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WNYC's 100th Birthday Celebration

On today's show:

WNYC celebrates its 100th birthday with a live show at SummerStage in Central Park, hosted by Brian Lehrer and featuring WNYC hosts Alison Stewart, Brooke Gladstone, Micah Loewinger, Sean Carlson and John Schaefer, plus Ira Glass, trivia, live musical performances and more.

This version was edited for time.

For audio of the full show (including Nada Surf!), click here: https://www.wnyc.org/100

Transcripts are posted to each segment as they become available.

WNYC is celebrating its centennial with live events, audio programming, public art, a city-wide storytelling initiative and partnerships with other New York institutions. Visit wnyc.org/100 to learn more about how you can join the celebration of WNYC’s first — and next — 100 years.

[music]

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. Today we have a special edition. We will now rebroadcast much of the WNYC 100th birthday celebration that I hosted last night at Central Park Summer Stage. Brooke and Micah from On the Media, Alison Stewart, Ira Glass, John Schaeffer and Sean Carlson were all there. So were some special guest musical acts. If you missed it last night or just want to hear some highlights again, hope you enjoy. Lets get the party started.

Sean Carlson: Live from Summer Stage in Central Park. You're listening to WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. This is the WNYC and friends centennial celebration.

[cheering]

That's right. It has been 100 years, give or take, just a few weeks, since WNYC first began its mission to bring our listeners critical news and thoughtful conversations. To celebrate, we wanted to throw this little shindig here. First things first, though, let's bring out our host for the evening and our host every weekday from 10 a.m. to noon, you know him, WNYC's Mr. Brian Lehrer.

[intro music]

Brian Lehrer: Hello, Central Park.

[applause] [cheering]

Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Welcome, everyone to WNYC's 100th birthday celebration. Hello, first of all, to our Central Park Summer Stage audience. Give yourselves a round of applause.

[applause]

You could be watching opening night of the New York Jets, but you chose us. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Wow, this is what you look like. You know people, that's how you dress to be at somebody's party. Really? How did your parents raise you? Now, we don't have cake for everyone, sorry but we will have WNYC t-shirts, this t-shirt, which you can get for a donation over there. Or we will be giving some away along with other WNYC swag. We'll explain how when we get to those parts of the show.

Hello to all the people in the radio audience. You talk more quietly to the people in the radio audience because they listen one at a time in your bathrooms and your kitchens and your cars. You know that, right? Those of you in the radio audience who are very confused right now because you're used to hearing all things considered at this time every weekday. So some of you are thinking, what the heck is this silliness? Well, if you're that much of a news junkie, you can go to CNN for the next 2 hours. That's up to you.

If you hang around to party with us, you will be hearing some friends and special guests. For you in the Central Park Summer Stage audience, let the radio listeners know what you think. We will have Ira Glass, host and creator of This American Life.

[applause]

Brooke Gladstone, and Michael Lowinger, the co host of On the Media will be here. Wait until you see the performance art piece they have cooked up On the Media like you've never heard it before. Our New Sounds and Soundcheck Music host John Schaeffer will be here.

[applause]

The host of All of It, weekdays from noon to two, my remarkable midday colleague, Alison Stewart.

[applause]

Storyteller Gabrielle Shea from the Moth. We have some special musical guests, mxmtoon, Nada Surf, Lori Anderson, and Sex Mob. Joining me now on stage, and I am so starstruck, I don't know if I can get through this. Please welcome members of the cast of the Broadway smash hit Freestyle Love Supreme.

[applause]

Jelly: [singing] Yo, this is microphone one. Come on, this is microphone one. This is microphone one. Hey, this is microphone one. This is microphone one. Yep, this is microphone one. Hey, this is microphone one. Yo, we about to show a little love to WNYC. It's 100 years old, man, that's older than me. We is at the Summer Stage, it's a dope scene. And check out my team, Freestyle Love Supreme. What is up, Summer Stage.

Dizzy Sense: Hello.

Jelly: Oh, my God. Look at all the sexy nerds out tonight.

Dizzy Sense: Yes.

Jelly: Yes, I love it. Thank you, Brian. As Brian said, we are Freestyle Love Supreme. We are the Broadway freestyle improv hip hop group started by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anthony Venezielli, Tommy Kail, over 20 years ago. We're old, too. WNYC, we're so excited to be here. We're going to make up a little music for you. Brian, you wanna help us out with that?

Brian Lehrer: Well, I know your art. Your act is interactive. So explain to everybody in the Central Park audience and the listening audience how this works.

Jelly: Okay, well, anytime we do a show, whether it's on Broadway or here at Summer Stage, we are going to take suggestions from you in just a moment and maybe you, Brian, and just make this up off the top of our heads. This is New York. Y'all know how freestyle works. Come on. Before we even get into the freestyle thing, every time we do this, it has to start with the foundation, and that is the beats.

[beatboxing]

Jelly: Give it up for one of our founding members, Shockwave.

Dizzy Sense: Wow. Make some noise. Shockwave, whoop, whoop.

Jelly: Mr. Chris Sullivan. Now, Brian, once we have that amazing beat, then we need words. I'm going to put somebody on the hot seat.

Dizzy Sense: Who?

Jelly: She is representing. Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop.

?Speaker: Bronx, baby.

Jelly: Please put some hands together, make a little bit of noise for one of the dopest rhymers I've ever had the privilege of rhyming with. It is the 2023 world freestyle champion, Dizzy Sense. Now, because this is freestyle, Brian, we need some words and I heard that you have some words for Dizzy that we have no idea what they are. Now, we're going to put you on the spot to feed those words to dizzy, who will instantaneously incorporate them over the beat provided by Shockwave. Dizzy, are you ready?

Dizzy Sense: No.

Jelly: Brian, are you ready?

Brian Lehrer: Definitely not.

Jelly: That's improvisation.

Dizzy Sense: What about them, Jelly, are they ready?

Jelly: Oh, yes. Hey, what's up, Summer Stage, you ready?

Dizzy Sense: Yes, that's what I thought.

Young Niece: Oh, they sound ready.

Dizzy Sense: All right.

Jelly: Well, as long as you're all ready. Hey, Brian, whenever you're ready, you can drop that first word.

Brian Lehrer: All right, first word. Radio.

Dizzy Sense: Okay. [singing] The first word he gave me, I play with, yo, is what you're listening to right now, the radio. And if you don't know, that would be me. You're hearing these rhymes on WNYC.

Brian Lehrer: Second word. Birthday.

Dizzy Sense: Okay, [singing] I remember back in the first grade, July 1. That was my birthday. So if I have to rhyme this in a stanza, my birthday is July 1, and I'm a Cancer.

Brian Lehrer: Third word. Jazz.

Dizzy Sense: Okay, [singing] give me a word that got some pizazz, or maybe it's a swing time. A little bit of jazz feeling right now, like I'm about to get Schwifty. No, I feel dizzy like a lepsi.

Brian Lehrer: Fourth word. Jersey.

Dizzy Sense: Okay, [singing] this next word. I am not worthy. I am from the Bronx, not Jersey. Either way, I steal the American dream. You get my name and number, like a jersey on T.

Brian Lehrer: And the fifth word is apple.

Dizzy Sense: [singing] This next word, give me a little bit of a grapple. I like the kiwi strawberry snapple. I know you thought that's where the word was going to have to go, but we're in the big Apple.

Brian Lehrer: Sixth and last word. Nada, nada.

Dizzy Sense: Nada. [singing] This is Central Park, not a plaza. The devil wears prada, but they also wear nada. Over here, this my medulla. I've got away getting these words and spitting it like lava. All of the time they see me on stage, it raps out my mental and not off the page. They say, man, this the world champion. Well, it's Freestyle Love Supreme coming for the win.

Young Niece: Yo.

Speaker 4: Give it up for Dizzy, y'all.

Young Niece: Make some noise for Dizzy Sense.

Speaker 4: Make some noise for Brian Lehrer.

Young Niece: Brian.

Jelly: Thank you, Brian. Appreciate you. You are now a member of Freestyle Love Supreme.

Dizzy Sense: Incredible.

Jelly: Dizzy does all this with looking so good. I'm sorry, everyone listening at home, you cannot see her.

Dizzy Sense: Yes.

Jelly: Hey, let's do one more thing, and we need the audience for this one. There's a song that we've done on Broadway a number of times called true, where we're going to share true stories about our own lives but I want to base it on a word that comes from you. And because we're here to celebrate the incredible WNYC, that means so many things to so many people. I want you to think of a word that represents something you love about WNYC. Whatever creative word comes to mind, there's no wrong answers, but you will have to shout them at me. Raise your hand maybe if you've got one. Yes, right here.

Audience Member 1: Ariadition.

Jelly: Ariadition. Beautiful.

Young Niece: Wonderful word.

Jelly: I knew we were going to get something special from the NPR crowd. Yes, back there. Nice and loud.

Audience Member 2: Community.

Speaker 1: Community, and in front of community?

Audience Member 3: Voices.

