Why the ‘O’ in San Francisco’s Airport Code, SFO?

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2017

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why the "O" in SFO? And why is one of Chicago's airports coded ORD? And IAD for Dulles? Reported by Jessica Placzek. Bay Curious is Olivia Allen-Price, Vinnee Tong, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho, Penny Nelson and Julia McEvoy. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller. Ask us a question at BayCurious.org. Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QEDE-D.
0:03.0	Add Fat Fig, Dad, mom, ATM.
0:15.0	Wow, yep, sex sucks.
0:20.0	That beautiful poem Jessica just recited to you was not simply a string of random words.
0:26.0	Add fat fig dad mom ATM wow yep sex sucks that's sux. All those are airport codes which Sex sucks.
0:33.0	All those are airport codes, which is what we're talking about today.
0:37.0	Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company,
0:41.0	still family owned, operated, and argued over.
0:44.0	Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold
0:47.0	and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.
0:50.0	Visit Sierra Nevada.com to find your new favorite beer today.
0:55.0	You're listening to Bay Curious. I'm Olivia Alan Price.
0:58.0	And this week's question comes from Ruth Souter.
1:01.0	I live in Brisbane, California,
1:03.1	and I'm currently at Washington Dulles Airport
1:05.6	where I just landed on a flight from San Francisco.
1:08.4	Ruth flies in and out of the Bay Area a lot,
1:10.8	which is why she has this question.
1:13.0	Why is the San Francisco Airport called SFO?
1:17.0	Reporter Jessica Plachik.
1:20.0	I think we all know where the S.F. comes from, but why the O. I called John Hill at the SFO Museum to find out.
1:28.0	Who put the O in SFO? It's an interesting story and it came from the three letter code distinctions
	...

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