While wandering through the Upper Midwest.

[Sid Schweiger]

"KDKA seems to be an anomaly -- either the Department of Commerce had briefly forgotten about the W/K rule, or the clerk who assigned it was just sloppy."

The way this was explained to me way back when:  For a very brief time (I think it was less than 18 months), the Department of Commerce was assigning broadcast call signs from the group reserved for ships, and when Westinghouse applied for a call sign for their Pittsburgh station KDKA was the next available one from that group.  As with so many other things regarding KDKA, that story may have been either made up or altered down through the years.

Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040