12/3/2022 0 Comments K and n west![]() ![]() Reviewing the stations on the AM band, many people have noticed that some of them have the "wrong" first letter for the side of the Mississippi River on which they are located. call letter practices, see Mystique of the Three-Letter Callsigns and United States Callsign Policies. (Call letters are assigned according to the station's community of licence-the location of the station's transmitter, even if it is on the other side of the divide, does not matter).įor more detailed information on early U.S. Finally, this review lists stations according to their "community of licence", and does not include stations which only had transmitters on the other side of the divide. This review generally omits stations in Louisiana and Minnesota, because the boundary has not been very strictly followed in those two states. In 1987 the Federal Communications Commission noted that the current staff practice was to define the remainder of the boundary as "a line from the headwaters of the to a point just east of International Falls". NOTES: The source of the Mississippi River is in upper Minnesota, so using it as the K/W boundary leaves a gap in the northern part of the state. Click here for a detailed map showing the boundary change With this change, K's were assigned to most new stations west of the Mississippi, however, existing W stations located west of the Mississippi were allowed to keep their now non-standard calls. ![]() ![]() It was only in late January, 1923 that the K/W boundary was shifted east to the current boundary of the Mississippi River. The original K/W boundary ran north from the Texas-New Mexico border, so at first stations along the Gulf of Mexico and northward were assigned W calls. (Initially ship stations were the reverse, with W assignments in the west, and K in the east). Moreover, from the start the policy has been that stations in the west normally got K- calls, while W- calls were issued to stations in the east. The United States federal government began licencing radio stations in late 1912, and from the beginning it has assigned call letters starting with K and W to commercial and broadcasting stations. Commonwealths, Territories and Possessions Historic map of K and W assignments by state.Map of current "W in the West, K in the East" stations.This is a comprehensive review of K and W call letter assignments for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations in the United States, with an emphasis on stations that are on the "wrong side of the Mississippi". K/W Call Letters in the United States K/W Call Letters in the United States ![]()
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