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NYPR Archives & Preservation
November 11, 2016 - Volume 15  Issue 46
Edition # 735


BROADCAST ON WNYC TODAY IN…
 
1945: Mayor F. H. La Guardia "on this 89th day of a new world," attacks 'the lying press,' i.e. The New York Journal American. He also goes into great detail about the events that brought about World War I.

1952: Mayor Vincent Impellitteri and Manhattan Borough President Robert F. Wagner speak at Armistice Day ceremonies.

1964: Geulah Cohen, broadcaster and member of the Stern Gang which fought the British occupation of Palestine, talks about the cause of Israeli independence and her book before the Overseas Press Club.

2001: The Next Big Thing goes behind closed doors to talk with a woman who's made the study of death her life's work. Roberta Halporn, of the Brooklyn Center for Thanatology, takes Dean Olsher on a tour of Greenwood Cemetery.

Mayor James J. Walker delivering his Armistice Day speech over WNYC, November 11, 1927 at the Eternal Light Memorial in Madison Square Park. The 'Great War' (World War I) had ended only nine years earlier and was still very much in the minds of Americans. (Phoro: Acme News Photo/WNYC Archive Collections)

Back-handed praise from the New York Post

 
"This is a brief for amateurism, for fumblers and bumblers, for the organized failures of this world. The voice of amateurism around our house usually comes from radio station WNYC, a kind of monument to non-professionalism in a professional milieu…I remember one announcer we used to call The Groaner, and another The Voice of the Turtle, and another The Tongue Tied One--the names of foreign composers gave him fits…In the evening, WNYC was always signing off when all other stations were just getting into their prime--like a child who is hustled off to bed before the party guests arrive…

…Or just when we'd be warming up to the 'Midday Symphony,' they would interrupt to bring us a complete broadcast of the latest window repair ceremonies at City Hall or the annual merit award presentations of the Dept. of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity. The announcers were always apologetic about it, but after all, WNYC is your city station. They're still bumbling along there in their amiable exasperating way…But I'm not complaining, WNYC is almost the last station where you can find any human failings. This brings it a lot closer to my head, heart and bones than those great monsters of omniscience known as 'the networks' could ever be."

 Excerpt from: Gelman, David, "The Human Sound," The New York Post, March 20, 1962.
 
WNYC first day of broadcast, July 8, 1924 (Municipal Archives Collection)

December 3, 2016 will be WQXR's 80th anniversary. Throughout this anniversary year we've been revisiting a variety of interviews with great artists appearing at the station. In 1985 Bob Sherman spoke with Mstislav Rostropovich about the tenth anniversary of his debut as a conductor in the United States.

In this broadcast we hear several Rostropovich recordings with the National Symphony, where he has been the music director for eight seasons. Bob introduces the episode with a recording of one of Rostropovich's cello performances, the finale of the Brahms Sonata in F Major.
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An April 1 posting some years ago....
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WNYC celebrated its 92nd anniversary this past July. Just think, less than 8 short years to the big centennial. In this space we'll be linking to various historical WNYC champions, broadcasts and milestones celebrating nearly a century on the air in the public interest. This week: A Veterans Day Documentary - The Smedley D. Butler Story from 1989.
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This week's NEH-funded Annotations blog series features: Darlington Hoopes for President!
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Interested in revisiting some of the 734 previous issues of The New York Public Radio History Notes? We've filled a page with links since June 2013. See: History Notes.
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The WNYC Archives is on Twitter with 2,995 followers @wnycarchives. We tweet regular reminders of, and links to, WNYC broadcasts from that day in the past.
 
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