Why is it that most Radio Stations start with a "W"?

Question

I've noticed this lately and just wanted to ask out of curiosity.

Answer 1

Generally, stations east of the Mississippi start with a "W" and west of the river with a "K." There are some exceptions left over from before the FCC divided the country, such as WACO in Waco, TX and KDKA which is in Pittsburgh. Most stations have four letters, but a few heritage stations have been allowed to keep their old three-letter calls or, if changed at some point, go back to them.

A few would include KGO in SF, WOR in NYC and WGN in Chicago.

No offense to an other answer, but it has nothing to do with signal strength. It was just arbitrarily decided by the FCC as commercial stations proliferated and it became obvious that more combinations were needed than could be provided with just "W"s.

Wikipedia mentions the epic battle of KWK, St. Louis against the FCC to be allowed (for marketing purposes), to name its new FM station (located just east of the river in Granite City, Il) after KWK-AM, the heritage station (located just west of the river in St Louis proper). I was there for that and we were delighted when the decision came in our favor and both stations were allowed to be called KWK (AM & FM).

-a guy named duh

Answer 2

Well actually, stations east of the Mississippi, begin with W, the ones west of it begin with K. It is mostly for identification and signal strength.

Answer 3

The Mississippi is the dividing line. East it's "w". West it's "k".

Answer 4

Out west, they start with K, such as KOB in Albuquerque, or KORE in Eugene, Oregon.

Answer 5

Stations east of the Mississippi start with a "W" and west of the river with a "K."

Chicago cubs are on WGN

San diego Charges on KIOZ