WNYC; WNYC History; Introduction to WNYC's history.
- Collection
- WNYC
- Series
- WNYC History
- Episode
- Introduction to WNYC's history.
- Producing Organization
- WNYC (Radio station : New York, N.Y.)
- Contributing Organization
- WNYC (New York, New York)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/80-010p32sz
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- Description
- Episode Description
- CITY OF NEW YORK: EDWARD I. KOCH HARRISON J. GOLDIN CAROL BELLAMY ANDREW J. STEIN ROBERT M.LITKE Mayor Comptroller President of the Council Borough President of Manhattan Commissioner of the Department of General Services MARY PEROT NICHOLS Director of WNYC WNYC FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Chairman GERALD F. PHILLIPS, ESQ. Secretary PETER H. DARROW, ESQ. Treasurer HOWARD STEIN CAROL BALTHAZAR JOHN A FAZIO DOROTHY GREGG RICHARD H. HARRIS ANNE KLEEPER NATHAN LEVENTHAL GARYSCOLLARD KENNETH SHAPIRO HARRY E. SMITH JOSHUA L. SMITH WILMA S. TISCH Senior Partner Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon Partner Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton Vice President Citicorp Credit Services, Inc. Executive Vice President Orr, Balthazar, D'Acosta and Orr Partner Coopers & Lybrand Executive Vice President Research and Forecast Ruder, Finn & Rotman President, Radio Group Westinghouse Broadcasting & Cable Company Senior Research Associate The Conference Board President Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Chairman MMT Sales, Inc. Partner Bower & Gardner Vice President of Video-Tech Publishing Trintex President Borough of Manhattan Community College Vice Chairman Federation of Jewish Philanthropies WNYC AM83 FM94 TV31 INTRODUCTION TO WNYC'S HISTORY WNYC's long, and sometimes troubled history is depicted in the following pages. It is only fitting that this booklet should be published on the day that WNYC celebrates the dedication of its new radio studios. These are called, for a very good reason, the Fiorello H. LaGuardia Telecommunications Center. It was "The Little Flower" who first recognized WNYC's potential, not only as a communications vehicle for matters of civic importance, but as a transmitter of some of the city's greatest cultural events to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. LaGuardia was fond of equating quality of life issues with justice. He once said "... I want justice on the broadest scale. By this I do not mean the justice that is handed out in police courts. I mean the justice that gives to everyone some chance for the beauty and better things of life" (January, 1934). LaGuardia believed that WNYC was the embodiment of this philosophy. Mayor Edward I. Koch follows in the LaGuardia tradition. His support of city capital funds for the new studios is what made them possible. He has also been supportive in every possible way of WNYC's move to make itself self-sufficient. WNYC-AM and WNYC-FM are now well-equipped for the satellite age, and the battle to bring WNYC-TV up to the state of the art has begun. Mary Perot Nichols Director Left: The beginnings - Grover Whalen in BEGINNINGS When WNYC first crackled over the airwaves, New York City's five million WNYC's master control room, July 8,1924 residents read 10 daily newspapers. John "Red Mike" Hylan was Mayor. A seven-room apartment on the Upper East side might have rented for $75 a month. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were appearing on Broadway. In Atlantic City, thousands of delegates to the Democratic National Convention sweated through ballot after ballot until John W. Davis finally was nominated to run against President Calvin Coolidge. It was summer 1924, the waning of the Progressive era and the threshold of a new age of industry and culture. While politicians and broadcasters wrestled with the morality of advertising on radio, the nation could anticipate sweeping change through mass communication and the rapid expansion of government services. HYLAN OPENS CITY'S $50,000 RADIO STATION, proclaimed the Herald Tribune. First the guests stepped into the receiving chamber, patterned after a Spanish patio and decorated in yellow and black. In the center of the room is a fountain, partially hidden by potted shrubs and palms. The floor is tile mosaic and the windows of opalescent amber. Scattered about the room are chairs and lounges in yellow and black, luxurious and soft cushions." The wicker furniture that graced that reception room on the 25th floor of the Municipal Building was courtesy of Wanamaker's Department Store. So was the black monk's cloth draped about the studio a last-minute attempt at soundproofing. And Wanamaker's was the source also of Grover A Whalen, a familiar figure to New Yorkers for more than 30 years and the originator of WNYC. Whalen, an energetic proponent of the future, managed the New York City branch of Wanamaker's. In 1918, at Mayor