Jelly: Voices. Lovely. Yes, right here.

Audience Member 4: Truth.

Jelly: Truth. Okay, yes, we could use some of that in the world today. You're just taking your jacket off. That's not a hand, right? Oh, right there.

Audience Member 5: Radio.

Jelly: Radio. Beautiful. How about over here?

Audience Member 6: Informative.

Jelly: Informative. Yes, I love it. Back there.

Audience Member 7: Brian Lehrer.

Jelly: Brian Lehrer. I love it. Yes. Right here.

Audience Member 8: Important.

Jelly: Important. Yes. One more back there.

Audience Member 9: Peace.

Jelly: Peace. Oh, these are all incredible words.

Young Niece: These are great words.

Jelly: I love all of them. Honestly, the first one that really struck me in the center of my heart was the word voices. The word is voices. Oh. Everything you're about to hear is true.

[beatboxing]

[singing]

Jelly: [singing]

Voices

Sometimes you might feel like you don't have so many choices

But one thing you can do is get together and raise your voices

Voices

Dizzy Sense: [singing]

Okay, I think back to when I first learned words

I used to do rap, but I also did spoken word

I had to go together, put it all in a slamming

Showed the world that I really could give a ham, cheese and salad on top of my sandwich

This is pg, so I really have to manage not saying whatever I could say

but that would be hard

As soon as I would put my pen and pad together, these words would dance on the page, underline my voice

I knew that I would have every type of choice that I would want

Without getting very super political

I turned those rhymes and made them all lyricals

And then those lyricals had turned all into miracles and changed my life and brought me to the pinnacle

See, even since I was younger, I had choices

But now I'm on stage sharing to y'all our voices

These voices

Jelly: [singing]

Voices voices

We make our choices when we use our voices

Voices

Young Niece: [singing]

Okay, uh-huh

It's Young Niece

I was a little girl from queens growing up out there

Didn't have that self esteem

Going to school every day, the games I play

And I got a little quiet

Didn't have much to say

But sitting in the car, things were getting crazy, yo

You know, my parents, they would turn on that radio

And what I hear, everything went down

The sound of gospel, blues and rock, a little motown

And then I got inspired

Then I started to feel this fire

I went to church, the soprano singing higher and what can I do

Something that came over me

And then I felt moved to start doing the voice being

I started low and then I let my voice so high

And then I would let it touch the tips of the sky

I said don't raise me by so long

I like to express

And even so, that little girl got louder and she got prouder and she started to make some noise

And then she started to feel the power and she started using her voice

And then she went and met some friends and they became a team,

Oh, went on Broadway

It's freestylle Love Supreme

I gotta say it here.

We all make some choices.

I'm happy that I can always use my voices

Jelly: [singing]

Your voices

Voices

Your voices

Happy that you could make your choices using your voices

using your voices

Voices

Jelly: [singing]

Okay, hold up

I'm going to go and go and get a slice of pizza

Because this is a stupid, stupid idea to ever go after Aneesa

First time caller, but long time listener

Move to NYC

Lady Liberty

I'd be kissing her because

Oh, my goodness people calling in

And yes, this is melting pot

This is just the center of that whole dang spot

Honestly, have you ever seen a white boy from Maine with a rapper from Queens

And in between, also bronze and whatever you want

And hanging out at Broadway

It's our favorite haunt

But I gotta look past that

Think of my Puerto Rican wife and us listening together to This American Life

Because people are out there from every different background and in between

And I can't believe the things that I have heard and seen

WNYC, giving voices to the voiceless

Honestly, giving choices to the choiceless

And we need to hear from every voice, not just a couple people into propaganda

I don't need to preach

I just want to understand you and hear your voices coming straight through radio waves

This is beautiful

And occasionally it pays with my voices

Jelly: [singing]

With your voices

With my voices

With your voices

With your voice

Voices

With your voices

Giving choices to the voiceless

Voices

Jelly: Thank you, WNYC. We are Freestyle Love Supreme. I think it's time for a little bit of WNYC trivia. One more time. We're bringing Brian Lehrer.

Dizzy Sense: Brian.

Jelly: Thank you. This was Microphone One. This was Microphone One. This was Microphone One.

Brian Lehrer: Freestyle Love Supreme.

[applause]

I can almost identify with what they did just now. There's a lot of improv when you're making live radio every day, but I get to use notes, and no one expects me to rhyme when I'm covering the presidential race. Right? One more time for the talents. The amazing talents are Freestyle Love Supreme.

[applause]

All right. At the Brian Lehrer show, we love playing trivia with listeners as part of what we do on the air from time to time. As part of this birthday party, we're going to do three short trivia games, 100-year history games of sorts, and with some WNYC birthday party swag to give away here at Summer Stage, listeners on the radio, you can follow along and see how many you get right. We'll have one contestant from the audience up here on stage with me for each round, they will play on behalf of the whole live audience here at Central Park tonight.

Person, whoever you are, we're about to meet. No pressure. When they get the answer right, my esteemed colleagues Jennifer, Simon, and Ricardo will use their slingshot, yes, they have a slingshot to send some WNYC souvenirs into the crowd. Is this the new centennial t-shirt with the 1937 Greenpoint transmitter? That shirt that I'm wearing. Your overalls are so cool, by the way.

If that sounds good, and yes, if you don't get it from the slingshot, you can visit my colleagues Liz and Dan at the WNYC membership table. They'll be happy to receive your donation. I had to say that to WNYC to help keep public radio going as an alternative to corporate media for another 100 years.

[applause]

They have these t-shirts and other merch to thank you with. All right, now for the trivia. The topic for our first trivia game tonight is New York City critters. Sean, do we have a contestant?

Sean Carlson: We sure do, Brian. Everybody give it up for Jeff H. Jeff H. Is from Nolita/Bowery. He's been a WNYC listener for 10 years. His favorite program is On the Media. Fun fact, Jeff H can do a cartwheel. I don't know if we want to see that.

Brian Lehrer: All right, you ready?

Jeff H: I'm ready.

Brian Lehrer: Question one.

Jeff H: I'm ready.

Brian Lehrer: Some of them eat pizza. Some are inflated at strike sites. They have their own czar in city government, and there are some 3 million of them in New York City and maybe some crawling around in our audience tonight, though I hope not. I'm talking about.

Jeff H: Rats. But like the famous pizza rats. Yes, rats.

Brian Lehrer: Rats, he's right. One t-shirt slung into the audience. Question two. When we see this creature on the sidewalk, we stomp on it and kill it, per the government's instructions.

Jeff H: The, um. It's an invasive species of the bug. I don't know the name. Invasive species. The invasive specie bug. I don't know. Can we do that?

Brian Lehrer: They would light up.

Sean Carlson: Oh, sorry, Jeff H. John Will says no.

Jeff H: The light-up bug. The invasive species bug.

Sean Carlson: The answer, spotted lantern flies.

Jeff H: Spotted lantern but invasive, invasive.

Brian Lehrer: Question four. A beloved red-- or whatever I'm up to, question something. A beloved. I lost track already. It's only 20 minutes into the show. A beloved red tailed hawk lived right here in and around Central Park from the 1990s until his death in 2023. His name was a. Bambi, B. Rudy Giuliani or C, Pale Male.

Jeff H: C. Pale Male, C. Yes.

Brian Lehrer: That was a wild guess. Slingshot. Whoa. You have good range, Simon. Very good. All right, here's question three, which I skipped before. This creature has a holiday, and we like to think it predicts the weather. Obviously, it's the groundhog. That's not the answer to the question. Do you know the name of the famous groundhog from Staten Island? Was it Punxsutawney Phil, Rudy Giuliani or Staten Island Chuck?

Jeff H: I'm going to go with C. Chuck. C for Chuck.

Brian Lehrer: He's--

Jeff H: No. A. No.

Sean Carlson: What are you doing?

Jeff H: Geez, Louis, I don't.

Brian Lehrer: Is your guess A, Punxsutawney Phil?

Jeff H: C. Final answer. C for Chuck.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, we're going to let you switch C for Chuck because we have a lot of t-shirts in our slingshots.

Jeff H: Yay.

Brian Lehrer: Last one. The rock dove. The rock dove is a common New York City animal with a population around a million. They are not indigenous and were probably brought here by European settlers in the 1600s. They are famous for being messengers, particularly during World War One. Jerry Seinfeld once said, we have a deal with these creatures. They get out of the way of our cars, we look the other way on the statue defecations. The common name for the rock dove is?

Jeff H: They don't just take text message? Pigeon.

Brian Lehrer: Pigeons is correct. Congratulations. You did great. You're going to get some WNYC swag. Thank you. Let's have a round of applause.

Sean Carlson: Jeff will now call me along the stage.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: It's a special edition of the Brian Lehrer show as we rebroadcast portions of the WNYC 100th birthday celebration that I hosted last night at Central Park Summer Stage. The party continues in a minute. Now we continue with our rebroadcast of excerpts from the WNYC 100th birthday celebration that I hosted last night at Central Park Summer stage. A big reason why we're here tonight is to present and preserve the station's history, as you know, and the history of WNYC is not without drama.

