Re: WNAB

["David W. Harris" <dwh@totalnetnh.net>]

Much has been written about NYC calls, especially the confusing WABC
situation, since A. Joseph Ross wrote:

> I think that in New York WEAF became WNBC and
> WABC
> became WCBS in 1946.  (And, before someone asks, I think WJZ became
> WABC
> in 1953.).
>
I can confirm those dates.  WJZ became WABC on Sunday, March 1, 1953.
WJZ-FM and WJZ-TV changed to WABC-FM and WABC-TV on the same day.

For the earlier WEAF and WABC changes, I'll quote from an item I posted
here in June of 1998, concerning the birth of ABC on June 15, 1945
(actually the Blue Network had been sold by RCA two years earlier but it
took awhile for the new owners to establish a new name):

There was some fuss over how the new ABC would identify itself on the
air.  "While the network is expected to become generally known as 'the
American network,' legal complications and the possibility of confusion
with WABC [the CBS station in NYC] or NBC will bar formal identification

as 'the ABC chain'"  (NYTimes, 6/10/45).  It's amusing to consider the
notion that folks would confuse ABC and NBC because, unlike CBS, they
share two whole letters in common.  The confusion for New York listeners

is certainly plausible, though; it was resolved on Saturday, November 2,

1946, when WABC and WABC-FM became WCBS and WCBS-FM.  The same day saw
WEAF and WEAF-FM change to WNBC and WNBC-FM.

Then there was the Associated Broadcasting Co. (or Corp.).  It was
trying to establish a national network and fed a lot of sustaining
programs coast-to-coast starting in September 1945.    Associated
Broadcasting filed a suit to stop American Broadcasting from identifying

its web as ABC.  An agreement was reached in December 1945 under which
you-know-who got to be ABC and Associated would be known as ABS. A
couple months later the Associated Broadcasting System was history as a
national network.  When it petered out it was reported to have 23
affiliates; WMCA New York was one of them, don't know about Boston.