NYPR History Notes

NYPR Archives & Preservation
May 30, 2014 - Volume 13 Issue 20

Edition # 608

BROADCAST ON WNYC TODAY INâ€¦

1942: Professor Ephraim Cross, from the Department of Romantic Languages at City College, discusses language and the war for this edition of The Role of Science in War.

1951: On this episode of Plan for Survival, Bill Leonard and Col. Lawrence Wilkerson talk about the progress of civil defense. The men say we have a long way to go before we have a reasonable hope of meeting and beating an attacker,

1968: Patricia Marx interviews noted journalist David Schoenbrun, on his book Vietnam: How We Got In, How To Get Out. Schoenbrun goes into great detail as to how the United States can bring an end to the Vietnam War through peace talks. But he is pessimistic because the U.S. government does not want to appear to have lost the war.

2003: The Next Big Thing features the work of latter day alchemists who turn speech into music and stolen goods into cold hard cash. Also, tales of the transformative power of train-hopping.

WNYC Founder and Snappy Dresser

Grover Aloysius Whalen, the man who fought for and founded WNYC. More on this David and Goliath story from the dawn of the radio age at: GROVER! (WNYC Archive Collections)

LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS

Programming Changes for 1947!

"WNYC, the city-owned station, undergoes a midnight change in program policy today with the introduction of a disc jockey show to be heard for 90 minutes across the board, two hours weekly devoted to shows for children and a two-hour show each Monday devoted to a Women's Magazine of the Air. The revamp of the schedule, however, includes a sizeable expansion of the serious music the station has dwelt upon for some time.

"The disc jockey show, titled Disc Date will be heard from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and will feature ballads and sweet music with a 'soupÃ§on' of swing. The program will be in the nature of an experiment since it may show whether the station's present audience for good music will stay tuned for the popular diet, and also if it can attract fans from other stations since obviously there will be no commercials."

Source: Radio Daily, "WNYC Revamps Programs Adds Disc-Jockey Show," July, 1947.

WNYC first day of broadcast, July 8th, 1924
(Municipal Archives Collection)

WQXR - 'Long Reads' from WWII

Emery Deutsch Presents Gypsy Music

"Since the radio audience has accepted several other types of disc jockey programs, there is no reason to doubt that it will absorb another--a jockey of gypsy music platters. The program should be even more acceptable to longhairs and semi-longhairs, inasmuch as it has Emery Deutsch, well-known composer and violinist, spinning the discs...Deutsch has a deep, attractive voice and speaks in cultured accents, bound to be pleasing to the audience at which this show is directed...

"In this show, Deutsch aired eight discs with very brief comment on the music and its origin. Aside from the gypsy music, there was little difference from a regular WQXR musical program. Those who like gypsy will listen anyway, but Deutsch can attract a much greater audience if he brings in the behind-the-scene info. The sooner he does so, the better."

Source: Radio reviewer George Berkowitz, writing in Billboard, September 20, 1947, pg. 25.

WNYC's 90th year of broadcasting is upon us. (The actual anniversary is this July 8th.) In this space we'll be linking to various WNYC champions and milestones. This week: Going Public: The Story of WNYC's Journey to Independence.

Recently Senior Archivist Marcos Sueiro Bal attended the annual meeting of ARSC, the Association for Recorded Sound Collections meeting in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Marcos is Co-chair of the technical committee, which held a special pre-conference workshop of proper tape playback.
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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)

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Check out the @mayorlaguardia Twitter feed straight from the WNYC broadcasts! His Honor now has 540 followers.

The WNYC Archives is on Twitter with 2,004 followers @wnycarchives. We tweet daily reminders of, and links to, WNYC broadcasts from that day in the past.

Weâ€™ve got a Tumblr page too! More than 9,100 followers. Check it out at:

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WNYC Archives in theâ€¦