
WNYC 30th Anniversary Special: Robert Moses and Robert Wagner

( WNYC Archives )
This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.
Two speeches presented as part of WNYC's 30th anniversary coverage.
First is a speech (originally recorded 1954-06-28) by Robert Moses, Park Commissioner and Construction Coordinator, in front of the National Education Association, talking about New York City. His speech is addressed to conference-goers who appreciate travel; he strays from singing praises to NYC's business and commerce development. Instead, he lists the attractions for history-loving tourists in the city: food, parks, ancestral homes of famous literarians, memorials, tenements.
"We aim to rebuild New York, saving what is still durable, what is salvageable, and what is genuinely historical in substituting progress for obsolescence. We don't believe big cities are dated. At any rate, New York is not."
Talks about New York City's reputation in the rest of the country and abroad.
"Come again. Come often. Our city has many gates. The latch is out for you at all times. Tell us what you think of us. We need it and shall take it in good stead."
Second is a speech (originally recorded 1954-07-06) by Mayor Robert Wagner given on the occasion of a 30th Anniversary concert for WNYC in Battery Park. Wagner gives a brief history of the station and its accomplishments. Update on WNYC television channel.
Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection
WNYC archives id: 72258
Municipal archives id: LT2849
This is a machine-generated transcript. Text is unformatted and may contain errors.
We are pleased to bring you a special transcribed talk delivered a week ago before the National Education Association by the Honorable Robert Moses New York City Park commissioner construction coordinator and member of the New York City Planning Commission Mr Moses is eminently qualified to speak on his topic New York members of the National Education Association now that male Wagner has graciously welcomed you and we all expressed his happiness in your coming alerted the city and in the classical words of the diplomas offered you its privileges and immunities there's not much left for me to say but was vocalist given an opportunity to sound off in Madison Square Garden the circus having to pardon was evident turned by the lack of a theme of the absence of a great Macedonian cry from the audience at this feast of reason. I would much rather preceded than follow the main speaker. Dinners However the festive clam the jelly and Madura laying on the marinated herring abalone but stimulating office to Hong relishes are not to be confused with the isle of the on for a all the roast lay with the appetite for the main course and in that almost spirit I approach the banquet I along the mixed motives which draw members of a great society like yours to conventions must be ranked the desire to travel and see new regions I shall not attempt to classify the other approaches angles and gimmicks as they're called in the trade which are supposed to lure you to this or that of the big city. As educators familiar with the limitations of logic you will have in mind the classification is often merely a neat way of differentiating subjects which really belong together no I shall I presume on this saw three hundredth anniversary to teach the teachers of America the dramatic rise of the city from Dr Dutch training post to world capital door to become lyrical over its magnificent waterfront its lights and shades and it's startling contrasts I shall not repeat mourn about the divers racial Arjun's of our people and the melting pot of which they are few into that fictional character in the typical New Yorker I shall for the moment spare you with guile ing teasers of ingenious representatives of trade commerce industry and business because after all you are not primarily speaking what we honestly regard as the best markets of the world where. You are literate people what can I possibly add in the way of New York history to watch you'll read in Washington Irving William calling Bryant and Edith Wharton all Henry Jacob Riis Fitzgerald ring Laudner Thomas Wolfe John Dos Passos and Betty's man who told about the tree in Brooklyn which would not die this is not my field I am an actor not a critic we have genius I tenor and columnists who pursue the city sights and sounds and record the doings of local celebrities characters and cards. We have a roving racket catalog from go on a screen in South Brooklyn where I go on a number far as distilled naturally from the ship channel arrays of our riverfront fragrant was taller and. We boast of gossiping Gorham a. Palace with specially alley maze on and guide you on an Epicurean two or through didn't eat more as corned beef and cabbage and liver and lights shave the Lees sharkskin gaijin toddlers boy a vase on Fridays only the nourishing Coney Island. The Rockaway dog all beef stuccoed with mustard and that Gallic also known in the roaring forty's as the creeps Suzanne. Eloquent boxers and lecturers on sightseeing buses and yachts who could point out the precise bench and Central Park where our elder statesman the embers. Thinking the exact spot where Steve Brody at the river and his famous bridge. The room in a Bellevue charity ward where Stephen Foster died analysts the ancestral homes of Andy Rooney and Mamie ark and the by our Where are being burly in which the singing waiter Les will salute tenement actually long since demolished where Al Smith was on Fulton Fish Market where you are in the degree of A. House on Oliver street and close by St James Church where he was