Niche radio on steroids, WEW is St. Louis’ little heavyweight that could
By D.J. Wilson
Hit the scan button on your radio, and you’re guaranteed at least one surprise: WEW (770 AM). Every weekday afternoon, Mensur Hatic airs music, news and talk in his native Bosnian tongue. At daybreak and sunset, Radio Cucui takes to the air with music and talk for the growing Spanish-speaking community. Wedged in between is a three-hour show of big-band and “adult standard” music, followed by an hour of old-time radio serials intended for the aging American population.
Unique and eclectic, WEW is a broadcast blueprint of St. Louis’ future demographic direction (i.e., more immigrants and aging baby boomers), but its logistics are more makeshift than modern: The station only broadcasts at 1,000 watts and must sign off two hours after sunset.
The melting-pot mainstay, which celebrated its 85th year on the air last month (it’s the second-oldest station in the country), beams its signal from a two-family flat on Hampton near Watson. “It’s not the most ideal situation,” admits station manager Rich Vannoy. “We broadcast out of a kitchen. We don’t have soundproof walls. We open the window, and you can hear the fire trucks go down Hampton. But it works.”
WEW has broadcast weekend ethnic shows since the early ’90s, starting with German talk and Polish polka. Hispanic, Italian and Bosnian weekend programming was added later in the ’90s, and the station went ethnic in an even bigger way when Sima Birach, a Yugoslavian émigré and radio-station owner, bought it in September 2003.
Hatic sees his show as vital to Bosnians in St. Louis. “This radio is a window to the world for a bunch of people who don’t have a computer and don’t speak the language,” he says. WEW has even found an audience outside the area, streaming live on the Internet (www.wewradio.com).
Because of the growing audience, Vannoy hopes that this year the station will boost its signal and remain on the air 24 hours a day. He has seen the future of St. Louis, and he’s ready to program for it.
