08th Jul 2004
Happy Birthday WNYC
Regular Bruner Blog readers know that I’m a junkie for NY’s excellent public radio station WNYC. Program hosts Brian Lehrer and Leonard Lopate, during the brief chat they exchange each noon as Lehrer’s program hands over to Lopate’s, noted that today is the station’s 80-year anniversary.
Strangely, the claim of this being the station’s birthday is not consistent with what it says on the About WNYC web page:
WNYC AM 820 is one of the oldest radio stations in America, having been established on June 2, 1922, six months before the BBC opened its doors in London, while WNYC 93.9 FM, New York’s only non-commercial classical music station, signed on in 1943.
Whatever. Happy Birthday anyway!
UPDATE: I just got an email from someone at the Leonard Lopate Show’s return email address (I once before got an email from Lopate himself to a question I wrote, but this email was unsigned, so it might have been from a producer or whomever), which reads:
People and institutions can have many anniversaries. Do you celebrate when you met, the first date or when you got married? WNYC went on the air for the first time on July 8, 1924.
FURTHER UPDATE:
Just to be really pedantic about this, I got another email from WNYC:
Thank you for your interest in WNYC!!On WNYC’s History page, written by our archivist, you will find more information on our July 8th birthday, just visit the following link: http://www.wnyc.org/about/history.html
Getting on the air took two more years and a few hurdles to jump in the process. For one, transmitters were not readily available. After some searching Whalen found a second-hand one in Brazil that had been used for that country’s Centennial celebration. They shipped it north and on July 8th 1924 WNYC began broadcasting at 570 A.M. In battle with other stations and the FCC the frequency shifted over the years to 810 A.M., 830 A.M. and finally to its present location at 820 A.M.
I hope this helps! Thanks for listening to WNYC!
Kind Regards,
Lorraine Mattox
WNYC Listener Services
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where can I find those WNYC letters? what building is that picture from? I too, am a big fan of WNYC.
Anise,
I’m not sure what “letters” you refer to? I’ve republished emails here, is that what you mean? Or do you mean the letters on the picture? The picture, anyway, I just copied from WNYC’s web site on the page I link to above. I’m not sure whether that’s a historic building of theirs or their current one. You’ll just have to go down to TRIBECA where their offices are and see for yourself.