A couple of days ago John LaBarca of Stratford, Connecticut died. He hosted the Italian House Party Sunday radio show on commercial radio station WICC of Bridgeport which was broadcast through the tri-state area which was carried from the mid 1980’s, much like America Oggi was created in 1987.
WICC is an independent commercial station which began in 1926 the early days of radio and a major news and entertainment venue. I myself was interviewed numerous times in my youth and job in politics. As the Italian communities of New York and elsewhere began to die off, he kept something of a lock on programming and ensured that the old timers and young generation has a chance to maintain links to the culture of the Old country.
I know I was proud to speak on air when I won my scholarship to study at the University of Siena. A project that my family worked on from the 1970’s to return back to Rome and Tuscany. There was nothing fake about it, just good old fashioned reminiscence. And not just Italians or the Italian community or our italian churches either, a reminiscence of when radio led the world on getting information to the people on their democracy.
