➦In 1931...Lawrence Tibbett was the featured vocalist as radio came to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The first opera broadcast was “Hansel und Gretel”, heard on the NBC network stations. In between acts of the opera, moderator Olin Downes would conduct an opera quiz, asking celebrity guests opera-related questions.
The program’s host and announcer was Milton Cross, who stayed with the weekly broadcasts for 43 years.
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| Arturo Toscanini |
➦In 1945...Gary Lee Sandy born. Sandy played program director Andy Travis on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.
➦In 1948...92.3 FM NYC frequency signed-on as WMCA-FM. (Today the station is WINS 92.3 FM and is owned by Audacy Communications, simulcasts All-News 1010WINS).
For the next year, it operated daily from 3p-9p, simulcasting WMCA, 570 AM.
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| The WMCA Happy Face logo |
He had said several times that baseball games were cut short on the FM, deliberately to elicit response from listeners and he had received only 2 letters in regard to this practice during all of the summer of 1949.
Straus cited several reasons for the failure of FM: drifting of receivers, difficulty in tuning them, the union rule that announcers who were simulcast on FM and AM be paid double in New York and he said people could already hear WMCA on AM.
Further, Straus said that he had twice tried to give WMCA-FM away and couldn't.
This announcement drew sharp criticism from Major Edwin Armstrong, the inventor of the FM system of broadcasting, who said that Straus was not giving FM a fair chance.
Straus announced that WMCA-FM would quit permanently on December 31, 1949, but the day before, a group of businessmen and people associated with WIBG in Philadelphia announced their intention of buying WMCA-FM for $7500.
So, WMCA-FM continued its 3p-9p schedule throughout 1950, however the negotiations with the WIBG group fell through.
In late 1950, WHOM 1480 AM, announced that it would purchase WMCA-FM. An agreement was reached and 92.3 became WHOM-FM on February 26, 1951.
By 1975, the station had evolved into a Pop/Rock leaning AC format, with calls of WKTU.
On July 24, 1978, WKTU abruptly switched to an "All Disco" format as "Disco 92", which eventually evolved into more of a Rhythmic CHR by the Fall of 1979.
In the summer of 1984, WKTU became a mainstream CHR.
In September 1985, Howard Stern (who had been fired from WNBC earlier that year) joined the station, initially for afternoons and in early 1986 switched to mornings.
In 1987, WXRK had instituted a classic rock format and on January 5, 1996, evolved into an alternative/active rock format.
On December 16, 2005, Howard Stern broadcast his last show on the station, before his anticipated move to Sirius Satellite Radio on January 9, 2006.
On January 3, 2006, 92.3 became an "all-talk" station (with the exception of weekends when it features a rock format) using the "Free FM" slogan and featuring David Lee Roth in mornings. Calls were officially changed to WFNY on January 1. In April 2006, David Lee Roth was replaced with Opie & Anthony.
On March 11, 2009, 92.3 switched to a CHR format as "92.3 Now FM", with the "K-Rock" format moving to 92.3's HD2 channel.
92.3 changed calls to WNOW on November 8, 2012.
On May 22, 2014 at 2pm, 92.3 re-branded themselves as "92.3 AMP."
Calls changed to WBMP on June 23, 2014. In 2017, the station was sold by CBS Radio to Entercom (now Audacy). The format was flipped to Alternative upon the deal closing and calls were changed once again to WNYL.
➦In 1995...legendary singer/crooner, actor, comedian, and Rat-Pack member Dean Martin died of respiratory failure at age 78.
➦In 2006...the “hardest working man in show business,” urban star James Brown died of pneumonia at an Atlanta hospital. He was 73.
The one-time radio station owner was nicknamed the "Godfather of Soul", died.
➦In 2008... actress & chanteuse Eartha Kitt, best known for her hit songs C’est Si Bon & Santa Baby, who was the 2nd Catwoman on the 1960’s Batman TV series, succumbed to colon cancer at age 81.
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| Gary Sandy is 79 |
- Actor Hanna Schygulla (“Barnum,” ″Casanova”) is 81.
- Singer John Edwards of The Spinners is 80.
- Actor Gary Sandy (“WKRP In Cincinnati”) is 79.
- Country singer Barbara Mandrell is 76.
- Actor Sissy Spacek is 75.
- Blues musician Joe Louis Walker is 75.
- Actor CCH Pounder is 72.
- Guitarist Robin Campbell of UB40 is 70.
- Singer Annie Lennox is 70.
- Singer Steve Wariner is 70.
- Actor Klea Scott (“Millennium”) is 56.
- Guitarist Noel Hogan of The Cranberries is 53.
- Singer Dido is 53.
- Singer Mac Powell of Third Day is 52.
- Country singer Alecia Elliott is 42.
- Singer Jess and Lisa Origliasso of The Veronicas are 40.
- Actor Perdita Weeks (2018′s “Magnum P.I.”) is 39.
- Singer-guitarist Lukas Nelson of Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real is 36.
- In 1946..W C Fields, writer and comedian (Bank Dick, It's A Gift), dies at 67
- In 1977..Charlie Chaplin, British actor and comedian (Modern Times, The Kid), dies in Switzerland at 88
- In 1979..Joan Blondell, American actress (Real McCoys), dies of leukemia at 73
- In 1989..Billy Martin, American baseball 2nd baseman (MLB All Star 1956; World Series 1951, 52, 53, 56; NY Yankees) and manager (World Series 1977 NY Yankees), killed in a car accident at 61
- In 1995..Dean Martin, American singer ("That's Amore"; "Everybody Loves Somebody"; "Sway"), comedian and actor (Martin and Lewis, The Dean Martin Show), dies of throat cancer at 78
- In 1996..Jon Benet Ramsey, Colorado child beauty queen, murdered at 6
- In 2006..James Brown, American R&B, gospel, soul and funk singer-songwriter known as 'The Godfather of Soul' ("Sex Machine"; "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"; "Hot Pants"), dies of heart failure at 73
- In 2008..Eartha Kitt, American singer (Santa Baby), dancer, comedian, actress and activist (Catwoman-Batman), dies at 81
- In 2009..Tony "T-Bone" Bellamy, American rock guitarist (Redbone), dies of liver failure at 63
- In 2016..George Michael, English singer-songwriter and pop superstar (Wham! - "Careless Whisper"; "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"; solo - " I Want Your Sex"; "Faith"), dies of suspected heart failure at 53
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