Schedule Changes Coming to WNYC-AM in January 2025
One of the things we love to experiment with here at WNYC are new and different ways to reach people.
In 1925 we sent a team to Ebbets Field to broadcast a live performance of Verdi’s opera Aida. The performance included over 400 actors, including NYC police officers playing Egyptian soldiers and some elephants and camels borrowed from the Bronx Zoo!
In the 1940s and 50s WNYC had a fleet of loudspeaker trucks that would drive around the city broadcasting civil defense messages (local politicians were also apparently very happy to use the trucks as portable P.A. systems).
On May 3, 1971 we became one of the founding member stations of NPR with the very first broadcast of All Things Considered.
And in the last couple of decades we have been a trailblazer online, leading the way with some of the very first (and still) must-listen-to podcasts and our own 24/7 local news website.
It’s our mission to be where people want to find us.
One of our most important tools is, of course, the radio… but because of the way AM radio works, when the sun goes down WNYC-AM’s transmitter power has to drop down, too. Otherwise, our signal could travel hundreds or even thousands of miles, interfering with other radio stations. We have to power it down so much, in fact, that after dark WNYC-AM doesn’t even reach all of the five boroughs, let alone the whole region we aspire to represent, from Peekskill to Brentwood to New Brunswick.
Because of these technical limitations, and the ways people search for and listen to us online, we’ve decided to begin simulcasting the last handful of differently-programmed hours on WNYC-AM and -FM starting Sunday, January 5, 2025. Since nearly all of our broadcast schedule is simulcast already, the biggest impact of the change will be on nights and weekends when we re-air shows on AM that have already aired on WNYC-FM earlier in the week.
These changes give us a wonderful chance to introduce some new shows to our WNYC-FM lineup, however, including:
The Capitol Connection (Saturdays at 5:30 a.m.) and The Capitol Pressroom (Sundays at 7 a.m.), two statewide news and politics programs produced by our sister public radio stations in Albany and Syracuse. At a time when statehouse reporting teams have been hollowed out across the country, we’re excited to make these shows more available by putting them on all of our news stations.
It’s Been a Minute with host Brittany Luse (Saturdays at 2 p.m.), featuring terrific interviews and thought-provoking stories about arts and culture that are a great accompaniment to Saturday afternoons.
And though they aren’t brand-new shows, Science Friday will expand to two hours (Fridays from 2-4 p.m.), beloved fan-favorite Radiolab will join our other WNYC shows with a second airing on the weekends (Sundays at 6 p.m.), and Weekend Edition will remain on AM 820 from 10-11 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us. Because of the volume of messages we receive we can’t reply to every comment, but our team reads each and every one.
All the best to you and yours this holiday season!
Jason Saul
Interim Program Director, WNYC
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