Newark Symphony Hall

1020 Broad Street,
Newark, NJ 07102

Unfavorite 2 people favorited this theater

Showing 17 comments

rivest266
rivest266 on September 21, 2024 at 12:09 pm

Movies stopped in 1933 after being dropped by Warner in 1932.

rivest266
rivest266 on September 19, 2024 at 3:39 pm

Grand opened ad posted.

markp
markp on November 16, 2019 at 5:17 pm

Does anyone know when movies, or the last movie was shown here?

Metropolite
Metropolite on November 6, 2015 at 5:14 pm

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.

misterrick
misterrick on April 17, 2012 at 6:26 pm

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.

misterrick
misterrick on April 17, 2012 at 6:24 pm

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).

teecee
teecee on May 10, 2009 at 8:54 am

Hopefully they can raise the funds to fix up this grand old theater:
View link

Luis Vazquez
Luis Vazquez on December 5, 2008 at 4:43 pm

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.

Luis Vazquez
Luis Vazquez on June 29, 2008 at 4:41 pm

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……

GeminiTV
GeminiTV on August 1, 2007 at 9:48 pm

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

moviesmovies
moviesmovies on July 19, 2005 at 6:10 am

Saw Ella Fitzgerald in Concert here.

teecee
teecee on March 18, 2005 at 12:19 pm

Listed as an endangered historic site on Preservation New Jersey:

View link

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.

dmcjoe
dmcjoe on March 2, 2005 at 6:11 am

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/

DougDouglass
DougDouglass on December 12, 2002 at 6:54 pm

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.