Obituary, Perspective

Gloria Steinem’s Enduring Influence

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Gloria Steinem

As a teenager in the ’70s, I heard a lot about Gloria Steinem. I thought, what a strong and magical woman — fearless, or seemingly so. How does one become like Gloria Steinem? I was fascinated by her: her intellect, her beauty, and the way she navigated a man’s world, essentially paving the road I was beginning to travel.

As I moved into my twenties, Gloria was never far from my decision‑making. I was fortunate to have a mother cut from the same cloth — keeping the roads passable while working and raising four children. Gloria carried the thread from there, offering an expanded horizon, an inspiration for what was possible.

I later had an opportunity to see Gloria and hear her words in person. I could not find anyone to go with me. I was concerned about parking and walking to and from the venue in the dark — when it suddenly hit me: I doubt Gloria would be having this conversation with herself. What Would Gloria Do? Gloria would go…So, I went, and from that day forward, fear was (mostly) gone from my future decision‑making, replaced with sense and sensibility.

Gloria Steinem was an extraordinary woman. And she stood among many extraordinary women who reached beyond the limitations of their time: the Suffragettes, who fought for women’s rights and the right to vote; Eleanor Roosevelt, who worked tirelessly with the Women’s Trade Union League and the International Congress of Working Women. Their efforts opened doors for women like Barbara Walters, the first female co‑host of a news show, and Jane Fraser, named Fortune’s “Most Powerful Woman in Business” in 2026. There are so many influential women deserving more than an honorable mention — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Hillary Clinton, and, in today’s world of gender rediscovery, Roxane Gay and Janet Mock, whose voices are deeply needed.

I know the evolution of life takes us all to this day. But there are some people we think will live forever. And in a way, they do. They live forever in their writings, their teachings, their legacy. And, in the case of Ms. Gloria Steinem, in my heart.

Gloria Steinem, Personification of the Feminist Movement, Dies at 92 – The New York Times

-MCP-

Images, Sports, Staff

WNEW and the Voices of the Fall Season

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Late August always hits me with that hectic sports overlap — the US Open in full swing, baseball pushing toward the playoffs, football stretching into its first real games, and basketball and hockey warming up in the background. It’s the time when summer sports are peaking and fall sports are knocking on the door.
Even with today’s instant stats and endless streaming, I imagine for some, the feeling is still the same as a bunch of neighborhood kids sharing one transistor radio: anticipation, nostalgia, and the sense that football season is about to take over.
But, well before apps, and alerts, there was WNEW AM. The station’s voices didn’t just report scores — they carried the mood. Marv Albert, young and electric, Chip Cipolla sounded like the friend who somehow knew every locker room in town.
Cipolla, Huff, Glickman ©1934-1984 Where The Melody Lingers On

 

Marv Albert.  From the Archives of Stuart Zuckerman
There was Marty Glickman’s legendary Giants coverage, while Kyle Rote and Al DeRogatis offered the perspective of someone who’d actually been on the field — only a sampling of the voices that shaped WNEW sports. And, of course, there was Nat Asch, who captured the emotion behind the plays and the players.
Mal Kirpich, Marty Glickman, Nat Asch, Kyle Rote, Al DeRogatis
© WNEW1130.com Mal Kirpich, Marty Glickman, Nat Asch, Kyle Rote, Al DeRogatis
Together, they helped listeners move from pennant races to Sunday matchups with excitement, familiarity, and far less of that late‑August chaos. WNEW didn’t just cover sports; it helped listeners ride out the pace of the season, one broadcast at a time. The station may be gone, but the way it shaped those moments — I’ll bet still lingers in the collective memory of the entire tri‑state area.
-MCP-
Perspective, Staff

Like his radio station, there was only one William B. Williams

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Some might argue with me that no one was more synonymous with New York’s famed WNEW Radio than William B. Williams. Hard as it is to believe, Monday marked 40 years since William B. died of acute anemia and respiratory failure a few days shy of his 63rd birthday.
William B.
Photo: WNEW
An air personality extraordinaire, Bill initially worked a split shift of late mornings and early evenings before settling into his longtime 10-to-2 stint with the Make Believe Ballroom. Willy B. was an A-Number-One-Booster of popular music that reflected the talents of such great performers as Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett and Francis Albert Sinatra. That’s what he called his friend, Frank, and also dubbed Sinatra “The Chairman of the Board!”
Williams and Sinatra at Friar's Club
WBW and Frank Sinatra
He could talk at-length about the music he played, a particular artist or show, and he knew how to acknowledge a colleague moving on to bigger and better things which was evident on a summer’s day in July of 1971 when he saluted his news broadcaster Bill Diehl. Bill was going to ABC Radio News as a correspondent but Willy B. declined to mention the network by name other than to refer to it as “some anonymous network.”
William B was married to one-time TV personality Dotty Mack and is survived by his son, Jeff.  For forty-two years in the 20th century William B. Williams was at home at the prized WNEW and should have been since he also had two Ws in his name!!!
Bob Gibson
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Audio, Images, Listener Comments, Profile

