Effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce issued a regulation that stations making broadcasts intended for the general public now had to hold a Limited Commercial license specifying operation on a wavelength of 360 or 485 meters, and, on December 9, 1921, a broadcasting station authorization with the randomly assigned call letters of KQW was issued in Herrold's name. This license specified operation on the common "entertainment" wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz), so KQW initially broadcast only during the hours assigned to it under a time-sharing agreement made with the other local broadcasting stations.