We asked some friends to boil down WNYC's century of survival. With a bit of imagination and poetic license, shall we say, please welcome the co host of On the Media, Brooke Gladstone and Micah Lowinger.

[applause]

[music]

Brooke Gladstone: Radio began its life at sea. In the in the early 1900s, ships on the ocean were still isolated in a world newly connected by telegraph and telephone cables. With wireless technology, finally, those lonely ships could send and receive Morse code. Radio evolved to carry the sounds of music and human voices, and now people on the land were desperate for radio. In 1923, the country had just been through a world war and the Spanish flu. Prohibition was law, and racial violence and xenophobia plagued the land.

Here in New York, it had been only 25 years since Staten Island, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and, reluctantly, Brooklyn were united into one big city. A silver jubilee was held to mark the occasion with one part of the exhibition devoted to the brand new technology of radio, inviting New Yorkers to imagine a station created just for them.

Micah Lowinger: All of this was due to a dapper fellow named Grover Whalen, New York City's commissioner of public works, sometimes called the father of WNYC. Hey, dad. Whalen was a man who was used to getting his way but when it came to building New York its own radio station, he was frustrated. He had the money, but he couldn't build the transmitter because there was no one to do it. Radio already had tech overlords by then, like General Electric, AT&T and Westinghouse, and they were giving him the runaround.

Whalen called them the radio trust, and he intended to bust them right after this demo broadcast at the silver jubilee. Now, unfortunately, there's no recording of Whalen's speech here, but we and On the Media did a little reenactment of this scene because we speculate.

Brooke Gladstone: Speculate.

Micah Lowinger: We speculate that this moment was very important for the future of what would become WNYC.

Grover Whalen: Hey, is this what I speak into when broadcasting?

Raymond Asserson: Yes, sir, Mr. Whalen.

Grover Whalen: All right, you let me know when it's time. And what's your name?

Raymond Asserson: Raymond Asserson, sir. Lately of the Navy.

Grover Whalen: Well, engineer Asserson, we're going to need some fine men like you when we finally get a transmitter and a license for land station CONY.

Raymond Asserson: CONY. Now, what's that, Mr. Whalen?

Grover Whalen: Well, that's our call sign. Of course. It'll be CONY for city of New York.

Raymond Asserson: That is not possible, sir. Under the Bureau of Navigation rules, the call sign must begin with a W.

Grover Whalen: Oh, great, maybe we should call it WNYC if the radio trust ever lets me have a transmitter. You know, I heard there was a second hand one for sale in Brazil.

Raymond Asserson: Very good, sir. It's time for your speech, actually.

Grover Whalen: Oh, all right. Thank you. Yes, the Department of plant and Structures is a distinctly public institution, and its function is to preserve and make the operational works of the city, available to all within the city departments and this great metropolis.

Raymond Asserson: I must have fallen asleep. The microphone. It's still on.

Brooke Gladstone: Is it my turn?

Raymond Asserson: What is that signal?

Brooke Gladstone: All right.

Raymond Asserson: What is that voice?

Brooke Gladstone: All right, here I go. 100 years is a long time for any media company to survive, much less a non profit, non commercial station like WNYC.

Micah Lowinger: WNYC. 100 years.

Brooke Gladstone: In a way, we have the station's first engineer to thank, Raymond Asserson, lately of the Navy.

Raymond Asserson: Raymond Asserson. That's me.

Brooke Gladstone: As a matter of fact, it was Asserson who helped Whalen defy the corporate power of the radio trust and get that secondhand transmitter from Brazil. In 1924, Asserson testified before the congressional committee on the Merchant Marine, which oversaw radio--

Raymond Asserson: We feel there ought to be at least one radio station in New York City under the control of the city and under the control of the officers elected by the people responsible to the people.

Brooke Gladstone: WNYC's first broadcast took place the night of July 8, 1924. They had a small budget, but there was no money for programming. WNYC had to borrow records from shops and private collectors. Other times, it relied on its music director, Herman Newman, to vamp some tunes on the studio piano.

Micah Lowinger: In between musical programs, WNYC tried to be useful to the people of New York. For a while, police used the station like an actual police radio, sending out coded and often not so coded alerts for suspects on the lam. Like a municipal C-SPAN, the station broadcasts city council meetings and other public affairs, like the foreign language lessons with Professor Berlitz.

Professor Berlitz: Buena Cache, Senora, Senorita di Senora. This evening we meet again for our weekly Spanish lesson for the credit via station WNYC.

Micah Lowinger: Listeners often heard from the city's fire chief.

Fire Chief: Suppose we try a little fire prevention talk. Americans are paying an even higher price for carelessness. In New York City last year, the price was 130 lives. It's quiz time.

Micah Lowinger: WNYC offered recipes for leftover roast beef. It spread public health messages. Sometimes we even got to have some fun. Nerdy municipal fun.

WNYC Presenter: WNYC, the voice of the city again presents your city government. Every week, two teams from among municipal departments vie against each other in our transcribed contest of civic facts and figures, a challenging quiz, and an informative public service.

Brooke Gladstone: The more WNYC tried to be useful, the more politicians called it useless. Headlines noted that the station was sitting on increasingly valuable broadcasting real estate. By the mid-30s, New York was a booming radio town. NBC and CBS offered up live minstrel shows. Yes, and music, soap operas and a few high minded dramas. Nothing like public radio existed in America, and it wouldn't for decades. Little WNYC stood alone, modest and useful, as mayor after mayor threatened to sell it off.

Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia: With the power vested in me as the newly elected mayor of New York City, I, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, now declare you, Seymour Siegel, to be the assistant program director of station WNYC. Now go across the street and shut that joint down.

Seymour Siegel: Wow, talk about a great depression. I finally get a decent job in radio, and now I have to put myself out of work. Why should I shut this joint down? It's a little tattered, but people love WNYC. Plus, the views up here are fantastic. The voice of the people should at least have a chance to celebrate its 10th birthday. [phone rings] Siegel here.

Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia: Mr. Siegel, the mayor here. The papers won't give me a break. I want to go to WNYC and tell the people what I mean to do. I'll see you in an hour.

Seymour Siegel: But I thought-- okay, sure, we'll be waiting for you to come and speak to all the people. Bye.

Brooke Gladstone: Mayor LaGuardia went from being WNYC's would be executioner to its greatest advocate. He addressed New Yorkers every week in a series called Talk to the People. He spoke about meat shortages and food during World War Two. During a newspaper delivery strike, he famously read the funnies to the kids. Dick Tracy, for instance.

Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia: Here's Dick Tracy, now you remember where our little friend is in the laundry wagon. Now here, the first picture is the laundry wagon. It's a yellow laundry wagon.

Brooke Gladstone: No mayor lasts forever. Seymour Siegel was now WNYC's director, struggling to keep the lights on as New York lurched from one budget crisis to another. The sale price for WNYC was always tempting, prompting the constant charge that the station was useless.

Micah Lowinger: There was one bright spot. Making friends outside the city. Sy Siegel began mailing tapes of WNYC programs to other non commercial radio stations on the eastern seaboard, and he got their programs from them in return. They called it the Bicycle network. It was a win win. It was the very beginning of what would in a couple of decades become public radio. WNYC was already middle aged by May of 1971, when listeners got to hear the first edition of All Things Considered from NPR in Washington.

WNYC Presenter: Thousands of young people came to Washington willing to risk being arrested in order to end the war. They went into the streets this morning to stop the government from functioning by clogging many Washington roads during this morning's rush hour.

Brooke Gladstone: WNYC was part of something bigger now, public radio. It had its own newsroom, its television station, and AM and FM signals. It was useful. But in the '70s, a city wide budget crisis put the squeeze on the station yet again.

Seymour Siegel: Malindzie, this is horrible. If you cut a third of our budget, we can't be on the air enough hours in the day. We'll lose our broadcast license. There aren't enough people here. You know there's nothing left to take. Well, Mr. Mayor, you already have my resignation letter on your desk. Goodbye. Well, that's it, I guess. I've survived five mayors and the station is almost 50 years old. I never thought it would end up like this.

Micah Lowinger: Sy Siegel went on to teach and to head the Broadcasting foundation of America, bringing international programs to American ears. Meanwhile, WNYC got its own fundraising committee, headed by none other than Marie LaGuardia, widow of the mayor, who once told Siegel to shut the joint down. Eventually, it became a foundation with a goal to keep WNYC safe from its owner, the city of New York.

Brooke Gladstone: In the mid-90s, Rudy Giuliani decided to sell WNYC.

[boos]

But by now, the foundation was ready. After a lot of wrangling, it convinced the mayor to sell WNYC to itself. In 1997,-

[applause]

-the station finally got independence, and all of a sudden, and all at once, a flurry of new eras began.

WNYC Presenter: People were crowding around, watching the two holes in the trade center and all the flames that were spewing out. The building is falling right now.

Brian Lehrer: This is special coverage of Hurricane Sandy.

