By Laura Latzko
Mayor Bloomberg had some advice Tuesday for WNYC Radio on its first day in its new Hudson Square studios.
“Don’t screw it up,” Mike Bloomberg told station president Laura Walker on the air after praising the station.
On Tuesday, WNYC had its first live broadcast from its new location on Varick St. After 84 years in the aging Municipal Building studios across from City Hall, WYYC moved to Hudson Square.
“WNYC tells people what is going on in an unbiased way,” Bloomberg said. “That is important for a democracy.”
During this first broadcast, Bloomberg’s words of advice were followed by Brian Lehrer, who hosts a daily call-in show on political topics. Lehrer started his show with the retort: “Trying not to screw it up, Brian Lehrer for WNYC.”
Lehrer is among many WNYC personnel who believe that the new building, which used to be a printing press, is better equipped for radio than the old location in the Municipal Building. He said during a stoop sale last week outside the Municipal Building that he has loved “walking to work on Chambers St. and looking at it” everyday. He thought the cathedral-like Municipal Building, with its huge arch in the middle and wedding cake roof, was not intended for a radio station.
“It’s not the best building for what we’re doing,” Lehrer said. “It’s had to be retrofitted for new technology.”
The new building at Varick is being designed to bring the staff closer together, Walker said. It features open cubicles throughout, a dining area, meeting rooms and small studios. The largest studio, located on the eighth floor, is directly in front of the production room, and the setup allows for quicker conversation between radio hosts, producers and engineers. They used to have to walk down the hall to communicate with each other.
Walker said that the Municipal Building often lacked the space, especially studios, for people to work on their project simultaneously. In the new building, there are 13 small studios.
“Instead of people waiting in line and not getting the time they need in their studios, we’ve kind of changed the way production works,” Walker said. “They can go in and produce any time they want, and the big studios are for on air.”
Another feature of this building will be the Jerome L. Greene performance studio, which is expected to be completed by next year. In this space, the station will host live performances, of radio broadcasts and musical acts, that audiences can view both inside the studio and outside on the street, through a window overlooking Charlton St.
The new building is more than the brand-new equipment or the studio. It means almost complete independence from the city.
Although the station became independent from city control in 1997, after Mayor Rudy Giuliani wanted to auction the station and WNYC raised $20 million to buy the license for its 93.9 FM and 820 AM frequencies. But it still relied on rent-free space from the city.
Now that the station has moved, WNYC is paying rent to Trinity Real Estate and the station’s construction will cost $57.5 million. For these funds, the station has solicited help from the city, state, listeners and private donors. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation donated $2 million and the city and state gave a combined $10 million to WNYC.
While most of the staff at WNYC were ready to move to the new building, which they are doing in five phases, many of them are nostalgic about the old building. WNYC has been in the Municipal Building since its start in 1924.
Oscar Brand, the host of the Saturday evening show “Folksong Festival”, has been with the station since 1945, when he shook hands with radio host Hermann Newman and agreed to come back to do another show at WNYC. Brand, 88, has done a show every week for the station since that handshake in 1945 and has never gotten paid.
“If I don’t do it, the platform for folk singers would be gone,” Brand said during a phone interview. “That’s my responsibility.”
He broadcast at the Municipal Building until 9/11, when a lack of engineers caused him to decide to start recording his shows at his home.
Now that WNYC has moved, Brand said that he is unsure of his place at the new station.
“How long does a handshake last,” he asked. “How long will they be able to put up with me?”
Brand said that he considered the Municipal Building “my building” for a number of years and that he would see “the most beautiful view of New York City” whenever he looked out its windows. After 9/11, he only went to the station occasionally, to conduct interviews for his show.
The old station had views of the Twin Towers so 9/11 is naturally an event that has shaped the memories of many of people at WNYC.
David Garland, who hosts classical music shows “Evening Music and Spinning on Air,” said that one of his most prominent memories is going back to work at the Municipal Building after 9/11.
“It was very spooky to come down here again,” Garland said during the stoop sale last week. “I didn’t want to go near it for awhile. It was scary.”
It is because of news, which was the only type of program WNYC broadcast after 9/11, that many listeners regularly tune in to the public broadcast station.
Stephanie Platzman-Diamat said she listens to WNYC for an “unbiased” view of the news.
She works at a law firm but is currently on maternity leave with her 6-week-old daughter. She said that WNYC is her main source of news and she listens to Brian Lehrer and Leonard Lopate daily because she enjoys more in depth coverage.
“When you’re home with a small baby, you’re not connected to things,” Platzman-Diamat said. “Public radio, that’s my door to the outside world.”
Last Thursday, she and other listeners came out to support WNYC during a stoop sale. At the event, the station sold items from on-air personalities and WNYC staff, including old vinyl records, mugs, stuffed animals, and a black and white poster of Elvis. The most expensive piece was a book of New York Times articles from the 1920s, which sold for $25. The sale benefited the station’s Radio Rookies to help teens produce radio documentaries.
Alexander Jornitski bought a book at the sale called The Best Things to Do In New York: 1001 Ideas for $2. A few months after he came to the United States 14 years ago, he got a radio and has been listening to WNYC ever since.
Jornitski said in heavily accented English as he smiled broadly, “This is the best radio station in the world.”
