WEVD

Original station (1927-1981) During the first half of the 1920s, radio broadcasting developed as a new form of influential mass media. The Socialist Party of America saw radio as a potential means of reaching an increasingly apathetic public to aid it financially. At its December 1926 quarterly meeting, the governing National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party decided to erect a radio broadcasting station as a memorial to its recently deceased co-founder, Eugene V. Debs, who had died in October of the previous year. In March 1927, the Socialist Party of America launched a fundraising drive aimed at generating $250,000 for the purchase of a 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. However, this first round brought in just over $2,650 – only slightly more than 1% of the goal. WSOM had been on the air since 1926; the station had moved into New York City just six months prior. An immediate application was made to the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) for a change of call letters to WDEBS, as well as for an increase of transmission power from 500 to 1,000 watts, to enable the station to broadcast with less effect from the skyscrapers of New York. This 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. Regulatory difficulties Vice President Charles S. Zimmerman speaking on WEVD 1937 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. Transfer to The Forward In 1938, WEVD bought one of its time-sharing partners on AM 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 City, 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. The newspaper's extensive financial support gave it a primary role in the functioning of the "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. On January 9, 1950, Harold Cammer, Burton Zorn, Edwin M. Ottenbourg, Samuel Harris Cohen spoke with Stanley G. House as moderator on "Should New York State Have a Little Taft-Hartley Law?" 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 on March 2, 1981, its 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. WNYM evolved into WWRV, broadcasting around the clock on 1330 AM. WEVD-FM (1951-1989) In 1951, FM sister station WEVD-FM was added to the airwaves, first broadcasting on 107.5 Mhz, then moving to 97.9 a year later, where it remained for the next 36 years. Because it did not share its frequency, WEVD-FM could operate for unlimited hours. However, very few people had FM receivers at this time. After the sale of the original WEVD on AM 1330, WEVD-FM remained on the air under ''The Forward's'' ownership, until its 1989 sale to Spanish Broadcasting System. AM 1050 (1989-2003) In 1988, Emmis Broadcasting acquired the license of WNBC and moved the WFAN call letters and sports format from 1050 to 660 AM. Emmis sold the license for AM 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. The station carried brokered programming with some news-talk. 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, ending the 76-year history of WEVD call letters in New York City. ==See also==