interesting

The US radio scene is different from that in most other parts of the world. One of the main differences is the naming of the stations. US radio stations use "call-letters" (in a similar way to Canadian radio stations) instead of names. These call-letters usually comprise 3 or 4 letters, such as "WJR" or "KVST". Generally speaking (with a few exceptions) those stations with call-letters beginning with "W" are located East of the Mississippi River, whilst those beginning with "K" are West of it. Many stations add their own name which (usually, but not always) ties in with their call-letters. For example, KDGE also calls itself "The Edge", WFXF "The Fox" and so on. KISS FM is a very popular name which sometimes, considering the station call letters, is bewildering!



There is also a tendency for AM stations to drop the last "0" of their frequency - US stations use 10kHz channel spacing on AM and therefore their frequency will always end in "0". For example WABC 770kHz calls itself "77 WABC".