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10 03, 2024

Episode 48: Dr. Alex Magoun and the IEEE History Center

By |2024-03-10T22:16:02+00:00March 10th, 2024|Radio, Television|Comments Off on Episode 48: Dr. Alex Magoun and the IEEE History Center

Dr. Alex Magoun is the outreach historian for the IEEE’s History Center (IEEE stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). On today’s episode, he gives us the history of the History Center and the organization’s drive to document and preserve the innovavtions and developments fostered by its members over the years.

Along the way we talk about engineers and inventors such as Philo Farnsworth, Edward Armstrong, and Vladimir Zworykin. We also discuss what drives innovation in technology, the public and commercial aspects of funding it, and the many organizations and individuals dedicated to preserving its unique history.

Additional Links:

20 11, 2023

Radio Tower 47: John Kannenberg and the Museum of Portable Sound

By |2023-11-20T01:36:59+00:00November 20th, 2023|Radio|Comments Off on Radio Tower 47: John Kannenberg and the Museum of Portable Sound

John Kannenberg is the man and the mind behind the Museum of Portable Sound. Based in Portsmouth, England, the Museum is actually found wherever John has his iPhone 4S. Visitors sit down with John, don their headphones, and enter the Museum by listening to the curated galleries of MP3s on the device.

We talk to John about the inspiration for this unique institution, how he keeps it running, and the implications for the presentation of radio history.

Additional Links

17 09, 2023

Radio Tower 46: Remembering Bob Lundquist

By |2023-09-17T20:24:07+00:00September 17th, 2023|Radio|Comments Off on Radio Tower 46: Remembering Bob Lundquist

We were saddened to learn of the passing of Bob Lundquist. Bob was a long-time member of the Long Island Radio & Television Historical Society who spent much of his professional life as an engineer at the RCA “Radio Central” facility in Rocky Point.

This interview between Bob and Connie Currie was recorded in 2015.

Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to Bob’s family and all who knew him.

7 06, 2023

Radio Tower 45: WW II Home Front on the Hudson

By |2023-06-07T02:24:46+00:00June 7th, 2023|Home Front|Comments Off on Radio Tower 45: WW II Home Front on the Hudson

We’re revisiting our Long Island Home Front oral history project! Although most of our interviews focused on people who experienced the years of World War II on Long Island, we also met a few current Long Island residents who, in the 1940s, were living nearby.

So today we’re bringing you excerpts of our talk with Jo Schenk Eichner. Born in Brooklyn, she was living in the Bronx when war broke out. In her oral history, she discusses her youth in a working class family of German immigrants living among the wealthy residents of Spuyten Duyvil. She also discusses shortages during the war, air raid drills, ships on the Hudson, and more.

Radio notes:

  • The Make Believe Ballroom was a musical program that debuted on New York’s WNEW in 1935.
  • Gabriel Heater was a Brooklyn-born radio commentator for WOR and the Mutual Network.

Links

13 03, 2023

Radio Tower #44: Nick Hirshon, WFAN, and the Nassau Coliseum

By |2023-03-13T23:33:48+00:00March 13th, 2023|Radio|Comments Off on Radio Tower #44: Nick Hirshon, WFAN, and the Nassau Coliseum

In the late 1980s, WFAN was on the rise as the first all-sports radio station in the country. They brought a fast-paced, rowdy style to the air, epitomized by the likes of Don Imus, Steve Somers, and Mike Francesa.

At the same time the New York Islanders, years past their glory days and playing in an aging barn of a stadium, found themselves on the wrong end of WFAN’s jokes. Imus, Somers, and Francesa mocked the team and the Nassau Coliseum mercilessly.

On today’s episode, Queens native and media historian Nick Hirshon describes his research into this moment in sports and communication history. We discuss the rise of WFAN, the struggles of the Islanders, and the importance of recovering radio (and Long Island) history.

Historian and journalism professor Nick Hirshon stands before a wall of books.

Historian and journalism professor Nick Hirshon.