a choir boy. Temple and they all Spanish Portuguese cemetery monuments to the three faiths which shared the nickels and dimes left over when we finished the Smith Memorial. They were away verily at the wampum works of the Rockaway Indians and the remaining jazz joints of. Well vaunted descendants of the black unknown bards of long ago SOB spirituals prune the blue hammer out the dated rhythm of flatfoot Lucienne the fly and release the top shirt off a days. And they will identify the Greenidge village saloon where the present British poet laureate flushed beer mugs cleaned out cuspidors dreamed of ship's cargo Spanish waters and contemplated the everlasting mercy. Museum guides who can show you in three are the arts and crafts three thousand years on the floor on a feather is for some fans of all species which of them live in biology since this revolving. Sufficiently to support it we have our newest reformers planners and social workers who see uselessly complain to many of our midtown trying luxury and. Flanked by the tenement clotheslines which shamelessly flaunt the sharp and simple. I wish I have the voice of persuasiveness to describe New Yawk to you in a few well chosen words. The of all RAM however is not too overpowering with addict is but to overwhelm you with reality it is innate humor I believe which prevents our becoming woozy sloppy and sentimental about no we are rather than any grimness reticence or sophistication speaking for the builders. Our object is modest we aim to rebuild New Yawk saving what is still durable what is salvageable and what is genuinely a star a column substituting progress for obsolescence we don't believe Big cities are dated at any rate no Yong is not we don't intend to curse people into leaving or to Faustus version and decentralization suburbs to have their problems we are metropolitan minded if not regionally govern the city and state bark at each other but some get along we've had a bad friends in the hinterland there are unfortunately still people in other areas who do not regard us as part of the United States but as a thought of expressions fastened to our eastern shore and peopled by the less venturesome ways of foreigners who failed to go in to the genuine American frontier May I offer you just one bar go by a good map of our big. See how relatively small if not insignificant is the Great White Way the core of the city halls many of its greatest attractions without it there would be no motivating force no concentrated high value and therefore no major revenue but it is a great mistake to assume that everything of consequence is within three miles of Grand Central what is known as the reality gibberish along the Belt Parkway where far from there for an attic hotspots of Midtown hundreds of thousands of our less advertised citizens keep the even if not noiseless tenor of their way and if you can. I want to run out to Jones being. In the sun and see Sinbad a lab Aladdin on the Arabian Nights it's not yet as storied as Kipling's Mandalay as painted of the blades of the Riviera this as ukulele it is Waikiki this crowd is Coney. As mysterious as you all that are as famous as done sir where through the channel and Churchill God Save the King we have tried to Jones Beach without stall the flying compromises to hold a mirror up to nature for democracy at play New York has the dubious distinction of. Leading the nation in exaggerating and dramatizing its deficiencies I have recently returned from a quick trip to Brazil and continue to be amazed at the front area of our last representative North Americans who criticize government and business ethics in foreign countries for getting the blatant headlines and lurid expressions in print and over the air which describe all the on pleasant features of our own domestic lives and play down or ignore the achievements and decencies which we expect others to recognize and appraise of their true value we have in this and other American municipalities made the most extraordinary and in explicable efforts to follow our own that we are lucky indeed the discriminating people in other countries see us and for perspective some of our antics are simply uncomprehensible the US It is well the attacks family crime and vandalism but at least equal attention should be given to the many signs of health and idealism in our municipality. You will for example have a for you tomorrow evening our master all cities Carson orchestra as fine a group of youngsters as can be found anywhere and why don't we hear more about this and not dramatic enough to add it all over forty just wait they will if you are right out of the R.C. You will remember them when all the does most attest except delinquency are forgotten by and large we steer here and gone from. A middle course between modesty and megalomania abasement and boasting placidity and restlessness the crawl of the caterpillar on the speed of the Salamander occasionally due to a falling barometer callousness our cussedness we there are tacked to one side on the other but we soon get back on the cause in other words we're much like the rest of America. No apology no you off. And the friendship has already been extended you will discover here if your minds are open. Evidences of inward Grace demonstrations of the faith and hope from which our actions spring and signs of the truth which is in us you will recognize among us the same kinds of people you meet and live with that. You cannot however expect a big busy city to have one simple homespun integral character I hope you will find us irresistibly attractive but one visit will not exhaust our charm and the New York