Speaker 6: They are taking on water in all the lower Manhattan tubes under the East River.

Crowd Leader: Say his name.

Crowd: George Floyd.

Jelly: Live special coverage of the historic 8:00 p.m. curfew happening in New York City.

Speaker 8: You're listening to Radio lab. Wait, wait. Listener supported WNYC Studios.

Speaker 5: Brooke Gladstone: Some children grew up knowing the themes to the Brady Bunch and those sorts of television shows, and I could always hum the theme to All Things Considered.

Brooke Gladstone: Not many media companies in the US can count 100 candles on their birthday cake.

Micah Lowinger: We don't know what the future will bring but we do know that every decade, WNYC has observed its birthday on air, kind of like this, telling listeners the story of its unlikely birth. It seems safe to predict that if we make it to 110, someone will probably be impersonating Grover Whalen again.

Brooke Gladstone: Which means WNYC is still a useful station sailing on the seas of time.

[music]

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Give it up for Brooke Gladstone and Michael Lowinger, the co host of On the Media. Also WNYC director of archives Andy Lancet played Grover Whalen, and senior promotions producer Rex Stone was Fiorello LaGuardia, and Adam Pod was at the keys. Thanks also to the New York City municipal Archives and the New York Public Radio archives for all the great sounds and images of the past.

Of course, and for those of you who don't know, you can catch On the Media Fridays at 09 p.m. saturdays at 07 a.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m. on WNYC. Okay, time now for another round of trivia. We cover a lot of topics on the Brian Lehrer show, one of our favorites and I would say, judging by our phones, many listeners obsession is transportation.

[applause]

I've never heard of a round of applause for transportation before, but it never fails to get the people talking and get them generally ticked off at the MTA or the person next to them on the subway sticking a backpack in their face. Now our next trivia game will be about 100 years of moving around our listening area. Sean, do we have a contestant?

Sean Carlson: Sure do. Everybody make some noise for Nicola.

[applause]

Nicola's from Harlem. She's been listening to WNYC for two decades. Her favorite thing about WNYC is Brian.

Nicola: Hi.

Brian Lehrer: Hey, Nicola. Hi, Brian. All right, we're going to start with a genuine hundred year history question. True or false? In 1924, when WNYC first signed on, there was already an underground subway in the city.

Nicola: What year was that?

Brian Lehrer: 1924. This is a centennial, you know, so it was.

Nicola: Yes, that's true.

Brian Lehrer: True is right. It had opened 20 years earlier in 1904. All right, another deep track history question. I think this one's harder. New York City boasts more than 600 miles of dedicated cycling space, including extensive bike lanes. But prior to recent history, the city didn't have bicycles baked into the infrastructure, in part because of the philosophy of a very famous urban planner and public official known for prioritizing--

[boos]

Does she get a lifeline to all of you? Prioritizing private cars and roadways. In fact, you may not know this audience. His 1938 plan for bicycles stated, bicycles have no place in public highways. Who said that?

Nicola: Robert Moses.

Brian Lehrer: Is right. We probably have time for one more in this chat. More transportation. Almost 100 year history. In 1936, the Triborough Bridge opened, so named because it goes to Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens. Duh. A very business-like practical name. It was later renamed with these famous initials that belonged to a beloved public figure. What initials replaced the name Triborough on that bridge?

Nicola: RFK,

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: More WNYC get slung into the crowd. Radio listeners, I wish you could see this. All right, bonus question. Tee up one more. Just in case.

Sean Carlson: Let's do a bonus.

Brian Lehrer: His son, RFK Jr. was-- Did he get more boos or more laughs? I'm not sure-- was recently in the news for doing something right here in Central Park as what he thought was a funny prank. What was that RFK Jr. Central Park prank? Do you know?

Nicola: Didn't he decapitate a bear?

Brian Lehrer: He what? How did you put it? He what?

Nicola: He decapitated a bear.

Brian Lehrer: Well, I'm going to call that closer. He did not decapitate a bear.

Sean Carlson: He's got a lot of animal stories. That's close enough I think.

Brian Lehrer: He put a dead bear in the park.

Nicola: Okay.

Brian Lehrer: The transportation angle. Why am I asking this in a transportation set? He staged it to make it look like the bear was killed by a bicycle. How many of you knew that? How many of you think RFK's prank was really funny and the guy has a great sense of humor?

[boos]

Nicola: No.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, yeah. Okay. All right, audience, you got that one right? So sling them another prize. Thank you, thank you.

Nicola: Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. You did great.

Sean Carlson: Give it up for Nicola.

Brian Lehrer: It's a special edition of the Brian Lehrer show as we rebroadcast portions of the WNYC 100th birthday celebration that I hosted last night at Central Park Summer stage. The party continues in a minute. Now we continue with our rebroadcast of excerpts from the WNYC 100th birthday celebration that I hosted last night at Central Park Summer stage. All right, this is our WNYC and friends Summer Stage event.

Sean Carlson representing the WNYC side of that equation, and music producer Don Will taking care of the Anne Fran side of things. They are going to stay close for our next round of trivia coming up in a few minutes, where we'll ask about things that were already around back in 1924 when the station first started or things that didn't come about until after. We'll ask an audience member for an over under on things like music, certain local landmarks and famous people.

First, I'm going to do something I do just about every weekday at the end of my regular radio show. I'm going to pass the mic to WNYC's own Allison Stewart, whose show All of It comes on at noon to two. Allison, come on out.

Allison Stewart: Hey, everybody, I'm Allison Stewart. I host All of It.

[applause]

I am very excited to bring forth a singer songwriter who just announced their album is coming out. We'll tell you a little bit more about that. She's also just come off of opening for an act at Madison Square Garden. mxmtoon, come to the stage.

[applause]

I know it's all wrong. Hi.

mxmtoon: Hi.

Allison Stewart: So last time I saw you, we were at get lit with all of it. Right. It was a really intimate thing at the library. Then two months later, well, actually longer than that. Back in the summer, you opened for AJR at Madison Square Garden. First of all, what was that like?

mxmtoon: Oh, my gosh. I never expected to ever play MSG in my entire life. So really surreal.

Allison Stewart: You wrote on your Instagram after that, 2018, I played my first gig in New York. I was opening for the opener of another artist at Baby's All right in Williamsburg. The crowd consisted of my managers, my booking agent, and my dad. In 2020, I moved to Brooklyn, and last week, I had the honor of stepping on stage to sing at the world's most iconic arena for the Maybe Man tour. I'm moving in the fall, and I feel particularly lucky to get to bookend my chapter in my new life with what will definitely be one of the most insane achievements of my life. First of all, where are you going?

mxmtoon: I'm going to Nashville, Tennessee.

Allison Stewart: Good choice. Good choice. Well, what will you take with you that makes us know that you are a New Yorker?

mxmtoon: Oh, my gosh. Probably like, all of my leftover subway cards, probably my endless collection of tote bags from just walking around, and probably the general resting do not talk to me face that I carry with me on a daily basis.

Allison Stewart: That's good to bring with you. You have a new album coming out. It's called Liminal Space. What does that title mean to you?

mxmtoon: Liminal space, to me, is kind of about expressing stories over transitory periods of your life. I think I'm 24. I'm really young, but I have been growing up in front of an audience online for almost seven years at this point. I think that that allows you to really have a very strange relationship with growing up. I think oftentimes has left me in a place where I don't really know how to describe where I am, so it feels very liminal.

Allison Stewart: I was listening to the record, and it's got a little country vibe to it. What were you going for? A lot of guitars.

mxmtoon: I feel like country music is never something I thought I would write, but I did end up writing a lot of this record in Nashville, and by nature of doing that, that it ended up influencing a little bit of what I was making. My core, I'm a singer songwriter, and so it was fun to connect with that.

Allison Stewart: And will you please come back to New York?

mxmtoon: Oh, absolutely. I'm going to come back to New York as often as I can.

Allison Stewart: mxmtoon. The new album Linimal Space will be out November 1. Here's mxmtoon. Nice to see you.

mxmtoon: Nice to see you. Hello. First of all, I'm so excited to be here. I love WNYC, and I was just here last summer for another Summer Stage event, so this is really awesome and full circle that I get to be back here again. This is amazing. I am going to play you a song off of the record that's coming out later this year, Liminal Space. It was the first single that I released, and it's called I Hate Texas. If you have-- Okay, awesome. yes, I knew this was New York, but if you have any sentimental feelings about Texas, I'm sorry, but I'm not that sorry. This is I Hate Texas.

