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A
HISTORY OF DEMOCRATIC REFORM EFFORTS
TO IMPROVE CHICAGO PUBLIC BROADCASTING
More journalistic light must be
shed upon the persuasive and vivid
history of activism aimed at the democratic reform of public broadcasting in Chicago. Public
broadcasting's funding has always been
inadequate and politicized. Chicagoans have struggled repeatedly against
public broadcasting's undemocratic structures and selling schemes. We've
turned up ten local citizen organizations that have worked toward the
democratic reform of Chicago's public TV and radio outlets. Nine various
legal and regulatory actions have centered upon the corporate parent of
WTTW-TV and WFMT-FM. That same
corporate parent, now known as Window to the World, Incorporated, filed two counter actions: one
against an accountability group; and one against its own workers as they
organized for union representation.
The public's fight has
not been easy. Chicago has historically been at the forefront of
anti-commercialization and democratic reform efforts aimed at public
broadcasting - "Ground zero" as the Chicago Tribune called it in
1997. Concerted community action ultimately will bring marked structural and funding improvements to public
broadcasting. A work in progress, we consider this
unique history required study for anyone concerned about media and democracy. |
|
1943 |
WBEZ 91.5 FM
begins broadcasting instructional programming under the control of the
nonprofit Chicago Board of Education. |
|
1951 |
WFMT 98.7 FM
begins broadcasting as a for-profit commercial fine arts station under the
control of Bernard and Rita Jacobs. |
|
1954 |
An
open letter to Channel 11’s founder Edward L. Ryerson and its response are
published locally. The complaint centers upon delays in getting the
station on the air. The complainer is well-known author and WFMT program host Louis “Studs” Terkel. |
|
1955
|
WTTW-TV Channel 11 begins broadcasting educational
programming under the control of the nonprofit Chicago
Educational Television Association
(CETA). |
|
1961
|
Newton Minow, FCC chair and key Chicago and national
public broadcasting figure makes his famous “television…a
vast wasteland” speech. |
|
1965 |
CETA’s
WXXW-TV Channel 20 begins instructional broadcasting. |
|
1967 |
The
Carnegie Commission issues its report “Public Television: A Program
for Action”. The report calls for the creation of a
national public broadcasting structure with adequate, independent and
accountable funding. |
|
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The
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 is signed into law, creating the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) - without any provision for a
comprehensive trust funding mechanism. Public broadcasting’s finance
remains inadequate, subject to politics and unaccountable. |
|
1968 |
Due to illness, Bernard Jacobs sells WFMT-FM’s assets
to the Tribune Company-controlled WGN Continental Broadcasting Company.
Jacobs turns down a comparable offer from a more public
interest-oriented concern lead by Encyclopedia Britannica heir Charles
Benton. |
|
|
The Citizens
Committee to Save WFMT (organized by Charles Benton) forms to oppose the station’s sale to
the Tribune Company at
the FCC and in the Circuit Court on grounds of concentration of control in
media. |
|
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WGN donates the assets
of the for-profit WFMT to the not-for-profit Chicago Educational
Television Association, overseer of WTTW. No other public broadcasting
association is the parent corporation of a for-profit commercial licensee. |
|
1969 |
The
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) - public broadcasting’s main distribution arm - is founded. Like the CPB, its meeting minutes and
budgetary details remain twin mysteries. |
|
1971 |
The inaugural program transmission of National Public
Radio (NPR) occurs. |
|
|
Channel 11 censors
parts of the innovative PBS series “Great American Dream Machine”.
