Ah, New York City. We have a lot of stations:
WNBC Channel 4 – the National Broadcasting Company’s flagship station
WABC Channel 7 – the American Broadcasting Company’s flagship station
WCBS Channel 2 – the Columbia Broadcasting System’s flagship station
WPIX Channel 11 – a CW affiliate, was founded by the New York Daily News, which calls itself “New York’s Picture Newspaper”, ergo, PIX. The call letters just were never changed even when the News sold the station.
WNET Channel 13 – a Public Broadcasting Service affiliate. Originally N ational E ducational T elevision, the precursor to PBS. When the US Government ordered them dismantled in 1969, a station in the New York area bought it up and reused the letters for the new station.
WWOR Channel 9 – a MyNetwork affiliate; the call letters mean nothing and were assigned by the FCC. They used to belong to a ship called the SS California.
WNYW Channel 5 – Fox affiliate, stands for What New Yorkers Watch. Used to be WNEW (for New York), and before that, WABD, when it was a DuMont station in the 1950s. ABD were the initials of Allen B, DuMont.
WLIW Channel 21 – PBS affiliate for Long Island, but their programming reaches the city. Their call letters stand for “Long Island West”, as their headquarters in Garden City is on the western end of Long Island.
WNYE Channel 25 – New York Education; a city-owned local station, but not public access.
WPXN Channel 31 – Ion Network’s (fromerly the Pax Network) flagship station; named after PaXsoN Communications.