Tony Schwartz

(1923-2008)

Sound Pioneer. Media Theorist.
Advertising Designer.
Humanitarian.

The Responsive Chord

Now available: The new edition of
Schwartz’s classic book!

Records by Tony Schwartz

Tony Schwartz created over a dozen commercial LPs for Folkways Records and Columbia Records.
They document music and life of the 1950’s and 60’s in New York City and around the world.
The Folkways recordings are available for purchase.

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Who is Tony Schwartz?

Tony Schwartz

Tony Schwartz

(1923-2008)

Tony Schwartz created commercials for over four hundred corporations, designed sound for sixteen Broadway shows, and was a four-time winner at the Cannes Film festival. For more than thirty years, he produced and hosted a weekly radio show, Around New York, on WNYC. As a specialist in political media, he produced television and radio commercials for the campaigns of two U.S. Presidents, as well as hundreds of candidates at all levels of government. He was the creator of the first anti-smoking ad, the first ads to use voices of real children (instead of adult actors), and Daisy, the 1964 commercial for President Johnson that remains the most talked-about political ad in television history. A recipient of three honorary doctorates, Schwartz lectured worldwide and taught media studies at New York University, Harvard, Columbia and Fordham. He produced and recorded over a dozen commercial records; one of them, New York Taxi Driver, was among the first 100 recordings inducted into the National Recording Registry. In 2007, Schwartz’s entire body of work was acquired by the Library of Congress.

Articles & Audio Programs…

NPR: On The Media (2008)

18-minute NPR audio story by the Kitchen Sisters. June 27, 2008.

New York Times (2008)

Obituary by Margalit Fox. June 17, 2008.

WNYC “Around New York” (1945-1976)

Tony Schwartz produced and hosted a weekly segment on WNYC Radio (New York) for over thirty years. The archive of these shows is available here.