In one instance, the station manager removes a skit about an unmarried
couple in bed discussing their fading affair. WTTW replaces the segment
with…a station pledge drive! |
|
|
President Nixon
requests, “that all funds for public broadcasting be cut immediately.” |
|
1973 |
The Chicago Board
of Education's WBEZ-FM joins NPR. |
|
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Critics
call for among other things, a member-elected board at CETA.
|
|
1974 |
CETA’s
instructional channel 20 WXXW-TV leaves the air. |
|
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Key WFMT figures Ray
Nordstrand and Norm Pellegrini, along with Charles Benton form Concert Radio, Inc. The concern - a private for-profit
company - becomes involved in a license challenge to acquire the rights to
the New York City classical station WNCN-FM a few years later. Had Concert
Radio, Inc. succeeded in acquiring WNCN-FM, it planned to attempt to use
the purchase to leverage WFMT-FM away from CETA. |
|
1977 |
The
Carnegie Commission on the Future of Public Broadcasting (Carnegie II)
issues its report. The politicians ignore its
well-intentioned but flawed calls for a public broadcasting trust and fees
on commercial broadcasters’ use of the public’s airwaves. Limited
provisions for accountability, EEO rules and a few of the report’s other
recommendations find their way into the Public Broadcasting Act of 1978
and remain a part of public broadcasting law. |
|
|
The Chicago
Metropolitan Education Council - headed by Channel 44 President Oscar
Shabat - buys channel 20 and changes its name to WCME-TV.
Documentation discovered so far indicates that channel 20 remained
“dark” from 1974 to 1983. |
|
1979 |
The Citizens’
Committee on Media (CCOM) forms and addresses censorship in
Chicago’s telecommunications media. CCOM helps to open CETA board
meetings to public attendance and makes a few programming gains. At the
same time, local independent producers organize and create the
still-running weekly half hour series “Image Union”. CETA’s
minutes and complete budgets remain unavailable. |
|
1982 |
Up
to 1982, individual corporate funder acknowledgements broadcast on public
TV were limited to five-second slides with the company’s name printed in
white letters on a black background with no logograms and no sound or
music. Mentions were not placed adjacent to programming to which the
source contributed. Public radio funders were identified very discreetly
as well. (Though it has been substantially weakened, the Communications Act
of 1934 today still forbids noncommercial stations from accepting
compensation for broadcasting messages that “promote any service,
facility or product offered by any person who is engaged in such offering
for profit.”) |
|
|
The
Temporary Commission on Alternative Financing of Public Television (TCAF)
is formed.
TCAF - composed of members of Congress and FCC Commissioners - urges
stations to use “experimental ways” of financing their operations. Ten
stations, including WTTW, are authorized to air “forms of advertising
similar to commercial TV” during an 18-month test period. CETA nets $1.7
million and ever since, WTTW’s cash register hasn’t stopped ringing.
The bell on CETA’s cash register first sounded earlier though - when it
assumed control of the commercial station WFMT and its Chicago
magazine. |
|
1983 |
Under Ronald Reagan, a cut in federal funding for public
broadcasting of nearly 40% becomes law. |
|
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After a mismanagement
debacle hits NPR, the radio agency gets a life-saving $9.1 million loan
from CPB and some enhanced autonomy from the funding organization. |
|
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Robert Johnston, a
public-interest attorney, files a complaint with Illinois Attorney General
Neil Hartigan asking that WFMT make the same financial disclosures made by
public broadcasting stations. CETA’s WFMT, Inc. Committee Chair Robert
Wilcox, in a written response to Hartigan, tells nothing of WFMT’s
financial performance and denies accountability to the public, saying only
