Why do radio stations fave four-letter names, what do they mean, and how are they assigned?
The practice of using a four letter code probably followed the use of the same to identify each and every ship that carried a radio transmitter. The first letter would identify the nationality of the ship (W and K are the “U.S.” identifiers for radio and television stations) and the rest would be as random as telephone numbers. All that matters is that no ship has the same 4 letters as any other ship. There being fewer radio and TV stations than ships or telephones, there were more letters available to share, so people were able to choose them as people choose vanity plates for their vehicles. All that matters is that nobody else has already bagged it, that it carried the correct “country code” and that it is not indecent. Radio frequencies are assigned the same way – first come, first served.
