]

Ah, that's good to know

[glatt]

With KDKA, the first station, being the exception to that rule.

[Spexxvet]

Philly has a KYW

[Sundae]

Just as an aside, when my Mum joined the Ambulance Service, she had to learn the callsign alphabet. Therefore we learned it along with her. Ste and I still know it very well.

Pretty much everyone except me who knows it since calls it the NATO alphabet, or the phonetic alphabet. I don't care, it's the same thing.

I used it to amuse Tiger and Mars when I worked at school. Tiger was only just beginning to get the concept of initials standing in for names, so it was like a foreign language to him. To Mars, who was older, it was a form of code, like a secret language. I didn't try to teach it to either of them, but both would occasionally ask -unprompted - for me to name another child (Tiger) or spell out a word (Mars)

Tiger cracked up that he was a bean and his friend was an orange drink.

[fargon]

Fort Worth Tx has WBAP< and WFAA.

[xoxoxoBruce]

In the beginning there was Westinghouse radio;
KDKA - Pittsburgh.
WJZ -Newark, NJ, later NYC.
WBZ - Springfield, MA, WBZA - Boston... later the two switched.
KYW - Chicago, later Philly.
WOWO - Ft Wayne.
And it was good.

Since Westinghouse was one of the founders of RCA, which started NBC, Group W was a major player from the gitgo.
But it was the FCC making the rules which shaped the industry... after brandy and cigars with Westinghouse biggies.

[monster]

WANK -Anglo Naughty Kidding

[busterb]

I use to drink in an old joint the was the old building of wwl radio in Neu awlins. Which was wrong because it was on west bank of river. Should have started with a K. Old Herman bought it and moved to Belle Chasse hwy. Was a hangout for Brown & root hands.