[MUSIC - mxmtoon: I Hate Texas]

I'm getting ready to go outside

I haven't left my apartment in a real long time

I'm making friends with the stars at night

They can see in my eyes, count to three, close a door, hope I'm fine

Got a couple of flaws to hide

I'm reclaiming my life 'cause I know that it's mine

I think we knew that you're losing your shine

So I lied to myself, but I think that it helps say goodbye

I'm shutting down the days on my computer

And I'm playing life offline while you play shooters

And I'm wanting change so bad that I'll go Southern

Find another brand-new beginning

I swear to God, if I run into you

And you don't even know the half of it

I'm moving states and I'll never admit

But you ruined New York, so I had to quit

I'm turning every corner with exceeded caution

Hoping, praying, begging that you're not in Austin

I hate Texas, but the exits have more room

To run away from you

Run away from you

You pissed me off for the final time

It's aggravating that you wouldn't notice if you tried

Should've read all the warning signs

Called up HGTV, I got a fixer-upper right inside

Trying hard to forget your face

I want my own to be something that you can't escape

Grinning harder now just in case

So you'll know that my pain became the reason that I end in first place

And I'm shutting down the days on my computer

And I'm playing life offline while you play shooters

And I'm wanting change so bad that I'll go Southern

Find another brand-new beginning

I swear to God, if I run into you

And you don't even know the half of it

I'm moving states and I'll never admit

But you ruined New York, so I had to quit

I'm turning every corner with exceeded caution

Hoping, praying, begging that you're not in Austin

I hate Texas, but the exits have more room

To run away from you

[applause]

Sean Carlson: Give it up for mxmtoon. Thank you for celebrating our centennial with us. Now, of course, many of us are here in person in Central Park for the WNYC and Friends Centennial celebration here at Summer Stage. First though, for the radio audience, there is some business that I have to get to. You might be familiar with it. You're listening to WNYC FM HD in AM New York, WMJT FM 88.1 Trenton, WMJT 88.5 Sussex, WNJY 89.3 Netcong and WNJO 90.3 Toms River. We are New York and New Jersey public Radio.

[MUSIC - On The Media Theme song]

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Now we continue with our rebroadcast of portions of the WNYC 100th birthday celebration that I hosted last night at Central Park Summer Stage.

Sean Carlson: Live from Central Park, this is WNYC and friends centennial celebration. I'm Sean Carlson.

[applause]

Let's welcome your host back to the stage, Brian Lehrer.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Sean. Once again, I don't think I've ever seen so many public radio nerds in one place.

[applause]

Let's go right on to our next and final round of trivia. This time our game is about what was and what wasn't already a part of the city in 1924, the year WNYC was born. Sean, do we have a contestant?

Sean Carlson: We do. Make some noise for Rhonda Kirchner, everybody. Rhonda Kirchner lives on the Upper west side. She doesn't remember how long she's been listening to WNYC, but for as long as she can remember, 50 years plus.

[applause]

Those are her words.

Brian Lehrer: Welcome, welcome, welcome. And our first question will be a musical one. Don will hit it.

[music]

Rhonda Kirchner: Oh, Rhapsody in Blue.

[laughter]

Brian Lehrer: But that's not the question. The question is, was Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin released before, after or in 1924?

Rhonda Kirchner: In.

Brian Lehrer: In is right.

[applause]

For those of you listening on the radio, you cannot see our trio of slingshotters slinging swag into the crowd each time a contestant gets an answer right. Did I see three different pieces of swag go out that time? Is that--

Brian Lehrer: Four.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, it's up to four now. Now we're going to go at a fast pace. None of these other ones, these things are going to be in 1924. So the question is, before or after WNYC was born? Yankee Stadium.

Rhonda Kirchner: Ooh. Before.

Brian Lehrer: Before is right. Look at that swag go. 1920. The year before. Central Park. Before or after WNYC?

Rhonda Kirchner: Definitely before.

Brian Lehrer: Definitely before. In 1858. How about the Empire State Building?

Rhonda Kirchner: Ooh, I think after.

Brian Lehrer: After is correct.

Rhonda Kirchner: 1931, maybe. Yeah.

Brian Lehrer: Home of the WNYC transmitter. The Empire State Building was built from 1930 to 1931. Could they build a hundred storey building in one year today?

Rhonda Kirchner: It only took 18 months to build it. It was a miracle.

Brian Lehrer: Unbelievable. You know your history. How about the Stone Wall Inn? Obviously, it became world famous after 1969.

Rhonda Kirschner: I would say before.

Brian Lehrer: It was after.

Sean Carlson: The original Stonewall Inn was founded in 1930 as a speakeasy on 7th Avenue South. It relocated to Christopher Street in 1934.

Brian Lehrer: Sean is the keeper of the correct answers.

Rhonda Kirschner: I was here a few months ago, and I read the plaque.

Sean Carlson: We appreciate that.

Brian Lehrer: How about McSorley's old ale house?

Rhonda Kirschner: That was before.

Brian Lehrer: That was before. 1854. No wonder they called it old. How about The Dakota?

Rhonda Kirschner: The Dakota? Before.

Brian Lehrer: Before co-op-built between 1880 and 1884. Today a national historic landmark. The building we have read was one of the first large developments on the Upper West Side and is the oldest remaining luxury apartment building in New York City. How about Ellis Island? Before or after?

Rhonda Kirschner: Oh, way before.

Brian Lehrer: Way before. Opened in 1900. The Williamsburg Bridge. Not the Brooklyn Bridge.

Rhonda Kirschner: I think before. I think.

Brian Lehrer: Before. 1903. Radio City Music Hall.

Rhonda Kirschner: I think after because it's Art Deco.

Brian Lehrer: After is correct. 1932. I think that is very accurate to nail it as Deco. It was built as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center at that time. Last one. Oh, what happened there? Oh, we had a dud on the slingshot, but you people are very well-behaved because since it landed in front of the audience, there could have been a scramble, like for Aaron Judge's 62nd home run ball or something like that, but not quite. Bronx Zoo. Did I say that already? Oh, that's the last one.

Rhonda Kirschner: I would say after.

Brian Lehrer: 1899.

Rhonda Kirschner: Really?

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Sean Carlson: Sorry, Rhonda.

Brian Lehrer: I was surprised, too. I didn't know they started treating animals as attractions in cages that early. Bonus round. Real quick.

Rhonda Kirschner: Bonus round.

Brian Lehrer: These are true or false questions about human beings. Were they born in 1924 or were they born some other time? 1924 birthdays or not? James Baldwin. Yes or no?

Rhonda Kirschner: True.

Brian Lehrer: True. Yes. Sling. Shirley Chisholm.

Rhonda Kirschner: True.

Brian Lehrer: True. 1924. Oh, they're going sling diagonally now. That did not work. For those of you listening on the radio, people in the front row are getting a lot of this swag. Two more. Ed Koch, 1924.

Rhonda Kirschner: No.

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Rhonda Kirschner: He was? I thought he was younger.

Brian Lehrer: Last one.

Rhonda Kirschner: I thought he was younger.

Brian Lehrer: Last one. Jimmy Carter.

Rhonda Kirschner: Jimmy.

Brian Lehrer: Carter.

Rhonda Kirschner: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: President Jimmy Carter.

Rhonda Kirschner: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. As a matter of fact, in just three weeks, on October 1st, karma willing, he will turn 100.

Rhonda Kirschner: God bless him.

Brian Lehrer: Congratulations.

Rhonda Kirschner: Oh, Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: You were a great contest.

Sean Carlson: Show some love to Rhonda Kirschner, everybody.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much.

Rhonda Kirschner: Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: That was wonderful.

Rhonda Kirschner: [unintelligible 01:03:13]

Brian Lehrer: That's all the time we have.

Crowd: [chanting] Rhonda.

Sean Carlson: That's the love for Rhonda that we're talking about. Thanks.

Brian Lehrer: Next up, one of the things that listeners love on our air is storytelling. Whether that's in the form of a radio lab story or on the investigation series Reveal or on The Moth, which we air Wednesdays and Saturdays on WNYC. Those stories all come from regular people who share their stories in front of live audiences for The Moth. We've got a pretty live audience here. That is obvious. For this part of the evening, we're going to invite out a storyteller who shared her story at one of The Moth's weekly New York City StorySLAMS. As she joins us to share her story, let's welcome Gabrielle Shea.

[music]

Gabrielle Shea: A little lower. Good. Perfect. Last year, when the R&B crooner Bobbie Caldwell died, the rapper Common posted a sweet tribute. At the time, I had no idea that these two musical geniuses with very different styles were connected to each other and to me. When I was 19, my dad agreed to letting me go to Cancun with my two best friends, but he said, "You got to earn your own spending money." We were young and broke, so we spent countless hours perusing the village Voice, looking for the right gig to no avail. We couldn't find anything.

I went home and I cried to my cousin, and he said, "Look, I work for this uniform store. The owner is pretty nice. I guarantee he'll give you something." I went in for an interview, and sure enough, I got hired on the spot. On the first day, I met the assistant manager, this pretty cool white dude named Frank. Frank and I became fast friends. We hung out at the store, we ate lunch together, we talked on the phone all the time, but it wasn't until he became my first call in the morning and my last call at night that I started to realize that my feelings were changing.

It was a little nerve-wracking because I'm Haitian, Frank was Irish, and different races, cultures, backgrounds. Even in New York City, not everyone was going to be happy with the relationship, but we decided to give it a shot anyway. Our first official date was to a Common concert. I remember sitting in the last row of the Hammerstein Ballroom thinking, "Damn. This white boy from Flatbush, Brooklyn, put me on." He was a huge hip-hop fan, and I eventually became one, too.

