This will be a list of callsign meanings of ALL full-power television stations, PAST AND PRESENT. Please help add to this list.
New York City edit
- WCBS-TV 2 (Columbia Broadcasting System)
- WCBW, 1941-46: Columbia Broadcasting W
- WNBC 4 (National Broadcasting Company)
- WNBT, 1941-54: NBC Television
- WRCA-TV, 1954-60: Radio Corporation of America (RCA, NBC parent at the time)
- WNYW 5 (What New Yorkers Watch)
- WABD, 1944-58: Allen B. DuMont (DuMont Television Network founder)
- WNEW-TV, 1958-86: New York
- WABC-TV 7 (American Broadcasting Company)
- WJZ-TV, 1948-53: New Jers(Z)ey (original WJZ radio location)
- WWOR-TV 9 (World of Radio)
- WOR-TV, 1949-87: World of Radio
- WPIX 11 ("PIX" (pictures; the New York Daily News was known as the "Picture Newspaper"))
- WNET 13 (National Educational Television (PBS forerunner))
- WATV, 1948-58: Atlantic Television (former owners)
- WNTA-TV, 1958-62: National Telefilm Associates (former owners)
- WNDT, 1962-70: National Educational Television
- WLIW 21 (Long Island West)
- WNYE-TV 25 (New York Education)
- WPXN-TV 31 (Paxson)
- WUHF-TV, 1961: Ultra High Frequency
- WNYC-TV, 1962-96: New York City
- WBIS-TV, 1996-97: Business Information Station
- WXTV 41 (WX Television)
- WNJU 47 (New Jersey UHF)
- WNJN 50 (New Jersey Network)
- WTBY-TV 54 (Trinity Broadcasting New York)
- WFTI-TV, 1980-82: Family Television, Inc.(original owners)
- WLNY 55 (Long Island New York)
- WLIG, 1985-96: Long Island G
- WNJB 58 (New Jersey Brunswick)
- WRNN-TV 62 (Regional News Network)
- WTZA, 1985-95: Tappan Zee to Albany, station's broadcast range as "Hudson Valley" station
- WMBC-TV 63 (Mountain Broadcasting Corporation)
- WFME-TV 66 (unknown)
- WFTY-TV 67 (Telefutura New York)
- WSNL-TV, 1973-86: (unknown)
- WHSI-TV, 1986-2001: Home Shopping I
- WFUT-TV 68 (Telefutura)
- WWRO-TV, cp: (unknown)
- WBTB-TV, 1974-76: Blonder-Tongue Broadcasting
- WTVG, 1976-77: (unknown)
- WWHT-TV, 1977-86: Wometco Home Theatre
- WHSE-TV, 1986-2001: Home Shopping E
Los Angeles edit
- KCBS-TV 2 (Columbia Broadcasting System)
- KTSL-TV, 1948-51: Thomas S. Lee (former owner)
- KNXT, 1951-84: News-Express Television (after KNX radio's former owners, the Los Angeles Evening Express)
- KNBC 4 (National Broadcasting Company)
- KNBH, 1949-54: NBC Hollywood
- KRCA-TV, 1954-60: Radio Corporation of America (RCA, NBC parent at the time)
- KTLA 5 (Television Los Angeles)
- KABC-TV 7 (American Broadcasting Company)
- KECA-TV, 1949-54: Earl C. Anthony (former owner)
- KCAL-TV 9 (California)
- KFI-TV, 1948-51: Farmer's Information
- KHJ-TV, 1951-89: Kindness, Happiness, and Joy
- KTTV 11 (Los Angeles Times Television (former owners))
- KCOP-TV 13 (Copley Press (former owners))
- KMTR-TV, 1948: K.M. Turner Radio Corporation (owners of KMTR radio and former channel 13 owners)
- KLAC-TV, 1948-54: Los Angeles, California
- KKOG-TV 16 (defunct, 1968-69) (Kalifornia's Koast of Gold)
- KSCI 18 (Science of Creative Intelligence, a philosophy whose leader was former station owner, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.)
