Microphone Name Plates

Name plates provide a way for reporters to be identified with their station, and typically display a station's call letters. While today's microphone name plates are typically made of plastic, name plates found on most vintage microphones were made of a light-weight metal. These metal plates were tailored for each microphone, and could be found on the sides or tops of microphones of all shapes and sizes.

The advertisement at left demonstrates the variety of possible name plates one could purchase.

Other names for microphone name plates include microphone flags and microphone plates. 

At right, Jocelyn Dorsey, a reporter for WSB-TV Channel 2 Action News, uses a microphone featuring a modern, plastic name plate bearing a number "2," which stands for her channel and station.

Below, former Georgia governor George Busbee gives out an award at a press conference. The microphones' colorful plastic name plates display the various TV stations present. Compare these colorful, modern name plates with the heavy, black-and-silver vintage name plates featured in the Steele Collection gallery beneath the photo of Busbee's press conference. Below the gallery are even more examples of name plate advertisements.