John Bruce (jonthebru) at our discussion forum site asks: “Can call letters be used by other stations?”
“We are contemplating a change in call letters associated with a change in direction for a non commercial station. (Sorry, I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag so I can’t share details at this time.) Is there any precedence for call letters to be shared across the country in a completely different area and ownership?
Obviously a new unused set would be the easiest but some used call letters would fit well, is it ever done?”
To which comes this reply from Beej6:
“You can’t use the exact call letters; however with permission from the primary callsign owner you could use their callsign on a different broadcast ‘service’. Our example is KGCE-LP, a new LPFM. I got permission graciously from KGCE-LD, a low power digital TV station to use the KGCE calls.
AM, FM, LP, TV, LD are all different broadcast services . . . “
Any other thoughts on this question? Comments welcome here, or post something on our forum.