- KWHY-TV 22 (Why (a question prefix))
- KBIC, 1954: (unknown)
- KIIX, 1962-63: (unknown)
- KPOL-TV, 1964-66: Metropolitan (from co-owned KPOL-AM/FM)
- KVMD 23 (unknown)
- KVCR-TV 24 (Valley College Radio)
- KCET 28 (Community Educational Television)
- KPXN 30 (Paxson)
- KHOF-TV, 1969-85: King's Hall Of Fame (religious station)
- KAGL-TV, 1985-91: (unknown)
- KZKI, 1991-97: (unknown)
- KMEX-TV 34 (Mexico)
- KTBN-TV 40 (Trinity Broadcasting Network)
- KLXA-TV, 1967-77: (unknown)
- KXLA 44 (KX Los Angeles) Since 2001
- KRPA 2000-2001
- KFTR-TV 46 (Telefutura)
- KBSA, 1972-77: Broadcasting Service of America (original owners)
- KIHS, 1984-86: "IHS" is a monogram of the Latin words for "Jesus Christ" (station was owned by the Catholic Church)
- KHSC, 1986-2002: Home Shopping Club
- KOCE-TV 50 (Orange County Education)
- KVEA 52 (Vea ("watch" in Spanish))
- KMTW-TV, 1966-68: Mount Wilson Broadcasting (former owners)
- KBSC-TV, 1968-1985: Kaiser Broadcasting Southern California
- KAZA-TV 54 (Azteca America)
- KDOC-TV 56 (Dynamic Orange County -or- Doctor Gene Scott)
- KJLA 57 (KJ Los Angeles)
- KSTV, 1990-98: (unknown)
- KLCS 58 (Los Angeles City Schools)
- KRCA 62 (Riverside, California)
- KSLD-TV, 1988-90: (unknown)
- KBEH 63 (unknown)
- KTIE-TV, 1985-88: An effort to tie the suburban area, in the shadow of Los Angeles, together
- KADY-TV, 1988-2005: Named after Kady, the daughter of former owners/husband-and-wife Meshulam Riklis and Pia Zadora, which in turn was the name of the character Zadora played in her breakthrough movie Butterfly, financed by her husband Riklis
- KHIZ 64 (unknown)
- KVVT, 1986-92: (Victor Valley Television)
- KEEF-TV 68 (defunct, 1987) (unknown)
- KVST, 1974-76: Viewer Supported Television
Chicago edit
- WBBM-TV 2 (World's Best Battery Maker, referring to WBBM radio's original owners Mallory Battery Company)
- WBKB-TV, 1946-53: Balaban and Katz Broadcasting (former owners)
- WMAQ-TV 5 (We Must Ask Questions)
- WNBQ-TV, 1948-64: National Broadcasting Company Q
- WLS-TV 7 (World's Largest Store, referring to WLS radio's original owners Sears, Roebuck and Company)
- WENR-TV, 1948-53: E.N. Rauland (owner of WENR radio)
- WBKB-TV, 1953-68: Balaban and Katz Broadcasting (former owners; Balaban and Katz, later renamed United Paramount Theatres, merged with ABC and divested itself of what is now WBBM-TV in 1953)
- WGN-TV 9 (World's Greatest Newspaper, referring to the Chicago Tribune; both are owned by the Tribune Company)
- WTTW 11 (Window to the World)
- WYCC 20 (We're Your City Colleges)
- WCIU-TV 26 (We're Chicago's I (First) UHF)
- WFLD 32 (Field Communications (original owners))
- WWTO-TV 35 (unknown)
- WCPX 38 (Chicago PAX)
- WCFL, cp: Chicago Federation of Labor
- WCFC, 1976-98: Winning Chicagoland of Christ ([1])
- WSNS-TV 44 (Essaness TV Corp. (original owners))
- WPWR-TV 50 (Power)
- WYIN 56 (We're Your Indiana Neighbor)
- WXFT-TV 60 (WX Telefutura)
- WBBS-TV, 1982-87: (unknown)
- WEHS, 1987-2001: (WE Home Shopping Network)
- WJYS 62 (Jesus Your Saviour)
- WGBO-TV 66 (Grant Broadcasting O (former owners))
- WFBN-TV, 1981-86: (Focus Broadcasting Network (original owners))
Philadelphia edit
- KYW-TV 3 (Young Warriors)
- WPTZ-TV, 1941-56: (unknown)
- WRCV-TV, 1956-65: RCA Victor record label
- WPVI-TV 6 (Philadelphia VI (6 in Roman numerals))
- WFIL-TV, 1948-71: Filadelphia (phonetic spelling of Philadelphia)
- WCAU 10 (randomly assigned by FCC)
- WHYY-TV 12 (Wider Horizons for You and Yours)
- WPHL-TV 17 (Philadelphia)
- WPCA-TV, 1960-62: People's Christian Association
- WNJS 23 (New Jersey Network South)
- WTXF-TV 29 (meld of Taft and TVX broadcasting companies, both former owners)
