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How did KASS call letters get approved by the FCC?

E-Cam said:
At one point, DFW had a low powered TV station with the KSEX calls while airing (I think) informercials. I couldn't receive the station but I could imagine that it aired informercials for "toys" if you know what I mean (I'm sure not).

Today the calls are now KBOP. The KSEX calls are now in San Diego.
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There was a WSEX 92.7 in Arlington Heights (NW Chicago suburb) back in the 1980s.
 
CTListener said:
Wrong guess. Chile owns CA through CE. Canada has CF through CK. These are the ITU's allocations, although it should be noted that Canada uses the CB prefix on CBC stations. The Wikipedia entry gives no explanation for this apparent incursion into another country's call sign territory, but Canada's been doing it for years, so maybe at one time it did have CB and is allowed to "share" the prefix with the ITU's designated owner through some sort of grandfathering, or an international handshake agreement.
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Canada has had Chile's permission to use the CBxx calls for CBC-owned stations for decades. There's no problem since Canadian stations are rarely, if ever, heard in Chile.
 
KeithE4 said:
Canada has had Chile's permission to use the CBxx calls for CBC-owned stations for decades. There's no problem since Canadian stations are rarely, if ever, heard in Chile.
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Its hams are heard in Chile, and Chile's in Canada, so there would be potential for confusion if the Chileans were to assign CB calls to hams, but they stick to CE -- and, of course, Canada licenses its hams with its V allocation.
 
CTListener said:
Its hams are heard in Chile, and Chile's in Canada, so there would be potential for confusion if the Chileans were to assign CB calls to hams, but they stick to CE -- and, of course, Canada licenses its hams with its V allocation.
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Of course, back 50 years and more when the AM band was clearer and cleaner, Chile was rather often received by MW DXers in Canada. 1060, 730 and 1140 were the most frequently heard of all of them.

But I don't think any DXer was at all confused by the call letter issue, as commercial stations in Chile seldom use call letters on the air, both then and now.
 
CTListener said:
Wrong guess. Chile owns CA through CE. Canada has CF through CK. These are the ITU's allocations, although it should be noted that Canada uses the CB prefix on CBC stations. The Wikipedia entry gives no explanation for this apparent incursion into another country's call sign territory, but Canada's been doing it for years, so maybe at one time it did have CB and is allowed to "share" the prefix with the ITU's designated owner through some sort of grandfathering, or an international handshake agreement.
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Not sure that that means anything. There is a KLFM in Great Falls, MT, and another one in Bendigo, Australia. We listen online to retro American Top 40 countdowns on the latter. (Mainly because they are a day ahead of us, so we hear it on Friday evening here.)
 
firepoint525 said:
Not sure that that means anything. There is a KLFM in Great Falls, MT, and another one in Bendigo, Australia. We listen online to retro American Top 40 countdowns on the latter. (Mainly because they are a day ahead of us, so we hear it on Friday evening here.)
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Australian radio has always used seemingly random letter/number combinations that look like call signs but really aren't. Many are a number and two letters. But VK and VL are the ITU prefixes used by non-broadcast operations. I assume the MW and FM broadcasters using the phony calls have authorized calls for their transmitters that they never mention on air and, apparently, are not required to by their national broadcasting authority.
 
CTListener said:
Australian radio has always used seemingly random letter/number combinations that look like call signs but really aren't. Many are a number and two letters. But VK and VL are the ITU prefixes used by non-broadcast operations. I assume the MW and FM broadcasters using the phony calls have authorized calls for their transmitters that they never mention on air and, apparently, are not required to by their national broadcasting authority.
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I always thought that Australian radio calls usually were associated with where they are. Any station I've seen out of Sydney or Canberra begins with 2, Brisbane's start with 4, Perth's start with 6, Melbourne's start with 3 and Adelaide's start with 5.
 
Sioux City, Iowa has KSUX. That's the airport code too.

While these aren't call letters, Florence SC had 94.3 the Dam, The Best Dam Rock Station. The letters were still WCMG, which meant "Magic" (urban AC). The station was a big failure and it's Magic once again.

I looked up WDAM. David A. Madison owned the station. No reason the Florence station couldn't have had the letters since he other station is WDAM-TV.
 
Nathan O'Dan said:
I always thought that Australian radio calls usually were associated with where they are. Any station I've seen out of Sydney or Canberra begins with 2, Brisbane's start with 4, Perth's start with 6, Melbourne's start with 3 and Adelaide's start with 5.
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Yes. Australia created their own system where the numeric prefix indicates the state, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia (and the Northern Territory and the Capital District).

