MIKE BONGIORNO

Happy Italian Saturday, New York! And welcome to Journey Through Memory, brought to you by Tracing Italian Roots, where we celebrate and explore the story of Italian heritage around the world.

Born right here in New York City in 1924, beneath the shadow of its iconic skyscrapers, to an Italian father and an American mother of Piedmontese descent, Michael Bongiorno was a true New Yorker, better known to millions simply as Mike.
After surviving World War II in Europe, Mike returned home to New York determined to reinvent radio. Instead of sitting behind a microphone reading the news from a studio, he created an entirely new way of telling stories.
Using a portable magnetic tape recorder, a technology that was virtually unheard of in Italy at the time, Mike took to the streets of New York. He sought out Italian immigrants, workers, and everyday people. He recorded their voices, edited their interviews, and brought their stories to the airwaves. By giving a voice to the Italian-American community, Mike created an unprecedented connection between two continents. By documenting the everyday lives and family origins of those who had crossed the Atlantic, he became the true pioneer of the journey we continue today. In many ways, he was the very first person to begin Tracing Italian Roots.

"This is New York. You're listening to the Voice of America."
That was how he opened his broadcasts.

From the studios of New York, Mike was already building a bridge between two worlds. But he soon realized that staying inside the studio wasn't enough. So he packed up his tape recorders, traveled to Italy, and crossed the country from north to south.
His mission was simple yet extraordinary: to record the voices, dialects, and stories of the families who had remained in Italy, then bring those recordings back to America so Italian immigrants could hear the voices of home once again. Through his broadcasts, Mike created the first true audio bridge between the United States and Italy. He was the first to set out in search of the broken threads connecting families separated by the Atlantic.
Today, we are proud to carry that legacy forward. If you'd like to discover and share your own family's story, begin your journey today by visiting tracingitalianroots.com.

Happy Italian Saturday to everyone! And our heartfelt thanks to Josephine and her wonderful program!