Tad Friend in
The New Yorker's Talk of the Town section on March 7, 1994 highlighted Curtis Sliwa's controversial WNYC program and closed with the following:
"...At two o'clock, Jo Ann Allen began reading the news: "A most unwelcome guest is paying a visit to New York this afternoon." She was talking about the snowstorm, but in the control room Amy Pearl, the producer of
New York Beat, slyly murmured, "Curtis Sliwa." Mr. Sliwa's job is tough, Ms. Pearl went on to say, as Mr. Sliwa began talking his on-air talk. "The challenge is reconciling his personality--a bombastic straight-talking, conservative populist who's got his hands in every paint pot in the borough--with this station. The WNYC audience." --she made a la-di-da face. "Well, I screen calls here, and the people say, 'Curtis makes me sick!' and 'He can't speak the Queen's English' and 'What's next, Howard Stern?' WNYC is, like, if they're going to do a program on hate, they go and read the latest book on hate and talk in-depth about how it affects people in the workplace, or whatever. Whereas, Curtis is visceral: 'The hate...is...bad.' " She had his Canarsie inflections down pat."
Editor's Note: WNYC President
Thomas B. Morgan's most controversial act was the hiring of Curtis Sliwa as a program host in January, 1994. Critics charged he was pressured to hire the Guardian Angels founder by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who often agreed with Sliwa's efforts at a populist persona. Morgan, however, denied the charge, saying he was acting on "a hiring tip" and that Sliwa's contract ran only to December, providing an "out" should things prove unworkable. The real threat, said Morgan, was the Giuliani Administration's threat to sell WNYC.
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WWII era essays from WQXR Program Guide -words of wisdom from Copland, Templeton, Barbirolli, Beecham, Barzin and others.
