Andrew Danziger December 5, 2011 HIS 480 Dr. Jones West Chester s Second First Radio Station WCOJ established itself in West Chester in 1950 as West Chester s first radio station, but in 1963 WCHE was founded and claimed they were West Chester s first radio station. Although this seems like an impossible statement, it was actually accurate. How was it possible for WCHE to survive as West Chester s first radio station with a much better and previously established radio station just a few blocks away from it? August 21, 1950 WCOJ cast its first broadcast, many borough officials were at the opening to show their support for West Chester s first radio station. WCOJ started out as a local station covering strictly Chester County and nearby areas. When they opened they promised daily programs that were designed for West Chester. They went over West Chester Patterns in music from 11:15 till 12 in the afternoon, followed by West Chester news, reported by Ed Syren, a news reporter for the daily local. At 1 P.M. they had a section of prayer led by a local minister. From 3 P.M. they had a program called Chester County on parade, which covered interesting events from all over the county. 1 At 5:05 they had a segment, Chester 1 "On Your Dial at 1420." Daily Local News [West Chester] 8 22 1950, n. pag. Print.
county local news called the local roundup. They stayed local for a few years and then started to branch out and expand even buying a studio in Coatesville. It wasn t until October 28, 1955 that WCOJ went full time. On that day their only West Chester Specific programs were the local news at 10:55 A.M. and then more news again at 7:30 which was followed by a local football game. 2 By 1969 all of WCOJ s local news segments had been merged to cover national news as well as a wider area nearby. Their expansion to more of a widespread audience was enabled by their success but the expansion also left an opening for a second West Chester s first radio station. In 1963 WCHE stepped into the void left by the changes at WCOJ, and once again West Chester had its own first radio station. On December 20, 1962 everything was approved for WCHE to go ahead and start a low powered daytime radio station. 3 The 250 MHZ radio station would not really have a far reach so it made the most sense to keep it local even though they would have to compete for listeners with WCOJ on some level. WCHE was ready to roll 10 months after it was approved, it began broadcasting October 1,1963. Edward Hearn was the director of operations, in charge of sales and programming. He had experience in successfully running a radio station in Pensacola Florida as well as two other local stations in Wilmington and Philadelphia. Hearn s programming at WCHE involved only West Chester related sections. The news was local, covering only West Chester and nearby areas, and the talk was all local. His music programming selection was described as low-pitched with a sophisticated style made 2 "Tonight s the Night WCOJ Goes Full Time." Daily Local News [West Chester] 10 28 1955, n. pag. Print. 3 "West Chester Radio Station Approved." Daily Review12 20 1962, n. pag. Print.
up of big bands and big arrangements which was aimed at adults of West Chester and surrounding areas. All of the advertising on WCHE was made up of local businesses in town and nearby. On Sunday mornings they reserved a slot for local churches to broadcast live services. On October 12, 1969 it was announced that they had made arrangements with several local churches including; West Chester s Baptist, Methodist, Cavalry Lutheran and First Presbyterian church branches to broadcast their services live on the radio on Sunday mornings. A WCHE spokesman explained to reporters that this will be the first time that any Sunday morning services have been broadcasted live from West Chester Churches on a local station. He continued on to say the churches involved are pleased to beam a radio ministry for those who are unable to be present in church on Sunday. Also WCHE had special programs for when there was local football games. All of their different programs were designed to reach out and appeal to a number of different groups amongst the locals. 4 Despite following a similar model that made WCOJ very successful WCHE struggled mightily after starting up. The station even lost its signal for 2 days in 1964 because it owed money due to tax withholdings. They had trouble paying them because they had such a lack of operating capital. It wasn t long before the station was up for sale and its operating director was looking to move on. In the middle of June of 1964 WCHE got a new owner. Frank Robino bought shares to the stations ownership for 81.5 thousand dollars in hopes of turning the station around. Hearn had stuck around for the negotiations but was going to be moving on after. When commenting on Robino Hearn 4 Goodman, Howard. "WCHE in West Chester: Where Tunes are Mellow and Talk is Local."Philadelphia Inquirer 1 1 1985, n. pag. Print.
said From my past knowledge of Robino s business activities I think the residents are in for a real treat when he assumes management of WCHE. From discussions with him during the negotiations he will be interested in increasing in the stations news and community service activities. 5 Integrating with the community was going to be crucial for the station for the station if they wanted to rebound without changing their local style of radio. Hearn did not like the idea of staying local, he wanted to expand, and he wanted to work for someone with more of an outreach. In stepped Willie Gelhert, he took over as operations manager even though it looked like the station may go under in the future. While the station was in debt he found it both very upsetting and stressful worrying if the station would fail. What he found was the key to turning around the station was becoming a part of the West Chester community. He started going to high school football games, went to local fundraisers and bonded with locals learning how the town of West Chester celebrated Christmas. Once he gained the support of the people in the area WCHE gained a lot of listeners. 6 He said it took about three months to turn things around. He remembered looking at one months revenue statement after things started to look up and the station was up under a dollar, but from that point on the station never lost money again and was never forced to break away from its intentions of staying local. Becoming one of the locals was the biggest factor in being able to stay as a West Chester focused radio station. They succeeded in sliding into the niche that was left due to WCOJ s expansion and extended outreach. As WCOJ continued to spread out further 5 Daily Local News 6 14 1964 6 Goodman, Howard. "WCHE in West Chester: Where Tunes are Mellow and Talk is Local."Philadelphia Inquirer 1 1 1985, n. pag. Print.
