What were they?

The only thing that I can guess is that those letters were the old marine operators' station call signs at the various river towns.

It was a long time ago that I could snoop in with my Radio Shack 10 band radio and listen to all the calls going through the Cincinnati Marine operator.

WGK was St. Louis; was WFN Pittsburgh?
Did Point Pleasant have a marine operator?
I do remember it was pretty expensive to us a marine operator back in those days.
I can also remember all of the whistles and squeals on the air waves when the boats reported in for traffic twice a day over the AM radio connections

A two-parter:

1) So which town/port was each of these?
2)How are the marine radio call letters for vessels assigned? wzc8491= NATCHEZ, wa4141= DELTA QUEEN
3)Ok, a third part: what are the radio call letters for other vessels?

The FCC probably issues call letters from an established criteria, starting with alphabetical 3 digits to numbers 4 digits. One of the UBL boats had WF-2293.
The FCC has a nice web site that is searchable in a variety of ways. I use it all of the time. It is usually the first government agency to post information for public use when a new boat enters service, is sold or is renamed. I have seen several instances where the FCC has published something that happened only two days previous, whereas it may take the CG two or more months to update its documentation pages.
License Search - Ship License Search

Seems like the cat's out of the bag, so I guess I can chime in now? These are all public marine operator stations. WFN was Jeffersonville, not Pittsburgh, I think. WJG was Memphis. Yes, we used them quite frequently. And Bill, I guess you had no opportunity to use them, but WLO was a very powerful station in Mobile. I think they may still be in operation in some form.

Judy, the BELLE OF LOUIVILLE is WS 6907, or used to be.

Shoot folks...wasn't that long ago. In the mid-eighties we were still using SSB's and marine operators. I remember WFN was ACBL's pre-Watercom traffic station. Also recall being stuck on the Tombigbee "no man's land" and certain stretches getting out to WJG Memphis to make a marine call...always had the dispatchers say "where you been?" Marine calls were expensive for boat crews...also provided Friday night radio drama that s lot of boats listened in, and sometimes chimed in. Then along came Watercom...many a deckhand worked for free paying off a $2000.00 phone bill. Cell phones have changed the way we talk now...just hung up with the Mrs this eve and this post reminded me that I didn't have to jump in a yawl and brave the elements just so I could have a private discussion. Ah...those were the days...and not missed! Luke ( somewhere on the Miss )

Amen, Luke! It wasn't that long ago indeed. Yes, I remember how we were on a first name basis with the operators for WJG -- we used them to turn in traffic at 0400 so that the office would have some traffic when they got in in the morning.

I think I have posted this link before; here is a great page about all the marine radio stations: WJG - Memphis, TN - Inland Marine Radio History Archive

Virginia Bennett in the marine radio picture

I know Virginia had her own radio and monitored the activity around her bend in the river. Besides talking with the crew on the radio, did she make landline calls for them? Capt. Bill? or anyone...

Thanks for that link, never saw it before. I noticed the source of the name for McKellar Lake - a longtime US Senator- mentioned in it.

Judy is right on with Virginia Bennet and her base station radio. Before every body had cell phones Virginia would make calls to family of crew, she kept the crew member on the radio and then she would relay by land line whatever needed to be said, then after the crew member had finished and cleared, Virginia would keep up the phone conversation with the person on the land line. We all know how Virginia could talk don't we?? If it was trouble at home Virginia would give advice and probably send some cash, even though she really didn't have it to give. That's why she was know as the "Cincinnati harbor Mother".

As a dispatcher for ACBL years ago I know all about WFN which was located directly across Market St from the ACBL office. The dispatcher would write boat orders which were teletyped over to WFN. The operator at WFN would then read the orders to the boat and receive traffic back from the boat which was teletyped from WFN to the dispatch office. WFN ran traffic four times a day. The operators at WFN were excellent. Paul Hise, Roy Harmon, Terry Birley were three of the best.
Some of the traffic was quite funny, like the time a boat reported "set two deckhands off at mile 866 with sore fists, please send replacement to Evansville." (they had been fighting)
Or "found first watch deck crew in deckroom with buckets over their heads sniffing aluminum spray paint. Set them off at Barkly Lock with silver faces".
And the coldest one I remember was; "midnight cook reported he wasn't feeling well, 0430 cook failed to get up, found him in his room, he was dead. Set cook off at Helena. Set up new cook for Memphis".
Compared to today with cell phones, satellites, and computers it all seems pretty crude, but it was personal...people actually talking to people...something we don't have today.

