WPFM-AM

WPFM-AM were the call letters assigned to the Birmingham Police Department's first radio dispatch system, inaugurated in June 1933. The station, licensed to the City of Birmingham and broadcasting at 150 watts at 2382 kilocycles, sent dispatches from headquarters in Birmingham City Hall to 18 specially-outfitted police cruisers in the field. Birmingham was later one of the first departments to outfit police motorcycles with radio receivers.

The first dispatcher was Claude Gray. His first broadcast to officers was to be on the lookout for a car reported stolen.

WPFM's call letters were used for a radio station in Darlington, South Carolina from 1997 to 2006.

References

• Leonard, Vivian A. (1938) Police Communication Systems Bureau of Public Administration. University of California, Berkeley
• Robinson, Carol (August 19, 2009) "100-year-old police dispatcher returns to Birmingham microphone today." Birmingham News