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NYPR Archives & Preservation
July 4, 2014 - Volume 13  Issue 25
Edition # 613

BROADCAST ON WNYC TODAY IN…

1945: Humorist 'Senator' Ed Ford reads the funny papers on The Comic Parade during the newspaper delivermen's strike. He reads Blondie, LIttle Annie Rooney, Joe Palooka, Bringing  Up Father, Mickey Finn, Skippy, Tillie the Toiler, L'il Abner, Dick Tracy, and Terry and the Pirates.
 Brooklyn Tower of Power
 
One of our two 304-foot Greenpoint, Brooklyn transmitting towers, as viewed from the base looking up, by photographer and former WNYC Engineer Alfred Tropea in the early 1980s. The towers were state-of-the-art when they went into operation in 1937. Listing, the towers were taken down about 15 years ago. (WNYC Archive Collections).

LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS

 
 WNYC's First Staff
 
90 years ago this month WNYC's first employees were assembled and prepared to get to work. The Sun newspaper reporterd, "The new personnel of the new municipal broadcasting station WNYC will consist of seventeen persons, including three women as clerks and stenographers..." The annual payroll  totaled $42,840. Below are their names, titles and salaries.

Raymond Asserson - Radio Engineer-$5,000
Christie R. Bohnsack - Program Director - $4,000
Roger B. Lunn- Asst. Program Director - $3,000
Thomas Cowan -Broadcasting Supervisor - $3,000
Herman F. Neuman - Announcer - $2,700
George F. Oliver - Announcer - $2,700
Harry E. Hiller - Announcer - $2,700
Bert L. Davies - Public Address Operator - $2,400
Frank Orth, Jr. - Public Address Operator - $2,400
Isaac Brimberg -Public Address Operator - $2,400
Joseph A. Bryan - Radio Operator - $2,100
George E. Wilbicon - Radio Operator -$1,800
To Be Filled - Radio Operator - $1,800
Mildred M. Kelly - Clerk - $2,160
Matthew E. Brown - Messenger - $1,560
Edna L. Broadhurst - Stenographer - $1,560
Elfrieda Wilhelm - Stenographer - $1,560
 

 
The Victor Stabin WNYC Triptych
 outside the Archive Offices
WNYC first day of broadcast, July 8th, 1924
(Municipal Archives Collection)

  WQXR - 'Long Reads' from WWII

 
Long Before the '7 Dirty Words'
 
"I have always understood that the use of cuss words on the radio is not allowed except  when used poetically. I should like to be advised on the use of American folk songs which are on recordings from which we broadcast some of our musical programs. The first of the two songs I have in mind is Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill which is a  United States folk song of Irish extraction...

"The other song is an American one from Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag which he has recorded himself. This is the Gallows Song...I should appreciate your advising me about broadcasting such pieces, which to me, are fine songs, excellent examples of indigenous American music..."

Editors note: At issue was the use of "hell" and "God damn."

Excerpt of a letter from WQXR Musical Program Director Douglas A. MacKinnon to the Federal Communications Commission, February 21, 1941. Douglas MacKinnon Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
 
 
90
 
WNYC's 90th year of broadcasting is upon us. (The actual anniversary is next Tuesday, July 8th.) In this space we'll be linking to various WNYC champions and milestones. This week: The 90th Anniversary Cluster!

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

The WNYC Archives is on Twitter with 2,060 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 9,100 followers. Check it out at:
 
WNYC Archives in the…
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