Another WFN Story

WFN was the marine telelphone operator in the Louisville area (vhf channel 27). I remember one call from a Walker Towing Boat that went something like this:
"The ------ to WFN".
WFN back.
"I'd like to place a long distance call to such and such a number."
WFN: "Hold a minute" . When the call went through....
"Hello, dear, my replacement didn't show up here at Louisville. I can't get off until we get to Paducah. I'll be home in 3 or 4 days."
After they hung up WFN called the boat and ask if he would like to place another call, the man on the boat replied;
"Yes, this will be a local call to such and such a number".
When the call went through........
"Hey, sweetheart, my replacement just got on, I'll be there in a couple of hours and I can stay until Friday".

Capt. Clare Carpenter of Belpre, Ohio, while receiving traffic over the radio for barge orders, would hear one number but some numbers got transfixed between ear and hand and would write down another number. After several times of picking up or delivering the wrong barge, it was company policy to have somebody else in the pilothouse during traffic time to get the numbers correct.

Capt. Red Childres would give barge traffic with a cigar stuck in his mouth and no commas......so his traffic would come out something like this:
"At dage ark we dropped emmys acbl1271135571225581632."
Translation...
At Dade Park we dropped empties ACBL 1271, 1355, 7122, etc.
Those were the days when you got to know someones personality something you really don't get in text messages.

When I was on the BELLE in the 1970s her radio call was WF 6270.

The thread idea seems to be working, it even brought out "Tommy Towboater".Luke can tell it like it was!!!

A pot of gumbo...

some King Cake and some beads for you, Capt. Bill! If even only briefly, the good times are rolling on here...now I sign off to make gumbo and jambalaya for our Mardi Gras festivities at the nursing home tomorrow.
Laissez les bon temps rouler!!!!

And a HAPPY MARDI GRAS to you, Miz Patsch, and to ALL on this forum! It's a COLD and dreary day with snow flurries here on the Ohio at the Howard Steamboat Museum. No visitors yet today, but we've had a productive morning with the company who is working on the re-design of our steamboat exhibits. My sidekick, Travis, is faithfully on deck, despite recovering from a bout of bronchitis. So, we aren't doing any "second line" dancing --- but we do have on some Mardi Gras music in the office --- and I earlier made a circuit around the mansion, thinking of all the Howard-built steamboats that made Mardi Gras trips. Capt. Alexander Halliday was a good friend of the Howard's who frequently visited and stayed in the third floor tower room. The New Orleans ferryboat A.M. Halliday was built here in 1903. The attached image, made from a glass plate negative by Capt. James Howard, shows the HALLIDAY as a new boat at the shipyard. For five decades she routinely carried 30 cars and 225 passengers until dismantled in 1954 -- the year of my birth! Happy Steamboating!

OK we are doing pretty good, but still no ID on WCM, WAY or WNU, keep at it gang

*Those funny letters*
Steamboating colleagues:
Capt. Bill Judd threw out a goodie above with a number of fine answers RE: "What were they?" Being just a 'wharf rat' back then I only heard about them with no on-hands use.
Don't know if this regarded as cheating or not but today ran to the storage room, pulled down several 'dusty boxes' remembering somewhere, someplace perhaps...? EUREKA! There was an old folder with the above shoved inside. So far this is what I have on my old list.

WAY - Chicago, IL
KDQ & WGK - St. Louis, MO
WCM - Pittsburgh & Cincinnati
WFN - Louisville, KY
WJG - Memphis, TN
KPE - Clayton, MO [?]
WPT - Greenville, MISS
KMP - Cape Girardeau

I have a longer list from my navy days that goes on and on. Does this help a little? Why try to remember a scripture when you can pull down the Bible and check. Now, Capt. Bill Judd, next question if you please?

R. Dale Flick
Old Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati

WCM

So how could the same letters be used for both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati????

It is not cheating if you can remember where you put "those" boxes. I am glad that God invented paper and pencils before the advent of all this digital stuff. I am proud to say (or write) that I still maintain the Inland River Record that Fred taught me many years ago--on 3x5 file cards. I am leery of all this bits and bytes stuff. To keep pace in this modern world, the IRR must be done on a computer. But, before I send the data to the office, I send it to three other people to store on their hard drives, in case something does happen out in cyberspace. I have had to type the entire book twice onto digital format and it ain't fun! I can pull out a 3x5 file card in 10 seconds whereas it would take several minutes on a computer after logging on and searching through different programs.

WCM was first in Pittsburgh and served UBL, Ashland and Ohio River Co. plus others on the upper Ohio. WCM announced it was going out of business about 1974 and the Ohio River Co. really needed the service, bought the station and moved it to Cincinnati. In fact the towers, just up the hill from me were still there till about three years ago when the land was sold for a big subdivision.