“for competitive reasons, we do not publish (financial statements) or
distribute them more widely.” AG Hartigan deigns involvement except as a
mediator. |
|
|
The control of WCME
Channel 20 (formerly CETA’s WXXW) is transferred to the City College
Board of Chicago. The channel is renamed WYCC-TV and after nine years,
returns to the air. Today, Channel 20 is one of the very last offering
instructional courses for college credit. WYCC today remains without a
studio (though one is planned) and generates little programming of local origination. The budgets and board minutes
relating to WYCC are available for public inspection. |
|
1984 |
The
Mark Fowler-chaired FCC substantially relaxes the noncommercial policy to
allow public broadcasters to expand or “enhance” the scope of donor
and underwriter “acknowledgements” to include such things as “value
neutral descriptions of a product line or service,” and corporate logos
or slogans which “identify and do not promote” (emphasis in
original). |
|
1985 |
WFMT management ups the original limit of four
commercial minutes an hour to six. |
|
|
The Friends of WFMT
is created. The group includes lawyer and former 5th ward
Alderman Leon Despres, lawyer Thomas Geoghegan and public relations
executives Connie Zonka and Herb Kraus. At its peak the group claims 4,000-5,000
members and publishes a regular newsletter. |
|
1986
|
In a public
notice, the FCC explains that “enhanced underwriting” would offer
“significant potential benefits to public broadcasting in terms of
attracting additional business support.” |
|
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CETA sells Chicago
magazine (which grew from WFMT’s program guide) to the Detroit-based
Metropolitan Communications, Inc. for $17 million and establishes a $9
million endowment fund from the sale. Of what happened to the money from
the sale, little has been disclosed. |
|
1989 |
The Friends of WFMT
threaten
and then file suit in the Cook County
Circuit Court against WFMT’s corporate parent CETA. The points of
contention include: whether or not WFMT was illegally deprived of money
from the sale of Chicago magazine; whether there should be
restrictions upon CETA’s ability to sell the station; whether WFMT
should be declared a charitable trust and therefore subject to limits on
its sale or programming changes; and concerns about imprudent management.
The group also seeks a bar upon pre-recorded commercials and commercial
jingles. CETA’s only response at the time was to deny it has any plans
to sell the station. |
|
|
The
NAACP files a petition with the FCC to deny renewal of WFMT's
broadcasting license along with the licenses of thirteen other Illinois radio stations.
It's challenge cites, “no more than token employment of blacks and other
minorities.”
|
|
|
The Friends of WFMT
files a petition with the FCC to deny renewal of the station’s license.
The petition repeats accusations contained in the pending Cook County
Circuit Court lawsuit against CETA (see above). The suit mentions WTTW -
“It was, and still is, regarded as one of the mediocre public TV
stations in the country.”
|
|
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Channel
11 viewers get pledge nights, VIPs get party night.
|
|
1990 |
CETA
fires numerous key WFMT engineering, sales and production employees.
The action comes as WFMT employees attempt to organize for union
representation. The move also heightens continuing suspicions that the
station is being prepped for sale. |
|
|
The lawsuit filed in
Circuit Court by the Friends of WFMT is dismissed. The presiding
judge rules that the Friends of WFMT has no legal right to file the
court challenge. This suit aimed to stop any format change or station
sale. |
|
|
CETA announces it is
dropping the near-forty year ban on “canned” or prerecorded
commercials on WFMT. |
|
|
The non-profit WBEZ
Alliance, Inc. assumes control of WBEZ-FM from the Chicago Board of
Education. The Alliance Board grew in part from the station’s Community
Advisory Board. The Chicago Board of Education’s half-million dollar
direct subsidy to the station ceases. Some cutbacks and layoffs occur.
