One of the first labor unions to use broadcast media to communicate its message, the UAW founded WDET in 1948. The radio programs on the station (later syndicated nationally) brought worker-centric news and entertainment to the masses, options the UAW felt listeners sorely lacked.
The UAW hired the established reporter Guy Nunn as a radio host when they felt other stations were not adequately covering the union perspective during a 1949 Chrysler strike. Nunn was soon put in charge of the UAW Radio Department and helped expand its efforts into TV.
The UAW's first TV show was titled "Meet the UAW-CIO", and it was likely the first television program totally written and produced by an American labor union!
The UAW Radio Dept Records at the @ReutherLibrary reflect a time of possibilities in the American media landscape, when labor could carve out a space for programming to benefit working people rather than corporate interests.