Our Fan Favorite

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Norman Heckel
Mountainside, NJ

Some listeners carried WNEW with them for decades, and Norman Heckel was one of them. He tuned in from 1963 until the station signed off in 1992, keeping not just the memories but the physical pieces of that era — matchbooks, cassette tapes of airchecks, and other small treasures that captured the spirit of the Big W.

Years later, Norman reached out to my father, Ed Brown, who was building the WNEW archive online. Wanting his collection to be preserved rather than discarded someday, he sent it along so it could become part of the station’s ongoing story. His matchbooks even helped enhance a January 2026 post on the site.

Today, those items remain an important part of the archive. They help keep WNEW’s history vivid for anyone who visits, and they reflect the kind of dedication that kept the station alive long after the last broadcast.

Please enjoy this Fan Favorite rerun, with my thanks to Norman Heckel for his continued support of WNEW1130.com, where the memory truly lingers.

-MCP-

 

 

 

 

History, Perspective

America at 250

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Photo credit OLLI Connects
Two hundred and fifty years ago, this nation began with an idea — that free people could govern themselves, and that truth should never be hidden from them. Over time, our founders shaped a republic built on the promise that citizens would have the right to know, to question, and to stay informed.
Thomas Jefferson, June 1776, Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence | Library of Congress
For generations, newsmen and women across America carried that promise forward. WNEW‑AM was part of that promise. Its voices, its reporters, its producers, and the entire staff helped shape how millions of people learned about their country and their community. They reported from battlefields, from city halls, from quiet neighborhoods and crowded streets. They helped us understand our world, one story at a time.
This space remains dedicated to keeping WNEW’s story — and the people behind it — within reach. Honoring those who kept us informed, and the ideals that made their work essential.
So, this weekend, as we gather for July Fourth and the familiar rituals of hotdogs and hamburgers, it’s a reminder that this nation has always balanced the profound with the everyday. The Declaration gave us ideals; the holiday invites us to honor them in the company of friends, family, and a summer afternoon.

America the Beautiful — By Katharine Lee Bates
© 2026 AmericanLiterature.com

Happy Independence Day

–MCP–

History, Perspective

We Remember

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There are days on the calendar that feel less like dates and more like echoes. Memorial Day has always been one of them. Long before it became a long weekend or the unofficial start of summer, it was a pause — a collective breath — taken by a country that understood the cost of its own freedoms.
At WNEW, those moments of remembrance were never treated as programming obligations. They were treated as responsibilities. The voices that came through the microphones — from newsrooms, from parade routes, from quiet corners of cemeteries where families gathered — carried a tone you didn’t have to name. You simply recognized it. A steadiness. A gratitude. A promise to remember.
WNEW understood that history isn’t only written in headlines. It’s written in the lives of the men and women who served, in the families who waited, and in the silences that followed the telegrams no one wanted to receive.
Every year at 3 p.m., when the National Moment of Remembrance arrives, the city seems to exhale. For sixty quiet seconds, the noise softens. The traffic slows. Even the air feels different. It’s a small gesture, but a powerful one — a reminder that remembrance is not passive. It is something we do.
USD Veterans Affairs
We remember not just the fallen, but the ideals they believed were worth defending. We remember the way radio once brought a city together in moments of grief and pride. And we remember that gratitude, when spoken honestly, never goes out of style.
At 3 p.m., we pause. We listen. We remember.
May their memories be a blessing. And may we continue to live in a way that honors the sacrifices that shaped the country we call home.

