WCFL (AM)
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| City | Chicago, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Chicago market |
| Branding |
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| Slogan | "The Voice of Labor" |
| Frequency | 1000 kHz |
| First air date | June 19, 1926 |
| Format | Variety Top 40 MOR Religious |
| Power | 50,000 Watts |
| Class | A (Clear channel) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°49′5″N 87°59′18″W / 41.81806°N 87.98833°W |
| Callsign meaning |
Chicago Federation of Labor |
| Owner |
Chicago Federation of Labor (1926–1978) Mutual Broadcasting System (1978–1983) Statewide Broadcasting (1983–1987) |
WCFL (1000 AM) was the callsign of a commercial radio station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor, hence its call letters. The station is now known as WMVP. Its transmitter is located in Downers Grove and is still in use by WMVP. The station billed itself as "The Voice of Labor" from its inception until its sale to Mutual in 1978.
In 1922, the American Federation of Labor began discussions regarding owning and operating its own radio station. By 1925, the AFL decided not to enter the broadcasting business but to purchase time for organized labor's message on commercially operated radio. The dream stayed alive with the Chicago Federation of Labor, who believed having an owned and operated radio station would be an effective way to spread its message. In 1924, the Federation gave its approval to work toward establishing a radio station. The original plan for WCFL called for it to be a non-commercial station, operating on the support of its listeners; in a sense it was one of the first large-scale efforts at public radio. Spearheading the drive to make WCFL a reality was the Federation's Secretary, Edward Nockels (1869–1937); without his efforts, there would have been no radio station at all.
WCFL officially began on December 4, 1925; the Federation's hopes were temporarily dashed when the US Department of Commerce (there was no Federal Communications Commission until 1934 and no Federal Radio Commission which preceded it until 1927) refused to grant WCFL a wavelength on January 13, 1926. Just five days after what could have become an end to the station, the Federation announced it would go ahead with building it anyway.
The first WCFL transmitter stood on Chicago's Navy Pier (then called Municipal Pier); the Federation was able to lease the pier's North Tower for 10 years at $1 per year and its willingness to make WCFL available for city broadcasts. Initially the Illinois Manufacturers' Association attempted to keep WCFL off the air by protesting the use of public property for the station's transmitter and broadcasting site. The station purchased the land in Downers Grove where the current transmitter operates in 1928 and broke ground there in 1932. The Federation originally purchased 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land in the western suburb; 20 of them were allotted for the WCFL transmitter, while the other 80 were subdivided as lots for 258 homes and 72 businesses in "WCFL Park". Nockels believed having a union-based community spring up around the WCFL transmitter would be beneficial to both those purchasing lots and building homes and to the station itself. The labor union entered the real estate business shortly before the Depression hit. After selling no lots in the early part of the 1930s, the Federation put WCFL Park on hold, reviving it again in 1939 with the building of a model home on one of the lots, all of which would eventually be divested.
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