and further from West Chester WCHE tightened its grip more and more on the attention of local listeners. While WCHE prices itself on staying local and not changing no matter what the trend others see it as a negative. The one time manager of WCOJ Don Kine commented that, they ve never been as good as they ought to get. He also added about Gelhert saying, Willie s not a bad guy. But he s not in a place that s very profitable. 7 Kime is referring to both daytime and local radio. Kime was more focused on becoming larger and more profitable. However WCHE has embraced its role and done well for itself. The opportunity to expand and try to become bigger and more profitable has not tempted the WCHE the way it did with West Chester s first, first radio station WCOJ. Robino s plan to extend the news and get involved with the community and Gelhert s personal integration with the community helped get WCHE back on its feet but there were other factors that contributed to the success of WCHE. The void left by WCOJ s expansion opened the door for WCHE to succeed leaving behind a fan base which was left want a local West Chester radio station. Had WCOJ not expanded it would have been near impossible for WCHE to take off as it would have had to compete more with a larger and more established radio station that was established more than a decade before. Radio was a main source of entertainment for people in the sixties, often people would gather to hang out and listen to the radio. Alice Hammond, a lifelong West Chester resident recalls spending time with her family and neighbors from her community sitting around and listening to the radio as a child and as she grew older. 7 Goodman, Howard. "WCHE in West Chester: Where Tunes are Mellow and Talk is Local."Philadelphia Inquirer 1 1 1985, n. pag. Print.
Alice Hammond was an African American growing up in the sixties while there was still blatant racism. At the time West Chester was a bunch of communities that organized by ethnicity. Due to the racism still going on in the sixties a lot of people in Alice s community were limited as to what they could do, which made radio an even more attractive form of entertainment. 8 Another Chester county resident, Gale Czarkowski, recalls listening to the radio often for entertainment growing up, specifically remembering that she listened to WCHE. Sometimes she would tune in to the church services on Sunday mornings. Gale currently works at Webb Jewelers, one of the oldest businesses in West Chester, she recalls advertising with WCHE as long as far back as she can remember. Gale said that Webb Jewelers only advertises locally and avoids advertising on any large media networks or newspapers. They plan on their customer base being from within the community so they don t see a need to try and reach beyond that with their advertisements. 9 Taylor s Music store is another one of West Chester s oldest businesses, it opened in 1929 and has been family owned and operated ever since. Len Doyle is the present owner of Taylor s Music store, he shares the same philosophy as Webb Jewelers when it comes to advertising, stay local. Doyle has found that advertising on the new West Chester University station is cheaper and more effective in reaching his target consumers but his family used to advertise with WCHE in the past. Doyle shared the philosophy of how staying local keeps the wealth in the community and explained that, that is how most of the local businesses survive. This philosophy would have helped 8 Jim Jones interview 9-16-11 with Alice Hammond, 401 Main Hall 9 Andrew Danziger interview 12-1-11 with Gale Czarkowski, Webb Jewelers
WCHE create revenue through advertising. Doyle, like Gelhert also understands the importance of integrating with the community to his business and explained that most; he often participates in fundraisers and gives donations. HE explained that keeping a good reputation as well as keeping sales, advertising and jobs all within the town helps create a self-sustaining economy. 10 Another big advantage that WCHE had was how religious the town they are broadcasting from is. In West Chester there is at least one church every couple blocks. With WCHE broadcasting live church services on Sunday s they were able to attract a lot of listeners. Being able to pray when you can t make it to your church is a big deal for people who are spiritual, so it would make sense for locals to tune in rather than miss prayer completely. Not only did WCOJ leave behind a void for WCHE to fill but they also left behind the ideas that made them successful in the first place. This worked to WCHE s benefit as they took a lot of ideas from WCOJ s initial broadcasting programs and either kept them or improved them. Broadcasting local football games was not only an important part of integrating with the community but it attracted listeners who liked listening to football or knew some of the players. Initially WCOJ kept the talk, news and advertising local before they started expanding. WCHE took this idea and stuck with it. Also one of the popular segments that WCOJ had was the 15 minute prayer session, WCHE saw the religious support among listeners and improved upon that 15 minute prayer session with full services on Sundays. 10 Andrew Danziger interview 12-1-11 with Len Doyle
WCHE had many things working for it that enabled it to survive, so despite getting off to a rocky start, having to switch owners and operations managers, and having a larger radio station near by its still going strong today and it remains unchanged. WCHE still plays the same type of music it did in the sixties, covers local news and local talk, and still advertises locally. It has held down its niche in the community and has been fairly successful. The sense of community meant everything to WCHE and integrating with the locals is what helped them to not only get by but to turn in to a strong, well established radio station.