Italian-American Herald a Bi-Weekly Newspaper Serving the Italian-American Community September 12, 2013 COMPLIMENTARY Delaware Valley Loses a Legend Fr
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The Delaware V alley Italian-American Herald A Bi-Weekly Newspaper Serving the Italian-American Community September 12, 2013 COMPLIMENTARY Delaware Valley Loses a Legend Fr. Roberto Balducelli was 100 minutes short of turning 100 years old. Wilmington, DE - On August 9 the Italian American community lost a long-time leader, the Rev. Roberto Balducelli. Father Roberto, as he was affectionately known, helped build the St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilm- ington. He was just 100 minutes shy of his 100th birthday. However, depend- ing on whom you ask, Balducelli was 99 or 100 on the day that he died. The prayer card for the funeral service not- ed that the sun already was up in his Naples-born Ralph Borelli, along with his brother Charlie, was a pioneer of Italian language radio in the area in the Italian birthplace when he died in the 1930’s. He is remembered as “The Father of Italian Radio in the Delaware Valley.” U.S. on the eve of his centennial. (Photo courtesy of Temple University Libraries, Urban Archive) Father Balducelli was born in Italy on August 10, 1913, and ar- rived in the United States from Italy in 1946 to serve as the assistant Remembering the Days of Italian Radio to the Rev. J. Francis Tucker, the founding pastor of St. Anthony (First in a 3-part series on Italian Radio in the Delaware Valley) of Padua Church. Balducelli was appointed pastor in 1959 and is credited with building – sometimes with his own hands – the St. An- hile much has been writ- a successful Italian businessman to advertise at an unprecedented thony’s Grade School and Padua Academy, a new parish house and ten and documented named Charles C. A. Baldi ob- pace. Soon other Philadelphia W a summer camp, among many other accomplishments. about Italian language newspa- tained a license to operate radio stations such as WDAS began Yet, Balducelli’s impact goes well beyond physical structures, pers that were an integral part station WABY, the area’s first airing Italian programming. according to the current St. Anthony’s pastor, the Rev. Nicholas R. of Italian American life in the outlet for electronically trans- Then, in the mid-30s, WPEN Waseline. “Balducelli’s lasting legacy will be the Italian-American Delaware Valley, little has been mitted Italian language broad- was acquired by the owners of social culture and Catholic religious culture he built,” Waseline said. documented about Italian radio casts. Baldi set up the studio on New York City’s WOV, the na- Perhaps this is best exemplified by his successful effort to establish programs that entertained and the second floor over the Baldi tion’s flagship Italian language the Annual St. Anthony’s Italian Festival, the largest and only eight- informed the Italian American Bank located at 928 S. 8th Street station. day Italian Festival in the Delaware Valley region. community in and around Phila- in South Philadelphia. He imme- The affiliation with WOV Father Waseline went on to say, “His legacy is not going to be delphia for the better part of 80 diately hired Ralph and Charlie now made it possible to air com- so much in the buildings and the plaques; his legacy is going to be years. Italian radio first broad- Borrelli, brothers whose family plete soap operas, comedy and in the people’s continued fidelity to their parish. He will always be cast officially in Philadelphia in had already established an Ital- variety programs from New called a ‘priest of the people.’” 1930 on WRAX at 17th and Al- ian language theater troupe in York, and allowed national ad- The Rev. James J. Greenfield, Provincial of the Oblates, called legheny Avenue in the northern the city. However, the broadcasts vertisers to buy “bundled ad- Balducelli an “icon” whose actions will be remembered more than section of the city. In preceding were sporadic and the station’s vertising.” With Ralph Borrelli his words. Greenfield recalled images of Balducelli donning a hard years there had been a very lim- 10-watt power was no guarantee at the helm, WPEN secured its hat to help with construction or having children line up to help pass ited amount of foreign language that these shows could be heard position as the dominant Italian along buckets of sand needed for the pouring of concrete. programs, which were broadcast even eight blocks away. voice in the tri-state region. By “They’re the kinds of things that people remember forever, on a hit and miss basis over sta- It was in 1930 when the 500- 1938 WPEN alone was airing more than what you say in a homily,” Greenfield said. “I think that’s tions with poor signals and limit- watt WRAX, which later merged five hours a day