WQXR; WQXR Anniversaries; WQXR at 50 : A pictorial history of WQXR's five decades as America's premier classical music radio station.
- Collection
- WQXR
- Series
- WQXR Anniversaries
- Contributing Organization
- WNYC (New York, New York)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/80-72p5jbvs
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- Description
- Description
- AN ANNIVERSARY ALBUM A P i c t o r i a l H i s t o r y o f W Q X R ' s F i v e D e c a d e s a s A m e r i c a ' s P r e m i e r C l a s s i c a l M u s i c R a d i o S t a t i o n WQXR was the first of many acquisitions The New York Times Company made over the years. Our affiliation goes back to 1944, when the station was already eight years old and had a loyal following of music lovers. My father, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who was publisher of The New York Times when WQXR was purchased, had the foresight to expect that the printed word might be complemented by a radio station carrying both classical music and New York Times headline news. He was correct. My father listened a lot to WQXR, although I must admit he was not an ardent lover of Mozart. In fact, every time a Mozart symphony or concerto went out over the air, the station's president, Elliott M. Sanger, knew he could expect a memo the next morning asking why on earth that awful composer's music had to be played. But Elliott kept answering with another question: how could any classical music station present a well-balanced musical menu without the works of one of the greatest classical composers? I think Elliott suspected, as did Mother, that Dad often confused Mozart with some other composer. Now Mozart is played without question and despite news on the radio and on television and even on your personal computer, The New York Times has the largest circulation in its history. And the station that was going to appeal to a few lovers of classical music reaches about three-quarters of a million listeners each week, serving its audience 24 hours a day. WQXR is a very robust 50. It is the leading classical music station in New York and in the nation. Its format has been imitated by other stations, but none has ever achieved WQXR's prominence. The Times Company is extremely proud of its accomplishments. And we are proud that WQXR and The New York Times Company are part of the same family. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Chairman and Chief Executive Officer THE MEN WHO PUT MUSIC IN THE AIR A mysterious interruption in the din of dots and dashes startled a wireless operator at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1908. It was the William Tell Overture. The music-lover responsible was John V. L. Hogan, assistant to radio pioneer Dr. Lee de Forest. They were working on an experimental radio telephone and the transmission wasn't intended to be heard by anyone else, least of all the United States Navy. Hogan's love for classical music emerged again in 1928 when he experimented with television. Few were equipped to pick up his pictures, but crystal set owners near his Long Island City laboratory were delighted with the sound. Over the next few years, Hogan's station, designated W2XR, became one of New York's favorites. In 1936, he joined with his old friend, Elliott M. Sanger, to give New Yorkers more of what so many had said they wanted. The transmitter power went from 250 to 1000 watts and the call letters changed to WQXR. On December 3,1936, they began regular broadcasting from 2:00 to 11:00 P.M. on weekdays and from 10:45 on Sunday mornings. The rest is history... . 5 TO 6 P M. t V f R V II \ V The first artist on W Q X R ' s staff of musicians was pianist Jascha Zayde, whose career lasted over 30 years. The man who chose records to play was Douglass MacKinnon (R), who also served as announcer for "Better Programs at The End of The Dial." 1936-1941 SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN THE AIR By 1936, radio had already captured America's imagination. Networks of stations were broadcasting soap operas; Amos 'n' Andy were providing an urgent reason for people to be at home on weekday evenings at seven. But Jack Hogan and Elliott Sanger felt strongly that radio's potential went beyond simple entertainment. "We decided to operate . . . more like a magazine or newspaper than a radio station," said Mr. Sanger. As W2XR the station had already proven it was an idea that could work, and when the station's call letters needed to be changed to meet the requirements of its new commercial license, they changed the " 2 " to "Q" because on the air they sounded almost the same. B refore WQXR was four months old, it was rated as the third most popular radio station in the New York area. Because the station's broadcast frequency was at