ESPN versus WEVD

[Louis Proyect]

NY Times, June 26, 2001 

Liberal Radio Mainstay May Sell to Make Way for ESPN

By JAYSON BLAIR

The trouble began five months ago. That is when the rumors began to surface
that the venerable WEVD radio station was going to be sold and then turned
into an ESPN sports station.

Managers at WEVD (1050 AM) began drifting into mysterious meetings, and top
executives at the Walt Disney Company's ABC Radio began boasting to others
in the industry that they were going to buy the station in order to bring
ESPN Radio to New York City.

Demonstrations were planned. A Web site, www.savewevd.com, was set up for
listeners to complain and organize an attempt to block any sale of the
station. At least one WEVD talk show host expressed concerns on the air.

Talks have bogged down since then, but industry analysts view the sale as
inevitable. Meanwhile, the campaign to oppose the sale remains in full swing.

At a time of vast consolidation in the radio industry, WEVD has been an
exception. The station, founded in 1927 to promote fiercely liberal
programming, took its call letters from Eugene V. Debs, the co-founder of
the Socialist Party and a five-time presidential candidate. The station was
bought in 1931 by The Jewish Daily Forward. For decades, it was very
profitable.

But times have changed.

The association that owns the station and The Forward, now published
weekly, has seen the newspaper's circulation drop and its losses increase
to more than $2 million a year. Radio industry executives estimate that
WEVD, which is marginally profitable, could bring $80 million to $90
million in a sale, enough to keep The Forward running for at least four
more decades.

Samuel Norich, the president of the group that owns the station, the
Forward Association, did not return telephone calls to his office and home.
Timothy McCarthy, the ABC Radio executive who would most likely become the
general manager of WEVD if it were bought by Disney, did not return calls
either.

But ABC executives said that talks had indeed started and that Mr. McCarthy
envisioned using WEVD to compete against WFAN (660 AM), the CBS/Infinity
Broadcasting sports station, which brings in more advertising revenue than
any other radio station outfit in the region.

The talks have stalled in recent days, but Tony Sanders, a senior analyst
with Duncan's American Radio, sees a sale of WEVD as inevitable. He said
that because of a recent trend toward packaging advertising accounts across
groups of affiliated stations, the two best ways a station owner can
compete is to buy stations and consolidate or to sell stations to other
group owners. 

Selling WEVD would give the Forward Association a profitable escape at a
time when Disney is working hard to find ways to get ESPN Radio into New
York. But the economic realities of the radio industry do little to mollify
those who listen to and work at WEVD.

"If the goal is to use WEVD as a way to help the financial underpinnings of
The Forward, that can be done without selling the radio station," said Alan
Colmes, the liberal co-host of Fox Television's "Hannity and Colmes," who
has a weeknight talk show on WEVD. "To let go of this would be a true shame
in a marketplace where there are so few independent voices."

The station, calling itself the Voice of Labor in the 1920's and the
University of the Air in the 1930's, was best known for helping immigrants
make the transition to America with shows in Yiddish, Polish and Greek. It
later became known as the Station That Speaks Your Language.

What upsets many who work and listen to WEVD is that the station managers
are not speaking at all.

Bill Mazer is an old New York radio man with a young voice who has been on
the air since 1947 and has a morning show on WEVD. He said that the thing
that irks him the most is that management has not told employees of any
potential changes.

"The funniest thing to me is that there is the rumor that it is going to be
a sports talk station, and I am the father of sports talk in New York," Mr.
Mazer said, noting that he started a sports show on WNBC in 1964. 

Charles Zlatkin, a postal worker in Manhattan who started savewevd.com,
said, "The thing that has irritated us, the group of listeners all over the
area, is that not one person who has called, sent a letter or e-mail has
received even a postcard response, which is curious."

Mr. Zlatkin said that listeners were trying to block the sale of WEVD or
buy it themselves. His group plans a protest on Thursday afternoon in front
of the association's offices at 45 East 33rd Street.

Edward I. Koch, the former mayor, whose talk show began running on WEVD
three years ago after being canceled by WABC for low ratings, said that
WEVD seemed as much a New York landmark as City Hall.

"WEVD is an institution that goes back as far as I can remember in giving
voice to ethnic groups and giving voice to the poor," Mr. Koch said. "And
the call letters say it all - it is for the great Socialists."

Mr. Koch then joked about his openness to change.

"I am enjoying it, and I hope WEVD does not sell the station because I am
not good at sports," Mr. Koch said. "But if they sell it and I have to do
the Yankees, I'll do the Yankees." 


Louis Proyect
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