WNYC is lighting up the Empire State Building to celebrate 100 years on the air
WNYC has been on the airwaves for 100 years this year and to celebrate, it’s lighting the Empire State Building red and throwing a months-long slate of live events, on-air programming, public art and city-wide storytelling!
When it launched in 1924, NYC had only been officially five boroughs for 25 years. According to the radio station, it was City Commissioner Grover Whalen who came up with the idea of a municipal radio station for all the boroughs. Since then WNYC has become an independent media organization we all love (you can see it on our tote bags and mugs) for its innovative coverage of the city’s news and culture.
“WNYC commenced in 1924 with an ambitious task: to unite a city and be ‘the voice of New York’,” said Timothy Wilkins, Chair of the New York Public Radio Board of Trustees. “We enter a new century embracing the challenge of reflecting the voices of all New Yorkers—across our local reporting, live radio shows and podcasts, and coverage of the culture and communities we serve. WNYC’s extraordinary transformation was driven through the support of New Yorkers and members who believe in our mission. It is with tremendous gratitude for the engagement, participation, and generosity of our listener community that we step forward into the next 100 years.”
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At 8:30pm on July 8, the Empire State Building, an icon of NYC itself, will light up in red (the station’s signature color) as Brian Lehrer throws an on-air birthday party with WNYC’s Archivist Andy Lanset, who will play audio clips from across WNYC history. During this time you can call in with your own WNYC memory and b-day wishes. WNYC says to expect “a few surprise guests and notable New Yorkers!”
Then, starting at 8:54pm, the exact time WNYC went on air in 1924, there will be a creative reenacting of the station’s first broadcast by Brooke Gladstone (host of On the Media) and John Schaefer (host of New Sounds) and other special guests, including Tony Award-winning actress Sarah Jones. Grammy winner and founder of The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Arturo O’Farrill, and an ensemble of musicians and singer Lucía Gutiérrez Rebolloso will perform his new arrangements of musical selections from the 1924 broadcast. Two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges will perform the national anthem, too.
Following the kick-off, WNYC will air gems from its archives and collect New Yorkers’ audio stories. It’ll also release a special centennial collection of covers of songs from the 1920s from artists including Rhiannon Giddens, They Might Be Giants, and Rosanne Cash alongside some listener submissions. To celebrate the release, there will be a special outdoor concert presented with St. Ann’s Warehouse pegged to the 100th anniversary of “Rhapsody in Blue.”
The station will also unveil a public art project inspired by the 100 years of WNYC from artist Katie Merz on The Greene Space’s street-facing windows.
Finally, in September, Brian Lehrer and other WNYC hosts from On the Media, New Sounds, and This American Life and special guests like Freestyle Love Supreme and mxmtoon will host a variety show at Central Park’s SummerStage Festival.
It’ll hold a special gala on November 19 at The Glasshouse—cocktail hour, seated dinner, and an after-party for younger New Yorkers with special performances and speakers from across New York Public Radio’s programs.
You can find out more here. But below is the full rundown.
Happy Birthday, WNYC!
100 Years of WNYC: A Centennial Celebration
Happy Birthday WNYC!
An on-air celebration, hosted by Brian Lehrer, on July 8, at 7pm (on WNYC 93.FM and AM 820)
- Re-imagining of WNYC’s inaugural broadcast, 8:52-10pm (on WNYC 93. FM and AM 820 and live on stage in The Greene Space)
- The Empire State Building Lighting, approximately 8:30pm.