Unlike the Chicago Board of Education, the Alliance considers its minutes
and detailed budgetary information private. |
|
|
CETA files a trademark
infringement suit against the Friends of WFMT. The corporate parent
of WTTW and WFMT states it will “suffer irreparable harm” and seeks
unspecified damages from the citizen group. Thomas Geoghegan, an attorney
for the Friends of WFMT called the suit “ridiculous”. |
|
|
In a settlement, the
board that oversees WFMT is to be expanded and is to include the current
president of the Friends of WFMT. The appeal to the circuit court
decision and the FCC license challenge by the Friends of WFMT are
dropped, as is the trademark infringement suit filed in federal court by
CETA. Studs Terkel maintains that the station was “robbed of millions”
in the sale of Chicago magazine. |
|
1991 |
Public
broadcasting funding comes up for a vote and Senators Dole, McCain and
Helms decry that public broadcasting has a “liberal bias”. |
|
|
The Independent
Television Service (ITVS) is created by Congress to facilitate the
creation and distribution of independent film and video representing
underserved minority voices for airing on public television stations. |
|
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Employees at WFMT vote
19-18 to unionize. |
|
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The National Labor
Relations Board rules there is insufficient evidence to overturn the
results of the WFMT vote to unionize. CETA appeals through the court. |
|
1992
|
WFMT management announces the amount of “canned” or
prerecorded commercials aired on the station will be reduced. |
|
1993 |
The Coalition
for Democracy in Public Television - known as CDPTV and later
as Democracy in Public Broadcasting - is formed. The group
addresses the censorial effects commercialism and closed, undemocratic
structures and processes have upon WTTW and public broadcasting. The
coalition comprises citizens and 34 community groups and coalitions. CDPTV
was organized by Scott Sanders and Melissa Sterne as an outgrowth of the
foundation they laid for the creation of Chicago Media Watch. Local filmmakers Gordon Quinn and Allan Siegel are also cofounders of CDPTV. |
|
|
CDPTV organizes
a meeting between WTTW management and representatives of thirteen local
coalitions and nonprofit groups including the executive directors of
Operation PUSH and the 100 group Coalition for New Priorities. Only
limited programming and democratic gains result.
These include spotty airings of the labor series “We Do the Work”
and
selected episodes of the peace series “America’s Defense Monitor”
under the occasional series rubric “Viewpoint”, as well as
early morning airings of “Rights and Wrongs”, the human rights series
hosted by Charlayne Hunter-Gault. The station refuses to schedule the
Academy Award-winning feature documentaries “Panama Deception and
“Deadly Deception”. The latter documentary spotlighted the
national boycott against WTTW’s top corporate funder, GE. |
|
|
A three-judge panel of
the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit requires WFMT-FM
management to enter into contract talks with the American Federation of
Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). The judges allude to possible
electioneering by station employee Studs Terkel. |
|
|
WBEZ attempts to
cancel weekend folk and eclectic music shows in favor of increased news
and public affairs programming. A small group of upset listeners complain
at a joint Alliance Board and Community Advisory Board meeting. The
changes are reversed. |
|
1994 |
A citizens group calling itself The BEZ Hive is
formed to press for reforms at Chicago public radio station WBEZ-FM.
Organization cofounder Marian Neudel publishes a regular newsletter
also called The BEZ Hive. |
|
|
The
CDPTV files a complaint with the FCC alleging fundraising
violations at CETA with regard to the forty hours worth of home
shopping programs known as the Chicago Holiday Gift Exchange broadcast by
WTTW. The coalition receives legal representation on the complaint
from the Georgetown University Public Law Center and the DC-based Media
Access Project. |
|
1995 |
The first order of
business of the Gingrich-lead new Republican House majority is to de-fund
or “zero-out” all federal support and “privatize” public
broadcasting because “Government intervention is no longer necessary”.
The unprecedented negative public response to the proposal is chastening |
|
|
The
FCC issues a mild reprimand to WTTW's trustees regarding the CDPTV
home shopping complaint but warns them to be careful in the future. |
|
|
CETA changes its name
to Window to the World Communications, Incorporated (WWCI). |
|
1997 |
In
an action made possible by the CDPTV complaint and aided by the
history of public broadcasting reform activism in Chicago, the William
Kennard-chaired FCC
calls for an unprecedented $5,000 fine against the WWCI Trustees. The
unsourced complaint holds that four commercial advertisements aired on
Channel 11 a combined total of 181 times are illegal. WTTW
disputes FCC ad complaint. |
|
1998 |
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
representing thirteen fired Channel 11 engineers and technicians accuses
the public TV outlet of making its employees pay for management’s
mistakes. The station cites
a decline in outside production business at WWCI’s Chicago Production
Center for the firings. |
|
1999
|
The “Network Chicago” re-branding, re-organization
and programming effort is unveiled at Window to the World Communications,
Inc. "Network Chicago" launches a weekly (later reduced to
bi-weekly) publication and program guide called City Talk. |
|
|
The FCC grants the
nonprofit WBEZ Alliance a translator station at 90.3 FM in Michigan City,
Indiana to extend their signal. WBEZ drops host Aaron Freeman and makes
cuts in city hall reporting and in other areas. |
|
|
The nationally based Citizens
for Independent Public Broadcasting (CIPB) forms
to democratize public TV and radio programming at the local and national
levels. Centrally, CIPB’s mission includes a call for the creation of an
independent and accountable national public broadcasting trust (PBT). The
trust is to be capitalized at triple current levels by taxes on commercial
broadcasters’ heretofore rent-free use of the public’s airwaves. |
|
2000 |
The
FCC reduces its fine against Window to the World Communications, Inc.