- WIBF-TV, 1965-69: William/Irwin/Benjamin Fox (original owners)
- WTAF-TV, 1969-87: Taft Broadcasting (former owners)
- WYBE 35 ('World You Believe and Embrace)
- WUHY-TV, unknown, as an extension of WHYY: UHF WHYY
- WLVT-TV 39 (Lehigh Valley Television)
- WMGM-TV 40 (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (attempt to sell to the movie studio; unverified))
- WCMC-TV, 1966-81: Cape May County
- WAAT, 1981-84: (unknown)
- WFPG-TV 46 (defunct, 1950s) (World's Finest Playground, slogan for Atlantic City)
- WGTW-TV 48 (We're Great Television to Watch)
- WKBS-TV, 1965-83: Kaiser Broadcasting System (former owners)
- WTVE 51 (unknown)
- WNJT 52 (New Jersey Network Trenton)
- WMCN-TV 53 (Market Connect Network)
- WWAC-TV, 1981-2003: WW Atlantic City
- WPSG 57 (Paramount Stations Group, now CBS Corporation)
- WGLV-TV, 1950s: Greater Lehigh Valley
- WWSG-TV, 1981-85: William S. Gross (original owner)
- WGBS-TV, 1985-95: Grant Broadcasting System (former owners)
- WBPH-TV 60 (Beth and Pat Huber (owners))
- WPPX 61 (Philadelphia PAX)
- WTGI-TV, 1986-98: Television 61 (the "GI" closely resembles a numeral 61)
- WHUM-TV 61 (defunct, 1950s) (Humboldt J. Grieg (original owner))
- WWSI 62 (unknown)
- WDKZ, cp, 1989: (unknown)
- WACI, cp, 1989-2000: Atlantic City
- WPHA, cp, 2000: (unknown)
- WUVP-TV 65 (Univision Philadelphia)
- WRBV, 1981-85: Renaissance Broadcasting of Vineland (original owners)
- WSJT, 1985-86: South Jersey Television
- WHSP, 1986-2002: Home Shopping Philadelphia
- WFMZ-TV 69 (Family-Minded Zone)
San Francisco Bay Area edit
- KTVU 2 Founded in 1958 TV "You"
- KRON 4 Founded in 1949 San Francisco ChRONnicle, the local newspaper and owner
- KPIX 5 Founded in 1948 Abbreviation for "Pictures"
- KGO-TV 7 Founded in 1949 Inherited call sign from KGO (AM), which started as "General Electric Oakland"
- KQED 9 Founded 1954 QED = "Quod Erat Demonstrandum."
- KOFY-TV 20 Since 2006 a return to Coffee (below)
- KBWB 1998-2006 Ownership change and affiliation with The WB
- KOFY 1986-1998 Owner James Gabbert purchased the radio station and matched call signs. Coffee also provided the casual nature he presented the programming, as in "Drop by for a cup of coffee."
- KTZO 1980-1986 The ZO was part of a logo the look like 20 the channel number
- KEMO 1967-1981 Part of a network of stations all named by Initials of original owner Daniel H. Overmyer's children
- KBAY-TV 1950's construction permit San Francisco BAY
- KTSF 26 Founded 1976 "Television San Francisco"
- KMPT 32 Since 1991 "Minority Television Project"
- KQEC 1970-1988 Sister to KQED, off air for long periods of time until FCC revoked license
- KNEW 1968-1970 Sister station to WNEW
- KSAN 1954-1968 San Francisco
- KICU 36 Since 1981 "I see you"
- KGSC 1967-1981 "Greater Santa Clara Valley
- KBCW-TV 44 Since 2006 The CW
- KBHK 44 1968-2006 "Kaiser Broadcasting, Henry Kaiser"
- KEMO-TV 50 Since 2011 Now a sister station to KOFY, took KOFY's original callsign
- KFTY 1981-2011 FiFtY
- KCSM-TV 60 Since 1979 College of San Mateo Operated on channel 14 from 1964
- KDTV 14 1975-1979 on Channel 60 On March 5, 1979, KCSM and KDTV effectively traded channel positions
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex edit
- KDFW 4(Dallas-Ft. Worth)
- KXAS 5(Texas)
Boston/New Hampshire edit
WCVB 5 (Channel V (5 in Roman numeral) Boston)
Washington, D.C. edit
Atlanta edit
- WAGA 5 (Atlanta, GA(Georgia))
- WXIA 11 (XI(Roman Numeral 11) Atlanta or 11 Alive)
- WPCH-TV 17 Since 2007 Owner Peachtree Broadcasting
- WTBS 1979-2007 Turner Broadcasting System in turn named for Ted Turner
- WTCG 1970-1979 "Watch This Channel Grow"
- WJRJ 1967-1970 Jack Rice, Jr., original owner