“From the Archives” Audio Spots
(July 8 - ongoing)
Past and present WNYC staff Sara Fishko, Latif Nasser, and Stevan Smith will take listeners on a tour of key moments from the WNYC and NYC Municipal archives, starting with WNYC’s oldest surviving piece of audio – Charles Lindbergh from 1927. Other selections include press conferences, events, and interviews with Jack Kerouac (1958), Bob Dylan (1961), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1964), Martin Scorsese (1970), Gloria Steinem (1982), and Barack Obama (2007). Listeners will also hear key historic news reports that aired on WNYC, including the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor (1941), a broadcast of a town hall meeting on the Atom Bomb (1951), and WNYC journalists running toward the Twin Towers to report
Public Art for Public Radio: A Katie Merz Art Installation
(ongoing)
Acclaimed multidisciplinary artist and lifelong New Yorker Katie Merz is best known for her
contemporary large-scale murals on urban building exteriors and in public spaces. A passionate public radio fan whose work also includes NPR and WNYC host portraits, Merz will create a public art piece on the street-facing windows of The Greene Space, inspired by a century of stories that define our city and listeners’ contributions of what is iconally New York.
“Your New York Stories” – an audio storytelling initiative
(July 8 - ongoing)
Starting July 8 through the end of the year, listeners are invited to join the New York conversation and share their own tales of this messy, complex and beautiful city. Participants will be able to record their stories online at wnyc.org/100, at WNYC Centennial events, and at select partner organizations across the five boroughs. Select stories will be shared on-air on WNYC, online, and 9on our social channels.
100 Years of 100 Things with Brian Lehrer (July 8 - ongoing)
On his regular weekday show (10am-noon M-F), Brian debuts a new series that takes listeners through a century’s worth of history of things that shape our politics, our lives, and our world. First up, 100 Years of WNYC! Additional topics will include everything from immigration policy to political conventions, American capitalism to American socialism, the Jersey Shore to the Catskills, baseball to ice cream.
All of It’s “Public Song Project”
All of It’s “Public Song Project” is an open invitation for New Yorkers to engage and explore American cultural history by recording new versions of music that has recently entered the public domain. This year, in honor of WNYC’s Centennial, All of It invited listeners and special musical guests to focus on their own renditions of songs from the 1920s. A panel of judges including Lincoln Center’s Chief Artistic Officer Shanta Thake, WNYC’s John Schaefer, and Switched on Pop podcast host Charlie Harding will select the top entries to play on air.
The People’s Concert at Lincoln Center
Saturday, July 20 at 6pm
All of It listeners will get a shot at performing their submissions on-stage along with award-winning interpreter of Black folk music Jay Blount at The People’s Concert at Lincoln Center, presented as part of Civic Saturdays.
Rhapsody for This Land: The American Odyssey
Saturday, July 27 at 6pm
WNYC and St. Ann’s Warehouse will present “Rhapsody for This Land: The American Odyssey” in Music, a free concert in Brooklyn Bridge Park that celebrates a century of hope, protest and change as expressed through American music. “Rhapsody for This Land” will feature renowned pianist Lara Downes performing her exuberant new project, “Rhapsody in Blue Reimagined,” created to mark the centennial this year of Gershwin’s landmark composition. The concert will also feature performances by other acclaimed artists spanning a broad range of genres and traditions including Christian McBride, Rosanne Cash, Arturo O’Farrill, Time for Three, and the Orchestra Elena under Aram Demirjian. WNYC will broadcast the concert live, and All of It’s Alison Stewart will host.
Central Park SummerStage
September 9
Join Brian Lehrer for a live radio broadcast from Central Park! The evening will include some of the most beloved voices you’ve heard on the air and a lineup of comedy, music, trivia, and more. Featuring performances by Freestyle Love Supreme and mxmtoon, a DJ set by Donwill, and segments with WNYC’s All Things Considered host Sean Carlson, On the Media’s Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger, All o>It’s Alison Stewart, This American Life’s Ira Glass, New Sounds’’ John Schaefer, and storytelling from The Moth. Other guests to be announced - plus a few surprise guests you’ll have to be there to hear!
New York Public Radio’s Centennial Gala
Tuesday, November 19
New York Public Radio hosts its annual Gala honoring its work and the generosity of those who support it. This year’s event will be held at The Glasshouse and includes cocktail hour, seated dinner, and an amplified after-party for young New Yorkers, all to celebrate a century of public service journalism and usher WNYC into its next 100 years. The program will feature special performances and speakers from across New York.
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