Documentaries

WNYC Logo 1998-2002

WNYC has been producing and airing long-form documentaries since 1939, when a news unit was set up for that purpose. Modeled after the BBC's approach, the station sought to introduce the genre to an American audience with programs explaining the function of key city operations. The scope has expanded greatly and the tradition continues to this day.

 

Stories

Shell Shock 1919: How the Great War Changed Culture

WNYC's Sara Fishko and guests sift through the lingering effects of the Great War on modern art and life in Shell Shock 1919: How the Great War Changed Culture.
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WNYC Covers the Great Anti-Nuclear March and Rally at Central Park, June 12, 1982

At the time they called it the largest peace march and rally in New York City's history.
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Culture Shock 1913

What a year was 1913! In an exhibition in a New York Armory, Cubism and abstraction were revealed to the American public for the first time. In Vienna, audience members at a concert...
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The Ring and I: The Passion, The Myth, The Mania

What's the big deal about The Ring?
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Living 9/11

Through a mix of recordings from the time and interviews years later, WNYC reporter Marianne McCune shares the stories of those who were directly impacted by the attacks on 9/11.
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Intrepid City College Staffers Record Dust Bowl Refugees for WNYC Documentary

You could call them Lomax juniors.
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Bus Rapid Transit: Can Faster Buses Solve Transit Woes of a Crowded City?

While Americans struggle to find inexpensive, carbon-friendly ways to move around people and goods, third world nations are already experimenting.
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Stories From the NYPD

The story of the New York Police Department from the 1940s to the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
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Walt Whitman: Song of Myself

One hundred fifty years ago, Walt Whitman published the first edition of Leaves of Grass, a collection of twelve poems that shattered existing notions of poetry.
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Feet in Two Worlds

For generations, immigrants who came to the US were forced to make a clean break with home. Today, many find themselves in constant contact with their home countries, and the key to s...
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Politics and Punishment on Rikers Island

NEW YORK, NY (2004-07-15) In late 2002 word began to emerge that New York City Correction Department employees were working on Republican political campaigns -- often while on-duty. N...
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Politics and Punishment on Rikers Island: Part II

No one charged with wrong doing.
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The Ring and I: The Passion, The Myth, The Mania

A documentary that asks, "What's the big deal?"
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What Can I Say?

Sara Fishko examines how the messages of patriotism and dissent have been sent and how they've been received by a nation often hungry for reassurance.
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Degrees of Concern - The Series Compilation

A look at climate change and New York City's future.
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WNYC Archives

Established in the year 2000, the New York Public Radio Archives are the station's physical link to its rich and storied past.

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