will become a habit not an aberration when you return we shall have a real convention building for you the Columbus Coliseum. Perhaps not the largest Because that on that loan no doubt be in Texas California are all the hallmarks where they design exclusively for peak flow. But a convenient place to meet your needs come again how long our city has many. Latches out for you at all tell us what you think we need to take it in good stead perhaps we have something to give you our education is an endless process of give and take and democracy can live only by unrestricted travel and the free exchange of ideas. Views heard a transcription of the talk livered by the Honorable Robert most York City construction coordinator for the National Education Association we take pride and pleasure now and bringing you the speech by Honorable Robert F. presented earlier this week at the battery during a special thirtieth anniversary concert honoring W N Y C. Thirty years ago this week the Board of Estimate of your city was four sided enough to take advantage of the new technical development of radio broadcasting to establish a City radio station W N Y C The station was established for the instruction unlike unmanned entertainment recreation and welfare of all of the inhabitants of the city of New York and as an adjunct to the police and fire departments and other city departments which would use all required radio broadcasting so W N Y C is the only municipal operated noncommercial radio station in the country. Over the years it has won so many awards and so much recognition for the high quality of the service that it renders to the public that it has become the envy of communities the length and breadth of our country along with New York's Museum. Libraries universities and other cultural activities which have made New York the cultural center of the entire world W. N.Y.C. has rendered yeoman service no one can quarrel with the assertion that station W. N.Y.C. and its able staff have fully justified every early expectation throughout the years that has taken advantage of all technological improvements and has provided an mature and literate programming service for the people of this city I believe it is just as important for an enlightened government to provide facilities for information education and culture for its citizens as it is to supply such vital services as police and fire protection health and sanitation services. W. N.Y.C. has more than this judge just full responsibilities to the needs of our citizens with mature understanding and good taste over the years in order to take advantage of the latest improvements and electronic communication while borough president I introduced a resolution into the Board of Estimate directing that the city apply for a television license within the past two months the Federal Communications Commission has granted New York City a construction permit for such a station the permit is for Channel thirty one A U H F station serious studies have been made and are continuing to be made and how best to utilize this new means of mass communication and how to build up a large initial audience for it we believe that we should study very seriously the idea that there is room for a minute simple television station which would be of tremendous value to our Board of Education a million students in our public schools could be the municipal televisions prime already in our Department of Health could make use of a municipal television station for the dissemination of public health information as well as for education and news in nutrition for all of the housewives of our community our department of markets could use such a station for consumer information on the best values in food as in it's been assessed in stretching the household budget dollar safety and fire prevention programs could also be of incalculable worth to our citizens. It is a very pleasant and cheerful sight to see so many of you enjoying the world's finest music here at Battery Park as well as a part of the New York some of festival in the specially this concert which celebrates W. N.Y.C. and a very serene I hope that this series of Battery Park concerts will set the pattern for similar concerts in other park areas in New York City neighborhood association business houses and commercial houses should unite to sponsor them this summer and in the years to come to make such entertainment a permanent part of the city's scene. In addition to the enjoyment bringing us they can serve another useful purpose by providing more employment for the professional musician I have watched with concern the shrinking of opportunities for employment for the professional musician here in New York and the general decline in live music and I have discussed with. President of. And with out here of the musicians union. City can participate in the development of programs to combat this for this reason to I hope the idea of this series will spread throughout the city and conclusion I want to express my personal thanks and appreciation to the organizations which have joined to bring this fine music to the downtown Manhattan Association local aid to of the American Federation of Musicians the music performance performance trust fund of the recording industry to W N Y C for services well done and best wishes for many more years of service to people here in New York thank. You heard the voice of Mayor Robert F. workers speaking earlier this week. At a concert honoring W N Y C and its thirtieth year of broadcasting face talks have been presented as part of. Thirtieth birthday celebration. Oh. Wow. Thank. You. Thank. You.