Television History

Owen D. Young: WWI Statesman, GE Radio & TV Pioneer

May 19, 2026 by Randall Whitestone 2 Comments

On a warm, sunny day amid the winding hills of Herkimer County, the world descended on Van Hornesville, a small Mohawk Valley community, without a train station but home to a global, widely respected statesman of commerce and international finance.

Ninety-five years ago this June, Owen D. Young (1874-1962), architect of the Young Plan on Germany’s fiscal rehabilitation after World War I, and longtime chairman of General Electric Company, presided over graduation ceremonies for the town’s newly built seven-room schoolhouse replete with a swimming pool, a playground, and an auditorium “wired for talkies.” [Read more…] about Owen D. Young: WWI Statesman, GE Radio & TV Pioneer

An New Biography Explores Andy Rooney’s Lucky Life

April 10, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

A soon to be published biography of Andy Rooney (1919-2011) carries readers through the arc of a true American original, a New Yorker who was once one of the country’s most popular television and newspaper commentators.

Born in Albany, he attended Albany Academy, and later Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, before he was drafted into the United States Army in August 1941. [Read more…] about An New Biography Explores Andy Rooney’s Lucky Life

Once A Educational Powerhouse, CPB is No More

January 6, 2026 by Editorial Staff 5 Comments

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress to steward the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting, announced Monday that its Board of Directors has voted to dissolve the organization after 58 years, rather than be “vulnerable to future political manipulation or misuse.”

The decision follows Congress’s rescission of all of CPB’s federal funding and comes after sustained political attacks by the Trump regime and Republican Party that made it impossible for CPB to continue operating as the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 intended. [Read more…] about Once A Educational Powerhouse, CPB is No More

New Report: Affordability Threatens NYC’s Creative Sector

December 28, 2025 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

There are few things considered more critical to New York City’s economy than the creative sector, the mix of industries that range from performing and visual arts to ad agencies and design firms.

But a new Creative New York report by The Center for an Urban Future (CUF) shows that the city’s creative sector is facing serious new threats, in large part due to an affordability crisis that is hitting artists and creative workers especially hard. [Read more…] about New Report: Affordability Threatens NYC’s Creative Sector

Trump Regime Kills Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)

August 2, 2025 by Editorial Staff 4 Comments

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has announced it will shut down. The move follows the Republican Party’s cutting of all the nonprofit’s funding. 89 NPR and PBS station transmitters in New York will be affected.

CPB, a private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting. It’s support for more than 1,500 locally managed and operated public television and radio stations nationwide will end in September the organization said. [Read more…] about Trump Regime Kills Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)

The Rise & Fall of Radio Shack: A Short History

May 21, 2025 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Radio Shack once sold everything from ham radios to the earliest personal computers to components of powered space missions. It was a technology empire that fueled innovation and captured the imagination of countless inventors and hobbyists. But how did such a seemingly ubiquitous company with such a legacy fall apart?

In 1921 in Boston, Massachusetts two brothers Theodore and Milton Deutschmann’s passion for amateur radio led them to open a small retail and mail order store named Radio Shack. The name refers to a small wooden structure that housed a ship’s radio equipment. [Read more…] about The Rise & Fall of Radio Shack: A Short History

Tips to Avoid Telemarketing Calls Under New ‘Seinfeld Law’

February 25, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On January 1, 2025, New York State enacted the so-called “Seinfeld Law” to help protect consumers from deceptive telemarketing practices.

The State’s Division of Consumer Protection is providing tips to New Yorkers to combat unwanted telemarketing calls. Consumers are encouraged to register their phone numbers with the Do Not Call Registry and to file an individual complaint each time they receive an unwanted telemarketing call after registering for more than 31 days. [Read more…] about Tips to Avoid Telemarketing Calls Under New ‘Seinfeld Law’

Clayton ‘Peg Leg’ Bates: The One-Legged Dancing Legend

February 11, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

In this live episode of the Kaatscast podcast, recorded at the Emerson Resort & Spa on November 8, 2024 and hosted by Brett Barry engages in a detailed discussion with Elinor Levy, Folk Arts Program Manager at Arts Mid-Hudson, about the life and legacy of Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates (1907-1998). [Read more…] about Clayton ‘Peg Leg’ Bates: The One-Legged Dancing Legend

Duke Ellington and New York City

December 15, 2024 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

For most of the 20th century, the City of New York ran the largest municipal broadcast organization in the United States, consisting of WNYC-FM, AM and TV. During this time, WNYC brought the diverse lives and cultures of the city into the homes of its residents through original entertainment, journalism and educational programming. [Read more…] about Duke Ellington and New York City

Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar & Marking Borscht Belt History

July 12, 2024 by John Conway 2 Comments

Mel Brooks was 14 years old and still known as Melvin Kaminsky when he began working as a busboy in the Catskills at the Butler Lodge in Hurleyville, Sullivan County, hoping to be in the right place at the right time to start a career as an entertainer. [Read more…] about Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar & Marking Borscht Belt History

Car 54 Where Are You? Mostly In The Bronx

March 5, 2024 by NYS Music Leave a Comment

Created by Nat Hiken and with theme song and lyrics composed by John Strauss, television’s short-lived Car 54, Where Are You? was filmed on location and in The Bronx at Biograph Studios at 807 East 175th Street, which burned down in 1980 and now is the home of the New York Department of Sanitation. [Read more…] about Car 54 Where Are You? Mostly In The Bronx

Ken Squier, Auto Racing Community Figure, Remembered By Historians

December 12, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Waterbury, Vermont sportscaster and motorsports enthusiast Kenley “Ken” Squier died November 15, 2023, he was 88. A former owner of Waterbury’s WDEV and founder of Barre’s Thunder Road International Speedbowl, he was also a well-regarded person in the world of NASCAR, where he spent decades as a commentator. [Read more…] about Ken Squier, Auto Racing Community Figure, Remembered By Historians

Marty Glickman: American Jewish Sports Legend

October 2, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The book Marty Glickman: The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend (NYU Press, 2023) by Jeffrey S. Gurock takes a look at Marty Glickman, who for close to half a century after World War II, was the voice of New York sports. [Read more…] about Marty Glickman: American Jewish Sports Legend

Mayor John Lindsay and the Reinvention New York

April 29, 2010 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

“America’s Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention New York,” a 2010 exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York and companion book, examined the controversial career and dramatic times of New York’s 103rd mayor.

The exhibition presented Mayor John Lindsay’s efforts to govern a city that was undergoing dramatic changes and that was at the center of the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s; it highlighted Mayor Lindsay’s ambitious initiatives to redefine New York’s government, economy, culture, and public life. [Read more…] about Mayor John Lindsay and the Reinvention New York

Television History

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