As Common started to perform his song, The Light, Frank put his arm around me, held me close, and in that moment, I knew that we were in it for the long haul, and that song became our song. Over the next few months, Frank and I enjoyed getting to know each other. He wrote me love letters all the time. He brought me these cute little gifts, and he would leave them on my doorstep, and he took me to see Rent five times just because it was my favorite. He was sweet.

It was my first real relationship so I was on cloud nine. About two years after that first date, Frank and I ended up at yet another Common concert, but this time it was at the iconic SOB's. Now, if you've ever been to SOB's you know it's a small, intimate venue where sometimes the celebs are mingling with Jen Pop. We're just hanging out when all of a sudden, in walks Questlove from The Roots. As he strolls past us, Frank taps him on the shoulder and he says something to him.

Quest then turns to me and says, "Hi, I'm Amir." I look at him, take his hand, and say, "Hi, I'm Gabrielle." He was about to say something else, but Frank stopped him, and then he quickly walked away. I thought the exchange was a little weird, but I let it go. The concert begins, and about four or five songs in, Common starts with, "I never knew a lo lo lo, a love like this." I back up a little bit. I get a little closer to Frank and I start into the music because I am feeling the vibe when all of a sudden he taps me on the shoulder.

My first thought is, "Are you kidding me? The man is performing our song on the stage, and you have the audacity to interrupt?" I slowly begin to turn around because I am about to tell him off, but when I do, I am rendered speechless because I am now face to face with the most beautiful diamond ring I have ever seen in my life. I was so overjoyed that I don't even know if I said yes. I just hugged him and just held on tight. Erykah Badu grabs my hand to check out the bling.

Musiq Soulchild says, congratulations. Bilal gives Frank a pound. Questlove runs over to snap a picture, and the entire audience goes crazy. Honestly, I couldn't have even written it better myself. On the drive home, Frank proceeds to share his master plan. What happened was a couple of weeks before the concert, he had posted a message on okayplayer.com saying that he was going to propose to his girlfriend. Everyone in the audience knew what was going down except for me.

For some strange reason, that night, I also decided to email Questlove. It was the early 2000s, very different time. To my surprise, he hit me back and he sent me the picture that he had taken of us. Now, this entire time, I was sure that Common had no idea as to what was going on, but recently, I came across an interview where he was asked about the wildest thing that happened at a concert of his. He said, "Well, a few years ago, I was having this concert in New York City, and as I'm performing The Light, I look into the audience and notice this weeping woman, only to find out that she had just been proposed to by her boyfriend."

Now, for the record, I was not weeping, but it was nice to know that he remembered us. Ironically, around the same time that I came across this interview was when Bobby Caldwell died. I didn't know who Bobby Caldwell was. Eventually, I realized that I recognized some of his songs. I didn't even know that he was a white guy. He didn't sound like one, but as they announced his passing on the radio, they played this song called Open Your Eyes. It was his song.

I was shocked to learn that Bobby Caldwell's Open Your Eyes was the basis for Common's song, The Light. In essence, without Bobby Caldwell's song, there would not be Common's song, and we wouldn't have our song. Last week, Frank and I celebrated 20 years of marriage.

[applause].

Thank you. Common has three beautiful goddaughters that he has yet to meet. My girls, they constantly make fun of me because I am old school. I keep everything. I have the concert tickets from many years ago. I have a printout of the picture that Questlove took of us, and I have an article where Common was asked about the impact that his music has on his fans, and he mentioned us. I hold on to these relics because I like the reminder that one of my favorite hip-hop artists was a part of my story, but it also warms my heart to know that we, too, are a little part of his.

[MUSIC - Common: The Light]

Brian Lehrer: Let's hear it for Gabrielle Shea. What a beautiful story, right? What a perfect example of power of storytelling that we know is so important to connecting people and ideas and experiences, something we consider a central part of our public radio mission. Stories like Gabrielle's are near and dear to us. Tune in to The Moth on WNYC Wednesdays at 8:00 PM and Saturdays at 2:00 PM and learn how you can be an audience member or a storyteller @moth.org. if you're interested.

As part of our celebration of our centennial, we also want to invite you to share your stories anytime, your New York stories. We have a portal for that now. We will be sharing select stories on our website or social media or on the air. It could be about a chance encounter, a shared experience on the subway, or a random conversation on a street corner that led to something beautiful, surprising, or maybe a little weird or just plain unforgettable.

To tell your story, scan the QR code on the screen or go to our centennial website, wnyc.org/100. Join us with your voices if you would like. Now I welcome to the stage a WNYC legend, the host of our music shows, new sounds and soundcheck, and the longest-serving host on WNYC. Let's welcome John Schaefer.

[applause]

Speaker: My daughter was reading one just the other day.

John Schaefer: Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Hey, John.

John Schaefer: Hello, Central Park. Brian and I have spent many a fine evening here wearing the colors of the WNYC softball team.

Brian Lehrer: John has come out in the WNYC softball uniform shirt. I didn't play this year. How did we do?

John Schaefer: Actually, pretty well. We left our media league so we're back to being an independent.

Brian Lehrer: We play really extreme jock places. Like what? Lincoln Center, Channel 13.

John Schaefer: American Museum of Natural History. They got some bangers there.

Brian Lehrer: I'll bet they do. They got those bones they can use. everything. When I started in 1989, you were already there eight years, and I was already a fanboy of you being a DJ. My question for you for today is, in this era of algorithms choosing our next track, how do you see the special value in your role as a human curator of music on the radio? Serious question.

John Schaefer: Yes, and a really good one because it's like the writer faced with the blank page. When you have unlimited options, how do you know where to begin? As we have everything available to us increasingly in the digital age, it becomes harder and harder to figure out where to go next, and so it becomes even more important to have voices you trust, editors, gatekeepers, whatever you want to label them.

I think that what we do at WNYC and on our classical station, WQXR, is even more important now than it was when there were lots of other people doing the same things that we're doing.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Hear, hear. Everybody, we're about to hear some music from someone who WNYC actually has a very long relationship with. The station commissioned Laurie Anderson to write some music for WNYC's 50th birthday.

John Schaefer: The WNYC FM 50Th birthday, which was 1994. The FM station went on in '44, '94, we--

Brian Lehrer: For the FM station's 50th birthday. Thank you for correcting that. That's the music that we heard a little of as you were walking out here. Here she is joining us for our 100th birthday as well, in a second. John, just tell us how the worlds of WNYC and Laurie Anderson have intersected historically. Here she comes. Come on, folks.

[applause]

Laurie Anderson: Hi, John. Thanks.

Brian Lehrer: John, talk a little bit as I back away about how WNYC and Laurie Anderson have intersected historically.

John Schaefer: September 1982, I start my show, new sounds. I had been there for a year or so. I started new sounds September 3rd, 1982, basically playing my own record collection. Someone from BAM called me in December and said, "We have Laurie Anderson doing her big United States thing, two-night show, multimedia. Would you like to have her for an interview?" I thought, "Well, yes." In January of 1983, we aired our first interview on New Sounds, and it was with Laurie.

United States, Laurie is not just ancient history anymore. You're working on-- it was a four-part piece over two nights. You are now working on what is essentially a fifth part called The Ark. What does that refer to?

Laurie Anderson: That's a ship that's going to save us. [laughs] It's just what we're going to do with things. It's a retelling of the story of Ark. It's called United States Five.

John Schaefer: This is something that comes on the heels of your new record called Amelia, about the final flight of Amelia Earhart. If you missed our program about that, you can find it online @newsounds.org. It's a wonderful record, and Laurie has a great story to tell about the making of it and all the research and stuff that went into it. When you do a project like that, do you do a lot of research normally?

Laurie Anderson: Yes. I had to think about what it would be like to fly around the world and why she would do that also. That was part of what I was thinking of. Also I just found out a lot of-- she left a lot of things around because she married her press agent. That's one thing you should know about her. She was the first blogger. She was writing constantly about where she was landing and what she was doing and her flight. I'm just in love with this person. She just was so amazing.

John Schaefer: We have been fans of yours for 40-plus years now, and you've been a great friend.

Laurie Anderson: You need to update your shirt. This is Schaefer 30, but he's been there longer than that.

John Schaefer: This edition of the shirt was done for my 30th anniversary at WNYC, at which Laurie Anderson performed. One of my favorite photos of my time at WNYC is the green space crew. They all had these shirts, and at the end of the evening, they all stood with their backs to the camera wearing these Schaefer 30 shirts. It's just a wonderful little photo. You'll see a lot of those. They're the ones wearing the white overalls that have been hitting you with swag during the course of the evening. Yes.

Applause for the staff of the green space. Sexmob.

Laurie Anderson: Here they are. Sexmob.

John Schaefer: You've toured with them. Maybe we get to hear a little recording of you with them in the not-too-distant future. Steven Bernstein is one of New York's--

Laurie Anderson: Yey Steven.

