I'm not exactly sure why the Buffalo News chose to publish the article reproduced below now, but it's the story of the battle by the newspaper to get into radio in the early early days of the medium. It's a very short piece (only four paragraphs) but what jumps out at this reader is the incredible irony contained in one sentence.

"The New York Times reported that it was “the first case … raising the question of monopoly by a single corporation of the entire radio facilities of a city.” "

I can only wonder what the same people at the FRC (which morphed into the FCC) would think of the fact that both WGR and WBEN are now owed by the same company - and that there are only a few actual firms that control almost all the radio stations in that city, a situation that as most here know, is no longer just a phenomenon in Buffalo.

The more things change... 

The News had to fight to get a radio license

Beginning in 1923, The News “began presenting its own radio reports of news and sports over Buffalo radio stations,” according to a 1951 internal News history of WBEN. “This service was started over the old Federal Telephone Co. radio station, which later evolved into WGR.”

But in early 1929, according to the internal history, a Buffalo preacher named Clinton Churchill gained control of four of Buffalo’s five radio stations, including WGR. By that summer he told The News it would no longer be the exclusive news source on WGR. The News saw that as a breach of the agreement and proceeded to seek its own station.

Just a few days after the stock market crash in 1929, hearings began in Washington, D.C., over what The News called the Buffalo radio monopoly. Intended to last only a day, the hearings stretched to six days, were attended by every commissioner on the old Federal Radio Commission (usually just two attended hearings) and attracted national attention. The New York Times reported that it was “the first case … raising the question of monopoly by a single corporation of the entire radio facilities of a city.”

In December 1929, The News won. It was granted a license to operate at 900 on the AM dial. The News bought the facilities of a station then known as WMAK, rebuilt the station, opened studios in the Hotel Statler and went on the air Sept. 8, 1930.

Last edited by RadioActive (November 15, 2015 10:53 am)