New York public radio station WNYC transmitted its AM signal from the WNYC Transmitter Park in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood for over 50 years from 1937 to 1990.
When WNYC started broadcasting in 1924, it was owned by the City of New York, and broadcast from a transmitter located on the 25th floor of the Municipal Building in Manhattan. The proliferation of high-rise buildings in Manhattan became increasingly problematic for WNYC listeners with signal deadspots and weak reception a common issue across the city.
A new transmitter site was identified in Brooklyn, where the open aspect overlooking the East River provided the ideal location for broadcasting radio signals relatively unhindered across New York City. In 1936, work commenced on erecting two 304 foot four-legged steel transmission towers and an art deco style broadcast building on the site of the old Greenpoint Ferry terminal.
The site was decommissioned in 1990 after WNYC switched to broadcasting from an AM transmitter in Meadowlands, New Jersey and the two towers were removed later. In August 2010, the city Parks Department commenced a $12 million redevelopment of the site as a public park. The old transmitter building remains along with its stone plaque which reads:
Transmitter House of Radio Station WNYC, Constructed 1936