the far end of the dial, WQXR advertised itself as "out beyond the Milky Way," an idea that attracted listeners searching for something different. They found something quite different. The station's signal was broadcast on a band twice (Clockwise from upper L) Abram Chasins began live interviews with important musicians, one of his many innovations as music director. Musicians on the staff included Hugo Fiorato, Jack Braunstein, Harry Glickman and Harvey Shapiro, the WQXR String Quartet. W Q XR news broadcaster Estelle Sternberger, shown here at an award presentation with Dr. Albert Einstein and Israel Matz. The New York Times Youth Forum, moderated by Dorothy Gordon, gave high school youngsters an opportunity to discuss and understand issues in the news. 1936-41 1 as wide as those assigned to others, allowing WQXR to boast that its music was heard in "high fidelity," a term that needed some explaining in the 1930's. In 1939, Edwin H. Armstrong, who invented FM broadcasting, chose WQXR as the source of his first broadcast. Five months later, Sanger and Hogan put New York's first FM station on the air. Its name was W2XQR. One of WQXR's first clients, Wanamaker's Department Store, paid its bills with phonograph records, which gave the station a running start toward building the largest music library in the country. A t the same time, WQXR was also building an impressive audience of sophisticated New Yorkers who considered themselves part of the "family," responding to a need for something different, for something WQXR's promotion called "radio for people who hate radio." Though Elliott Sanger had established a hard and fast rule never to say to the audience that WQXR's programming was either cultural or educational, it clearly had elements of both. Better still, it was stimulating as well as entertaining and obviously exactly & **** for J U E 1936 The station's program guide reached 65,000 a month by the mid- 1940's. A new transmitter helped broaden the audience as did live performances by the U.S. Naval Base band and others assembled by musical director Leon Barzin (L), and personalities such as Bill Strauss. 1936-41 what many New Yorkers had been longing for. The station's program guide, first published for underground listeners who had discovered W2XR, eventually became one of America's most widely-circulated music magazines. It also helped WQXR keep in touch with its listeners, who responded enthusiastically to questionnaires and who often supplied their unsolicited opinions. Among them was book publisher M. Lincoln Schuster, who said that to him WQXR was more than a broadcasting company . . . "a habit, a sanctuary and a way of life." The world was on its way to war in the late '30's, and radio was a source of news and commentary on world affairs. Once again, WQXR was ahead of the industry. Its team of news analysts included writer Quincy Howe. Through an arrangement with Time magazine, the station also presented a broadcast delivered by Westbrook Van Vorhees, who later narrated the famous March of Time films. WQXR in those days was not yet "The Radio Station of The New York Times," but then it wasn't at all uncommon to hear it called The New York Times of radio. The New England accent of Quincy Howe (upper R)first came to radio via W Q X R . It was 1 complemented by Alma Dettinger (Center), whose daily program discussed everything from books to politics. Lisa Sergio (R) helped listeners understand what was happening in those eventful years. And the entire staff helped raise funds to help the war's victims 1942-1945 When the United States became involved in the war, WQXR became deeply involved in the war effort. In addition to expanding its already broad schedule of news and commentary, the station began sponsoring special live concerts to help se more war bonds. Bennett Ce
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WNYC-FM
Identifier: 71573 (WNYC Media Archive Label)
Format: application/pdf
Color: Color
Duration: 35 p.
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- Citations
- Chicago: “WQXR; WQXR Anniversaries; WQXR at 50 : A pictorial history of WQXR's five decades as America's premier classical music radio station. ,” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 24, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-72p5jbvs.
- MLA: “WQXR; WQXR Anniversaries; WQXR at 50 : A pictorial history of WQXR's five decades as America's premier classical music radio station. .” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. June 24, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-72p5jbvs>.
- APA: WQXR; WQXR Anniversaries; WQXR at 50 : A pictorial history of WQXR's five decades as America's premier classical music radio station. . 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-80-72p5jbvs