“In this big-money era of consolidated station ownership and homogenized program formats, smaller, independent stations like Chicago’s WVON – with its tiny audience of mostly older listeners, weak broadcast signal and modest revenues-face oblivion. Yet the station perseveres, in large part because it fills a niche no general-market station would: providing a venue for its mostly African-American listeners to express their anger, hurt and pride and to share information about which politicians to believe in-a short list-or when to show up to protest a school closing or how to break off a little piece of the American Dream. WVON is more than a radio station; it’s a family business that has become a community trust.”