The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree: A History in Lights

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Places & Travel

4.8 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The history of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and its annual lighting tradition -- through good times and bad.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	New live show alert. We're gearing up for another edition of Bowery Boys History Live at City Winery,
0:09.2	a storytelling cabaret of all true tales and spell-binding secrets from the past, brought to you by a rotating roster of the city's greatest historians.
0:18.4	The newest show will feature the gilded Gentleman, Carl Raymond,
0:21.9	clock king and tour guide extraordinaire Kyle Suppley, and Aaron Radford Watley, author of the new book,
0:28.1	Hot Victorians. And of course me, Region from the Bowery Boys. That's Barry Boys History Live,
0:33.7	December 12, 2025. Get your tickets today at citywinery.com.
0:43.6	The Bowery Boys podcast is proud to be sponsored by founded by NYC, celebrating New York City's
0:53.2	400th anniversary in 2025 and the 250th anniversary of the United
0:58.0	States in 2006. Read all about the exciting events and world-class institutions commemorating
1:03.7	the five borough's legacy of groundbreaking achievements and find ways to celebrate the city
1:07.8	that's always making history at founded by nyc.com.
1:13.9	The 75-foot Norway spruce that will become this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas
1:19.5	tree has just rolled into town and it's putting me in an earlyish holiday mood. So please
1:26.0	enjoy this newly edited and remastered version of our show on New York City's
1:31.1	most famous Christmas tree.
1:32.7	And the surprisingly fascinating story of how its annual lighting became a national event.
1:39.1	Happy holidays.
1:40.4	Hey, it's the Bowery Boys.
1:41.7	Hey.
1:42.4	Hey. Hey.
1:58.0	Hi there. Welcome to the Bowery Boys. This is Greg Young solo this week to celebrate one of America's
2:02.8	most popular Christmas symbols, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Now millions tune in to watch
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tom Meyers, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tom Meyers and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.