Hylan's request, Rodman Wanamaker "loaned" Whalen to the City of New York where he served first as Hylan's secretary and then as Commissioner of Plants & Structures, the forerunner of the present-day Department of General Services. (Whalen's long, but sporadic, relationship with the City would later include the positions of Police Commissioner and Official Greeter). In early 1922, Whalen - ever alert to new frontiers, whether bridges and tunnels or broadcasting persuaded Queens Borough President Maurice E. Connolly to introduce a resolution to the Board of Estimate, calling for the creation of a Municipal Wireless Broadcasting Station. "Recent scientific developments," the resolution began, "have brought about a new medium for the dissemination of the information and the transmission to the people of instruction and entertainment upon a vaster scale and therefore of a higher class than has heretofore been possible. The present popularity of the wireless telephone in the home, and the rapid growth of this industry during the past few months, clearly forecast an immense increase of its use so that in the course of the next few years wireless receiving stations in clubhouses, schoolrooms, hospitals, asylums, and at public gatherings will become almost universal." When the Board of Estimate adopted the resolution, Mayor Hylan appointed a seven-member committee, chaired by Rodman Wanamaker, to report on the advisability of establishing a station. "It is the duty of the Municipality to erect, under City control, the most modern and best-equipped broadcasting station in the country," advised the committee. On June 2, 1922, the Board of Estimate appropriated $50,000 for the purchase and installation of equipment. But it would be two years before the station went on the air. Grover Whalen certainly did not anticipate such a long delay. He found that part of his time was spent convincing Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover to change the new station's call letters from CONY to WNYC. But mostly Whalen was mired in unexpectedly difficult negotiations to obtain a transmitter and other equipment. "Radio Trust!" was his battle cry. The Commissioner soon discovered that Western Electric's parent company, American Telephone & Telegraph, used patent rights to control not only the equipment it leased to independent radio stations, but also the frequency, signal strength, and air-time. Freedom of expression was at stake, Whalen Above: Mayor Hylan and Grover Whalen posed in front of an early WNYC microphone Brightly illuminated fountains sprayed water high above the roof where colored lights were focused on the towers. Over the heads of the crowd, hung the 125-foot, eight strand antenna, suspended at its high end from the very topmost peak of the buildings loftiest tower. From the front of the building, the letters WNYC, eight feet high, blazed out across the sky and red fire glowed from two of the cupolas. (Contemporary newspaper account) Left: The Municipal Building in lower Manhattan. Insets: Mayor Hylan; studio (left); "potted palm" reception room claimed. Ultimately, he testified before the Federal Trade Commission and Congress on the City's inability to purchase a transmitter and lines without compromising its programming. His testimony undoubtedly helped spur Federal regulation of the broadcasting industry. Finally, in February 1924, Whalen received permission from the Board of Estimate to purchase equipment without engaging in the standard bidding procedure. A 125-foot, eight-strand, 1000-watt transmitter was shipped from Brazil, where it had been used during the Brazilian Centennial Exposition, and installed atop the Municipal Building. Whalen then turned his attention to WNYC's staff, wh
- Topics
- History
- Media type
- other
- Credits
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Producing Organization: WNYC (Radio station : New York, N.Y.)
Publisher: WNYC (Radio station : New York, N.Y.)
Writer: Keenan, Claudia
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
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WNYC-FM
Identifier: 71136.1 (WNYC Media Archive Label)
Format: Paper
Duration: 24 p.
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WNYC-FM
Identifier: 71136.2 (WNYC Media Archive Label)
Format: application/pdf
Color: B&W
Duration: 24 p.
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- Citations
- Chicago: “WNYC; WNYC History; Introduction to WNYC's history.,” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 17, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-010p32sz.
- MLA: “WNYC; WNYC History; Introduction to WNYC's history..” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. June 17, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-010p32sz>.
- APA: WNYC; WNYC History; Introduction to WNYC's history.. Boston, MA: WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-010p32sz