New call letters for Portland station

The blog of the Public Radio Program Directors has helpfully pointed out that Portland’s classical public radio station, KBPS, has changed its call letters to KQAC. The name of the nonprofit running the station is now All Classical Public Media Inc., rather than KBPS Public Radio Foundation.

I appreciate the change, if only because KBPS was one of those stations that, when writing or editing for Current, I invariably botch. I turn it into KPBS, thanks to the existence of PBS and also of KPBS, a public broadcaster in San Diego. (I’m amused to see that even the PRPD blog did the same thing.) Other stations that have caused me similar headaches are WMUB in Oxford, Ohio, and WUMB in Boston.

What did KBPS stand for, anyway? “Benson Polytechnic School,” a Portland high school, according to the National Public Broadcasting Archives. (The station was previously licensed to the Portland school board before becoming an independent nonprofit.) Check out the NPBA website to geek out about station call letters and their sometimes obscure origins.

Where did your station’s call letters come from?