Радиостанция WEVD: История социалистического вещания в Нью-Йорке

Radio station in New York City

WEVD was an American brokered programming radio station with some news talk launched in August 1927 by the Socialist Party of America. Making use of the initials of recently deceased party leader Eugene Victor Debs in its call sign (it called itself the "Debs Memorial Station"), the station operated from Woodhaven in the New York City borough of Queens. The station was purchased with a $250,000 radio fund raised by the Socialist Party in its largest fundraising effort of the 1920s and was intended to spread progressive ideas to a mass audience. A number of national trade unions and other institutions aided the Socialists in obtaining the station. Originally broadcasting at 1220 kHz AM, later on 1300 kHz, for many years on 1330 kHz and finally on 1050 kHz, operation of the station was acquired by the publishing association responsible for producing the Yiddish language social democratic daily newspaper The Jewish Daily Forward in 1932. An FM station using the same call sign was added during the 1950s. After briefly leaving AM broadcasting in 1979, The Forward swapped its FM frequency for another AM frequency and continued broadcasting as a small ethnic station until divesting itself late in the 1980s.

Radio broadcasting emerged on a mass scale in the United States during the first half of the 1920s, with the number of stations in operation rising from 28 in 1921 to 571 in 1925. A new form of mass media had emerged. Congress passed federal legislation called the Radio Act of 1927 early in that year establishing a Federal Radio Commission (FRC), which was granted power to regulate the emerging industry, granting licenses and assigning broadcasting wavelengths to bring order to a chaotic market. Dues paying membership fell during this period from more than 100,000 to less than 10,000. In March 1927 the Socialist Party of America launched a fundraising drive aimed at generating $250,000 for the purchase of an AM radio station. Party leader and head of the League for Industrial Democracy Norman Thomas was chosen as chairman of the board of trustees for the new enterprise and venerated party founder Morris Hillquit was appointed as treasurer. This first round of solicitation brought in just over $2,650 — barely more than 1% of the declared goal $250,000 sought for the project. WSOM had been on the air since 1926, broadcasting initially at 1040 and 1220 kHz; the station had moved into New York just six months prior. Immediate application was to be made to the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) for a change of call letters to WDEBS, it was reported, as well as for an increase of transmission power from 500 to 1,000 watts to enable the station to broadcast with less interference from the skyscrapers of New York. The show was first broadcast every Sunday morning at 11 o’clock and gained a significant following among the Yiddish speaking immigrant community of New York City. Operating costs were minimized through the generosity of the ILGWU, which allowed the station free use of the entire 6th floor of its headquarters building in New York City.

On top of the Socialist Party's financial troubles came regulatory problems with the FRC. Stations were initially issued a series of temporary authorizations starting on May 3, 1927. In addition, they were informed that if they wanted to continue operating, they needed to file a formal license application by January 15, 1928, as the first step in determining whether they met the new "public interest, convenience, or necessity" standard. On May 25, 1928, the FRC issued General Order 32, which notified 164 stations, including WEVD, that "From an examination of your application for future license it does not find that public interest, convenience, or necessity would be served by granting it." Critics saw this as part of a plan to rationalize the distribution of radio assignments by forcing out small stations catering to niche audiences in favor of fewer high powered stations broadcasting commercially to a mass market. Party leader Norman Thomas echoed this perspective, declaring the value of WEVD and other community stations as a bulwark against a "big chain system" which tended to "standardize — to make robots and Babbitts of the American people." The efforts of Gerber and Thomas ultimately proved successful, with the FRC approving the WEVD renewal application one month later. In the FRC's judgment WEVD had followed a "very satisfactory policy" of representing a range of political and economic perspectives befitting "the mouthpiece of a substantial political or religious minority." WEVD won praise for its news reporting and commentary, taking an array of issues relating to world affairs, American foreign policy, and activities of the American labor movement. In an era in which few stations did likewise, WEVD produced programming dealing with African American history and culture, including the broadcast of a weekly Pullman Porters Hour sponsored by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which included both entertainment and talks on serious topics of interest to the black community of New York City. While the move had been sought by the Debs Memorial Radio Fund, which remained the legal entity owning the station, the change ultimately solved little — WEVD remained underpowered and forced to share its frequency with three other stations. Once again Norman Thomas, August Gerber, and Morris Hillquit jumped to action, painting the station's woes as part of a political vendetta aimed at homogenization of the radio airwaves at the expense of political minorities. The uniqueness of WEVD's broadcast content was also denied. Regulators thus sought to award the WEVD frequency to station WFOX, owned by Paramount Pictures, arguing that station's "superior fitness to serve the public convenience, necessity and welfare." The need to raise funds to improve and expand operations during the second half of 1931 was answered by Abe Cahan, editor and publisher of the social democratic Jewish Daily Forward, the largest Yiddish language newspaper in the world. Together with previous and subsequent cash infusions, the Forward had invested $200,000 in WEVD by the end of that year.

