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What does the K in KQED stand for?

Given my recent success with the translation of cryptic notes found in a leather jacket, I thought I give this another try and ask my readers a question that has bugged me for the longest time.

So all those radio- and TV-stations start with a “K” in their abbreviation. As in KQED, KNME, KRON, etc. I’ve asked a number of people already what the “K” stands for, but nobody could give me an answer. I would research it on wikipedia, but I have no idea how to phrase a question that would lead me to the right answer.

Anybody out there knows what it is supposed to mean? Thanks in advance …

arrow8 Responses

  1. Mitch
    59 mos, 3 wks ago

    I don’t think anybody still living knows:

    http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010504.html

  2. 59 mos, 3 wks ago

    K and W were the international call signs assigned to the U.S. It’s C in Canada and X in Mexico. Generally, in the U.S. stations west of the Mississippi River were assigned K, those east of it W. There were some exceptions in the early years (WOAI in San Antonio is one).

  3. 59 mos, 3 wks ago

    I actually remembered that bit of trivia from some point in my past. I worked at the radio station in college, maybe I learned it there? Anyway, looked up my footnote before I saw the asnswer above.

    http://www.oldradio.com/archives/general/kwtrivia.htm

    http://nelson.oldradio.com/origins.html

  4. Richard Albury
    59 mos, 3 wks ago

    More info here:

    http://www.oldradio.com/archives/general/kwtrivia.htm

    Found by googling “radio call letters” and digging around a bit.

    Next, I suppose you’ll want to know why there are 360 degrees in a circle… ;-)

  5. 59 mos, 3 wks ago

    Wow – that’s a lot of good information in no time. Thanks to all of you who provided comments to solve this puzzle. Appreciate it!

  6. Dr.holms
    28 mos, 3 wks ago

    dear readers:
    i would like to know why does the letter “k” appear in some words like “know knife knight…”
    and we don’t pronounce it
    please if any one knows the answer
    send it to me

  7. 28 mos, 3 wks ago

    Interesting question, Dr. Holms. I did a quick search and found the following, which seems to answer your questions:
    http://www.aloveofwords.com/2009/08/26/knight-versus-night/

    Cheers – Tobias

  8. Doni Pedroza
    11 mos, 3 wks ago

    Back in the 1920s, when there were enough radio stations that governments decided it was time to step in and regulate them (to avoid having their signals devour each other), there was an international conference to set up a workable worldwide system, and unique station identifications for each nation were created. The USA was allocated ‘A’, ‘N’, ‘W’, and ‘K’ as the first letter in all station call-signs licensed in this country.
    So far, commercial stations (AM. FM, TV) have been given call-signs beginning only with the ‘K’ and the ‘W’, but ham stations and other services get calls beginning with ‘A’ and ‘N’, in addition to ‘W’ and ‘K’.
    To answer your question directly: The ‘W’ and ‘K’ mean that the station with that call-sign is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate in the USA.
    Similarly, Mexico has ‘X’, Canada has ‘C’ and ‘V’, Spain has ‘E’, Germany has ‘D’, Russia has ‘U’, etc. etc

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