Something unusual this weekend – a sweep of the radio dial during a typical, unassuming day in 1936. Some of it is May and some of it is December and there’s one snippet from November 11th 1936 on the occasion of Armistice Day.
When local radio was the life’s blood of a community, even a community like Brooklyn, so close to Manhattan yet a universe away for the most part. A community that was a microcosm of America at the time – a community of immigrants, of people just settling in, a community of people adjusting. A community of people who relied on each other for support and information, of being informed, being a part of. Staying close and staying closeknit.
Radio stations like WMBQ and WNCN where a significant part of a regular broadcast day meant programs in Italian, Polish, German and Yiddish. Programs by the community and for the community. No slick announcers, no network affiliations. And generally, no money.
Even in the 1930s, when radio was still a new and thrilling invention that had the power to link an entire country, and within a year the world together, the signs of corporate influence were being felt even on this minute level, as was evidenced by an announcement of a meeting, petition signing and demonstration over a proposed change of one of those local radio stations – stripping it of its call letters and moving its location. Changes which were vigorously opposed by the community.
To get some idea of what local community radio was like some 90 years ago – here is a two-hour sampling of a typical day, complete with dial sweeping back and forth to get the flavor of what that day sounded like.
