The 'Dean' of Radio Commentators Celebrates WNYC's 20th Anniversary

Celebrity endorsements of WNYC these days are not uncommon. Someone notable on a book tour, in the news, or appearing in a major motion picture comes to our studios for an interview. They've had a thoughtful conversation, and maybe they're a listener too. Would they like to do a brief 'pitch' on our behalf? Sure, why not?

In 1944, however, when H.V. Kaltenborn, the 'Dean of Radio Commentators,' recorded the tribute above, endorsements of this kind were pretty unusual. What's more: Kaltenborn was not being interviewed by us; he wasn't even in our studio. Instead, Kaltenborn was broadcasting over the NBC network and reaching hundreds of stations across the nation at a time when radio was the dominant electronic media. It says much for WNYC that Kaltenborn paid such a paean to the station at that time. 

Card signed by H. V. Kaltenborn in 1930.

(A. Lanset Collection)

Hans von Kaltenborn (1878—1965), known to his listeners as H. V. Kaltenborn, was a widely respected news commentator heard regularly for more than three decades over CBS and NBC. He was perhaps best known for his highly precise (some would say clipped) diction, his ability to ad-lib, and his broad knowledge of international affairs. Like many early radio people, his journalistic roots were in newspapers —in his case The Brooklyn Daily Eagle; first as a correspondent in Washington D.C. and Paris and then as a columnist and editor. In 1922 Kaltenborn made what is described as radio's first editorial analysis of news events over WVP, Bedloe's Island, New York.  A year later he was providing WEAF with regular commentaries. Still with the Eagle, in 1926 he appeared on WNYC to launch what is considered the medium's first quiz show.  

That show, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Current Events Bee, aired in April 1926. Kaltenborn, the paper's associate editor, was the program's quiz master —an annual role he kept through 1930.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 24, 1926

(WNYC Archive Collections)

Kaltenborn moved to CBS in 1927, but he still delivered occasional commentaries on world affairs over WNYC into the 1930s (see photo below); eventually, he moved to NBC in 1940. The National Radio Hall of Fame says, "Kaltenborn's ability to speak thoughtfully at a moment's notice put him at the center of some of the biggest news stories of the 1930s and '40s." This coverage included the Spanish Civil War and other major events leading to the outbreak of World War II.

H. V. Kaltenborn at WNYC on January 22, 1934.

(Eugene de Salignac photo/NYC Municipal Archives)

The recording above was broadcast on August 10, 1944, over the NBC Network. Kaltenborn congratulated WNYC for 20 years of public service: 

I salute the world's outstanding municipal radio station. For twenty years station WNYC has served our people in peace and in war. Throughout that time it has devoted itself exclusively to that public interest, convenience and necessity prescribed by radio law. Twenty years WNYC has competed successfully for listener interest against the world's best radio programs. In no other listening area is the ether charged with more compelling broadcast material. Yet in the face of this high-powered commercial competition, our municipal station has held its own and maintained its prideful place. This is no mean achievement. For this alone, the personnel of station WNYC deserves congratulations. I myself have heard and enjoyed WNYC programs throughout the two decades of the station's life.

Some 18 years ago it was my privilege to put radio's first quiz program on the air over our municipal station. This was The Brooklyn Daily Eagle's Current Events Bee, in which selected quiz kids from our municipal high schools spelled one another down in answering questions on current events. In this, as in many other aspects of broadcasting, station WNYC has been a valiant pioneer.

Here is one statement I dare make about station WNYC on its twentieth anniversary: it gives more of our people more civil and cultural education, more worthwhile information, and more high-class entertainment, than any other municipal institution. That is one reason why station WNYC has been an example and an inspiration for the creation of non-commercial broadcasting stations all over the land. As the man upon whom the mere passage of time has conferred the title, "Dean of Radio Commentators," I salute WNYC, "Dean of Municipal Radio Stations." I bespeak for it your continued support in the great service it is giving to our people.

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Transcription courtesy of Samuel Brylawski and Patrick Timothy of the Library of Congress.

Special thanks to NBC Universal Studios for permission to use the Kaltenborn audio tribute from the Library of Congress NBC Radio Collection.