….and most assuredly, there will never be another! The reference is to WNEW 11-3-0 in New York which was the radio home to some supremely talented air personalities, aided and abetted by a stellar news operation!
Those voices that appeared between the records belonged to a fraternity of personalities who had one tradition: To offer amusing chatter and incisive comments about the records they played.
At the same time, those news broadcasters (some of whom still write for this website), did their level-best through sharp editing and impeccable writing to keep the New York metropolitan area informed up to the minute!
Sadly, that all came to an abrupt end thirty-two years ago on December 11, 1992 and was only amplified by the Nor’easter walloping New York, New Jersey and Connecticut at the time.
As I have said before and meant sincerely, the heavens were weeping for what we will always recall as the Big W!
Article contributed by Bob Gibson
WNEW-AM on-air roster (partial) originally posted 12/10/2012
–MCP–
In May 1964, after my final spring-semester exams at Columbia, the Writers Guild agreed to allow me to work for a week as a writer for WNEW Radio News. I don’t know if, at the age of 20, I was the youngest writer WNEW ever employed, but it was a thrill, and I got to work with some of the greatest people the business was ever privileged to employ.
Here is the schedule for that unforgettable week.
Others on the schedule are:
Jack Pluntze, later to become assistant news director, then news director;
John (Jack) Laurence, later a correspondent for CBS News in Vietnam, creator of the award-winning “World of Charlie Company;”
Mike Stein, later assistant news director and news director;
Ike Pappas, later CBS News correspondent;
Rudy Ruderman, later assistant news director and news director;
Al Wasser, later senior producer at ABC News and CBS News;
Christopher Glenn, later producer and host of CBS’ “In the News;”
Ed Scott, who had been one of Murrow’s writers at CBS; and,
Loren (Larry) Craft, transfer from the Daily News.
Contributed by Andy Fisher
Postedit: Thank you, Marianne, for formatting and posting the story of my wonderful week as a rookie writer at WNEW. The following week I turned back into a pumpkin and resumed the copy boy duties I had been doing since 1962.
Among the credits for that astounding staff of colleagues, I should have mentioned that Mike Stein went on to be Peter Jennings’ writer at ABC’s “World News Tonight.”
Today is a hard day as it reminds us all that it’s been a year since we lost you. A year? How is that even possible, when each day without you can feel like an eternity. I hope you know how much you are loved and dearly missed.
Edward BrownEd & Jean
Edward C. Brown, of Sun City Center, FL, and formerly of New York, NY, passed away on September 15th, 2023 at his home with his family by his side, a week before his 90th birthday.
Dad’s heart overflowed with kindness, gentleness, caring, giving, love, and humility.
The Family of Edward Brown
I share with you now, a favorite song of Dad’s.
Marianne (Brown) Palmer
-30-
Remembering This Site’s Founding Father!!
The ever-pensive and always fair Edward Brown is more than a little deserving of some meaningful ink at this juncture! Though not one to ever call attention to himself, it’s now been exactly one year since we lost this accomplished broadcast journalist, news analyst and friend on September 15, 2023, a week before his 90th birthday.
When it came to getting it said, Ed was a master storyteller, respected by his colleagues, and his listeners and viewers in a nearly half-century career that took him from suburban radio stations on Long Island before he stepped up to New York’s WMCA for a half dozen years and a full decade at WNEW. His tenure at the latter was punctuated by AP and UPI awards, particularly for his commentaries on Watergate. In addition, he made appearances on WNEW Television’s “Ten O’clock News” as an analyst. His superb writing and commanding voice also led to Edward winning a network position as an analyst for NBC’s News and Information Service, a news broadcaster on NBC Radio and an important contributor to NBC Radio’s 1976 election coverage.
Before he and wife, Jean, moved to Florida, Ed did his final news anchoring and on-air writing at WCHL Radio in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Ed’s retirement years were spent in Sun City Center, Florida and it was there, at home, where the spotlight on his labor of love focused on WNEW1130.com. Yes, that is this very site where you are seeing this remembrance and a wholesome outpouring of stories tied to that once-prestigious New York Radio Station.
I am delighted to be among a small group of gifted, retired broadcasters who are privileged to write for this web site and can only hope this flashback would have passed muster with Ed and his daughter, Marianne, who is our Editor!
Julius La Rosa was hired as a disc jockey on WNEW in 1970. That’s when I got to know him while working as a newscaster on the station. Off the air Julie was great to know-personable and willing to talk
Bill Diehl & Julius La Rosa
about his time with Arthur Godfrey when he was fired in 1953. Godfrey said later it was because Julie lacked humility, but what really angered ‘the old redhead’ was La Rosa had hired an agent, a big no-no-no because Godfrey wanted total control over his so-called ‘little Godfrey’s’.
Firing La Rosa backfired. Ed Sullivan immediately hired La Rosa for appearances on his “Toast of the Town.” During the summer of 1955, La Rosa had a three times a week TV series on CBS. In ’56 and ’57 he hosted summer shows as a seasonal replacement for Perry Como. Shortly after leaving Godfrey La Rosa had several hit records, including “Eh Compari” and “Domani.”
Years later when I got to really know Julie we talked about his career and Godfrey. Julie said, “As an entertainer he was the best salesman in the world. I was a 20-yr-old kid in the Navy from Brooklyn and Godfrey gave me a golden opportunity to be on his shows. Happy memories? Are you kidding?! There was a year and a half of total and complete joy, I mean look at me ma, that kind of thing. I was doing what I had one day dreamed I would do.”
Julie told me that after the firing <he> met Godfrey in his office, “offered my hand in friendship and he rejected it.” Godfrey died in 1983 at 79. “Now that he’s gone,” said La Rosa, “I shall pray that he will rest in peace.” La Rosa said they met briefly once on Fifth Avenue walking in different directions. “I took his hand and said, you’re looking well, and he said thank you. And I said, you better watch it, or they’ll make an item of us.”
All and all, Uncle Pete and Louise’s song reflected scripture’s call to help the poor, to keep an open heart and open door. Some will hear that as doing good for goodness sake, others might calculate it as an insurance policy. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
How did Uncle Pete and Louise come to he heard on WNEW even though the station had not specially engaged them? For most of the economic hard times of the 1930’s, many radio stations were able to survive by sharing dial positions and airtime. WNEW, for example, came to be in February, 1934 when its owners, bought two New Jersey stations, WODA, Paterson and WAAM, Newark, where Uncle Pete’s program originated.
The stations were merged, and their licenses cancelled as new call letters, WNEW, took over the 1250 spot on the dial. WODA and WAAM, along with WHBI Newark, had shared airtime at 1250 kc. since the late 1920’s and WNEW continued to share air time with WHBI for another seven years. ECB
————–
(add) “The Engineers”
by Andy Fisher
As extensive as my list of “The Engineers” was in my last posting on wnew1130.com, it just began to list the personnel of the engineering department in the golden days of the 1960s. Here are others, whom I knew less well, but who were nevertheless essential parts of the engineering department:
Engineering Supervisors: Karl Neuwirth, Bill Schmidt
Engineers: Frank Dubiel, Howie Epstein, Ken Haile, Joe Palumbo, Eric Potts, Bird S. Coler Southern, George Speer, Steve Sullivan
Many, but not all, of these fine technicians worked at the transmitters — the AM transmitter in Kearny, the later AM transmitter in Carlstadt, and the FM transmitter on the 82nd floor of the Empire State Building — and rarely came to the Fifth Avenue studios. AF
Others on the schedule are:
