Moving Forward on the Air: The Birth of WEVD and the Rise of Commercial Broadcasting

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the negotiations between large commercial broadcasting interests and the Socialist Party’s station WEVD. As radio became a national phenomenon, it was seen as a potential tool for listener education and community building. Baruch Charney Vladeck, already familiar with merging commercial and Socialist interests, sought the assistance of NBC vice president David Sarnoff to secure a license while distancing the Jewish labor movement from Progressive interests that desired to keep broadcasting noncommercial. Further, the Socialist Party leaders hired Louis Caldwell, the lawyer for WGN and the Tribune Company who sought to keep Chicago’s labor station WCFL off the air. Faced with the challenge of generating revenue while demonstrating to federal regulators that they operated “in the public interest,” WEVD ultimately came to rely on the Forward for financial support. This marked the integration of media of the Jewish labor movement into a broader advertising-driven communications system.