trustees to $2,000, judging one of the original four ads to be
illegal. One of the ads dropped aired in a PBS feed but the FCC leaves the
door open for future action in this area. The adjusted fine remains a
crucial precedent and a warning. |
|
|
An independent part of
the CIPB national organization, Citizens for Independent Public
Broadcasting Chicago (CIPB Chicago) forms to repair the
structural, process and commercial defects in Chicago public broadcasting and demand
the creation of the national public broadcasting trust fund (PBT). Its
focus begins with WBEZ-FM. |
|
|
The public loses its
right to uncensored candidate airtime on public broadcasting stations as a
result of the mis-titled “Public
Broadcasting Integrity Act”. Sponsored by Senator Jeffords (I-VT), this
act removes the traditional mandate upon all public broadcasting stations
to offer candidates free airtime on a non-discriminatory basis during the
90 day period before elections. |
|
2001
|
A former Hill
& Knowlton executive is discovered on WBEZ-FM’s board by CIPB
Chicago. CIA-linked Hill & Knowlton’s $11 million contract with an
“independent” group representing Kuwait was designed to sell the
1990-91 war against Iraq to the American public. CIPB
Chicago calls for the resignation of the former Hill & Knowlton
executive - the current Chicago Tribune pr chief - from the WBEZ Alliance
board of directors. |
|
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CIPB Chicago requests
that WBEZ-FM provide public access to its board and community
advisory council minutes and other documents and provide
candidate-produced airtime during the ninety days preceding elections. |
|
2002 |
Chicago
Media Action (CMA) forms as a result of a public dispute and audience
walkout over the unannounced inclusion of a representative of Israel's
extremist AIPAC lobby in a local media group's program. CMA decides
at its first meeting that FCC ownership rules and the reform of WTTW will
be its first major areas of concentration. |
|
2003 |
The
We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming Coalition (with
the impressively long acronym WIYRSPC) forms under the aegis of Chicago
Media Action to request monthly live documentary discussion forums,
with the first to be on the then impending attack on Iraq. The Coalition
also asked the station to continue and expand its support for the Bill
Moyers public affairs series "Now!" This first Coalition meeting
brought together thirty-one representatives from twenty-six local peace
and justice groups in a studio at WTTW with three station executives: #2
Randy King, Chicago Tonight producer Mike Liederman, and programmer Dan
Soles. A second, smaller meeting takes place a month later with two
program executives. It is explained to WTTW that the occasional forums
would preempt Chicago Tonight and redirect those resources and therefore
represent little or no net drain on the station's shaky finances.
Continuing live film forum requests by CMA and community groups have to
date been ignored by WTTW. |
|
2003 |
Business
journalist Jim Kirk writes a powerful investigative cover story for the
Chicago Tribune Magazine revealing around $10 million in blunderous
misappropriations since WTTW station manager Dan Schmidt took over the
reigns in 1999. |
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This history is
periodically updated and expanded. |
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CMA
thanks the Chicago Historical Society for
its research assistance.
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