Links

19 02, 2023

Radio Tower 43: Islip Radio History

By |2023-02-19T22:19:55+00:00February 19th, 2023|Radio|Comments Off on Radio Tower 43: Islip Radio History

 

Listen to LIRTVHS board member Connie Currie relate some of the radio-related stories and personalities from the town of Islip, Long Island. Including:

  • Edwin H. Armstrong in Bayport and Sayville
  • Norman Brokenshire in Lake Ronkonkoma
  • Clarence Mackay
  • WRST in Bay Shore – Suffolk County’s first radio station

 

Edward Armstrong from the Hope Pioneer, Sep 28, 1922.

Edward Armstrong from the Hope Pioneer, Sep 28, 1922.

Norman Brokenshire

Norman Brokenshire from the Indianapolis Times, Oct 25, 1926

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music via Pixabay including:

12 06, 2022

Radio Tower 42: Islip Living History Day

By |2022-06-12T14:43:36+00:00June 12th, 2022|Radio|Comments Off on Radio Tower 42: Islip Living History Day

We spent Sunday, June 11 at the Islip Grange in Sayville helping to celebrate Living History Day. It was a fun, exciting event that showcased a lot of the historical societies and related groups who are working to promote and preserve our local history.

While we were there, we took the opportunity to chat with our neighbors: the Friends of Connetquot, the Oakdale Historical Society, and the Sayville Historical Society. We caught up on what they’re doing and got to find out more about the role of radio in their own lives.

A rusted farming implement used to bunch asparagus for sale, sitting on the edge of a table.

Asparagus buncher from the Sayville Historical Society table.

The view from behind the LIRTVHS table showing open filed at Islip Grange in Sayville.

What we saw at Islip Living History Day.

Links

25 04, 2022

WUSB Radio at Stony Brook

By |2022-04-25T01:54:11+00:00April 25th, 2022|Radio|Comments Off on WUSB Radio at Stony Brook

 

Norm Prusslin came to Stony Brook in the late 1960s and was immediately drawn to the radio station. WUSB was then an AM station heard only in the dorms and building on campus. But there was music in the air, not the least of which was coming from the vibrant concerts given on campus by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, and others.

Thus began Norm’s long association with the station, which included its transition to the FM channel as well as a number of thorny issues before the FCC.

In this interview, Norm describes the growth of WUSB and what goes into the care and feeding of a college radio station.

Links

30 03, 2022

Radio Tower 40: Peter Kurz and the Marconi Patent

By |2022-03-30T03:01:20+00:00March 30th, 2022|Radio|Comments Off on Radio Tower 40: Peter Kurz and the Marconi Patent

1907 illustration of the figure of a man with images of ships at sea behind him with electric signals passing between them.

Article by Frank Fayant from Success Magazine. July 1907.

Peter Kurz is a patent attorney from Germany who fulfilled a lifelong dream by writing a technological thriller based in the early days of the radio industry. The Marconi-Patent weaves together historical events and people into a tale of intrigue, danger, and romance. What’s even better, it features the Telefunken transmission site in West Sayville!

On today’s episode we discuss Peter’s background and the state of radio circa 1914 when Britain was at war with Germany in Europe and the British Marconi Company was at war with the German Telefunken Company in a courtroom in New York.

Peter’s book is currently only available in German but he is working on an English translation so stay tuned!

Links:

1 03, 2022

Radio Tower 39: Talking with Judy Blitzer

By |2022-03-01T02:04:45+00:00March 1st, 2022|Radio|Comments Off on Radio Tower 39: Talking with Judy Blitzer

Today we talked with LIRTVHS member Judy Blitzer. Straight out of high school and Brooklyn she marched her way into a job at RCA at 60 Broad St. in downtown Manhattan.

What followed was a thirty-five year career working for John McKenna at RCA. Judy describes for us life at RCA, the intricacies of teletype machines, and how to meet the Pope.

Newspaper ad for RCA Radiograms from 1922

RCA handled international traffic for telegrams. From the NY Herald, Dec 12, 1922.

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