-MCP-

Audio, Personal

WNEW: Off‑Air Moments

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Personal memories from the people behind WNEW‑AM —because the real stories didn’t always wait
for the mic to go off.
The late ’60s and early ’70s were a heavy, head‑spinning time for New York and for the country as a whole. Vietnam dominated the headlines, Watergate was beginning to erode trust in government, the Cold War kept nerves tight, and movements for civil rights, women’s rights, and a new counterculture were reshaping American life.
That national tension — and the sense that history was unfolding by the minute — seeped into every newsroom, including WNEW‑AM, where the clatter of the teletype never stopped and the air was thick with the smell of coffee and cigarettes. Yet even in that charged atmosphere, there was always someone who could cut through the seriousness with a bit of mischief.
My father, Ed Brown, wasn’t the one causing the antics — but he was often there to witness them, or bear the brunt of them, and we loved when he would share those stories with us.
One particular story surfaced by accident while I was cleaning out my phone. On occasion, I was quick enough to capture a recording of him telling a story. The one you’re about to hear involves Ed and — you guessed it — Ted Brown. If you knew Ted, you already know you’re in for something good.
After deciding to post it, I realized Ted’s birthday was May 5… so consider this a belated and happy heavenly birthday nod to him.

-MCP-

Contributor’s Note:

It’s true, Marianne: The newsroom was a much more entertaining place than anything that ever went on the air — largely because it wasn’t fit to go on the air.

I remember one afternoon when your dad came to work “in a mood.” He was disturbed by his own kids — “all they seem able to say,” he fumed, “is ‘like’ and ‘you know’!” We listened to him for awhile as he vented, and when he seemed to be through, I said, “Far out!” and he exploded, “I CAN’T TALK TO YOU!”

He had to read a lot of what I wrote; I wrote his 6PM and 7:30PM newscasts from 1969 through 1972. That gave him the opportunity to write those memorable, incisive commentaries that ran at 7PM.

In retrospect, of course, he was right on target, but some loyal WNEW listeners didn’t agree, and were not reluctant to say so. Here is one example, a listener who defends Vice President Spiro T. Agnew — later forced to resign because of past corruption — and President Nixon — ditto:
Mrs. Katz
-Andy Fisher

 

Listener Comments, Personal

Our Fan Favorite

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WNEW1130.com celebrates the memory of our
fan favorite,

Mr. Jim McPadden

Jim McPadden, as a young man left with the United States Navy for the Korean War, leaving behind his family and friends, and Carole, his school-boy crush.
Jim McPadden’s son, Michael, recently wrote in and kindly shared their story.
My mother and father grew up together in Brooklyn on 44th street. They were childhood sweethearts. Dad was a paperboy on the street and mom was sweet on him early on…
Young love and long-distance rarely survive, but Jim never received a “Dear John” letter from Carole.  In fact, after his return from service, he and Carole were married on November 8, 1958. They built a family and a life with each other and remained together until Jim’s death in 1998.
Jim & Carole
©The Archives of Michael McPadden
Don’t underestimate the power of music, or connections, especially hometown connections. Carole, according to their son, saved everything, including one of those connections. A request his father made through the American Legions National Public Relations Commission Hometown USA program for a special song to be played on his hometown station, WNEW.
©The Archives of Michael McPadden
Unfortunately, young Jim’s request was never granted. Instead, young Carole received a letter post-dated June 1953 from Mr. Ted Husing at WMGM, 711 Fifth Avenue, New York 22 (as written in 1953)–with the original song request application, and a declination letter citing the program had been cancelled.
According to archival summaries and historical notes I reviewed with Microsoft Copilot, “Hometown USA” appears to have been a short‑lived morale program during the early Korean War, coordinated through the American Legion’s National Public Relations Division.
American Legion Digital Archive (Public Relations Division, 1950s) About | Digital Archive

 

©The Archives of Michael McPadden

 

Mike also shared that his mom kept a scrapbook during his father’s time in the Navy, and it included this  June Christy keepsake.

WNEW1130.com will now play for Carole and her family, My Heart Belongs to You, sung by June Christy, which can be heard here in perpetuity in honor of the late Mr. Jim McPadden, and all our servicemen and women who need a hometown connection.

JUNE CHRISTY – My Heart Belongs To Only You (1953) with lyrics – YouTube

Jim’s alternate Record Selection

Tony Bennett “Because Of You” on The Ed Sullivan Show – YouTube

-MCP-

News, Perspective

Anticipating the News Void To Come!

