Greene Space

The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space is New York Public Radio’s open gathering place. To enter is to embark on a soul-stirring journey to connect, to inspire, and to transform. All are welcome!

With the personality and vibrancy of its home town, and talent attracted from around the world, New York Public Radio brings its listeners a uniquely thought-provoking and soul-enriching array of news, current affairs, music, and cultural programming.

WNYC 93.9 FM and 820 AM produce a wide range of original programs for local and national audiences, including the innovative public affairs program The Brian Lehrer Show and the longstanding interview program The Leonard Lopate Show. WNYC’s award-winning news team presents current affairs programming of unmatched depth, and its dynamic music shows Soundcheck, New Sounds, and Spinning on Air have long been important platforms for new music, featuring artists and genres not found elsewhere on the dial. WNYC is also the New York City home of The Saturday Show and The Sunday Show, hosted by Jonathan Schwartz, the voice of American standards.

Besides serving its local audience, WNYC creates programming for national distribution, including the morning news show The Takeaway (a co-production with Public Radio International), the cult culture and science show Radiolab, the media criticism program On the Media, and Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, public radio’s only nationwide weekly program about pop culture and the arts. WNYC is also home to the best programs from National Public Radio, Public Radio International, American Public Media, and the British Broadcasting Corporation. WNYC produces popular podcasts available on both iTunes and our on the websites for The Takeaway, thetakeaway.org, Radiolab, radiolab.org, On the Media, onthemedia.org, and Studio 360, studio360.org.

WNYC has often earned recognition for journalistic excellence. Four of its programs—On the Media, Studio 360, The Brian Lehrer Show, and Radio Rookies, a showcase of work by teen journalists from around the city—have won George Foster Peabody Awards, the highest honor in broadcast journalism.

Classical 105.9 FM WQXR is New York City’s only all-classical music station, immersing listeners in the city’s rich musical life. WQXR presents new and landmark classical recordings as well as live concerts from the Metropolitan Opera, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the New York Philharmonic, among other city venues. WQXR broadcasts essential shows such as the Metropolitan Opera Radio Saturday Matinee Broadcasts, the New York Philharmonic This Week on Thursday evenings, the McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase on Wednesday evenings, and Symphony Hall each weeknight. For listeners in search of the new, WQXR also operates Q2, a 24-hour-a-day online music stream dedicated to contemporary classical composers, cross-genre adventures, and performances from New York City’s edgier venues. WQXR.org provides essential playlist info for online listening, as well as original content, host blogs, NYC cultural news, and videos.

In addition to its radio and online programming, New York Public Radio engages audiences in person at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station’s street-level, state-of-the-art broadcast studio and performance venue. The Greene Space is host to an exciting and wide-ranging line-up, including live broadcasts and tapings of WNYC programs, concerts and festivals from WQXR, audio theater, literary readings, art exhibits, political debates, symposia, and town hall meetings. To give a flavor of the variety of the fare, among the events staged at the Greene Space are a conversation with Cornel West and Eddie Glaude Jr. on the state of politics, a film screening and conversation with Sting and Trudie Styler, and the Battle of the Boroughs, a search for the best emerging talent in New York City. For more information and a schedule, please visit www.thegreenespace.org. To read a white paper reflecting on our experience launching and programming The Greene Space, click here.

New York Public Radio was launched on July 8, 1924 as WNYC Radio, the radio station of the City of New York. In 1997, the station secured its independence from the city when the WNYC Foundation bought the broadcast licenses for $20 million. WNYC moved its facilities in June, 2008 from the Municipal Building, where the station had broadcast since its inception, to a new home in the Hudson Square neighborhood of lower Manhattan, just west of SoHo. In April, 2009, WNYC opened the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space on the ground floor of the new location. In October, 2009, WNYC acquired WQXR, New York’s classical music station, from The New York Times Company. The franchise formally became known as New York Public Radio in March, 2010.

A news ticker carves through The Greene Space and out through the windows on Varick Street, making breaking news available to passersby, including some 35 million en route to the Holland Tunnel annually.

The Greene Space is outfitted with cutting-edge digital audio and video production systems and will live as vibrantly in the virtual arena as in its physical home. Thousands of visitors a year will experience the 130-seat venue firsthand. Millions more will be able to stream audio and video of live events and download podcasts created in the space.

The use of recycled paper for printed materials, low-wattage LED theatrical lighting, a stage made of renewable bamboo and interactive programs on environmental issues are just some of the ways The Greene Space will stay green.