With no signs of slowing down, iHeartMedia’s WOR-AM in New York City, will celebrate its 100th anniversary Tuesday, February 22nd. Here’s what the station has planned to commemorate the big day.
On Tuesday, Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning will kick off the tribute by interviewing on-air hosts from WOR’s history to share memories of their time at the station. WOR will also air audio of historic moments and invite listeners to call in with their favorite WOR recollections.
“For over 100 years, 710 WOR continues to remain one of the most trusted New York media brands and has kept generations of listeners informed with the latest stories and breaking news,” said Bernie Weiss, President iHeartMedia Multiplatform Group – New York.
“A station broadcasting for over a century is truly incredible,” said Tom Cuddy, PD. “710 WOR has a strong connection with the communities we serve, and as the media landscape continues to evolve, it’s exciting to see our reach has continued to grow as WOR listeners adopt streaming on smart devices and the iHeartRadio app.”
WOR played a significant role in my over half century career in broadcasting. The first time I worked at WOR was in 1966 when I was in school at Seton Hall University. It was my only non-on-air gig in New York radio. I was a board op engineer for WOR-AM and FM. I worked with Jean Shepard, Joe Franklyn, Barry Farber, John B Gambling and other hosts on FM such as Murry the K, Scott Muni & :Rosko as well at the AM staff announcers like announcers like Phil Tompkin and Freddie Manniis. Some 40 years later I would go on to replace the staff announcers as John R Gambling’s exclusive announcer and then I became the entire station’s imaging voice from 2008-2013.
WOR deserves to celebrate its heritage and its pioneering spirit. AM radio at its best, its clear overnight signal covered 38 US states back in the day when AM was king. I was a local college kid involved with our multi campus wide college radio stations at CUNY when we were given the opportunity to produce and host some of WOR’s weekend night talk shows when the late Barry Farber was running for political office and could not be on air. Even though Barry was politically conservative he did not flinch when we requested guests representing women’s liberation and anti Vietnam War sentiments. WOR gave us carte blanche and Barry’s staff helped us line up guests of our choosing with only modest vetting on WOR’s part. It was a very heady experience for us relatively inexperienced radio kids to be on WOR. We were so young looking we almost didn’t make it on air our first night! The night doorman at 1440 Broadway refused to let us into the building! Finally, as the clock approached midnight someone rang down from the studios to vouch for our authenticity.