Alek, why do they use call letters instead of a name? for example, NBC4 instead of NBC LA
(Edited by PZG at 6:22 pm on June 26, 2001)
AL
alekf
I have no idea. It makes absolutely no sense to me. It's some FCC (Federal Communications Commission) act. It's really stuppid because some stations have the designation WXTR! And the stupid thing is that the channel will use it as their name they couldn't just make something else up! In other words, by law, every network station has to have their technical designation, but they don't have to use it on the air, but most of them do.
Call letters go back to the old days of radio where the radio station was KNBC and when TV came along they use the same call letters but added TV after it. The letters after the K or W usually relate the initials of the station owners. In case anyone was wondering America uses the VHF system still so the channel numbers actually relate to the VHF channel they are tuning to - this is also the case for Australia hence the reason for channels 2 (The ABC) 7, 9 and 10, we of course in Europe use the UHF system.
they don't have to use it on the air, but most of them do.
I read from somewhere that the call letters and the license city must be shown on the station at least once every hour, eg. 'WABC New York.' I think that combination is known as a legal ID. It's another one of those FCC things, but it actually was a good idea back in the 80s when stations would make up ID animations before the news for the legal IDs. Now they just incorporate the legal IDs into everything, for example the news opens, trailer graphics, etc. Nowadays only few stations use their call letters as their brands, except in Seattle, where there are KOMO-4, KING-5 and KIRO-7. Most stations just go by 'Network affiliation'+'channel no.' eg. 'ABC7.'
In Canada MOST call letters start with C, more spefically the CF to CK range, for example CFCN Calgary, CITV Edmonton, CKVU Vancouver. Though I've never seen a TV station having call letters starting with 'CG.'
For many CBC owned-and-operated local stations, there's a general pattern to follow in terms of call letters assignment. For example, in Vancouver, CBC's AM radio station is CBU-AM, the FM station is CBU-FM and the TV station is CBUT-TV. As you can see, the CBC radio call letters start with 'CB,' then one letter is added after them to represent the city it is based in ('U' for Vancouver). Then for the TV call letters they add a 'T' to the radio call letters (hence becoming 'CBUT').
Obviously the CBC call letters aren't in the CF-CK range. I read from somewhere that originally only the CF-CK call letters were assigned to Canada. Then somehow the CBC or whatever organization persuaded some South American country to give them the 'CB' call letters.
I thought there were call signs in Britain too, only they were assigned to the transmitters rather than the station itself. I think they started with 'G' for Great Britain. I got that from sub-TV.
I know I just typed a loooong message, but I decied to add something to what Lester just said. We in Canada still use the VHF system too, alongside UHF. (Just so you know, there isn't a Channel 1 anywhere in North America nowadays. There used to be.)
But nowadays, almost NO station in Canada has its channel number in its name. In Vancouver, only Vancouver Television (VTV) shows their channel number regularly (channel 9). But that's the cable channel number. The station is actually high up on UHF channel 32.
For CBC owned-and-operated local stations (O&Os), their names are usually 'CBC [name of region].'
For CTV O&Os, they generally use their call letters, unless when it's a chain of several closely-located stations (Atlantic Television - ATV).
For Global O&Os (all Global stations are O&Os), their OFFICIAL names are 'Global [name of region].' But more often it's simply 'Global.'
Then there are those network affiliates that aren't owned by their parent networks (non-O&Os) and those that are independent. In which case, all of the above branding methods don't work. The non-O&Os have more conventional names like BCTV (British Columbia Television), RDTV (Red Deer Television) and NTV (Newfoundland Television). For the independents, some have weird names like A-Channel, The New VR, The New RO, etc.
(Boy that's another long message.)
AL
alekf
I know that they have to identify the station every hour or so by law, but I didn't know they had to use the 'call' letters. What is the difference between UHF and VHF?
The networks generally don't have idents. For local news, the channel ident is incorporated into the news titles. Also, I can't stand the lack of uniformity. Why do we have to have the networks owned by local companies. I know it's probably for the money but still -- it looks like CRAP! And I really can't stand why we have to have local news four times a day (or how many times we have it). It makes no sense. How many people actually watch the local news, it's soooo boring. We only have one national newscast on the networks perday and that's only for 15 minutes, if you count all of those ridiculously long commercials! (I'm not including the morning news shows, they're really not 'news' programmes.'
And about the using of the network affiliates -- can any channel use them, even if they're not owned by the network? I know there is a trend to use the network name (thank God). And why is it necessary to use the call letters. It's really outdated - especially when everyone has cable and with the advent of satellite and digital cable. Why can't the stations just be 'NBC New York' or 'CBS Washington.' It would be so much nicer.
Oh, and why don't we have a channel 1, 3, 6, 8 (at least here in NY or cable - 8 is CNN)? It doesn't make much sense?
VHF is Very High Frequnecy. In North America it's channels 2 to 13. UHF is Ultra High Frequency (Channels 14 to 69). I think usually the VHF channels are more powerful.
Quote:
Oh, and why don't we have a channel 1, 3, 6, 8 (at least here in NY or cable - 8 is CNN).
Channel 1 was deleted by the FCC in the 40s. In New York it was originally occupied by WNBT-TV (now of course WNBC 4). It was deleted to make way for more FM frequencies (or so I heard). As for channels 3 and 6, I think it's because the New York market overlaps a bit with Philadelphia. So the 'border-line' communities between the 2 markets can (or should be able to) pick up these channels:
WCBS-2 NY,
KYW-3 Philly
, WNBC-4 NY, WNYW-5 NY,
WPVI-6 Philly
, etc. As for channel 8, there's one in Connecticut (WTNH New Haven), and one in New Jersey (some low power station). Check out http://nyrtv.tripod.com .
AL
alekf
Thanks for the info.
I think that it's time that the FCC revamped the TV regulations and rules etc. Especially with the advent of digital terrestrial which I hear we're supposed to get any time now! (sarcasm)