John Schaefer: I was going to say hidden treasures. He's not so hidden. He's been around forever. He's an amazing arranger. The band is just this killer lineup of musicians.

Laurie Anderson: Doug Weasley, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, Briggan Krauss. They're the best.

[applause]

John Schaefer: You're going to do a couple of songs. One is one of your own songs, and the other is from a different project. I'm not going to say anything about it, but here is Laurie Anderson with Sexmob, live.

[applause]

[MUSIC - Laurie Anderson ft Sexmob: Only an Expert]

You know, later, with the elections coming up, there are so many experts who are analyzing what's going to happen, and you know what it means, and I'm thinking of all the thought leaders, the influencers, the consultants, and of course, the political pundits, the experts who know what's real and what's just another really bizarre story.

Now, only an expert can deal with the problem, because half the problem is seeing the problem, and only an expert can deal with the problem. Only an expert can deal with the problem.

So if there's no expert dealing with the problem, it's really actually twice the problem, because only an expert can deal with the problem. Only an expert can deal with the problem. Now, in America, we like solutions. We like solutions to problems, and there's so many companies that offer solutions. Companies with names like the Pet Solution, the Hair Solution, the Debt Solution, the World Solution, the Sushi Solution. Companies with experts ready to solve these problems, because only an expert can see there's a problem and only an expert can. Only an expert can deal with the problem.

Only an expert can deal with a problem, and only an expert can deal with a problem, and only an expert can deal with a problem.

And then there are the experts who say the problem with America is democracy. Just too many of the wrong kind of people making the decisions, and these experts say what we need here is a dictator. Someone who can take control, someone who can get to the heart of the problem, solve the problems, make things efficient, maybe with a new commission, without all that voting, but don't forget, this has nothing to do with the 60% of the US population who are barely getting by, who are at 1.3 weeks away, 1.3 paychecks away from a shelter. In other words, people with problems.

So when experts say, let's get to the root of the problem, let's take control of the problem. So if you take control of the problem, you can solve the problem. Now all of this doesn't work at all because the situation is completely out of control. Only an expert can deal with the problem. Only an expert can deal with the problem, and only an expert can deal with the problem.

And sometimes, if it's really, really hot and it's July and January and there's no more snow and huge waves are wiping out cities and hurricanes are everywhere, everyone knows it's a problem, but if some experts say it's no problem, and other experts claim it's no problem and explain why it's no problem, then it's simply not a problem.

'Cause only an expert can deal with the problem, and only an expert can deal with the problem. Only an expert can deal with the problem.

And even though a country can invade another country and flatten it and ruin it and create civil war in that other country, if the experts say it's not a problem, everyone agrees they're experts and good at solving problems, then invading that country is simply not a problem.

And if a country tortures people and holds citizens without cause or trial and sets up military tribunals, this is also not a problem.

Unless there's an expert who says this is the beginning of a problem.

'Cause only an expert can deal with the problem, and only an expert can deal with the problem, and only an expert can deal with the problem.

Only an expert. Only an expert. Only an expert. Only an expert.

[MUSIC - Lou Reed and Metallica: Junior Dad]

Would you come to me

If I was half drowning

An arm above the last wave

Would you come to me

Would you pull me up

Would the effort really hurt you

Is it unfair to ask you

To help pull me up

[applause]

Laurie Anderson: Thank you, and thank you, Sexmob.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Give it up for Laurie Anderson and Sexmob.

[applause]

That was amazing.

[applause]

She's got the lyrics, she's got the music. She even employs a horn section. Props for employing a horn section in 2024. It's a special edition of the Brian Lehrer Show as we rebroadcast portions of the WNYC 100th birthday celebration that I hosted last night at Central Park SummerStage. The party continues in a minute. Now we continue with our rebroadcast of excerpts from the WNYC 100th birthday celebration that I hosted last night at Central Park SummerStage.

On we go. Back when WNYC was only on the air for 60 years, we did an experiment with children's radio that became a popular show all across the country. One of the young producers who worked on the show went by the name Bob Public Radio. See if you recognize the voice.

Ira Glass: Parents sometimes argue in front of their children, but kids say they don't like it. In a recent survey on the radio program Kids America, 67 children called in to say that parents should not argue in front of kids, while only 12 children approved of such arguments.

Brian Lehrer: Folks, any guesses who that was? Shouted out.

Crowd: Ira Glass

Brian Lehrer: That's right. From This American Life, please welcome Ira Glass. The one, the only Ira Glass. Ira, just for the sake of the history theme of this event, how did young Ira Glass, before This American Life, become a character in a kid's show?

Ira Glass: My mentor. There was a guy who I worked for at NPR in Washington. His name was Keith Talbott. Basically half of everything I know about radio, I learned from him. He came to WNYC to start Kids America, which, I have to say, was really an amazingly great show and an interesting experiment, this call-in show for children. He dragged me over to WNYC once a week, and I became one of the characters on his show. Do it again, Kids America fan. I feel like Keith was--

Brian Lehrer: Can I ask you to talk a little more about him because I didn't know until you told me backstage that you, Ira Glass, had a mentor.

Ira Glass: Yes. Keith was working at NPR in its earliest days in Washington, and his job was to invent new ways to do documentaries on the radio. I feel like a whole generation of us just came out of that. I never would be doing the job I'm doing now. He would do things like he would have characters-- things that became very standard. Having characters in the stories narrate the stories, but he also would have fictional characters narrate the stories or just make up characters to narrate stuff and just sound design the hell out of it. I came out of that.

This American Life would not exist without him. Serial would not exist. There's a whole [unintelligible 01:35:52] Heavyweight, Gimlet Media, PJ Booth's show. There's a whole world of us who came out of that.

Brian Lehrer: I'm so glad he's getting a shout out tonight. All right, Ira, thanks for coming to our birthday party. I know everybody's looking forward to what you've got for us. Take it away.

Ira Glass: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death.

Now I can tell people that I've done Shakespeare in the Park. I thought I'd use the rest of my time here at the Centennial to show my appreciation and respect to some just groundbreaking moments of radio that I loved that aired on WNYC during these 100 years. This is just people inventing new ways to use the medium itself. This first couple I want to play you was broadcast on WNYC sometime around its 56th year of existence. This is 1980.

This was on All Things Considered in its 9th year on the air. At the time, All Things Considered, and no disrespect to the current very excellent, very fine staff and hosts, was a much looser project, a looser bunch of people on the air on a very active mission to reimagine what radio could be. The person at the time who pushed that spirit of innovation more than anybody else was a dazzling reporter in his early 30s whose name was Robert Krulwich. Many of you here know who he is.

In those very early days-- I feel like there's stuff of his that I remember loving. As a baby reporter at NPR, I just thought that's how you should do radio. I couldn't believe that as I got older, I got to meet him. I feel like nobody remembers this stuff so I want to play one of his early pieces. In the early days of NPR, Robert was the business correspondent, typically the most boring job in the newsroom. The way he did it was like no broadcaster had ever done before him.

To illustrate the way the economy worked, he would create these funny little radio dramas where you would combine real quotes from experts and newsmakers with scenes and characters that he would invent. He would usually perform all the made-up characters himself, all the different voices himself. For example, to explain the tough choice that the Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker had back in '79 and '80 over whether to raise or lower interest rates.

To explain what that actually meant, Robert conceived a three-act opera, mostly in Italian, called Ratto Interesso. Robert himself played a stuffy classical music announcer who was supposedly broadcasting this opera on a classical station. Here's a clip as they head into the final act.

Speaker 8: Now in act three, we are now in Washington at the Federal Reserve Board. I see it's going to start in just a second. Angelino, Berugino, and Luigi are in the front hall making their appeals to Paul Volcker. He answers them in English. He must both defend the dollar and business conditions in America. Here, then is act three of Alberto Tucci's Ratto Interesso.

[music]

Speaker 9: Ladies and gentlemen, face to face with economic difficulties, really unique in our experience.

Ira Glass: Robert would do this all the time. He explained the principles of reaganomics with lab mice who were really these speeded up voices of his coworkers. This is on drive-time national news. The utter ridiculousness of it, the happy joy of it, just infused all of his work, and it just defied all normal expectations. I'm done with that page. That's fine. I'm not used to performing in a place where there's wind. I'll say to [unintelligible 01:40:02] just a page of mine just blew away.

NPR had only been in the air for 10 years. Years pass, two decades pass, and we come to the next clip of tape I want to play you. It is WNYC's 80th year on the air, and Robert teams up with the young producer Jad Abumrad ride as the host of Radiolab. Jad at the time, had just turned 31. I feel like all of you who would come out to an event like this tonight in Central Park, you know what Radiolab is? I just want to say, as a radio producer, I feel like they don't get enough credit actually for just how new that was.

