Data Dump: The Meaning of the Beginning, Middle, and End of Callsigns
Jon Ellis
Radio and TV callsigns may sometimes be randomly assigned, but there’s still a meaning in the way they begin and end. Here are the meanings in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada:
Callsign begins with
Meaning
CB
CBC/Radio-Canada station
CF, CH, CI, CJ, CK
Canadian station
CH1111
Canadian very low power TV station (CH followed by four numbers)
K
U.S. station generally west of the Mississippi River
VF1111
Canadian very low power FM station (VF followed by four numbers)
VF, VO
Grandfathered station in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
W
U.S. station generally east of the Mississippi River
XE
Mexican AM station, and a few FM and TV stations
XH
Mexican FM or TV station
Numbers in the middle
Meaning
K222AA
U.S. FM translator, the number signifies the FM channel number (201 to 300)
K26AA
U.S. TV translator or low-power TV station, the number signifies the RF broadcast channel; LPTV stations can also use a four-letter callsign with an -LP or -LD suffix
Callsign ends with
Meaning
-AM
Used in Mexico for AM stations; does not exist as an FCC suffix but is often incorrectly used in the U.S.
-CA
U.S. Class A digital TV
-CD
U.S. Class A digital TV
-DT
Full-power digital TV station in the U.S. and Canada (no difference from -TV in the U.S.)
-FM
FM station; all FM stations in Canada and Mexico have the -FM suffix, but only some in the U.S. do
-HD
No such FCC suffix, but often used to distinguish HD Radio subchannels
-LD
U.S. low-power digital TV station
-LP
U.S. low-power FM or digital TV station
-TDT
Mexican digital TV station
-TV
Full-power TV station (no difference from -DT in the U.S., signifies analog in Canada)
Nothing
All AM stations in the U.S. and Canada, some full-power FM and TV stations in the U.S.
