Rebel in Radio i NI Ni - e, el: N. la ". 1111 rai WI www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com (continued from front flap) Bennett Cerf, Rudolph Serkin, George Balanchine, Gil- bert Highet, Richard Rodgers, Yehudi Menuhin and Leo- pold Stokowski. How it all came about is told in Rebel In Radio and will appeal to a wide audience - those involved profes- sionally in communications, musicians and music lovers as well as the general reader - interested in a warm and pleasant first -hand account by the man who guided it for more than 30 years. ELLIOTT M. SANGER was graduated from the School of Journalism, Columbia University, and spent many years in advertising and publishing before he and John V. L. Hogan established WQXR in 1936. He was Executive Vice -President and General Manager of WQXR from 1936 to 1965, and retired as Chairman of the Board in 1967. Mr. Sanger now is Chairman of the All- Industry Radio Music License Committee which negotiates music performance licenses with ASCAP, BMI and others, for all the local radio stations in the United States. Jacket Design by Al Lichtenberg A complete catalogue of COMMUNICATION ARTS BOOKS is available: HASTINGS HOUSE. PUBLISHERS, INC. 10 East 40th Street, New York, N. Y. 10016 www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com $7.50 REBEL IN RADIO The Story of WQXR BY ELLIOTT M. SANGER IN 1936 Elliott Sanger and his associate, John V. L. Hogan, had the unique idea of combining the science of radio with the ancient art of music, and started what eight years later became the now -famous WQXR, "The Radio Station of The New York Times." That concept blazed a trail in the wilderness of broadcasting which was followed by many stations across the country. The vast audiences for good music which exist today - more sophisticated and musically better informed than in the past - are largely due to the policies which emanated from WQXR. This is not a technical book about radio but the story of the many memorable events and personalities that shaped the station's history and how, despite great odds, WQXR made a notable place for itself in the history of broadcasting. The book is filled with interesting and in- structive details of day -to -day station operations and, as such, is a vivid picture of the development of broadcast techniques over a 35 -year span. WQXR's influence upon the cultural life of New York and elsewhere is an impor- tant part of the story of the station's accomplishments. The author adds his own special insight and analysis in explaining what made the station different through the high standards - intellectual, artistic, factual - of its programs, news and commercial policies. Insisting upon quality performance. WQXR emphasized good music (from an unsurpassed record library) and from live per- formances, offered literary and varied cultural fare which resulted in faithful listeners among hundreds of thousands who still depend upon it for stimulating pro- grams. Among the many musical and literary personali- ties the author came into contact professionally were Sergei Rachmaninoff, Fritz Kreisler, Leonard Bernstein, (continued on back flap) COMMUNICATION ARTS BOOKS Hastings House, Publishers New York www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com REBEL IN RADIO The Story of WQXR by ELLIOTT M. SANGER A Communication Arts Book HASTINGS HOUSE, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK www.americanradiohistory.com COPYRIGHT © 1973 BY ELLIOTT M. SANGER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED, STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, OR TRANSMITTED, IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING OR OTHERWISE, WITHOUT THE PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR THE PUBLISHERS. PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN CANADA BY SAUNDERS OF TORONTO, LTD., DON MILLS, ONTARIO LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA SANGER, ELLIOTT M. REBEL IN RADIO (A COMMUNICATION ARTS BOOK) 1. NEW YORK ( CITY). RADIO STATION WQXR. I. TITLE. HE8698.S33 385.54'065'7471 72 -13094 ISBN 0- 8038 -6329 -8 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA www.americanradiohistory.com To ELEANOR whose constant encouragement helped WQXR over the rough spots www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com EIE3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3B3E3E3E3 Contents Preface 7 1 The Scene 11 2 Program Policy 19 3 Advertising Policy 29 4 Sponsors 38 5 High -Fidelity 46 6 Records 55 7 WQXR's Spot in the New York Picture 63 8 New Paths in Radio 72 9 News and Public Affairs 81 10 The Sale to the Times 88 11 "The Radio Station of the New York Times" 95 12 "America's No. 1 Fine Music Station" 104 13 Basic Programming 116 14 Inside WQXR 131 15 Special WQXR Policies 150 16 The WQXR