I feel like they were the cutting edge of radio anywhere in the world. They did this thing, the rarest thing that happens in any medium. They invented a completely new aesthetic that sounds like nothing before him. It was a new way to think about how you structure and produce a radio show. The idea is, on the surface, it's this chatty, friendly show that's out for fun, but at the same time, it's serious journalism, and then the sound design just was done with a density and prettiness that I think nobody who did documentaries had really attempted in radio.

I don't know of anyone who did. I know you guys have all heard this, but I'm going to play you the typical opening of a typical episode and just talk to you about what I hear when I hear it. This particular episode, Jad opens telling Robert about a young woman. This young woman. Hold on. Stand by.

Laura Buxton: Hello, I'm Laura Buxton.

Ira Glass: Laura Buxton. She was 10 years old when the story happened. She was living in an English town called Stoke-on-Trent. One day, Jad tells Robert, she took a red balloon, she wrote on it, "Please return to Laura Buxton," and her address. It was a windy day. She stood in her front yard, held it up, and let go.

Jad Abumrad: Now, I'm looking at a map here of England, and Stoke-on-Trent is at the top. A balloon would have had to go south, pound down, down past Stratford, past Walsall, past Wolverhampton, then past Birmingham, past Kidderminster, past Worcester.

Ira Glass: I just want to say, I hear this, I feel very aware of the staging. Now, even before Jad did the interview, he must have known that to communicate this story, to get across what's going to be a key plot point is that he's going to have to get across to the audience that this balloon traveled a great distance. He has to think about the drama of that. How do you make people feel that? What he did is that his solution is very simple. He brought a map of England into the interview with him to go through the map with her so you could picture it in your head.

Jad Abumrad: Past millions of people. Past Cheltenham. People with different lives, different names. Pass Gloucester.

Laura Buxton 1: Gloucester.

Jad Abumrad: Gloucester, and all in all, the red balloon goes about 140 miles.

Ira Glass: 140 miles anyway. Then finally it floats down to earth, and it lands in the yard of a second girl in a town called Milton Lilbourne. Here is that second girl.

Laura Buxton 2: Our next-door neighbor found it and he thought it was just a bit of rubbish, and he collected it up so the cows wouldn't eat it. He was about to put it in the bin, literally. Then he saw the label saying, "Please send back to Laura Buxton," and he was like, "Oh, my God."

Robert Krulwich: Why? What would he say, "Oh, my God?"

Ira Glass: First of all, I don't even know what that ominous drum thing is. They had to manufacture that. I wouldn't know how you do that. Apparently, Jad does.

Jad Abumrad: Check this out. Remember how I told you how the first girl who sent the balloon was 10?

Robert Krulwich: Yes.

Jad Abumrad: The second girl who received it--

Laura Buxton 2: I'm 10 years old.

Jad Abumrad: She's 10.

Ira Glass: Just notice the music that is forming underneath him, I'm pushing it forward, and the feeling it has. Jad is a composer, and so he's writing and playing the music, in addition to doing the journalism, writing the story, hosting. Just notice in this next clip just how the music just rises and moves through this thing.

Jad Abumrad: Wait, there's more.

Robert Krulwich: Better be.

Jad Abumrad: Remember how I told you the first girl's name--

Ira Glass: Remember, first girl's 10. Second girl's 10.

Jad Abumrad: Wait, there's more.

Robert Krulwich: Better be.

Jad Abumrad: Remember how I told you the first girl's name was Laura Buxton?

Robert Krulwich: Yeah.

Jad Abumrad: Girl number two, can you introduce yourself?

Laura Buxton 2: Okay. Hi, I'm Laura Buxton.

Robert Krulwich: What?

Jad Abumrad: Girl number one.

Laura Buxton 1: Hello, I'm Laura Buxton.

Jad Abumrad: Girl number two.

Laura Buxton 2: Hello, I'm Laura Buxton.

Robert Krulwich: They're both Laura Buxton?

Jad Abumrad: Yes.

Robert Krulwich: No.

Jad Abumrad: Yes.

Robert Krulwich: Both named Laura Buxton.

Jad Abumrad: Yes, you heard me right. A 10-year-old girl named Laura Buxton lets go of a balloon.

Ira Glass: I just have to pause this again to just talk about this. Just the number of things that happen in that moment. First of all, he pulls out all the music for the dramatic moment. That's just basic radio. You pull out the music, and then whatever you say next when the music is out seems very, very important. Then the thing happens. He reveals both the name Laura Buxton. There's that weird violin sting that they had to manufacture, still from somewhere else. Music starts.

There's a little penny whistle thing that he throws in after "lets go of a balloon" for no reason at all other than that seemed like a fun thing to do. Then a whole other piece of music comes in, this old vamp, from what sounds like an old Raymond Scott number. It's a completely wonderful musical choice. Again, I'm going to play you this eight and a half seconds. Just notice how musical it is. It's documentary done as musical composition.

Jad Abumrad: Yes, you heard me right. A 10-year-old girl named Laura Buxton lets go of a balloon.

Ira Glass: Beat starts.

Jad Abumrad: That balloon floats 140 miles and lands in the yard of another 10 year old girl named Laura Buxton.

Robert Krulwich: Is this for real?

Jad Abumrad: Yes.

Ira Glass: What a pretty clarinet choice.

Jad Abumrad: I think it might be the strangest thing I've ever heard in my life.

Laura Buxton 1: It's pretty weird.

Jad Abumrad: So weird we had to get them both into a studio.

Speaker 10: Hello, New York, this is London. Can you hear me?

Laura Buxton 1: We're going to hear Americans through these.

Ira Glass: "We're going to hear Americans through these," She's saying. This is just the last thing I'm going to point out, and that is, that thing where they're setting up the microphones and you hear that as part of the story, Radiolab invented that, and they did it so often that it became so widespread by podcasters. People don't even know it began with them. It's just one of these things that just everybody does now.

Every episode of The Daily, when they're setting up the microphones and they're just like, "Maggie Haberman, so what'd you have for lunch today?" Before they [unintelligible 01:45:58] that actually is stolen from 2009 Radiolab, when that was cutting edge. We're three minutes and 42 seconds into this episode. You can see, when you're producing it in your head, which you do if you're a crazy person like me, how you're appreciating it, that's just the setup.

The episode and the whole story then turn out to be about a subject that's just as weird and original for a radio show as the production style. It turns out to be a whole episode on the mathematical concept of stochasticity, of randomness, of numbers. There was an article about Robert and Jad in the New York Review of Books that pointed out, in an almost comic attempt to make their job hard, the duo take on only the most difficult subjects from science and philosophy. Time, morality, memory, forgetting, limits. Try doing an entertaining hour on the idea of limits.

They invented this new aesthetic. They invented a thing for a radio show to be about. I'll just close this by saying one more thing. There was a speech that Robert gave a couple of years ago where he talked about the freedom that he felt at NPR in the early days. He said the reason why he was able to do the work he did, and why he trained himself to do work in a certain way was because they encouraged him to play.

I think when we think about an institution like WNYC and we think about public radio, I feel like there's all these high-minded things that people expect of it, to reinforce the community and to give accurate, timely analysis and news and all the things that I feel like all of us turn to public radio for every day, but I feel like not enough gets said just about play.

Speaker 11: Amen.

Ira Glass: Thank you. Without that, I just feel like this is my wish for WNYC for the next years, is that that is there as well and grows. I feel like that's when things just become bigger than the sum of its parts. Anyway, thanks so much for including me tonight.

[applause]

Brian Lehrer: Thanks, first, to all the musicians you heard tonight, Laurie Anderson and Sexmob, mxmtoon and Freestyle Love Supreme. Storytellers Ira Glass and Gabrielle Shea. I was your host, along with my colleagues Alison Stewart, John Schaefer, Brooke Gladstone, and Michael Lowinger. Adam Pod accompanying Brooke and Micah's presentation on the keys. Don Will has been our DJ. Don Will. Tonight's show was produced by Megan Ryan, Jennifer Keeney, Sandro, and Simon Close.

Ricardo Fernandez was our technical director. Our broadcast engineer was Ed Haber. Our production team tonight included Julia Barton, Eppo Charlieu, Eileen Delehanty, Zach Godara Cohen, Marika Hacking, Matthew Maffee, Noriko Okabe, Sean Iwi, Richard Owens, Bill Siegmund, Eric Weber, George Wellington, and Ryan Andrew Wild. It takes a village, right? Special thanks to WNYC's director of archives, Andy Lancet, to everyone at SummerStage and the City Parks Foundation for being our partners on this program. To all the hard-working staff of WNYC, past and present, who run this unique and amazing station, and to our members, you keep the station on the air and we thank you.

That's our special edition of the Brian Lehrer Show, the rebroadcast of highlights from the WNYC 100th birthday celebration that I hosted last night at Central Park SummerStage. Hope that was as much fun for you as it was for us. We'll be back to our regular format tomorrow, including excerpts from and your reactions to the Kamala Harris/Donald Trump debate tonight. Thanks to all the people from our team and the Green Space team and our amazing engineering team and everyone else who made SummerStage possible. Now stay tuned for All Of It.

[01:50:23] [END OF AUDIO]

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