Do you know why the call letters of most radio TV stations east of the Mississippi begin with a W, while those west of the Mississippi begin with a K? Why the letter N appears on civilian aircraft? Why a K is the symbol for a strikeout in baseball?

I didn't know, until several readers sent me letters. And I literally mean letters.

During the early days of radio, writes Ralph Gilpin of North Branch, Michigan, a 1912 international conference assigned different letters to each nation to identify their commercial radio stations. The U.S. was given W and K and in 1928 the Federal Radio Commission required stations east of the Mississippi River to begin their call letters with a W, and those west of the river to use a K.

But the agency made exceptions either to accommodate previously existing stations, such as KDKA in Pittsburgh, or to suit the name of the city where the station operated, such as WACO in Waco, Texas.

Back in the 1920s, when radio stations really stood for something, their call letters did too: WLS in Chicago for "World's Largest Store," the motto of Sears Roebuck; WSM in Nashville from "We Shield Millions," the motto of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company; and WGN in Chicago from "World's Greatest Newspaper," the motto of The Chicago Tribune.

Gilpin also explains that, by 1920, so many civilian aircraft were buzzing around that a registration system was needed. So, an international convention assigned identifying letters to major nations, e.g., G for Great Britain, F for France.

Although U.S. insurance companies had already begun issuing identifiers beginning with A to American planes, the convention assigned A to another country. (And we've never spoken to the tiny European nation of Andorra since.)

Pouting in humiliation, the U.S. settled for N because the U.S. Navy was the only organization with a radio system capable of tracking international flights.

And, as long as we're keeping score, the K for a baseball strike comes from the nifty shorthand of official scorekeepers. For each pitch that was a ball, explains Jay Lloyd of Benicia, California, scorekeepers would draw one "leg" of a W, so a full W was left when four balls had been thrown. Likewise, for each strike, they would draw one leg of a K, completing a finished K for a strikeout.

But why a K and not another three-part letter, such as A, F, H, N, Y or Z? Perhaps the answer will striKe you.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Photo credit: Josh Hemsley at Unsplash