Radio Tower 48: Alex Magoun and the IEEE History Center
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Dr. Alex Magoun is the outreach historian for the IEEE's History Center (IEEE stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). On today's episode, he gives us the history of the History Center and the organization's drive to document and preserve the innovavtions and developments fostered by its members over the years. Along the way we talk about engineers and inventors such as Philo Farnsworth, Edward Armstrong, and Vladimir Zworykin. We also discuss what drives innovation in technology, the public and commercial aspects of funding it, and the many organizations and...
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Radio Tower 47: John Kannenberg and the Museum of Portable Sound
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John Kannenberg is the man and the mind behind the . Based in Portsmouth, England, the Museum is actually found wherever John has his iPhone 4S. Visitors sit down with John, don their headphones, and enter the Museum by listening to the curated galleries of MP3s on the device. We talk to John about the inspiration for this unique institution, how he keeps it running, and the implications for the presentation of radio history. Additional Links
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Remembering Bob Lundquist
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We were saddened to learn of the passing of Bob Lundquist. Bob was a long-time member of the Long Island Radio & Television Historical Society who spent much of his professional life as an engineer at the RCA "Radio Central" facility in Rocky Point. This interview between Bob and Connie Currie was recorded in 2015. Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to Bob's family and all who knew him.
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Radio Tower 45: Long Island Home Front with Josephine Eichner
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We're revisiting our Long Island Home Front oral history project! Although most of our interviews foccused on people who experienced the years of World War II on Long Island, we also met a few current Long Island residents who, in the 1940s, were living nearby. So today we're bringing you excerpts of our talk with Jo Schenk Eichner. Born in Brooklyn, she was living in the Bronx when war broke out. In her oral history, she discusses her youth in a working class family of German immigrants living among the wealthy residents of Spuyten Duyvil. She also discusses shortages during the war, air raid...
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Radio Tower 44: Nick Hirshon, WFAN, and the Nassau Coliseum
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In the late 1980s, WFAN was on the rise as the first all-sports radio station in the country. They brought a fast-paced, rowdy style to the air, epitomized by the likes of Don Imus, Steve Somers, and Mike Francesa. At the same time the New York Islanders, years past their glory days and playing in an aging barn of a stadium, found themselves on the wrong end of WFAN's jokes. Imus, Somers, and Francesa mocked the team and the Nassau Coliseum mercilessly. On today's episode, Queens native and media historian Nick Hirshon describes his research into this moment in sports and communication...
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Islip Radio History with Connie Currie
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Listen to LIRTVHS board member Connie Currie relate some of the radio-related stories and personalities from the town of Islip, Long Island. Including: Edwin H. Armstrong in Bayport and Sayville Norman Brokenshire in Lake Ronkonkoma Clarence Mackay WRST in Bay Shore - Suffolk County's first radio station Music from Pixabay.
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Radio Tower 42: Islip Living History Day
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Radio Tower 41: Norm Prusslin and WUSB
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Norm Prusslin came to Stony Brook in the late 1960s and was immediately drawn to the radio station. WUSB was then an AM station heard only in the dorms and building on campus. But there was music in the air, not the least of which was coming from the vibrant concerts given on campus by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, and others. Thus began Norm’s long association with the station, which included its transition to the FM channel as well as a number of thorny issues before the FCC. In this interview, Norm describes the growth of WUSB and what goes into the care and feeding of a college...
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Radio Tower 40: Peter Kurz
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Peter Kurz is a patent attorney from Germany who fulfilled a lifelong dream by writing a technological thriller set in the early days of the radio industry. The Marconi-Patent weaves together historical events and people into a tale of intrigue, danger, and romance. What's even better, it features the Telefunken transmission site in West Sayville! On today's episode we discuss Peter's background and the state of radio circa 1914 when Britain was at war with Germany in Europe and the British Marconi Company was at war with the German Telefunken Company in a courtroom in New York. Peter's book...
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Radio Tower 39: Talking with Judy Blitzer
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Today we talked with LIRTVHS member Judy Blitzer. Straight out of high school and Brooklyn she marched her way into a job at RCA at 60 Broad St. in downtown Manhattan. What followed was a thirty-five year career working for John McKenna at RCA. Judy describes for us life at RCA, the intricacies of teletype machines, and how to meet the pope. Related Links:
info_outlineAndy Mendelsohn gravitated to radio from an early age. By the time he was in high school in East Northport, he found himself on the school's station and at an internship at WBAB. This brought him into the orbit of Bob Buchmann, Roger Luce and Rockin' Robin, among others. After a stint in college and radio in Connecticut and Westchester, he returned to Long Island in the nineties on WRCN to battle WBAB for ratings and local bragging rights.
One of his greatest memories is imaging WRCN and his work in the production studio, abetted and encouraged by Dennis Daniel of WBAB and WDRE. The increasing corporatization of the airwaves led Andy to leave radio for music management, championing the Long Island-based Nine Days and others.
Related Links
- WBAB (Long Island 70s Kid)
- Zebra (Long Island Music Hall of Fame)
- Nine Days - Absolutely (Story of a Girl)
- Dennis Daniel (Episode 15)
Station bibliography: WRCN (103.9 FM), WBAB (102.3 FM), WFOX (95.9 FM), WGSM (740 AM)