WWRV (1330
AM) is a Spanish-language
Christian music
Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...
and teaching station,
licensed to
New York, New York. It is owned by Radio Visión Cristiana Management.
Studios are at 419 Broadway in
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[WZRC
WZRC, known on-air as "AM1480" (), is a radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by Multicultural Broadcasting and airs Cantonese programming. It is one of two Cantonese radio stations serving the New York metropolitan ...]
in
Ridgefield Park, New Jersey
Ridgefield Park is a village in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the village's population was 13,224, an increase of 495 (+3.9%) from the 2010 census count of 12,729, which in turn reflected ...
.
History
The station was first licensed on July 27, 1926, with the sequentially issued call letters WJBV, to Union Course Laboratories at 9024 Seventy-eighth Street in Woodhaven, borough of
Queens
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, New York City. The station was established during a period when the government had lost the authority to assign transmitting frequencies. Initially reported to be at 640 kHz, as of December 31, 1926 it was reported to be on a self-assigned frequency of 1040 kHz. The call sign was changed to WSOM in December 1926, broadcasting from New York's Hotel Somerset, which took over in early 1927. Beginning June 1, 1927, the newly formed
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by ...
(FRC) reassigned the station to 1220 kHz.
In August 1927 the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...
purchased WSOM as a means of reaching a mass audience with
socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
ideas. It became WEVD, making use of the initials of recently deceased party leader
Eugene Victor Debs
Eugene Victor Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five-time candidate of the Socialist Party o ...
in its
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
. 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 as spreading
progressive ideas to a mass audience. A number of national trade unions and other institutions aided the Socialists in obtaining the station.
After the formation of 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
The Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 32, dated May 25, 1928, notified 164 of the over 600 existing U.S. radio stations that their applications for continued operation would be denied unless they showed that they met the FRC's "public ...
, which notified 164 stations, including this one, 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."
["Appendix F (2): Letter to and list of stations included in General Order No. 32, issued May 25, 1928"]
''Second Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission for the Year Ended June 30, 1928, Together With Supplemental Report for the Period From July 1, 1928 to September 30, 1928'', pages 146-149.
Representatives of WEVD and 109 other threatened stations made their way to
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
in July 1928 for two weeks of regulatory hearings on the issue.
Station manager August Gerber responded with a statement emphasizing the importance of defending
free speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...
and the right of political minorities to submit their ideas to a broad public.
[Godfried, "Legitimizing the Mass Media Structure," pg. 130.] 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.
[Godfried, "Legitimizing the Mass Media Structure," pg. 131.] 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."
An editor at the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' concurred with the radio regulators' assessment, noting that revoking WEVD's license on the basis of its political views "would be both unjust and stupid."
[''New York Times,'' August 23, 1928, pg. 20. Quoted in Godfried, "Legitimizing the Mass Media Structure," pg. 131.]
Beginning in 1928, WEVD shared its frequency with WBBR (Watchtower Brooklyn Broadcasting Radio), owned by the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania is a non-stock, not-for-profit organization headquartered in Warwick, New York. It is the main legal entity used worldwide by Jehovah's Witnesses to direct, administer, and disseminate d ...
, publishing arm of the religious group
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
. On November 11, 1928, as part of the implementation of the FRC's
General Order 40
The Federal Radio Commission's (FRC) General Order 40, dated August 30, 1928, described the standards for a sweeping reorganization of radio broadcasting in the United States. This order grouped the AM radio band transmitting frequencies into thre ...
, WEVD was moved to 1300 kHz, and was able to boost ts power somewhat.
[Godfried, "Legitimizing the Mass Media Structure," pg. 135.] While the move had been sought by the Debs Memorial Radio Fund, the change ultimately solved little. WEVD remained underpowered, and had to share this frequency with three other stations: WBBR (later
WPOW
WPOW (96.5 FM) – branded Power 96 – is a commercial classic hip-hop radio station licensed to Miami, Florida. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves Miami-Dade County, the Miami metropolitan area, and much of surrounding South Florida. ...
),
WHAZ, the station of
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...
in
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, United States. It is located on the western edge of the county, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River just northeast of the capital city of Albany, New York, Albany. At the ...
, whose broadcasts at night were limited to only Monday evenings, and WHAP.
Owing to the party's financial difficulties the station was taken over by the publishing association of the left wing
Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
-language daily newspaper ''
The Jewish Daily Forward
''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...
'' in 1932. 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 8a.m. to WPOW, and Monday nights to WHAZ. WHAZ was sold to the owners of WPOW in 1973 and turned into a non-interfering, daytime-only station, with WPOW taking the old WHAZ Monday night hours.
In March 1941, with the implemenation of the
North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement
The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, ; ) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreements also addressed how frequency assignments were d ...
, the stations on 1330 kHz were moved to 1330 kHz.
In 1981 ''The Forward'' sold WEVD to Salem Communications, now known as the
Salem Media Group
Salem Media Group, Inc. (formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher based in Irving, Texas, targeting audiences interested in Christian values and wh ...
, a large owner of religious radio stations. Salem renamed the station WNYM and made it a Christian formatted station from 6a.m. to 4:30p.m. while running foreign language religious shows after 4:30p.m.
In 1983 Salem leased the entire broadcast day except from 6a.m. to 9a.m. to Radio Visión. The station at that time shifted to its current Spanish religious format. In 1984, WNYM bought out WPOW, the successor to WBBR, enabling it to broadcast full-time on 1330. In 1989 Salem bought
WMCA and sold WNYM to Radio Visión. The Spanish religious format was expanded to broadcast all day, every day, and the station call sign was changed to WWRV to reflect the station's new identity.
See also
*
WEVD
WEVD was the call sign held by three New York City commercial radio stations, with related ownership, from 1927 until 2003. This call sign was formed from the initials of recently deceased Socialist Party of America leader Eugene Victor Debs.
H ...
References
External links
*
FCC History Cards for WWRV(covering 1927-1981 as WSOM / WEVD / WNYM)
{{Religious Radio Stations in New York
WRV
WRV
WRV
Radio stations established in 1926
1926 establishments in New York City