“My mind, as is so often the case these days, was totally blank.” — Jean Shepherd, 1966
Exactly one hundred years ago, a beacon of communication and entertainment was born.
On December 1, 1921, the U.S. Department of Commerce set aside a single wavelength, 360 meters (833 kilohertz), for radio stations to broadcast “entertainment” programs.
Bamberger’s Department Store in Newark, New Jersey applied for the license, and, on February 22, 1922, began broadcasting with the call letters WOR from the sixth floor, with a makeshift microphone made from a megaphone attached to a telephone mouthpiece.
It might seem odd that a department store would operate a radio station, but it was the perfect alignment: Bamberger’s wanted to sell more radios.
From the 1930s to the 1980s, WOR was a full-service radio station, broadcasting news, talk, and music. The morning show was Rambling with Gambling, hosted by three generations of the Gambling family, ran from 1925 to 2000.
But one of the most controversial …
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