On Oct. 26, 1947, Fordham dedicated its new radio station, WFUV, in a ceremony that featured luminaries of the broadcasting world and an apostolic blessing from Pope Pius XII.
The first collegiate FM station in New York, WFUV had been broadcasting since July. Reflecting FCC guidelines, it tilted toward academic lessons and educational programming. Its religious content included Sunday Mass and a “Know Your Saints” feature.
The dedication, held in Keating Hall, drew 300 people including humorist Arthur Godfrey, who was master of ceremonies, and Francis Cardinal Spellman, archbishop of New York.
In his dedication, Cardinal Spellman said WFUV would project “messages of truth and tolerance, which I think are good watchwords for a church as well as a people.”
Fordham President Robert I. Gannon, S.J., read a cablegram from Pius XII expressing “the confident hope that this new enterprise may be a strong force for enlightened goodwill among all the people of the United States of America.”
