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"Wavescan" is a weekly program for long distance radio hobbyists produced by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Coordinator of International Relations for Adventist World Radio. AWR carries the program over many of its stations (including shortwave). Adrian Peterson is a highly regarded DXer and radio historian, and often includes features on radio history in his program. We are reproducing those features below, with Dr. Peterson's permission and assistance.
Wavescan 453, September 7, 2003
Hidden Meanings Behind American Callsigns
At the time when broadcasting began in the United States, many of the callsigns that were allocated to the radio stations were simply given in sequence, sometimes almost random sequence. For example, the callsign for the famous Westinghouse station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, KDKA, was simply allocated in sequence. The letters KDKA have no special meaning or signifiance.
Likewise with so many other callsigns in the United States during that era. The letters WBZ for the Westinghouse station in Springfield, Massachusetts have no special meaning or significance, and neither do the callsigns for these stations:
However, on many occasions the callsign that was chosen by a new radio station in the United States contained a hidden meaning that was of real significance. We take a look at just a few.
For example, the early broadcasting station WLS in Chicago, which is still on the air today, chose a slogan that was very significant. To the owners of the station, the letters WLS stood for "World's Largest Store". And this was true at the time, for Sears & Roebuck in Chicago was the largest mail order company in the world.
Their famous catalog was also the world's largest selling book, at 300 million copies per year. Only the Bible eclipses that figure, with close on three billion copies since its first printing.
Not to be outdone, another station in Chicago was WGN. This station was owned by the Chicago Tribune, and the letters WGN stood for "World's Greatest Newspaper". This station is also still on the air to this day.
Another station with a grandiose stance was station WGES. These letters were interpreted to mean "World's Greatest Electrical School".
Many stations chose call letters that tied them to their home city. For example, the SL in KSL stood for Salt Lake (City), and the STP in the Minnesota station KSTP stood for St. Paul. Another station that was given a meaningful callsign in respect to its location is WWVA, which is interpreted to mean Wheeling, West Virginia.
Another smart usage of call letters was for the station WAIT in Massachusetts. These letters, WAIT, stood for "We Are in Taunton", the name of their city of residence.
A lot of other American callsigns are linked with the name of the company that owns the station. For example, WPRC in Pennsylvania was the callsign for the Wilson Printing & Radio Company. Likewise, the well-known WLAC in Nashville has a callsign that means Life And Casualty (Insurance Company). We might also list the rather obvious callsign, WSDA, which was owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in New York City.
Here are a few other interesting callsigns and their meanings:
Historic DX Report - 100 Years Ago [1903]
Let's go back to the year 1903, exactly 100 years ago. If you could take your portable radio with you back to that era, what would you hear on the bands? Well, first of all, you would hear only Morse Code and similar noisy signals, and each station would be so broad on the dial that it would be hard to separate one from another.
If you could station yourself somewhere in Europe, preferably at a coastal location, then you would hear a few land-based stations and a few ships, trying to make contact with each other in spark gap Morse Code. Remember, the year 1903 is only five years away from the first land-based wireless station. Marconi erected a communication station at the Needles Lighthouse on the Isle of Wight during the year 1898.
Anyway, let's compile a Historic DX Report based on a log book of what you would hear on your radio just 100 years ago, in the year 1903. All transmissions are in Morse Code, and no frequency is given, due to the fact that most transmitters were untuned, with each operating on its own natural electronic wavelength.
ENGLAND: The Needles Lighthouse on the Isle of Wight is noted morning and evening in contact with the Lighthouse near Wimmeraux in France. Currently, many of these messages are experimental in nature.
GERMANY: The battleship in the German navy, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, was noted with coded messages, using the German form of Continental Code. Contact was made with German navy headquarters and with other vessels in the German navy in the North Sea.
USA: The recently-installed high powered communication station at Cape Cod on the Atlantic edge of Massachusetts was heard faintly with local traffic for shipping along the Atlantic seaboard. This station identifies as CC.
ENGLAND: The antenna system at the Marconi station at Poldhu in Cornwall, station 2YT is quite active again these days. The entire antenna system was destroyed in a storm nearly two years ago. A new antenna system more than 200 ft. high has since been installed and the signals from this station are just as strong as ever. It is noted with traffic for shipping in the English channel and also with relay messages to the United States and North America via the relay stations in Ireland and Canada. The Marconi station at Podhu is often noted with test messages for shipping and with other land-based stations in Europe and North Africa.
USA: The first trans-Atlantic Marconigram in Morse Code was picked up in Poldhu and passed on to London by telegraph. This message was printed next day in the "London Times" for March 30.
HAWAII: It is noted that the five wireless telegraph stations in the Hawaiian Islands are on the air, but it is not expected that they will ever be heard in Europe. These stations were erected nearly two years ago for inter-island communication.
USA: On January 19, a special message was heard from station CC at Cape Cod. President Theodore Roosevelt in the United States sent a message to King Edward VII in England. This trans-Atlantic message was received in England at 2YT Poldhu, direct from CC Cape Code.
CANADA: The Marconi station at Cape Breton is occasionally heard calling 2YT in Poldhu in Cornwall for the exchange of Morse Code messages between North America and Europe.
GERMANY: In coming events it should be noted that the first International Conference on Wireless Telegraphy is scheduled to begin in Berlin on August 4. It is anticipated that this conference will recommend the internationalization of callsigns in a far reaching attempt to end the current confusion that is caused by several locations and ships sharing the same call letters.
And that ends our 100 year old Historic DX Report for the year 1903. On the next occasion we will advance one decade to the year 1913.
Two Ships and a Hotel [Australia]
Back in the year 1993, a special publication in the form of a regular radio magazine highlighted in its 74 pages the early radio history in Australia. On page 8 of this magazine, "The Dawn of Australia's Radio Broadcasting", the story is told of a small radio transmitter that was installed on two different ships in Australian waters.
In 1919, the AWA company asked their Technical Director, William Bostock, to construct a special transmitter for use in the planned tests and broadcasts from two ships in Australian waters. A single Marconi Q-valve from England was used, and when it was fed with 240 volts, it glowed a bright cherry red.
This small transmitter was installed in the coastal steamer "Riverina" and tested for three weeks during the month of April 1919. Later that same year, additional similar tests were carried out aboard another ship, the "Bombala". These tests broadcasts were heard quite widely and were described as very successful.
Another occasion of early radio broadcasting is presented in the same article, and this one took place three years earlier, in the year 1916. Another AWA engineer, Harry de Dassel, was on board the Royal Mail Steamer, "Moana", one day's journey out from San Francisco.
On the ship's radio receiver, he picked up an experimental broadcast from the Hotel Fairmount on the water's edge in the northern areas of San Francisco. This broadcast featured advertising for the hotel and several musical recordings. The callsign of this amateur station at the time was 6XG, and five years later this station was granted a broadcasting licence with the callsign KDN.
A quarter of a century later, the Fairmount Hotel again featured in radio broadcasting, this time on an international scale. The American government bought the Fairmount Hotel for the purpose of establishing studios and offices for the new shortwave station KGEI. This station, together with its sister transmitter, KGEX, was heard far and wide during the era of the Pacific War.