Scope and Content Note
The records of the WOR Collection are currently arranged alphabetically and span the years of 1930-1979 with the bulk of the materials dating from 1940-1959.
Materials found in the collection include bookkeeping papers of the Bamburger Broadcasting System, Macy's Department store, and RKO General. The business and moneymaking function of the station is illustrated through the advertising sale of contracts (network and local). These files contain budget documents for personnel, shows, talent, engineering, and the music department and orchestra.
The sale of WOR and Mutual to General Tire is documented in detail, with board of director overviews from the boards of Macy's, WOR, and MBS providing detail on the station and network operations and value at the time of sale.
Programming department files are extensive and also provide a valuable aspect in the background of the station. Early 1920s and 1930s programming is accounted for in the engineering dockets files to the Federal Radio Commission regarding what the station put on the air, the technical details of broadcasting and other explanations of why the station deserved its status as a licensee. Program idea submissions and releases in the late 1930s to the early 1940s show WOR's practice of accepting ideas from the public. Through these memos, contracts and correspondence, the decision-making process through the station's history can be discovered.
Technical papers from the engineering department date from the start of the station in 1922. These files, correspondence, contracts, memos, and blueprints cover all technical innovations, plans and practices of the station. Many were complete broadcasting revolutions and were put into practice by stations across the country following WOR. There are engineering plans and blueprints for all technical aspects of WOR radio, and later, the inception of WOR TV. Some of these were broadcasting innovations that influenced the industry. The invention of the directional antenna in 1935 revolutionized the industry and was adopted by many radio stations throughout the world, increasing the ability to reach a greater listening population. There are similar in-depth papers on all WOR technical aspects: transmitters, antennas, the first mobile unit broadcast studio and many more, all reflecting the technical development of the station.
The WOR news department papers provide another large aspect of the station's functions in this area along with a great deal of historical material. These papers include files of contracts and correspondence with employees and directors of the news department. There are news scripts that cover a wide range of time, with the heaviest concentration in the late 1940s through the late 1950s.