WEFT Revue series: "What is WEFT?"

Article 1: "A Really Brief History of Community Radio."

This article originally appeared in the March/April 1999 WEFT Revue.

By Paul Riismandel

"What is WEFT?" This is a question I’ve been asked countless times in the five years that I have been an active volunteer at WEFT. As many listeners and most airshifters recognize, the answer that most commonly follows this question is, "WEFT is community radio." To the initiated, this answer seems logical and complete enough. But is it?

How many times have you thought about what community radio is? When you try to articulate a definition, this name we take for granted--community radio--gets harder and harder to pin down. Community radio is radio by and for the community. It serves those underserved by other media. Community radio places its community before profit. Those are good places to start, but can also be used to describe public, college or even—in some cases—commercial radio, depending on who’s doing the describing. The more you think about it, the more it becomes clear that community radio is a complex beast. At the surface Community radio stations are of course radio stations, but in most cases, they are more than just that.

This article is the first in a series that attempts to answer these questions: What is community radio? What is WEFT? To begin answering these questions, I thought it would be instructive to take a brief look at the history of community radio.

Lewis Hill, a pacifist and conscientious objector during World War II, first conceived of an alternative radio station that relied upon listeners, rather than advertising or government, for its funding in the mid-1940s. Hill believed that only through listener supported noncommercial broadcasting could a station achieve true freedom to provide alternative programming that filled in the considerable gaps left by commercial and conventional educational broadcasting. In 1946 Hill and his associates incorporated the Pacifica Foundation and in 1949 they placed the nation’s first community radio station, KPFA-FM, on the air in Berkeley, California. At the time KPFA went on the air the FM band was a very new thing, and very few people owned radios capable of receiving FM stations. This would be just one of many hurdles this new station would face.

From the very beginning it was clear to anyone who listened that KPFA was something entirely different and innovative. In his book Public Radio and Television in America, media historian Ralph Engelman notes that

In addition to its innovative programming, Hill also conceived of a model of station operation and governance that starkly differed from that used in commercial and educational stations. At the early KPFA all staff members were paid equally and ran the station as a collective. Volunteers and staff together comprised an executive membership which collectively stood as the licensee of the station and elected a board of directors. Community outreach and accountability were maintained by an advisory committee that included civic leaders and community volunteers.

This system of governing the operations of the station worked reasonably well while KPFA’s staff remained a relatively small, tight-knit group of staff and volunteers. But the expansion of the station’s membership, volunteers and staff placed strain on this structure. Amidst persistent financial shortfalls and ill-health, several rifts between Hill and newer station management erupted during the mid 1950s, which culminated in 1957 when Hill fired many staff members, only to have this action immediately reversed by the board of directors. One day after this, Hill, only 38 years old, committed suicide.

Yet this was not the end for Pacifica. The Pacifica Foundation grew tremendously in the 1960s, despite constant scrutiny from Washington and conservatives all over the country. Pacifica acquired stations KPFK in Los Angeles and WBAI in New York City, and its programming reflected the rising underground tumult of the times probably more than any other media outlets in the US.

Today, Pacifica survives as the largest community radio organization in the country, owning five stations and interconnecting many more with its own satellite news programming. However, there are also many indications that Pacifica Foundation and its stations have continued to move further away from Hill’s original vision. While still providing programming—especially news and public affairs—of a type not found elsewhere, the management style has grown increasingly conventional and less democratic. In the last few years there have been disputes at the Berkeley and Los Angeles stations over the replacement of volunteer hosted programs with programs hosted by paid staff. Recent moves by the Pacifica Foundation executive board to end the election of its members by anyone outside of Pacifica management have been widely criticized as anti-democratic attempts to consolidate control over the foundation’s resources, which total in the tens of millions of dollars.

Nonetheless, outside the confines of the Pacifica Foundation independent community radio has continued to grow. Dedicated people in communities across the country have dedicated countless hours and dollars to put stations on the air to serve their communities in a way that some corporation or other institution is unwilling or incapable of. As the founding members of WEFT will attest, putting a community radio station on the air is not a simple task (and sometimes it is a thankless one), yet as any current member of WEFT will attest, when properly executed the result is well worth the while.

To this day WEFT stands firmly in the tradition of community radio begun by Lewis Hill. In many ways WEFT adheres more closely to it than any of the larger Pacifica stations. Despite the difficulty of organizing 70+ volunteer airshifters (program hosts), WEFT remains firmly committed to a democratic governance structure. For instance, all decisions regarding WEFT’s programming are made by a committee of volunteers whose members are elected by the all of the station’s volunteers. Unfortunately, this is a type of decision making system that is becoming increasingly rare throughout community radio.

Community radio, then, is a constantly evolving beast. But it is one that stations like WEFT work hard to make sure adheres to a simple but fundamental set of principles that include economic independence from corporations and government, reliance upon listeners and volunteers, a dedication to diversity and democratic governance. In future articles we will explore the idea of community radio as it is practiced at WEFT in more detail, focusing upon these and other principles which are essential in making WEFT the only truly open, diverse and independent media outlet in East-Central Illinois.

To learn more about community radio try these two books:

Public Radio and Television in America: A Political History, by Ralph Engelman, Sage Publications.

Original Sex and Broadcasting : A Handbook on Starting a Radio Station for the Community by Lorenzo Wilson Milam. Mho & Mho Works

©1999 Paul Riismandel, all rights reserved.

Please contact the author for permission to republish at another site or in another form.

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