In 1938, WEVD bought one of its time sharing partners on 1300, WHAP/WFAB; an FCC examiner recommended the Debs Memorial Fund be allowed to buy the WFAB assets for $85,000 from the Fifth Avenue Broadcasting Corporation, expanding its weekly broadcast hours from 50 to 86. However, two other stations shared the broadcast frequency with WEVD: WHAZ, the radio station of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, which was on air only on Monday evenings, and WBBR, also of New York, New York, owned by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, publishing arm of the religious group Jehovah's Witnesses. From the time of the 1932 broadcasting agreement through the 1970s the Socialist and Yiddish language WEVD continued to share its station frequency with the religious group, transmitting 86 hours per week while leaving Sundays and early mornings until 8 o’clock to WBBR (sold and changed to WPOW in 1957), and Monday nights to WHAZ. WHAZ was sold to the owners of WPOW in 1967 and turned into a non interfering, daytime only station, with WPOW taking the old WHAZ Monday night hours. All of these stations moved from 1300 to 1330 kHz with the coming into force of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement on March 29, 1941. It is said that "he who pays the piper calls the tune," and it was clear by 1932 from whence came the funding of "Debs radio." The Jewish Daily Forward's investment in the station soon swelled to nearly $250,000 and its influence over programming increased commensurately. WEVD did not become completely apolitical in this period, however, as during the 1930s a weekly talk show was launched hosted by Chester M. Wright of the International Labor News Service. This show paid its way through a commercial sponsorship by Avalon Cigarettes and was syndicated to a national audience through electrical transcription. In 1951, an F. M. sister station, WEVD FM, was added to the airwaves, first broadcasting at 107.5, then moving to 97.9 a year later, where it remained for the next 36 years. On February 6, 1953, New York University philosophy professor Sidney Hook discussed "The Threat to Academic Freedom" with Victor Riesel and others in the evening on WEVD radio. In 1975, WEVD was approved to begin using the transmitting facilities of its shared time partner, WPOW, on Rossville, Staten Island.

By 1978, the Forward was analyzing the sale of the unprofitable AM outlet. In 1981, the Forward Association sold WEVD AM to Salem Media, which changed the station's format and call letters, making it the Christian station WNYM. Salem subsequently purchased WPOW, merging that station into WNYM and eliminating the 52 year time share on 1330 as of December 31, 1984. WEVD FM remained on the air under The Forward's ownership at this time. WNYM evolved into the present WWRV, now broadcasting around the clock on 1330 AM. In 1988, Emmis Broadcasting acquired the license of WNBC and moved WFAN from 1050 to 660 AM. Emmis sold the license for 1050 to Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), which quickly agreed to trade that license with cash to the Forward Association for WEVD FM. Until the latter transaction was approved, SBS operated 1050 as a Spanish language station called WUKQ. When the deal was finally consummated, WEVD moved its call letters and programming to 1050 and the former WEVD FM became WSKQ FM. WEVD gradually replaced much of its brokered ethnic programming with liberal talk shows over the next several years; it gained some loyal listeners, but not enough to keep the station economically viable. In 2001, the Forward Association entered into a local marketing agreement with ESPN Radio, and WEVD began broadcasting that network's programming on September 2 of that year. In 2003, the station was sold outright to ESPN and its call letters changed to WEPN, officially ending the 76 year history of WEVD in New York City.