A Community Silenced: The Story of the WCSB Hungarian Hour

Описание: The guests of Zsolt Molnár in the Bocskai Radio studio were the former editors of the WCSB “Hungarian Hour”: Elizabeth Papp Taylor, Walt Mahovlich, and Robert Kita. At the beginning of the broadcast, Zsolt congratulates Elizabeth, who received the George Forbes Sister City Architect Award from the organization Global Cleveland, recognizing her decades of work for the Cleveland community and her role in major community-connecting projects (such as the Irish Bend initiative). From here, the discussion leads into the main topic: the sudden transformation of WCSB and the termination of its ethnic programs.

The former editors recount in detail how the WCSB “takeover” happened on October 3, 2025: the student managers were informed in a ten-minute Zoom call that the station would be taken over by Ideastream Public Media, that the format would change immediately, and that listeners would hear smooth jazz without any explanation. The key cards were deactivated instantly, the students and volunteers were no longer allowed into the building, they could not say goodbye to the listeners, and they could not even retrieve their belongings — including the Hungarian records and archival materials collected since 1988. According to the former editors, this was an unprecedented and undignified way to treat a community radio station and its volunteers.

The interview also looks back on the several-decade history of the Hungarian Hour. The program began in 1988 after ethnic broadcasters had previously been removed overnight from another Cleveland radio station. WCSB then opened its doors to Hungarian, German, Slovenian, Polish, and other ethnic programs. Bob Kita took over in 2007 after his predecessor, John Polish, passed away; he regarded the program as a “stewardship,” a kind of heritage preservation. Later, Elizabeth and Walt joined him, modernizing the format with regular community news, “This week in Hungarian history” segments (written by Elizabeth’s husband, Cyrus), book recommendations, and broad musical selections. The program was mostly in English because many Hungarian Americans no longer speak Hungarian fluently but still strongly identify with their Hungarian heritage, music, and traditions.

The financial background of the student radio is also discussed. WCSB operated on donations collected during the yearly Radiothon and on a modest university budget. The editors worked entirely as volunteers. Hungarian listeners regularly supported the station, but the donations went into a general fund; specific ethnic programs did not receive separate funding — the records, books, and equipment were mostly purchased by the volunteer hosts. The former editors emphasize that WCSB was not only invaluable for Hungarians but also for many other communities (Slovenian, German, Arabic, Greek, Chinese, Indian, Macedonian, etc.).

The final part of the conversation focuses on the background of the takeover and the future. According to the guests, neither the university nor ideastream provided a clear explanation for why students and the community were completely removed. Press reports revealed only that months of negotiations had taken place, and the president of Cleveland State University had received a seat on ideastream’s board. The Hungarian and other ethnic communities have expressed strong outrage; some wrote letters withdrawing their support from ideastream. They mention the XCSB initiative, which fights to restore the student rights and the community radio tradition, and they hope that this situation will be only a comma in the history of Cleveland community radio, not a full stop.

At the end of the interview, Elizabeth, Walt, and Bob give personal messages, thanking the Hungarian Hour listeners for their decades of loyalty, love, and support. They emphasize that their commitment to Hungarian music, literature, food, history, and community life did not disappear with the loss of the frequency; preserving Hungarian heritage remains a shared mission. They also express gratitude toward Bocskai Radio for providing “a warm shelter” in this difficult period, and they hope to return soon with better news about the next chapter of Hungarian radio in Cleveland.