WCRW
Encyclopedia
WCRW was a "shared time" AM
radio station
in Chicago
, Illinois
; sharing its frequency with two other stations, (WEDC
and WSBC
), each broadcasting a part of the day. Clinton White, a radio engineer, started the station in 1926; it initially operated on 720 KHZ from studios at Waveland and Pine Grove on Chicago
's north side. White and his wife, Josephine, worked at their station as a team, with both sharing the on-air duties. Josephine claimed to be the first female disk jockey. While the Whites entertained friends and neighbors with their radio station, this programming was not able to pay the station's operating expenses. They were able to stay afloat by selling segments of the station's air time to others. German
, Italian
, and Swedish
language programs paid the bills.
WCRW began sharing its frequency with radio stations WHT (owned by Chicago mayor William Hale Thompson
) and WIBO. Its frequency soon changed: first to 760 KHZ and then to 1340 KHZ, where their new time-sharing partners were stations WPCC and WFKB. In 1927, Congress passed the Radio Act of 1927, which was designed to streamline the broadcasting industry; only those stations who proved to be providing community service were re-licensed for operation. The station's foreign language programming was most helpful in this process. Once again, this brought a change of frequency to 1210 KHZ and a time-sharing partnership with radio stations WSBC and WEDC, who also broadcast ethnic programming. The next year, the Whites moved the station into the Embassy Hotel at Pine Grove and Diversey, on Chicago's Gold Coast
. WCRW then began identifying itself as "The Gold Coast Station".
The agreement with WEDC and WSBC called for WCRW to be on the air only five hours a day; the remainder of the 24 hours was divided between the other two stations. The three stations sharing the 1240 frequency in Chicago operated from three different locations with three separate transmitter sites; they continued to share this frequency for the next 70 years. From the 1920s through the 1960s, the three station managers met annually to decide their broadcasting hours.
When Clinton White died of a heart attack in 1963, Josephine brought Ed Jacker in as manager, chief engineer and ownership partner. Under Jacker's management, WCRW's power was increased, first to 250 watts and then finally to 1,000. As time passed, the ethnic groups served by the station's programming changed; eventually most of its five hours on the air became Spanish language
programming.
After Josephine White's death, total ownership of WCRW went to Jacker, and eventually to his daughter. In 1989, the station left the Embassy Hotel for studios near Milwaukee and Bryn Mawr, on Chicago's northwest side. Daniel Lee, who was now the owner of WSBC, purchased WCRW in June 1995 for $500,000. On June 17, 1996, WCRW signed off for the last time, almost 70 years after Clinton and Josephine White initially took to the airwaves.
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
; sharing its frequency with two other stations, (WEDC
WEDC
WEDC, and its sister shared-time radio stations, WCRW and WSBC, are an important part of United States radio history. They operated as "shared time stations" for their entire existence; this was not uncommon in the early days of radio, but very rare in more modern times. They were also foreign...
and WSBC
WSBC
WSBC is a radio station broadcasting a Variety format. Licensed to Chicago, Illinois, USA, the station serves the Chicago area. The station is owned by Newsweb Corporation....
), each broadcasting a part of the day. Clinton White, a radio engineer, started the station in 1926; it initially operated on 720 KHZ from studios at Waveland and Pine Grove on Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's north side. White and his wife, Josephine, worked at their station as a team, with both sharing the on-air duties. Josephine claimed to be the first female disk jockey. While the Whites entertained friends and neighbors with their radio station, this programming was not able to pay the station's operating expenses. They were able to stay afloat by selling segments of the station's air time to others. German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
language programs paid the bills.
WCRW began sharing its frequency with radio stations WHT (owned by Chicago mayor William Hale Thompson
William Hale Thompson
William Hale Thompson was Mayor of Chicago from 1915 to 1923 and again from 1927 to 1931. Known as "Big Bill", Thompson was the last Republican to serve as Mayor of Chicago, and ranks among the most unethical mayors in American history.Thompson was born in Boston, Massachusetts to William Hale...
) and WIBO. Its frequency soon changed: first to 760 KHZ and then to 1340 KHZ, where their new time-sharing partners were stations WPCC and WFKB. In 1927, Congress passed the Radio Act of 1927, which was designed to streamline the broadcasting industry; only those stations who proved to be providing community service were re-licensed for operation. The station's foreign language programming was most helpful in this process. Once again, this brought a change of frequency to 1210 KHZ and a time-sharing partnership with radio stations WSBC and WEDC, who also broadcast ethnic programming. The next year, the Whites moved the station into the Embassy Hotel at Pine Grove and Diversey, on Chicago's Gold Coast
Gold Coast Historic District (Chicago, Illinois)
The Gold Coast Historic District is a historic district in Chicago, Illinois. Part of Chicago's Near North Side community area, it is roughly bounded by North Avenue, Lake Shore Drive, Oak Street, and Clark Street....
. WCRW then began identifying itself as "The Gold Coast Station".
The agreement with WEDC and WSBC called for WCRW to be on the air only five hours a day; the remainder of the 24 hours was divided between the other two stations. The three stations sharing the 1240 frequency in Chicago operated from three different locations with three separate transmitter sites; they continued to share this frequency for the next 70 years. From the 1920s through the 1960s, the three station managers met annually to decide their broadcasting hours.
When Clinton White died of a heart attack in 1963, Josephine brought Ed Jacker in as manager, chief engineer and ownership partner. Under Jacker's management, WCRW's power was increased, first to 250 watts and then finally to 1,000. As time passed, the ethnic groups served by the station's programming changed; eventually most of its five hours on the air became Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
programming.
After Josephine White's death, total ownership of WCRW went to Jacker, and eventually to his daughter. In 1989, the station left the Embassy Hotel for studios near Milwaukee and Bryn Mawr, on Chicago's northwest side. Daniel Lee, who was now the owner of WSBC, purchased WCRW in June 1995 for $500,000. On June 17, 1996, WCRW signed off for the last time, almost 70 years after Clinton and Josephine White initially took to the airwaves.