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NYPR Archives & Preservation
November 22, 2013 - Volume 12  Issue 45
Edition # 583
BROADCAST ON WNYC TODAY IN…

1939: Mayor La Guardia and May Vladeck Bromberg speak at the Dedication of the Vladeck houses on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

1955:Chester Bowles, A.C. Spectorsky, and Guthrie McClintic address The New York Herald Tribune Book and Authors Luncheon.

1963: Wires from Dallas on the death of President Kennedy.

1973: Mimi Poser discusses the Winston/Malbin Collection at the Guggenheim with Barnett Malbin, Lydia Winston Malbin and Linda Shearer on this episode of Round and About the Guggenheim.

1980: Symphony Space presensets Wall-to-Wall Aaron Copland.

1991: The Tan Dun Ensemble performs for Around New York.

2006: Brian Lehrer discusses the psychology of venting and road rage for this edition of the Brian Lehrer Show.
Latest Acquisition to the WQXR Archive Collections

Pictured below is a W2XR/WQXR audio amplifier/mixer for remote broadcasts. The unit was originally designed by Alfred W. Barber and built by Russell Valentine in the mid 1930s at Radio Inventions, Inc. Radio Inventions was owned by W2XR/WQXR President John V. L. Hogan and built nearly all of the station's equipment at the time. Valentine rebuilt the unit in May, 1943.

The device contains three 50 ohm microphone inputs and one 200 ohm input, each with its own level control, as well as a master control. It has 500 ohm telephone line (line level), and headphone outputs. The chassis includes six 1609 tubes-four in circuit. It also has three UTC audio transformers: one type MA-100X, one type HA-113, and 1 type A-20.The device contains five General Radio potentiometers: three 50 ohm type MA, one 200 ohm type MB, and one 200K ohm/3db-per-step type 642-D. There is a hand-drawn schematic under the lid of its carrying case.

LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS


Major Armstrong, WNYC and WQXR
 
"It was discovered that [Major Edwin] Armstrong had been paying out some $1,500 per month for years in high-fidelity wire charges between Washington and New York to keep some "live" FM programs, such as the Library of Congress' chamber music series, coming into the New York area over WNYC and his own Alpine station via the foundering FM Continental Network, which had to cease operations at his death…FM stations were rising on all sides. In quick order, WQXR in New York, WHAM in Rochester, WTMJ in Milwaukee, WMCR in Washington and WBNS in Columbus added FM to their broadcasting services. Armstrong gave WQXR— 'The Good Music Station' founded and operated by his old friend John V. L. Hogan—its first FM transmitter to make it the first commercial FM station in New York…"

Source: Lessing, Lawrence. Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard Armstrong. Philadelphia, Pa., and New York: J.B. Lipincott, 1956. pgs. 247, 301 and 302.
WNYC First day of broadcast, July 8th, 1924. 
(Municipal Archives Collection).

       WQXR at 75

          (2 Years Ago)
 
What Papah D' Ya Read?

In 1943 WQXR surveyed its listeners about their reading habits. Not surprisingly, half of them read The New York Times followed by 27% for The New York Herald Tribune as their morning papers.

Evening reading was more of a toss-up with 26.5% and 24.4% of listeners going for The New York Sun and New York World-Telegram respectively. Life and The Saturday Evening Post topped the list for weekly magazines. Reader's Digest, National Geographic and Harper's lead the monthlies.

Source: WQXR survey papers, WQXR Archive Collections.
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90

WNYC's 90th year of broadcasting is upon us. (The actual anniversary is next July 8th.) In this space we'll be linking to various WNYC champions and milestones. This week: Gladys M. Petch and The Fight Against the Nazi Occupation of Norway.

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Released this week on the web: Film and theater critic John Simon in 1968 with host Patricia Marx.

In the February, 1943 WQXR Program Guide  the British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham reveals himself as a male chauvinist. See for yourself in his essay: The Position of Women in Music.

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Today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  From the WQXR Archive Collections we have Erich Leinsdorf's impromptu requiem for JFK from that day. Then, there's Sara Fishko's thought-provoking take on the event: JKF/TV.  In addition, we've found this unusual and poignant recording for the blind and visually impaired produced days after the event: Mind's Eye View of the News and there is archive supplied material scheduled for today's Soundcheck : topical blues on the death of President Kennedy.

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In case you missed these archive postings: The anniversary of Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook" speech and as we watch the transformation of 5 Points in Queens, some classic Ed Koch on graffiti.

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The WNYC Facebook page has a station timeline (1922-present) with more than 607 milestones, photos, and links to audio. (Right hand column)

We're also working on the WQXR Facebook timeline. (1929 - present)

Do your friends want to subscribe to this newsletter? Have them sign up at: NEWSLETTERS.


Check out the @mayorlaguardia Twitter feed straight from the WNYC broadcasts! His Honor now has 497 followers.

The WNYC Archives is on Twitter with 1,550 followers @wnycarchives. We tweet daily reminders of, and links to, WNYC broadcasts from that day in the past.
 
We’ve got a Tumblr page too! More than 7,200 followers. Check it out at:
 
WNYC Archives in the…
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