Media Monday: FDNY Fireboat Radio Roll Call (1938)

"New York Fire Boat In Action" illustrated postcard from 1904 depicting the fireboat "The New Yorker," which operated from 1890 to 1931, using her water cannons to fight a raging blaze aboard a passenger ferry at night. Marquart Collection, Hudson River Maritime Museum.

A few weeks ago, we shared a documentary film about the FDNY fireboats in New York Harbor called "Sea Going Smoke Eaters." This week, we thought we'd follow up with this amazing recording from 1938.

Marc A. Hermann, who created the video and posted it on YouTube writes:

"In what may be the earliest known recording of the FDNY radio system, this clip is found on the January 1, 1939 broadcast of "New York Advances," a program produced by municipal radio station WNYC. The show summarizes city initiatives and projects of the preceding year, including a piece about the use of two-way radios by fireboats.

"Additionally, the clip provides insight to the department's roster of fireboats which were given concurrent "land unit" designations. Two-way radios were implemented department-wide by the early 1950s."

WNYF was the radio station of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY). This broadcast to the public on WNYC was part of a New Year's Day special describing the activities of the city government of the previous year, including the oath of office speech of Mayor LaGuardia, and fictionalized reenactments of modern and historical happenings. 

Following the broadcast of the FDNY fireboat roll call, "Chief of NY's Army and Navy, Fire Commissioner John McElligott, who discusses the importance of two-way radios; expresses his wish that, in the future, each police car and fire department will be equipped with a two-way radio; and lists the other development advancements of the department over the past year." Listen to the entire 1939 "New York Advances" broadcast on the New York City Municipal Archives website.

For more on FDNY fireboats and their history, check out this website featuring information and images of many historic FDNY fireboats. 

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