How WFTM Got It's Call Letters

One minute after midnight of January 1st of 1948 WFTM hit the airwaves. Did you know the original call letters were WKYO? Jim Finch worked out a deal to acquire the WFTM name. Things were in place for WKYO to go on the air. But, how did WKYO become WFTM?

According to Finch, “WKYO was assigned to us by the F-C-C. And WFTM was assigned to the police station in Buffalo, New York. Well, I called up the Chief of Police and told him who we were, and about what a big tobacco market we had, and we'd love to have WFTM, which would stand for ‘World's Finest Tobacco Market.’

“Well,” he said, “I have no love for these WFTM letters they gave us. I'll ask the F-C-C to release them if you do something for me.”

I said, “What? I'll try.” He said, '“Send me a Kentucky ham and a chew of burley tobacco, and I'll ask them to let you have WFTM, and I'll take the ones they assigned you. Just trade them.”

“It took about two weeks of horse-trading, but we got the job done. And that's the way we got it.”

Ron Bailey contributed this account.