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Re: CHAT: Names of radiostations (was: Re: The young Tolkien)

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Thursday, July 12, 2001, 18:27
taliesin the storyteller wrote:


> What's the deal with the four-letter codenames for US radio-stations? > What happens when all possible four-letter combinations have been used, > will everyone switch to 5 letter ones? In Yooroop (the pieces of it > that I've been to at least), radio-stations got real names, nicknames > and short forms/abbreviations.
The four-letter callsigns are part of a world-wide system; different nations have different initial letters, so that they will not collide. For example, the U.K. has G, M, and 2 (the system is really alphanumeric), Canada has parts of C and V, Mexico has XA to XI, and Denmark has parts of O (letter) and 5. The number of letters and digits following the internationally assigned part is variable. The U.S. formerly had K only, but with the growth of stations, the K area was restricted to west of the Missisippi, and the eastern part of the country got W. A few Ks survive in the East, notably KDKA Pittsburgh. N is also assigned to the U.S., but is used AFAIK exclusively for governmental (military and civilian) broadcasting. The same system is used for amateur radio callsigns. Country-level details can be found at http://www.co.umist.ac.uk/BDXC/lists/itu/itu.html . ObConlang: Livagia uses X9. -- There is / one art || John Cowan <jcowan@...> no more / no less || http://www.reutershealth.com to do / all things || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan with art- / lessness \\ -- Piet Hein

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Danny Wier <dawier@...>
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