WMOR
Broadcast areaChicago metropolitan area
Frequency102.7 MHz
Ownership
OwnerMetropolitan Radio Corporation of Chicago[1]
History
First air date
March 20, 1949 (1949-03-20)
Last air date
January 1952 (1952-01)
Technical information
ClassB
ERP40,000 watts[1]

WMOR (102.7 MHz) was an FM radio station in Chicago which broadcast from 1949 to January 1952. It was owned by the Metropolitan Radio Corporation of Chicago and had its studios and transmitter at 188 W. Randolph Street. It struggled financially and was wracked by management turnover throughout its history.

History

[edit]

The Metropolitan Radio Corporation of Chicago, a group of 46 shareholders with the largest share held by restaurateur Dario Toffenetti, received a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new class B FM radio station in Chicago at the start of September 1948.[2] Among the owners in Metropolitan were ten veterans of World War II from Chicago's South Side.[3] The station set up at Chicago's Steuben Building at 188 W. Randolph Street, where the transmitter was on the building's 32nd floor and a 90-foot (27 m) antenna and tower was mounted to the top.[4]

WMOR began broadcasting on March 20, 1949.[5] It programmed a variety of fine music, including opera, symphony, jazz and folk, as well as plays and musical programs from the BBC.[6] It also had news and public service programs, which were not emphasized by Chicago's other FM outlets.[7] An article in The Billboard magazine noted that WMOR was an experiment to see if an FM station heavy on live programming could achieve the same status as an AM station.[8] Shortly after going on, WMOR contracted with Consumers' Aid for storecasting, the use of its signal to feed receivers in stores, to more than 150 Jewel and independent grocery stores.[9]

Despite, per Variety, being "generally considered Chi's most successful commercial FM operation",[10] WMOR struggled through a tough FM marketplace, and the station lost $20,000 in six months. Original company president Ralph J. Wood resigned in October 1949 after his plans to curtail operation to storecasting and a minimal service of evening music, while reducing staff, were rejected by the board.[11] Late that year, the station aired a documentary that featured an interview with Black victims of the Peoria Street race riot in Englewood. A tape recording and records were made of the interview.[12] Toffenetti—the recently elected chairman of the board[13]—evidently enraged by its contents, called the studio and demanded the program be taken off the air. He was ignored in that demand and in another to destroy all transcriptions of the program. He then traveled to the studio and smashed 300[10] or 100[12] records of the program. A column by John T. McManus in the left-wing National Guardian connected the race riots with "known persons connected with a realty owners' 'betterment' organization, which maintains block captains to give the signal when any incident threatens its lilywhite standards".[14] In spite of Toffenetti's destroying the records, a tape of the interview was reported to have survived.[12]

Toffenetti resigned from the board in February 1950 after the board of directors stripped him of his authority over station affairs, charging him with "interference and censorship".[15] His cutting ties cost the station a third of its revenue in advertising accounts he influenced, including programs he personally sponsored. Variety noted that the corporation had just authorized the issuance of new stock and that "the Toffenetti incident is expected to seriously impair sales of this latest issue".[10] After the conflict, the entire board of directors of Metropolitan resigned, with a new board including Toffenetti elected.[16] Toffenetti's return brought back 20% of the station's revenue.[17] The next month, Consumers' Aid announced its plans to switch its service to another FM station, WEAW, in 1951. At the time, storecasting was operating on WMOR for 10 hours a day, 6 days a week.[18]

In December 1951, Abraham Teitelbaum, a Chicago attorney identified as a former attorney for Al Capone, became the principal investor in WMOR.[19] The station was taken off the air in late January 1952. Minority stockholders in the firm questioned the legality of Teitelbaum taking the station silent.[20] In April, a receiver was appointed for the Metropolitan Radio Corporation of Chicago, which was said to owe back rent and have several active claims against it.[21]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Illinois: WMOR (FM)". Broadcasting • Telecasting Yearbook. Broadcasting Publications Inc. 1951. p. 130.
  2. ^ "Another Class B FM CP Is Granted at Chicago". Broadcasting. September 6, 1948. p. 60. ProQuest 1014907815.
  3. ^ "Ten War Veterans Among Organizers Of New FM Station". Chicago Tribune. March 20, 1949. pp. 3:2S. Retrieved December 20, 2025.
  4. ^ "FM Station Antenna On Steuben Building Gets Zoning Approval". Chicago Sunday Tribune. November 28, 1948. pp. 3:1. Retrieved December 20, 2025.
  5. ^ "Announcing The Thrilling Inaugural of a New Idea in Vivacious "FM" Radio Programming". Chicago Tribune (Advertisement). March 20, 1949. p. 3:9NW. Retrieved December 20, 2025.
  6. ^ "Program Highlights Of New FM Station Told; Opens in Week". Chicago Sunday Tribune. March 13, 1949. p. 3:11NW. Retrieved December 20, 2025.
  7. ^ "News, Pubserv Kick For WMOR's FM Bow". The Billboard. March 12, 1949. p. 20. ProQuest 1039919291.
  8. ^ "WMOR in Role of Guinea Pig: Can FM Radio Pay Its Way Is Question". The Billboard. April 2, 1949. p. 6. ProQuest 1039914664.
  9. ^ "Chi FM Switches". Variety. May 25, 1949. p. 33. ProQuest 1285925683.
  10. ^ a b c "WMOR-FM Isn't Toffenetti Dish; Station to Fold?". Variety. February 15, 1950. p. 22. ProQuest 1285986470.
  11. ^ "Chi FM Bumped; 1 Outlet Folds, Prexy Out in 2d". The Billboard. October 22, 1949. p. 6. ProQuest 1039956282.
  12. ^ a b c Bailey, Gordon (January 23, 1950). "The Truth Will Out" (PDF). The Militant. p. 4.
  13. ^ "WMOR (FM) Elects Toffenetti to Head Board". Broadcasting. October 17, 1949. p. 70. ProQuest 1285675645.
  14. ^ McManus, John T. (November 28, 1949). "Better get up that civic steam now" (PDF). National Guardian. p. 2.
  15. ^ "WMOR Change: To Elect New Board Chairman". Broadcasting. February 20, 1950. p. 51. ProQuest 1401180108.
  16. ^ "WMOR Realigns: Kisau Heads New Board". Broadcasting. April 3, 1950. p. 74. ProQuest 1401183086.
  17. ^ "WMOR in Chi Is Still Toffenetti's FM Dish As He Pours Back Coin". Variety. March 29, 1950. p. 31. ProQuest 1285960991.
  18. ^ "Hardhit Chi FM'er, WMOR, Dealt Another Trade Loss". Variety. May 24, 1950. p. 39. ProQuest 1285981860.
  19. ^ "Vet-Backed FM Station Gets Teitelbaum Coin". Variety. December 12, 1951. p. 26. ProQuest 963248207.
  20. ^ "WMOR (FM) Silence Questioned by Stockholders". Broadcasting. February 11, 1952. p. 85. ProQuest 1285687734.
  21. ^ "WMOR (FM) Station Placed in Receivership". Broadcasting. April 14, 1952. p. 96. ProQuest 1285686526.