Newark Symphony Hall
1020 Broad Street,
Newark,
NJ
07102
1020 Broad Street,
Newark,
NJ
07102
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Does anyone know when movies, or the last movie was shown here?
Adding The Mosque’s broadcast history …
Bremer Broadcasting’s WAAT began in Jersey City, later moving to Newark’s Hotel Douglas at Broad and Hill.
Frank Bremer moved the studios of WAAT-AM 970 to The Mosque which he bought in 1944.
In 1947, he created WAAT-FM 94.7, building a transmitting facility atop First Mountain in West Orange.
In 1948, WATV-13 was New Jersey’s First Television Station. 1020 Broad Street became known as “Television Centre Newark.” Studios for AM-FM-and TV remained at The Mosque. FM and TV transmitted from West Orange. The AM towers were on Belleville Turnpike in Kearny.
In 1953, TV transmission moved to the Empire State Building. 94.7 FM is still on First Mountain as WNSH, a country music station. 970 AM, now WNYM, transmits from Hackensack.
According to current property tax records the City of Newark sold Symphony Hall to the County of Essex for just over $5 million dollars and it is now owned and operated by the Essex County Improvement Authority a semi-autonomous county agency which also owns and operates Essex County Airport in Caldwell/Fairfield. IMHO it looks like Joe D. and Essex County got quite a bargain for Symphony Hall.
Newark Symphony Hall has a long proud history of being the center of Northern New Jersey broadcasting.
Bremer Broadcasting based two of its broadcast properties in Symphony Hall, WATV Channel 13 a commercial broadcaster and WAAT-FM 94.7FM which broadcast jazz, classical and easy listening music, Bremer would later sell the stations to National Telefilm Associates who changed the TV station call-letters to WNTA-TV and WNTA-FM and when NTA split up its holdings Channel 13 became public broadcaster WNET owned by Educational Broadcasting Corporation who moved the station from Symphony Hall to new facilities on West 33rd Street in Midtown Manhattan in New York City while maintaining a small office and studio at Gateway Center across from Newark Penn Station in order to be in compliance with their FCC City of License requirement.
WNTA-FM was sold to a small religious broadcaster Family Stations Inc. who changed FM station’s call-letters to WFME and moved the studios, offices and transmitter from Symphony Hall to 289 Mount Pleasant Avenue in the suburban town of West Orange.
In 1965 a small little known independent english language television station WNJU-TV Channel 47 signed on the air from the space which was formerly occupied by WATV/WNTA/WNET and WATV-FM/WNTA-FM, In 1984 WNJU went spanish joining the NetSpan television network which would later change their name to Telemundo. WNJU moved from Symphony Hall in 1989 to Industrial Road in Teterboro and then 14 years later they moved again, this time to the former broadcast facilities of sister cable network CNBC (CNBC has since moved to Engelwood Cliffs).
Hopefully they can raise the funds to fix up this grand old theater:
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The old marquee on Symphony Hall should be restored. The current marquee is just hideous and emblematic of the surrounding area which also looks forlorn.
It’s incredibly frustrating that Newark Symphony Hall’s own web site provides only one interior photo of the theater and not a very good one at that. If the theater is as beuatiful as they say it would make common sense to show it. Alas……
I did lighting for the concerts at Symphony hall starting with The Beach Boys and Buffalo Springfield, Also did the Stone and all the other concerts there. I met the WHO opening for Herman’s Hermits and toured with them off and on for Forty Years. Any photo’s of cocnerts would be greatly appreciated.
R. Borders
Old photos/misc:
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Saw Ella Fitzgerald in Concert here.
Listed as an endangered historic site on Preservation New Jersey:
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The act of listing 10 sites annually since 1995 acknowledges their importance to New Jersey and draws attention to their plight. Many sites have been saved as a direct result of being listed. To date, only two theaters have been listed – Symphony Hall & the Fabian in Paterson.
Photo from 2003:
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For more information and pictures on the history of broadcast facilities formerly located in The Mosque Theater go to the following website: http://wnjutv47.com/
Information on the organ:
http://www.gstos.org/newarkgriffithbeach.htm
Beginning in the early ‘40s, The Mosque was home to WAAT AM & FM. In 1948, New Jersey’s first television station, WATV Channel 13 debuted here. The facilities (later WNTA and WNJU ) were in operation until 1989. The former Studio A is currently used for theatrical productions.