Elliot Sanger (March 2, 1897 – July 9, 1989) was the co-founder of

WQXR-FM WQXR-FM (105.9 FM) is an American non-commercial classical radio station, licensed to Newark, New Jersey and serving the North Jersey and New York City area. It is owned by the nonprofit organization New York Public Radio, which also operates ...

and an early advocate of

FM broadcasting FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

Biography

Elliott Maxwell Sanger was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

on March 2, 1897. He graduated from

Townsend Harris High School Townsend Harris High School at Queens College (THHS) is a public magnet high school for the humanities in the borough of Queens in New York City. Students and alumni often refer to themselves as "Harrisites." Townsend Harris consistently ranks a ...

and then the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

School of Journalism. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served as an ensign tasked with selling war bonds before accepting a job as a copywriter at an advertising agency and then as the director of advertising and sales at hosiery manufacturer J.R. Beaton Company. In 1936, Sanger co-founded a small 250 watt radio station

(originally the Interstate Broadcasting Company) above a garage in

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

with

John Vincent Lawless Hogan John Vincent Lawless Hogan (February 14, 1890 – December 29, 1960), often John V. L. Hogan, was a noted American radio pioneer. Hogan was born in Philadelphia, constructed his first amateur wireless station in 1902, began his career in 1906 as ...

with whom he shared a love for classical music with the belief that high quality, high fidelity, live music would eventually attract advertisers. As an early advocate of the clarity and high fidelity of

, WQXR became the first FM station in New York City and the first nationally to present a regularly scheduled FM program. In order to maintain its semblance of decorum, the station prohibited "singing jingles and raucous sound effects." In 1944, WQXR

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

bought the station. Sanger served as executive vice president and general manager of WQXR from its founding until 1965 and chairman until 1967 when he retired. Sanger documented his story in the 1973 book, ''Rebel in Radio: The Story of WQXR,'' published by Hastings House.

Personal life

Sanger was married to Eleanor Naumburg, grandniece of

Elkan Naumburg Elkan Naumburg (1835–1924) was a New York City merchant, banker, philanthropist and musicologist, best remembered for his sponsorship of the arts in Manhattan. From the last quarter of the nineteenth century, he used his wealth to promote p ...

; they had two sons, Elliott Sanger Jr. and Kenneth E. Sanger. His grandson is journalist

David E. Sanger David E. Sanger (born July 5, 1960) is an American journalist who is the chief Washington correspondent for ''The New York Times''. A 1982 graduate of Harvard College, Sanger has been writing for the ''Times'' for 30 years covering foreign policy, ...

. Sanger collected rare books on New York City history which he donated to Columbia University. He served as a former president of Elder Craftsmen dedicated to helping people sell their crafts; served as director of Manhattan's Grand Jury Association; and was an interviewer in oral histories for the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...

. In 1952, he received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from his alma mater

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanger, Elliott 1897 births 1989 deaths American Jews Radio pioneers Naumburg family The New York Times people