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[jaydub]

Here is a mystery - why is it that broadcast stations East of the Mississippi start with "W" and those West of the Mississippi start with a K?  One would think at the least that Western stations would get the "W", although that would have left the Cincinnati station as "KKRP" which sounds unwholesome.

[theinevitable]

my college's radio station would be WWUR. Which... just sounds lame.

[smick]

My college radio station was KWRS.  The derisive nickname it earned was obvious.

[Lister]

I dimly remember hearing that the W stood for Westinghouse, which I then extrapolated out to mean that they had some sort of involvement with some standard of the industry or something.

So I googled and found some stuff.

• Westinghouse owned KDKA in Pittsburgh, which predates the Mississippi W/K split.  It may be important that the station was not located in range of the coast or major lakes.
• W and K, in morse code, are made by adding a dash to A and N.  It's said that the military represented US interests in the first divvying up of call signs in 1913 and this is what they wanted. (Of course, this doesn't explain why we also have N, but hey....  For the record, A went to Germany, along with D.)
• When call signs and their assignment were originally planned, the rules were mostly made with ships in mind, so terrestrial radio stations on the coasts would have different call signs from ships on that coast.  Atlantic and Gulf ships got K and Pacific ships got W.
• Radio traffic was almost all in Morse code at the time.  Call signs prepended every communication, so they tried to keep them short if possible.
• KDKA was assigned their call sign in between the ships Montgomery City (KDJZ) and Eastern Sword (KDKB), during a brief period where all applicants were given call signs sequentially.
• Many early Texas stations got W call signs because Texas was on the Gulf Coast, and thus ships there would have K call signs.
• The policy change that selected the Mississippi as a dividing line occurred in 1923.
• No one seems to know just why the Mississippi in particular was chosen, other than the fact that it's pretty easily recognizable and put more W stations in the more heavily populated east.

So.  Basically a series of weird decisions made in the early twentieth century is why.  W was given to the west, but for naval use.  Since land stations at the time mostly just existed for communicating with ships, they were given K to differentiate between land and sea stations.  The "dividing line" between W and K started at Texas' western border, then moved east as they needed more and more call signs.  Westinghouse doesn't have anything to do with anything other than being a big player in terrestrial radio.

Huh.  Now I know that.  Thanks, internet!

[theinevitable]

I love the internet so much.

I am a big fan of late-night freak outs where I suddenly decide that I know what I want to do with my life. The internet helps with this... otherwise I'd sit up all night debating without knowing the facts.

On the other hand, I'd get tired of it and go to sleep, instead of talking to people on the internet about it. I have realized lately that the internet makes me stay up much later.

So, real comment: Ray knew exactly what he needed to say to get Pat to put in as much money as he could.

[linnea]

I dimly remember hearing that the W stood for Westinghouse, which I then extrapolated out to mean that they had some sort of involvement with some standard of the industry or something.

So I googled and found some stuff.

• Westinghouse owned KDKA in Pittsburgh, which predates the Mississippi W/K split.  It may be important that the station was not located in range of the coast or major lakes.
• W and K, in morse code, are made by adding a dash to A and N.  It's said that the military represented US interests in the first divvying up of call signs in 1913 and this is what they wanted. (Of course, this doesn't explain why we also have N, but hey....  For the record, A went to Germany, along with D.)
• When call signs and their assignment were originally planned, the rules were mostly made with ships in mind, so terrestrial radio stations on the coasts would have different call signs from ships on that coast.  Atlantic and Gulf ships got K and Pacific ships got W.
• Radio traffic was almost all in Morse code at the time.  Call signs prepended every communication, so they tried to keep them short if possible.
• KDKA was assigned their call sign in between the ships Montgomery City (KDJZ) and Eastern Sword (KDKB), during a brief period where all applicants were given call signs sequentially.
• Many early Texas stations got W call signs because Texas was on the Gulf Coast, and thus ships there would have K call signs.
• The policy change that selected the Mississippi as a dividing line occurred in 1923.
• No one seems to know just why the Mississippi in particular was chosen, other than the fact that it's pretty easily recognizable and put more W stations in the more heavily populated east.

So.  Basically a series of weird decisions made in the early twentieth century is why.  W was given to the west, but for naval use.  Since land stations at the time mostly just existed for communicating with ships, they were given K to differentiate between land and sea stations.  The "dividing line" between W and K started at Texas' western border, then moved east as they needed more and more call signs.  Westinghouse doesn't have anything to do with anything other than being a big player in terrestrial radio.

Huh.  Now I know that.  Thanks, internet!

Education. Thanks, L.