Established in the year 2000, the New York Public Radio Archives are the station's physical link to its rich and storied past.
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The sounds of a city and a nation are captured through nearly a century of transformations, tribulations, and triumphs.
MoreWe've been making waves for 90 years.
MoreBy the time Shirley Zak Hayes joined the WNYC staff in June 1966 as the station's first full-time woman announcer, she had already distinguished herself as a community activist. In the late 1950s she led the fight against Robert Moses' plan for a four-lane highway through Washington Square Park. (This activism was duly noted in Jane Jacobs' book The Life and Death of Great American Cities). Hayes had also worked for the Lindsay campaign, and was a charter member of the National Organization for Women.
A Chicago native, Hayes hosted the overnight classical music program While the City Sleeps and created, produced and hosted the shows Landmark Reports and Planning Board Reports (the above audio is from a 1967 episode of the latter). Hayes had plenty of experience and knowledge for both programs, having been a member of Planning Board 2 since 1952 and organizing the successful campaign to preserve Washington Square Park. Planning Board Reports was launched in conjunction with Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton's office on June 4, 1967. The show presented capsule reports and meeting dates for the city's Planning Boards.
On March 8, 1974 Hayes took on the bulk of WNYC's special programming for International Women's Day. This included discussions with experts on women's health, employment, women in broadcasting, and African-American women. She continued to produce special programs focusing on women's issues throughout the year and into 1975.
Hayes chaired several committees of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) union, and represented fellow broadcasters at annual conventions as chair of the AFTRA Committee for the Creation of a Television and Film Center in New York City.
Hayes produced and announced for WNYC for 10 years and was among the earliest full-time woman radio announcers in New York City. She worked hard to break into the 'boys club' of announcing, but her repeated efforts to obtain a management position at the station were ultimately unsuccessful.
Special thanks to: Christopher Hayes; Kenneth R. Cobb, NYC Department of Records; Ted O'Reilly, The New York Historical Society; and Danielle Cordovez, NYPL Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.
Growing up in New Jersey, Archivist Andy Lanset was probably the only 8-year-old who spent all of his paper route money on records and wind-up phonographs at the flea market and then cataloged them all in a 3x5 card file. Since then, he has gone on to amass an archive of his own as well as to collect, organize, and preserve thousands of recordings, photographs, and station-related ephemera for the WNYC and WQXR archive collections.
WNYC 93.9 FM and AM 820 are New York's flagship public radio stations, broadcasting the finest programs from NPR and PRI, as well as a wide range of award-winning local programming. WNYC is a division of New York Public Radio.
Comments [2]
This is amazing. I can't even tell you. Shirley Hayes is my grandma. Unfortunately I didn't know her that long as she passed away when I was 15. I always wish I could have asked her more about who she was and what she did. I hear stories and read articles, but to hear her voice in action, adds a whole other dimension. I am a musician, performer and artist myself and can only now as an adult truly appreciate the struggles she faced in her own career and life. I have always felt as though I am probably much like her in many ways. Her stubbornness, perseverance, and strength of character are qualities that come to mind when remembering her impact in my own life. Knowing where you come from is so important. To hear her voice and read this article, makes me so proud of my roots. Thank you so much for sharing this! Go grandma go.
What a wonderful woman! Villagers are truly proud of activists like Shirley Zak Hayes. We continue the battles for our community neighborhoods in her tradition.
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