Progressive sectors of American society today are confronted with the reality that most mainstream, corporate owned media has either silenced or marginalized their perspective. This is certainly the case with radio ownership and programming around the country. There are limited music options, almost no radio journalism, and most talk radio programs that are nationally syndicated have a clear bias towards the right. The recent concentration of radio ownership is one of the main factors contributing to this rightward tilt, but it is not a new phenomenon in this country.
Building on the thesis of her first book Selling Free Enterprise, Elizabeth Fones-Wolf demonstrates the struggle that organized labor engaged in to make radio a more democratic tool. Can you imagine what the US would look like now if labor organizations had their own radio stations? Well, Waves of Opposition shows us what role radio played in the strategy of organized labor from the late 20's through the late 50's.
Some labor groups realized early on that radio could be a great organizing tool. WCFL was founded in 1926 by the Chicago Federation of Labor. Unions hoped to utilize this resource as a way of communicating recent labor battles and were even provided free airtime on some of the nationally run programs by CBS in the early 30s. That trend began to change by 1935 with the DuPont corporation sponsoring a show called "Cavalcade of America" and the Ford Motor Company airing a weekly program the "Ford Sunday evening Hour." Even the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) realized the importance of radio programming that promoted a capitalist perspective. The NAM sponsored the highly popular show "The American Family Robinson." This show was so anti-labor that the CIO called for protests at local stations around the country.
Beyond protests labor began developing its own programming in the Midwest like "Auto Kids Union of the Air." This show began on the heels of the Flint UAW strikes that gave organized labor the beginnings of several major victories in the auto industry. Radio became a serious organizing tool for the UAW and was heavily promoted by one of its leaders, Walter Reuther. In response to these gains by organized labor the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) developed its own Code of Ethics that forbade what they considered "controversial programming." This meant that labor voices were diminished during the early 40s. Many saw this as a form of censorship and solicited the help of the ACLU in the fight for America's airwaves.
In the post WWII era organized labor and other social sectors began to feel the oppressive power of corporate America and fighting for airtime was one of the strategies in the struggle. Research was done to demonstrate the bias on radio in favor of big business. One study by the CIO in 1944 showed that during a 30-day period there were six "unfavorable depictions of labor for every positive depiction." This prompted organized labor, along with other social change movements, to call for public hearings with the Federal Communication's Commission (FCC) to "hear the concerns of the public." The CIO even issued a statement, which read in part, "stations were licensed to serve the public interest. We declare that the air belongs to the people and the people have a right to have their views expressed."
By the 1950s organized labor began a two-pronged strategy in the ongoing battle with corporate controlled radio: "One focused on establishing nonprofit radio stations and promoting FM station. The other strategy was to purchase or obtain free airtime on the networks and local AM stations." In Michigan, this meant that the "Greater Flint Industrial Council and the Lansing CIO Council began sponsoring regular programs." In fact, by 1952 Michigan alone "had sixteen weekly CIO radio programs, and fifteen unions across Ohio were using the Ohio CIO Council Radio Department's weekly news script as the basis for their shows." What was interesting to learn is that many of these programs were in multiple languages like Italian, Yiddish, Polish, Greek, and Ukranian.
Unfortunately by the 1960s organized labor had become more conservative, particularly under the leadership of George Meany who had little interest in mass organizing campaigns or promoting social reforms. This diminished the already limited labor interest in radio as an organizing tool. In 1978, the first labor run radio station in Chicago, WCFL, sold its license to Amway, thus eliminating any critical voices for working people in one of the nations biggest cities.
Waves of Opposition is an important book for three reasons. First, it shows that organized labor has a strong history of using the public airwaves for social change and could chose to do so again. Second, the book provides important information on the ongoing evolution of corporate controlled radio, and lastly, it can be an important resource in the current tele-communications battles, which seek to demand that the airwaves indeed serve the public interest.
Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Waves of Opposition: Labor and the Struggle for Democratic Radio, (University of Illinois Press, 2006).
