NYC Radio: WNYC Suspends Lopate, Schwartz

Leonard Lopate

The crisis at WNYC over workplace harassment deepened on Wednesday, as two longtime hosts, Leonard Lopate and Jonathan Schwartz, were placed on immediate leave, “pending an investigation into accusations of inappropriate conduct," according to a statement from Laura Walker, president and CEO of New York Public Radio.

Lopate has hosted the Leonard Lopate Show for 32 years. Jonathan Schwartz hosts The Jonathan Channel online, and has a music show on Sundays. The suspensions come on the heels of news that a former WNYC host, John Hockenberry, bullied and harassed colleagues over the course of almost a decade. Hockenberry has apologized.

WNYC management did not clarify what Lopate and Schwartz are accused of. Lopate was escorted from the building on Wednesday morning after meeting with Chief Content Officer Dean Cappello.

“I have done nothing wrong, and I am really sad that my reputation may be damaged, despite the fact that I have not done anything that I know of that could have led to this situation,” Lopate said in an interview with WNYC News.

Jonathan Schwartz

Schwartz declined to comment.

WNYC News has spoken with several women who have made complaints about Schwartz and Lopate. On Tuesday, a new complaint was filed against Lopate.

According to The NYTimes, Lopate and Schwartz have been part of the fabric of New York cultural life for decades.

“The Leonard Lopate Show,” with its often leisurely interviews of politicians, authors, composers and chefs, has featured guests including Joseph R. Biden Jr., Catherine Deneuve, Ang Lee, Alice Munro, Barack Obama, Stephen Sondheim and John Updike.

Schwartz, a onetime cabaret singer who has published fiction and criticism in his time away from the microphone, first appeared on New York City radio in 1958, when he played a Frank Sinatra song on WBAI. He is known as an authority on Sinatra and the standards of jazz and pop.