Morris S. Novik

Born in Nevel, Russia in 1903, Morris S. Novik grew up on New York's Lower East Side. After spending in youth as an active participant in labor union affairs and in organizing various educational and cultural activities for working people, he entered broadcasting in 1932. As program director and associate manager of WEVD, he founded the University of the Air and added a wide variety of talks and discussion programs to the schedule. In 1938, Novik was appointed by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia as New York's first Commissioner of Broadcasting and as Director of municipal station, WNYC. For the next eight years, Novik made that station a center of cultural and public service programming. During that period he also served as the unpaid Executive Secretary of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters. He then worked in various consulting jobs including as a radio-tv consultant to the AFL-CIO, and has worked with a variety of governmental advisory groups and commissions. He died in 1996.

In this interview, Morris Novik discusses his career as a broadcaster and a social activist. He also presents an insider's view of New York City's politics in the 1930s and 1940s.

Further information about Morris S. Novik can be found in the Papers of Morris S. Novik.

Topics

• educational radio
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• National Association of Educational Broadcasters
• WEVD
• WNYC

People

• Fiorello LaGuardia
• Frieda Hennock
• Richard Hull
• Frank Schooley

Topics

• Allerton House Conference
• educational radio
• WNYC (New York, NY)

return to top