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After Pearl Harbor: The Haunting WNYC Broadcasts

A crowd (with at least one member of the armed forces among them) gathers in Times Square after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, New York, New York, December 8, 1941.

WNYC was the first station in New York City to broadcast news of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. The commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard ordered all officers and men in the New York area to report at once to their ships, stations or yards. Mayor La Guardia also took to the airwaves to warn Japanese subjects in New York City to stay in their homes until the government could determine their "status."

More than 2,400 Americans died at Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declared war on Japan the next day.

WNYC's Pearl Harbor News Bulletin

 

Mayor LaGuardia's Pearl Harbor Address

 

Note: This web article has been revised to clarify that Mayor La Guardia ordered Japanese subjects in New York to stay in their homes, not Japanese New Yorkers.