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Chicago has a long history of labor radio. Some of you maybe familiar with the history of WCFL, Chicago's Voice of Labor - the radio station owned and operated by the Chicago Federation of Labor from 1925 to 1978. The mission of WCFL, as their tagline suggests, was to give voice to Chicago's working people. Unfortunately, WCFL is no longer with us. This is particularly troubling given the fact there has never been a greater need for worker's access to the airwaves. In a world of media monopolies, where six major corporations own and control the vast majority of America's mass media, the space for independent voices continues to shrink. Corporate, profit driven radio has proved itself unwilling and unable to report on the world from the perspective of working people. Chicago labor may no longer have their own radio station, but they do have a radio program that focuses on "News for Working People, by Working People" - Labor Express.
Labor Express came to life in 1993 when WLUW, 88.7 FM (at that time, Loyola University radio) decided to transform itself into a community focused radio station. Gone was the 24-hour dance music format replaced with a variety of great programming reflecting the diversity and interests of the people of the Rogers Park neighborhood. In this new atmosphere, former SEIU organizer Wayne Heimbach, saw the opportunity for Chicago labor to gain back a place on the radio dial. With Wayne at the helm, and in conjunction with the folks at Labor Beat TV, Labor Express became one of Chicago's most important sources of labor news. In the 11 years Wayne hosted the program, he covered SEIU Local 73's efforts to stop the increasing privatization of public services in our city, reforms in the Teamster's movement and the early 1990's "War Zone" in Decatur where workers at A.E. Staley, Caterpillar and ADM were all involved in strikes or lockouts. On the international scene, Wayne interviewed trade union activists fighting apartheid in South Africa, workers under attack by paramilitaries in Latin America, and U.S. union members opposition to the first and second Gulf Wars. For 11 years, Labor Express was the only place on the air that you could hear stories about building maintenance workers trying to organize in Chicago, the repression of worker's rights Haiti or the growth of independent unions in Mexico. And Wayne also added at least one dose of labor song to every episode of Labor Express. Whether it be the sounds of a South African choir or Louisiana prison work songs - the music heard on Labor Express couldn't be heard anywhere else on Chicago radio.
In February of 2004, Wayne decided to retire from Labor Express and I was given the both thrilling and daunting task of filling his shoes. There have been some changes in the show since - the music is perhaps "younger" and we have experimented with both live and pre-recorded formats; but Wayne's commitment to giving voice to workers around the block and around the globe has certainly not changed. In the past year I have had the pleasure to interview home health care workers on the South Side in their struggle for a living wage and rallies of City of Chicago employees downtown. I have talked with day laborers fighting for the establishment of their own workers center and covered the efforts UFCW to keep Wal-Mart out of Chicago. I have brought back interviews with workers in Mexico & Guatemala from my summer travels and aired the speeches of Indian and Brazilian trade unionists. I have also strived to cover all topics of interest to working people - whether it be a discussion with community organizers about affordable housing or immigrants rights activists about changing immigration laws. Some of the issues we have covered extensively and will continue to cover on future episodes, such as the Renaissance 2010 plan, which impacts education and jobs, gentrification and privatization - touch on multiple aspects of working peoples lives. Labor Express also continues to work close with the producers of Labor Beat TV (see the Labor Links page) as a member of the Committee for Labor Access.
With the support of our listeners Labor Express hopes to grow and thrive in the next decade. We hope to soon be on more stations in the Chicago area and to reach an even larger audience, particular on Chicago's South Side. You can count on Labor Express to continue to be Chicago's voice of working people and we hope we can count on you to keep listening and supporting our program. We encourage our listeners to become involved in our program in whatever ways they are able. Always feel free to get a hold of us about story ideas, feedback on the show or ways you can help the program grow. Labor solidarity is all about collective action - help us live up to our commitment to be "News for Working People by Working People".
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