2 Broadcast callsigns

2.1 North America

There are some common conventions followed for callsigns in North America. Canadian broadcast stations are assigned a three-, four- or five-letter callsign beginning with CF, CH, CI, CJ, CK, VE, VF, or VO. (Several other codes are available, but are not currently in use.) Most stations operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation use callsigns beginning with CB by arrangement between the Canadian and Chilean authorities. Callsigns beginning with VE and VF are only assigned to very-low-power local rebroadcasters; VO callsigns may only be used by four stations in Newfoundland which were licensed before that province joined Canadian Confederation in 1949. All Canadian FM stations have a "-FM" suffix, and likewise TV stations and "-TV", except for low-power rebroadcasters which have seminumeric callsigns. Higher-power rebroadcasters are generally licensed under the callsign of the originating station, followed by a numeric suffix and, for FM rebroadcasters of an AM station, a "-FM" suffix; for example, CJBC-1-FM rebroadcasts CJBC (860 Toronto), whereas CJBC-FM-1 rebroadcasts CJBC-FM (90.3 Toronto).

Mexican broadcast stations are assigned a three-, four-, five-, or six-letter callsign beginning with XE (mediumwave) or XH (all others). Some FM and TV stations are grandfathered with XE callsigns and a "-FM" or "-TV" suffix.

Broadcast stations in the U.S. are assigned three, four, or six letter callsigns. The current practice by the FCC is to assign all stations either a 4-letter callsign, or a 4-letter callsign, followed by a dash and the two-letter class of station: "-FM", "-LP", "-TV", or "-CA". (There is no such thing as "-AM", although it is commonly used in the industry press; likewise "-DT" for digital television, although the latter has at least some FCC recognition.) Stations are assigned a code beginning with K, if they are west of the Mississippi River, and beginning with W if they are east of the river. Stations having 3-letter callsigns, or stations with a K east of the Mississippi, or W on the west side, are grandfathered, and allowed to keep their current sign. Stations located near the Mississippi River may have either letter, depending on the precise location of their community of license and on historical contingencies; grandfathered callsigns may generally be transferred among stations under common ownership. The FCC for many years maintained a policy of "drop it and lose it forever" with respect to three-letter callsigns, but recently allowed KKHJ (930 Los Angeles) to regain its historic three-letter call, KHJ.

Many older U.S. stations, such as Baltimore television station WJZ-TV , Denver radio station KOA, and Pittsburgh radio station KDKA, have long historical associations. Others are changed frequently as the station changes format.

FM and TV translators, and some but not all low-power TV stations are assigned sequential callsigns, formed with the appropriate initial letter, plus the station's assigned two- or three-digit channel number, followed by a two-letter sequential suffix, such as W201BE (an FM translator on 88.1 MHz) or K57AX (a TV translator on channel 57). Such callsigns are never reused. New full-power stations are assigned sequential callsigns if the permittee does not choose one of their own; these are always four letters, of which the third is the least-significant digit and the second is the most-significant digit of the sequence number. (Callsigns which were already assigned are skipped in the sequence.) Hence, many very early stations, like WMAQ Chicago (now WSCR) and WMAF South Dartmouth (now defunct) were assigned W-A- (or K-A-) callsigns.

Many stations prefer not to use callsigns at all, since a slogan is more easily remembered by listeners filling in diaries for the Arbitron Company's radio ratings. However, in the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission does require periodic identification using the formal callsign, as close to the top of each hour as possible, at a "natural break in programming"; this rule is rarely enforced. Many stations choose a callsign that can be transformed into a name, such as Boston's WXKS-FM, one of many Clear Channel Communications-owned stations that call themselves "KISS". (Canadian stations are required to identify by callsign hourly, but not at any specific time, and this rule is even more rarely enforced than the U.S. rule.)

Before 1922, three-letter callsigns were arbitrary. In the 1920s, the FCC issued three-letter callsigns based on slogans, such as WGN, owned by the Chicago Tribune, the "World's Greatest Newspaper", and WLS, then owned by Sears, Roebuck, the "World's Largest Store".

The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC of San Jose, California used the callsign 6KZ.

2.2 Australia

In Australia, broadcast callsigns begin with a single-digit number indicating the state or territory, followed by two letters for AM stations and three for FM. Some AM stations retain their old callsigns when moving to FM, or just add an extra letter to the end. Australian broadcast stations used the prefix VL-, but since Australia has no nearby neighbors, this practice was discarded in use.

2.3 Europe/Asia

In Europe and much of Asia, callsigns are normally not used for broadcast stations. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are exceptions to this general rule. Other countries have yet other formats for assigning callsigns to domestic services.

3 Military callsigns

3.1 US Army

The United States Army uses fixed callsigns for Army stations which begin with W, such as WAR, used by U.S. Army Headquarters.

3.2 US Air Force

The United States Air Force uses semi-fixed identifiers consisting of a name followed by a two or three digit number. The name is assigned to a unit on a semi-permanent basis; they change only when the U.S. Department of Defense goes to DEFCON 3. For example, JAMBO 51 would be assigned to a particular B-52 aircrew of the 5th Bomb Wing, while NODAK 1 would be an F-16 fighter with the North Dakota Air National Guard. The most recognizable callsign of this type is Air Force One, used when any plane is carrying the U.S. President, or Marine One, used to identify any helicopter doing the same thing.

Fixed callsigns for USAF stations begin with A, such as AIR, used by USAF Headquarters.

3.3 US Navy/Coast Guard

The United States Navy and United States Coast Guard use a mixture of tactical callsigns and formal callsigns beginning with the letter N. For example, the carrier USS John F. Kennedy has the callsign NJFK.

4 See also

• International Callsign Allocations

5 External links

• United States Callsign Policies
• Amateur Call Prefixes

Amateur radio

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