FW: WSMN (Was: Re: Call Letters Meaning on Wikipedia

[Donna Halper]

We may never know if WSMN was a requested call, unless someone has 
access to old FCC files.  The earliest call letter sequence for WSM- 
(WSMA, WSMB, WSMC, etc) stopped at WSMK, way back in 1924 (call letters 
were either assigned sequentially, or you could request them... for a 
fee).  So unlike some call letters we know about, the WSMN calls were 
not recycled from earlier stations that had gone dark.  WSMN took to the 
air  with a dedication ceremony on *9 March 1958*, at 1590 AM; its first 
full day of broadcasting was on the 10th.  It referred to itself as a 
Nashua station at that time, rather than a Salem station; and yes, the 
advertising slogan it used for all the newspaper ads was Weather, 
Sports, Music, News. (But as I said, I don't know if those were 
requested calls.  It may be the sales department created the slogan for 
the call letters they were given.)

-- 
Donna L. Halper, PhD
Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies
Lesley University, Cambridge MA