with additional what’s so powerful about him.” ed range. At WRAX, for the first and became WPEN, first estab- daily programs being aired on Balducelli is survived by a sister, Maria, who lives in Italy. time in the city’s history, there lished that ethnic programming WDAS and WHAT. A Mass of Christian were regularly scheduled daily could not only play but pay. While Philadelphia radio Burial was celebrated on programs in German, Yiddish, Here the Borrelli brothers be- stations were the most widely Wednesday, August 14 at Polish and Italian. came the area’s Italian language heard in the region, smaller St. Anthony’s Church in For Italians, a seminal ver- radio pioneers. Charlie was more stations around the Delaware the Little Italy section of sion of broadcasting took place behind the scenes while Ralph Valley were cashing in on this Wilmington. Among the in the early 1920s, when the peo- became the “on air” personality. thriving advertising market as mourners was Vice Presi- ple of South Philadelphia’s Little To this day Ralph is remembered well. On weekends, stations in dent Joe Biden and sev- Italy would get their news from as “The Father of Italian Radio Vineland, Atlantic City, Trenton, eral congressmen. Baldu- a primitive but daily “broadcast” in the Delaware Valley.” Hammonton, Camden, Chester, celli was buried at Oblate by a reporter named Filippo Over the next couple of and Wilmington all began airing Community Cemetery in Bocchini who wrote for La Voce years the programming ex- Italian programs sponsored by Childs, Maryland. del Popolo, a local Italian lan- panded, and soon the Borrellis local merchants and hosted by In lieu of flowers, Bal- guage daily. Every day when the were joined by locals Vincent local on-air personalities. Ital- ducelli had requested that paper came off the press people Losco and Guy Sardella. In 1940 ian language radio was truly in donations be made in his would gather outside of the of- Sardella moved onto WCBM in its “Golden Age.” (See photo on memory to the Retirement fice and Bocchini would come to Baltimore, where he became the page 2.) Fund of the Oblates of St. the second floor window with a city’s “Dean of Italian Radio.” Francis de Sales megaphone to read the news. Local companies anxious to Next issue: World War II and Fast forward to 1925 when reach the Italian consumer began post-war Italian radio. 2 | September 12, 2013 Italian-American Herald Vol. 1 No. 2 The Delaware V alley FROMTHEEDITOR Italian-American Herald A Bi-Weekly Newspaper Serving The Italian-American Community Keeping Our Culture Alive ith this issue we begin a three-part series on the history of Italian language and Italian-American September 12, 2013 ~ Vol. 1 No. 2 Wradio programs in the Delaware Valley. This media pulled the Italian immigrant through good by Italian-American Press, Radio & Media, Inc. times and bad, especially for the many who through no fault of their own had limited reading skills. 1906 West 6th Street, Wilmington, DE 19805 More recently bilingual programs helped to acquaint and to preserve our heritage with the generation Subscription price: $59 a year. that in the past 20 years has renewed its interest in the study of Italian, its culture and heritage. Unfortu- Published twice a month and distributed at various nately, since the sale of Philadelphia’s WHAT back in 2010 there has been no Italian-American presence locations throughout the tri-state area. on the airwaves in this region. From the 1930s to the present, Yiddish-American and Polish-American Tel: 302-654-4993 ~ email: [email protected] radio have aired daily and/or weekly programs for their communities without interruption. In 2014 the Irish-American community will celebrate 70 years of uninterrupted programming started by Cav. Pat- rick J. Stanton. After World War II Stanton was also very instrumental in the revival of Italian-American Publisher radio programs, which had been decimated by the government’s campaign to discredit Italians and their Italian-American Press, Radio & Media, Inc. language because of Italy’s alliance with Nazi Germany. Stanton was later bestowed the title “Cava- liere” (Knighthood) by the Italian government for this achievement. As these groups celebrate the uninterrupted longevity of their radio broadcasts, the Italian-Ameri- Editor Emeritus can community, which has much to offer in the way of music and culture, enters its fourth year with no James J. Tayoun on-air presence. This does not reflect well on a people who have so much to offer to themselves and to Italophiles anxious to know more about everything Italian — be it fashion, food, opera, folk customs, Editor-in-Chief and even learning the Italian language. While some of the blame rests with radio stations, both commer- cial and public non-commercial, most of the problem rests squarely within our community.