Many jurisdictions only use "real" call letters that follow the ITU standards for licensing. There may be no requirement to use them on the air. This gives rise to situations where things like this exist: in Argentina AMs, which for the most part are older licensees, generally use the calls while nearly no FM does. Or Ecuador, where, for a time, identifying with call letters was not permitted (they accepted HCJB because it was presented as an acronym).
 
CTListener said:
Australian radio has always used seemingly random letter/number combinations that look like call signs but really aren't. Many are a number and two letters. But VK and VL are the ITU prefixes used by non-broadcast operations. I assume the MW and FM broadcasters using the phony calls have authorized calls for their transmitters that they never mention on air and, apparently, are not required to by their national broadcasting authority.
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"In Australia, all radio stations are issued with a callsign by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). A broadcast station can nominate call letters of preference, or have them allocated.

All Australian radio callsigns feature a numerical prefix with the number relating to the state or territory in which the station is based, as follows:

1 = Australian Capital Territory (new designation)
2 = New South Wales (and ACT)
3 = Victoria
4 = Queensland
5 = South Australia
6 = Western Australia
7 = Tasmania
8 = Northern Territory

After the numerical designation, there is a two-letter suffix for AM stations in the form nXX (eg: 3LO, 4KQ, 5AA) or a three-letter suffix for FM stations in the form of nXXX (eg: 3MMM, 2DAY, 6RTR)"

There is no requirement to use calls on the air, and thus "Today" FM (2DAY) can be used exclusively, just as 2SM can be used as the commercial identifier. The calls, though, are authorized by the licensing authority, which decided to use a different system than the one assigned by the ITU. They apparently use an ITU designator on station files, but the station does not use them.

More at http://www.adonline.id.au/radio/australian-callsigns/
 
The VK prefix is used for amateur radio. I believe the official-but-not-aired prefix used for broadcasters is VL. Australia is assigned AX, VH-VN, and VZ.
 
KeithE4 said:
The VK prefix is used for amateur radio. I believe the official-but-not-aired prefix used for broadcasters is VL. Australia is assigned AX, VH-VN, and VZ.
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I have an old QSL from the ABC's Perth regional SW station with "VLW 9" on it. That station put a nice signal into New England in the morning on 9610, though far weaker than Radio Australia's blowtorch at 9580. Sadly, Australia abandoned shortwave a couple of years ago.
 
DavidEduardo said:


"In Australia, all radio stations are issued with a callsign by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). A broadcast station can nominate call letters of preference, or have them allocated.

All Australian radio callsigns feature a numerical prefix with the number relating to the state or territory in which the station is based, as follows:

1 = Australian Capital Territory (new designation)
2 = New South Wales (and ACT)
3 = Victoria
4 = Queensland
5 = South Australia
6 = Western Australia
7 = Tasmania
8 = Northern Territory

After the numerical designation, there is a two-letter suffix for AM stations in the form nXX (eg: 3LO, 4KQ, 5AA) or a three-letter suffix for FM stations in the form of nXXX (eg: 3MMM, 2DAY, 6RTR)"

There is no requirement to use calls on the air, and thus "Today" FM (2DAY) can be used exclusively, just as 2SM can be used as the commercial identifier. The calls, though, are authorized by the licensing authority, which decided to use a different system than the one assigned by the ITU. They apparently use an ITU designator on station files, but the station does not use them.

More at http://www.adonline.id.au/radio/australian-callsigns/
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What about the "KLFM" referenced by the original poster?
 
CTListener said:
What about the "KLFM" referenced by the original poster?
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Bendigo is in Victoria, therefore would have a 3 (officially, VL3) prefix. Maybe its legal ID is 3KL or 3KLF if it's an FM station. They must use KLFM like we would use "Z99" or similar in the US -- strictly for marketing and a easy-to-remember ID, but not a legal one.
 
CTListener said:
What about the "KLFM" referenced by the original poster?
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KLFM appears to be a slogan, much in the manner of KLFM in the UK and even one in Malaysia.
 
The letters for WTFM in Kingsport, TN have a totally different meaning if Elmer Fudd works in tech support and doesn't try very hard to be helpful.
 
RadioPatrol said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOedBJ1s33w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwbISdttsq0

Well There was once a KRAK Radio in Sacramento but at the time it didn't have anything to do with the drug though when those calls came out.

http://www.joeymitchell.com/?page_id=97
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Kind of like WLSD in Big Stone Gap, Va. I remember running across that one in one of those North American Radio/TV Guides (by Vane A. Jones) in the late '60s and wondering if it played psychedelic rock!
 
Along that line there was WPOT in Trenton, TN. It came from Trenton having a Teapot Festival, although there definitely would have been jokes about the call letters.
 
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