Network 161 17 TV and the Future of WQXR 169 Index 183 www.americanradiohistory.com '. il tlii vt www.americanradiohistory.com E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E311E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3 Preface MUCH OF MY adult life has been so inextricably woven with WQXR that this book may sound autobiographical. But that is not my intention. What I am trying to tell is how the idea of WQXR germinated, how it blazed a trail in the then wilderness of broadcasting and what effect it had upon the musical life of New York and its influence elsewhere. Most of the credit for the idea of a station emphasizing the best in music must go to my partner in the early days, John Vincent Lawless Hogan. He was a man of science and an idealist. A fellow broadcaster once described him as "the most practical engineer dreamer I ever encountered." Much of what WQXR became was due to his abiding con- fidence in his tenets of better broadcasting. This is not a technical book about radio. It is the por- trait of a station which was and still is different and which despite great odds made a place for itself in the history of radio. I hope that the mistakes we made will warn others from doing likewise and that the correct assumptions we made will help those who may in the future wish to raise the standards of the industry. One must never forget that despite the aim for the ideal, the attainment of that goal 7 www.americanradiohistory.com 8 REBEL IN RADIO must be economically feasible. It requires no miracle to op- erate a high -principled, intellectual, artistic, truthful station. But you have to be practical and think of where your support will come from. Most of the material in this book is the result of notes in the diary I kept for more than thirty years. And where my notes or memory failed I was greatly helped by my wife Eleanor, who recalled many details which I hope will add to the reader's interest in and enjoyment of "REBEL IN RADIO." ELLIOTT M. SANGER New York, January 1973 www.americanradiohistory.com The following prophetic words were written in 1888 in a very popular Utopian novel which fancifully looked back from the year zoo() to the world of Boston in the i88o's. It appears to me, that if we could have devised an arrange- ment for providing everybody with music in their homes, perfect in quality, unlimited in quantity, suited to every mood, begin- ning and ceasing at will, we should have considered the limit of human felicity already attained .. I am sure I never could imagine how those among you who depended at all on music, managed to endure the old- fashioned system of providing it . Music worth hearing must have been, I suppose, wholly out of reach of the masses, and obtain- able by the most favored only occasionally, at great trouble, prodigious expense, and then for brief periods, arbitrarily fixed by somebody else .. Looking Backward 2000 -1887 by Edward Bellamy www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3DE I E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3E3 The Scene IT WAS 1936. The United States was slowly emerging from the Great Depression; the world was more or less at peace although the saber -rattling of Hitler made ominous sounds. It was three years before President Franklin D. Roosevelt would stand before a crude television camera on the open- ing day of the New York World's Fair to be seen on only a handful of TV receivers strategically placed in the New York City area. It was the first time a President had been seen on television. Although few saw him, millions heard his speech on radio. Radio was king. In the whole history of mankind there had never been a means of communication so rapid, so uni- versal, so influential and so much a part of the everyday life of people. The radio set had become the domestic hearth around which the family gathered to be entertained and informed. Radio was a family activity which consumed many of its leisure hours. Some people had heard about tele- vision, but to most it still seemed to be in the realm of science -fiction. Those of you who were not around at the time may find it difficult to picture the grip that radio had upon millions 11 www.americanradiohistory.com 12 REBEL IN RADIO of people -perhaps even stronger than the hold that tele- vision has today. There were magic names, dozens of them: George Burns, Gracie Allen, Edgar Bergen, Fred Allen, H. V. Kaltenborn, Raymond Gram Swing, Kate Smith, Rudy Vallee and many more who attracted millions of listeners to their programs. The great majority of Americans thought of these people as friends who were always welcome in their homes. It was the era of "Amos 'n' Andy." When Calvin Cool- idge was President, he left instructions that he was not to be disturbed by matters of state while they were on the air.