The Desk Set

WNYC Year in Review

Dec 30

Haley & EmilyFrom Our Guest Bloggers No Comments

"Merrymakers in New Year Saturnalia" Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York

As the year draws to an end, we  devote our last installment here at the Desk Set to a look back at some of our favorite aural discoveries made since our project began. Last week, Haley highlighted our very beloved Mayor La Guardia, and this week I will point you to some of our other gems.

We start with the very first audio we posted to our blog, Annotations. This post, titled “Eisenhower Salutes!” features two short excerpts from the three-hour coverage of the Eisenhower Day Parade celebrating General Eisenhower’s return to the United States  following the May 7 surrender of German forces. On June 19, 1945, four million New Yorkers gathered in the rain to welcome General Eisenhower to New York. Listen to the palpable excitement of the crowds gathered along Fifth Avenue waiting to catch a glimpse of the American hero.

Many of our favorite pieces brought to light important historical figures and movements we previously didn’t know about. The heroic story of the Four Chaplains of the USAT Dorchester, and the successful passing of the landmark Ives-Quinn Anti-Discrimination Bill are just two such examples.

Not all of our favorites are serious. In fact, many of our most loved artifacts are rather silly. Thanks to the youth-oriented radio featured on WNYC in the 1940s and 50s we have such hits as “Television (In My House)” from The Junior Journal program and “Please No Squeeze the Banana” courtesy of the Pals of the P.A.L., not to mention our very favorite water conservation jingle, which reminds listeners that “Water is precious as gold today, and no one ever throws gold away!”

We’d like to extend a special thanks to The Desk Set for letting us share the WNYC collection with you and wish everyone a very happy New Year! Follow our finds over at Annotations and don’t miss out on Mayor La Guardia’s wisdom on Twitter. Also, keep an eye out for our forthcoming WNYC online collections portal!

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection.