Photoville 2024: 100 Years of WNYC

“100 Years of WNYC” was part of Photoville 2024, an annual photography showcase located in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

From 1924 until 1997, WNYC Radio was owned and operated by the City of New York as the Municipal Broadcasting Station for “Instruction, Enlightenment, and Entertainment.” WNYC turns 100 this year, and its history is intimately tied with not just City government, but the NYC Municipal Archives. From the very first broadcast on July 8, 1924, photographed by Eugene de Salignac, to recent collaborative grants to digitize historic broadcasts housed in the Municipal Archives, this exhibit will use archival photographs, ephemera, and audio clips to celebrate WNYC’s history and importance to the City of New York. John Glenn and John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Josephine Baker and Bob Dylan, astronauts and politicians, artists, musicians, and poets all made appearances on WNYC. The founder of the Municipal Archives, librarian Rebecca Rankin, even had her own radio program on WNYC.

The exhibit consisted of 4 panels showing 25 years of history each, accompanied by an audio medley, presented below.

WNYC, 1924-1949

WNYC, 1950-1974

WNYC, 1975-1999

WNYC, 2000-2024

100 Years of WNYC, Audio medley, list of clips

  1. Re-enactment of first 1924 WNYC broadcast, 1948

  2. Sweet Georgia Brown, Ben Bernie and His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra, 1925

  3. Col. Lindbergh Tickertape Parade Reception, June 13, 1927

  4. Emergency Relief Committee Orchestra, 1931

  5. Station sign-off, December 1931

  6. Rebecca Rankin, Municipal Librarian, 1938

  7. News broadcast, 1938

  8. World’s Fair station ID, 1939

  9. Pearl Harbor attack broadcast, December 7, 1941

  10. Mayor La Guardia war-time Talk to the People, January 2, 1944

  11. Mayor LaGuardia reads the comics during newspaper strike, July 8, 1945

  12. Audio from City of Magic, WNYC-TV/Film, 1949

  13. AM and FM Station ID, January 11, 1950

  14. Bert the Turtle, Duck and Cover, ca. 1952

  15. Audio from This is the Municipal Broadcasting System, WNYC-TV/Film, 1953

  16. Eleanor Roosevelt DJs Elvis Presley’s song Ready Teddy, February 6, 1957

  17. Last run of the 3rd Avenue El, May 12, 1955

  18. Footloose in Greenwich Village, May 6, 1960

  19. Bob Dylan’s first radio appearance, October 29, 1961

  20. John Glenn, first American to orbit the earth, February 20, 1962

  21. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Gulf of Tonkin announcement, August 4, 1964

  22. Martin Luther King, Jr. welcome at City Hall, December 17, 1964

  23. Station ID, 1963

  24. Diane Arbus, interviewed for Viewpoints of Women by Richard Pyatt, September 2, 1971

  25. Shirley Chisholm announces run for presidency, January 25, 1972

  26. WNYC Golden Anniversary, Mayor Abraham D. Beame reading proclamation, July 8, 1974

  27. Mayor Ed Koch town hall in Jackson Heights, June 1, 1979

  28. Transit Strike, April 3, 1980

  29. “Voices of Disarmament” rally, June 14, 1982

  30. Vito Russo’s Our Time: Episode 1 - Lesbian & Gay History, February 16, 1983

  31. Philip Glass interviewed on New Sounds by John Schaefer, January 6, 1985

  32. ACT UP demonstration at City Hall, Andy Lanset reporting, March 28, 1989

  33. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, August 30, 1987

  34. Mayor David N. Dinkins and Nelson Mandela in New York, June 20, 1990

  35. Snap!, The Power, Video Music Box with Ralph McDaniels, WNYC-TV, September 14, 1990

  36. Audio from Heart of the City with John F. Kennedy, Jr., March 2, 1994

  37. WNYC Independence Celebration, January 27, 1997

  38. Kurt Vonnegut, Reporter for the Afterlife, 1998

  39. World Trade Center montage, September 11, 2001

  40. Brooke Gladstone, On the Media, December 20, 2002

  41. Blackout announcement, August 14, 2003

  42. David Garland, NYPR takeover of WQXR, October 8, 2009

  43. RadioLab intro, February 20, 2010

  44. John Schaefer, Soundcheck live from The Greene Space, December 15, 2011

  45. Hurricane Sandy aircheck, October 29, 2012

  46. Brian Lehrer Show, first broadcast from his apartment due to COVID-19, March 16, 2020

  47. Protests, September 4, 2020

  48. All of It, Allison Stewart, October 21, 2021

  49. New Yorker Radio Hour, May 11, 2024

  50. Notes From America with Kai Wright, May 19, 2024

  51. Morning Edition, Michael Hill with Andy Lanset on the Anniversary of WNYC, July 8, 2023

This exhibit was curated by Michael Lorenzini of the NYC Municipal Archives and Andy Lanset of the New York Public Radio Archives. WNYC audio and WNYC-TV/Film collections are available from the NYC Municipal Archives and from the New York Public Radio Archive.

To learn more about WNYC’s history, follow Andy Lanset’s New York Public Radio History Notes Newsletter.