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This is not an easy story to write, but some are never intended to be. Just the same, to my way of thinking, it must be told!
This past business week ended with what I consider a thud! From 57th Street on the West Side of Manhattan came word from CBS News President Tom Cibrowski and CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss that in but nine weeks, on May 22nd, America, like-it-or-not, will say good bye to a nearly century-old tradition: CBS News on the radio.
This was not an inalienable right, but it could have been. It was also not part of the Ten Commandments but perhaps might have been. In any event, what CBS News brought to the medium of national radio was a treasure. A treasure that’s about to disappear, so hear it again while it still exists, and if it does your heart good, record some of it. The company has called this a necessary but painful decision. I most definitely disagree with the first part of that.
I am exercising my freedom of speech to say this is wrong and should not be happening. America is fully entitled to hear and continue hearing what many consider The Gold Standard of network radio news! But it’s not to be. I have taken the time to say what I have because I’m horrified that this would happen in my lifetime and yours.
We have all tasted some form of disappointment in life from losing a parent, a job, a gift, and yes, perhaps a child. I know what that’s like! Sure, this is different, but it’s not just one forgettable business decision. Truth be told, I enjoyed a long career at CBS as an anchor and writer on their New York, all-news powerhouse, WCBS NewsRadio88 for twenty years and also worked as a back-up voice for the CBS Television Network for eleven years. I never worked for the News Division, though I did have occasion to record promos for some of their high-profile news broadcasts.
I also had the opportunity to work for the competition as a news correspondent at ABC Radio and NBC Radio in New York and for Mutual News in Washington. To the men and women of CBS News/Radio past and present, I’d like to say thank you, congratulations and God’s speed!
With thanks and appreciation to you for your reading time,
Bob Gibson
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CBS News Radio to shut down after nearly a century of broadcasting

From left to right: Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite and Edward R Murrow at the CBS News desk on Oct 29, 1956. CBS via Getty Images

-MCP-

History, Images, Staff

Celebrating the Women of WNEW

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Celebrating the Women of WNEW

© 2026 INSPYR Solutions

 

 

 

 

 

The year was 1857, the day-March 8, when women textile workers in New York City, marched in protest of unfair working conditions and unequal rights.

The Women’s Trade Union founded in 1903 © Kheel Center, Cornell University.

Fifty-one years later on March 8, 1908, women workers fought for their rights again, by marching through New York City’s Lower East Side to protest child labor and sweatshop working conditions.

 

Imagine the delight and pride of those courageous women, when in 1935, Bernice Judis signed on as General Manager of WNEW. And, in 2022, she received a Legends induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.

WNEW Station Mgr. Bernice Judis.
Photo: NYC Radio-Arcadia

 

ca. 1940s, New York, New York, USA-Alice Marble. © Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS

 

 

Or, in 1940, when top ranking woman tennis player, Alice Marble, signed a contract with WNEW for a series of weekend football forecasts.

 

 

 

Marlene Sanders August 27, 1963

Followed by a host of courageous and strong women, epitomized by Marlene Sanders who in 1962 joined WNEW Radio as Assistant News Director.

 

 

And, of course, Peggy Stockton, veteran radio reporter who spent 12 years with WNEW covering New York’s City Hall.

Peggy Stockton, WNEW, with NYC Mayor Edward Kotch
Peggy Stockton, Mayor Ed Koch

 

Honorable mention for some WNEW-FM women, who for a short time in 1966, held an all women DJ line up. Alison Steele, Nell Bassett, Arlene Kieta, Ann Clements, Margaret Draper, Peggy Cass, Rita Sands, Pam McKissick.

-MCP-

Postedit: Thank you Andy Fisher for the following comment.  Too worthy to be left just there.

Let us not forget Maryann Roque, part-time host of the Milkman’s Matinee in the late 1970s, later known at other stations as J. J. Kennedy.

Carolyn Tanton came to WNEW as an intern from Rutgers and became a writer/reporter and acting editor.

Mona Rivera was a writer/reporter in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Many women were desk assistants; the position became “news coordinator” under the Writers’ Guild. Among them were Merry Aronson and Shelley Adler.

Bernice Judis was not the only woman in a management position. The great Ruth Meyer was program director. Kay Reed, who played the organ on WNEW’s first day, had a supervisory position in promotions. Gertie Katzman was music director in the late 1960s.

There were many more, chiefly in secretarial jobs. And a few more news department secretaries who have come to mind: Lynne Smiles and Patty Mizzy were there while I was out of town (in the Army and at WIP in Philadelphia).

The unfortunate end of the all-female “experiment” on WNEW-FM was not the end of women on that station. Alison Steele morphed into the Night Bird (“Come. Fly with me”) as the music on FM changed.

And there were many more women on-air at FM, most memorably for me, Robin Sagon, who did afternoon newscasts after the station set up its own news department. Stacey Cahn did news after I had left. Spinning the albums, Meg Griffin, Pam Merly, Bernie Bernard, and long after I had left, Carol Miller.

Back on 1130, the news department secretaries played important roles. Carole Lee Clark, Lee Bridge (Cognetta), Mary Cunningham (Bliss), Sima Glickman and Susan Banker were ones I remember.

 

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