AMERICA’S BICENTENNIAL–GREATER NEW YORK RADIO, JULY 4, 1976

AMERICA’S BICENTENNIAL–GREATER NEW YORK RADIO, JULY 4, 1976 (NOTE: I can’t think of a better time to upload this compilation than now. As we face the first year, due to the pandemic, where most communities have canceled Fourth of July observances, here’s an opportunity to have a virtual celebration of Independence Day by recalling the greatest of them all. It’s the American Bicentennial–July 4th, 1976–when the entire country got into the spirit of things. Enjoy!) I made this Bicentennial tape in Norwalk, Connecticut, while I was visiting my sister. I was living in northern New Hampshire then (as I do now) and it was a treat to hear the NYC radio stations I could only pick up at night at home. The tape includes New York City, Long Island, and southern Connecticut radio stations— quite a range in formats, all geared to the local activities of the day. I started on July 3, and the tape opens with my introduction, and the arrival of July 4th on WCBS-AM at midnight. Then, I resumed taping the following morning about 11 a.m., and go on until about 2:30 p.m. I started recording again with the WCBS news at 5 p.m., and continued until just past midnight, July 5th. There are lots of airchecks here, most a few minutes in length, with some longer excerpts, including a Disney-produced soundtrack for fireworks aired by WNBC. Rather than log here what’s being heard, I’d rather you just sit back and be transported as I spin the radio dial in the greater New York City area on that memorable Sunday, July 4, 1976.