Early style jingle. Tommy Dorsey esque late 1930s

..In 1933, Milton Biow, and Arde Bulova, manufacturer of watches, had recently acquired two small radio stations from the Amalgamated Broadcasting System. The ABS, formed by comedian Ed Wynn to challenge the three major radio networks, had failed, and Biow and Bulova took over five floors of studios at 501 Madison Avenue.

Ed Wynn’s initials are often said to be the source of NEW’s call letters. But retired engineer John Sarpaylic offers this first-hand account: “One Sunday morning I had to drive Mr. Biow and Richard O’Dea (owner of station WODA) to the new location in Carlstadt where they were building the transmitter. And the discussion was, what are we going to call this? Milton Biow said, ‘We haven’t had a station built in this area since 1928. I think the best call letters we could have are WNEW, which says new.  NEW in the metropolitan area. The NEWest thing in radio.'”

The preceding is an excerpt from the book “Where the Melody Lingers On WNEW 1934-1984,” Nightingale Gordon, NEW YORK.

-MCP-