The Father of FM Broadcasting is Heard Over WNYC 63 Years Ago Today!

Etching of Armstrong (1890-1954) who was born in New York City and studied at Columbia University where he invented the regenerative circuit.

In a rare appearance behind the microphone, Major Edwin H. Armstrong, the inventor of frequency modulation (FM) broadcasting, addressed the WNYC audience 63 years ago today. The occasion was the launch of WNYC's new FM transmitter. Armstrong said:

On an occasion such as this it’s really very hard to express how an inventor feels.  I can only say as a citizen of New York and as a native-born New Yorker how proud I am to be here on an occasion like this. And to tell you all how much I know what you have been through here, to get the engineering and to get the program technique and to put into operation what you have here today, a top-flight radio station from a top-flight manufacturer…And with the product you now have and the technique the staff of WNYC has developed, I want to tell you that next summer in the middle of the static and lightning storms, with Goldman’s Band on the air, the citizens of this city have a treat in store for them. And I can tell you I will be one of the first to listen to it.

Writing in the September-October 1966 WNYC Masterwork Bulletin, Director Seymour N. Siegel described the event and its result. "Deputy Mayor John Bennett in the presence of Major Edwin Armstrong, the inventor of FM broadcasting, Frederick Lack, the Vice President of the Western Electric Company, and other guests, pushed the red button which activated a new 10,000-watt transmitter.  In conjunction with a six-bay cloverleaf antenna, 597 feet above the ground on top of the Municipal Building, WNYC-FM launched an 18-kilowatt signal across the City.  For the first time, your municipal station enjoyed as much power as any other FM station in the metropolitan area.  Known as the 'high fidelity voice of New York City,' WNYC FM began 24-hour-a-day operations in 1957.  An upsurge in FM listening brought an overwhelming response to the many live concerts and other musical programs presented by the Municipal Broadcasting System."

 

Audio courtesy NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection.

__________________________________________________________________________________