Lithuania declares itself an independent republic and tests the limits of Mikhail Gorbachev`s tolerance. The Soviet republics of Latvia, Estonia and Georgia are poised to follow Lithuania`s lead.
East and West Germany are sprinting rather than inching toward reunification. Free elections in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia are scheduled in May and June.
For Americans of Eastern European ancestry-a significant chunk of Chicago`s population-receiving news of events in Eastern Europe has become crucial. Many of them have turned to Chicago`s ethnic radio stations and programs as their primary source of information about political, social and economic news there.
”The local and national TV news just gives the headlines about what`s going on in Eastern Europe, the tip of the iceberg,” said Lucyna Migala, program director of ethnic-oriented WCEV-AM 1450. ”For many people that`s not enough. That`s where stations like ours come in.”
In fact, WCEV-along with WPNA-AM 1490, WVVX-FM 103.1, WEDC-AM 1240 and WSBC-AM (also 1240)-has been broadcasting to a variety of ethnic groups for years.
With the ascension of Gorbachev, glasnost (openness) and perestroika
(restructuring), Chicago`s ethnic radio stations have placed increased importance on gathering first-hand news from Eastern Europe. And with the advent of fax machines and easier telephone access to most of those countries, the news can often be disseminated faster than ethnic newspapers and magazines.
”Our news comes straight from Lithuania and is as current as it is possible to be,” said Raimundas Lapas, host of the bilingual Lithuanian show ”Zeme L,” from 8:30 to 10 p.m. Saturdays on WPNA. Lapas` program gets news directly from Radio Vilnius and the Lithuanian nationalist movement`s newspaper, Atigiminas, whose correspondents call in weekly.
Within days of the election of non-Communist President Vytautas Landsbergis, Lapas broadcast a tape of Landsbergis` first official speech to the newly elected Lithuanian parliament.
George Migala has produced WCEV`s Polish-language ”Voice of Polonia”
show (4:30 to 6 p.m. weekdays) for 20 years. He said access to new sources in Poland has changed radically in just the last 12 months.
”Previously we were dependent on the dribbles that came in from the American media and sources we really didn`t like to use, like the Polish government news agency,” he said. ”Now we use, among other sources, direct reports every week from a Warsaw-based newspaper reporter.”
Jarek Cholodecki, host of the Polish language ”Studio D” on WPNA from 6:30 to 8 p.m. weekdays, said: ”I started my own news-gathering network. I was behind the formation of the independent East European news agency in Poland and brought several fax machines over to them.”
In some countries, reliable news and information is harder to get. In Romania, where the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu is still an unpleasantly vivid memory, uncertainty over political policy makes direct news about the democratic movement relatively scarce.
That`s why Mike Martini, a former Romanian radio journalist, began the
”Romanian Radio Hour” in late January on WVVX at 3 p.m. Saturdays.
”For a long time I didn`t say anything publicly because I still have a lot of family there, and under Ceausescu that could cause problems for them,” said Martini, who estimates Chicago`s Romanian population at 35,000. ”But the things that have happened in Romania since Christmas are what pushed me to do this show.”
Martini`s sources for news include Cable News Network, the British Broadcasting Corp. and reports from Romania via an associate in Stuttgart, West Germany.
”The secret police still control the whole ballgame in Romania,” he said. ”The official radio and television there still aren`t telling us what`s really going on.”
The Chicago area`s Croatian community-not nearly as large as the city`s Polish community or as visible as its Lithuanians-is estimated at around 100,000. Croatia, a republic of Yugoslavia, remains staunchly communist.
Vlado Glavas, program director of WCEV`s ”Free Croatia”, knows first-hand about the problems of getting accurate news out of Yugoslavia. Forced to flee the country in 1966 because of his political activities, Glavas said the Yugoslavian government still tries to exert pressure on him to stop his Chicago broadcasts, which advocate independence for Croatia.
The line between reporting news events in Eastern Europe and trying to influence them begins to blur on many ethnic radio programs. As most of them are brokered (their block of time sold to an individual or group to do with as they please), sometimes-private agendas become public.
Petras Petrutis, host of the long-running Lithuanian language show
”Margutis,” from 9 to 10 p.m. weekdays on WCEV, has been asking his listeners to call and write President Bush to persuade the U.S. to recognize the newly independent Republic of Lithuania.
Taking a different approach is Bob Lewandowski, host since 1963 of a Polish-language program from 7 to 8:30 a.m. weekdays on WSBC. While he said he is intensely concerned about the political and economic changes taking place in Poland, he added that he is less activist-oriented.
”I left Poland in 1944 and became a U.S. citizen in 1957,” he said.
”My government isn`t in Warsaw, it`s in Washington. I look at everything that happens in Poland through the eyes of an American.”
For many, these ethnic radio programs also serve to show solidarity with those fighting for democracy in Eastern Europe.
Said Janis Kalnins, program director of the ”Latvian Radio” program on WVVX from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Sundays: ”Several of our recent guests from Latvia have told us how important programs like this in the Free World have been to them. The support of the Latvian community here has given those in Latvia the heart to hold out.”
Although the Iron Curtain has been lifted, the final act has yet to be played. Chicago`s ethnic radio broadcasters realize that it can come crashing down again all too easily.
”For people of Eastern European ethnic backgrounds, this is a wonderful time to be alive,” said Lucyna Migala of WCEV. ”But we`re also very cautious because we realize that what is happening there is extremely fragile.”