Inducted in 2015
Radio Broadcaster; Rock-n-Roll Musicologist; Author
Pioneer in the Radio Broadcast Industry

He was a pioneer, a legend and an icon. He may have been a radio personality, but as for having a radio personality — well, no could one ever have accused him of that. He never concocted an over-the-top broadcast persona or spoke in an unnaturally affected faux-velvet tone. Behind the mic, there were no pretenses. He was what he was, on air and off: friendly, engaging, intellectual, insightful and excited to share the music he loved and believed in. In the words of Fr. Joseph McShane, SJ, the president of Fordham University at the time of Peter's induction, Fornatale was “the voice of several generations.”

And, indeed, for more than forty years, we listened.

Peter Salvatore Fornatale was born in the Bronx on August 23, 1945. He and his brother Robert grew up not too far from Campus on 188th Street in the Belmont section of the Bronx. Their father, Joseph (Giuseppe) Fornatale was an ice dealer, and their mother Mildred (Carmela Nicolina) Caputo Fornatale was a homemaker. As Pete would recount many times over the years, music captured his imagination from an early age, and he would spend hours listening to as many records as he could: old Italian 78s, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and everything in between.

He would also tell of his fascination with the blinking Fordham University radio antenna — in those days perched atop Keating Hall — that loomed over his neighborhood. Somehow, even as a boy, he felt its draw.

 “Joe the Iceman’s Son,” as Pete was sometimes known in the old neighborhood, attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel Grammar School before crossing Fordham Road to enter the Prep in the fall of 1959 as a member of Mr. Doyle’s homeroom. During his Hughes Hall years, Pete wrote for Rampart, was involved with the yearbook staff, competed with Speech and Debate Team, and helped get the word out with the publicity staff.  He was also — like fellow Hall of Honor inductee George “Snuffy” Stirnweiss, Class of 1936 — an ardent Prep handball player: a perennial Rose Hill pastime since the 1800s and precursor to the modern Prep-invented game of shmolley.

As foreshadow of things to come, Fornatale was voted “Best Speaker” in his senior year.

Graduating from the Prep in 1963, Pete stayed on at Rose Hill as an undergraduate, where he got his start at WFUV, the Fordham University radio station founded a generation earlier through the efforts of yet another Prep Hall of Honor inductee and broadcasting legend, Vin Scully, Class of 1944.

Going with his gut, the radio rookie pieced together a program called Campus Caravan — an eclectic mix of his favorite songs: mostly rock, but not all; some popular hits, but many lesser-played tracks as well, often enough from unknown or up-and-coming artists. He rounded out the show with his thoughtful remarks on the music and frequently featured in-depth conversations with the performers themselves, giving the audience an insight into the minds behind the music. As he noted in a 2008 interview, “Fordham had an aggressive concert program and some of the major stars of the time passed through there, like the Lovin’ Spoonful, Richie Havens, the Beach Boys, the Animals, the Dave Clark Five, and on and on.”  Pete’s instincts paid off: with his easy-going and unpretentious style and his unparalleled playlist, he immediately struck a chord with his listeners, and would be hailed as a pioneer in the emerging FM format.

After graduation, Fornatale spent two years teaching English at Maria Regina High School in Uniondale, Long Island before he signed on with WNEW-FM in 1969. On his very first broadcast, he read a commercial for the upcoming “Woodstock Music and Arts Fair: a three-day Aquarian exposition at White Lake in the town of Bethel in Sullivan County, New York.” A legendary on-air career would follow.

Pete remained at the station for years, creating his Mixed Bag program in 1982. In 1991, he and his show moved to WXRK — better known as K-Rock —and then back to WNEW in 1997. Finally, in 2001 he brought his show home — home to the Bronx, home to Fordham and home to WFUV.  And along the way, he had launched the careers of several major artists, interviewed some of the most fascinating performers of the day and won many awards for his innovations in broadcasting.

While volumes have been written on Pete Fornatale’s extraordinary tenure on the New York airwaves, perhaps one will find no better distillation of its essence than the words of fellow Prep graduate, Edmund Vitale, Class of 1972:

I think it almost impossible for most any of us who lived and worked in New York City and listened to the radio, to NOT have some memory of Pete. He was there from the beginning in the late ‘60s when FM radio went from a forgotten backwater to a progressive music powerhouse in its own right. From his days at WFUV, to his many years on the mid-day shift on WNEW-FM, and then finally back to WFUV — he ensured that we, his listeners, would always be on the forefront of new music. He cared about his audience.  He never talked down to us. And whatever it was he wanted to talk about, he was a patient teacher. I have always been proud to say I went to the same high school as Pete Fornatale.

Ed also noted that “each year, in mid-December, on the day of the Prep's Christmas Assembly, Pete would never fail to make mention of it on the radio.”

Outside of the studio, Fornatale was an author and frequent lecturer on music, the radio broadcast industry, and their impact on the culture at large. His Rock Music Sourcebook established him as a rock historian, his Radio in the Television Age has been a classic in college communications departments, and his 2010 Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock and How It Changed a Generation has been called the definitive oral history of the event. A man for others, for many years, Pete lent his time and talent to WhyHunger, an organization founded by the late folk singer Harry Chapin to address the issues of hunger and poverty worldwide.

Peter's final show was on April 14, 2012. He signed off with his usual Mixed Bag tagline, “See you next week,” and closed out the program with Dion’s “Heart of Saturday Night.” The next day, without warning, the pioneer of FM radio suffered a stroke. He was hospitalized and passed away nine days later on April 24. It was a terrible shock for all who knew him — family, friends and fans alike. 

Peter Fornatale left behind three sons, Peter Thomas, a writer and editor with whom he had worked on his last book; Mark, a wine importer; and Steven, an officer with the NYPD — as well as their mother, Susan Flynn Fornatale.  He also left behind a legion of listeners whose lives he had been a part of for decades — in the intimacy of our livings rooms, over coffee in our kitchens, as we drove home in our cars, or on our nightstands as we lay in bed.

Sure, we would keep on listening, but without Fornatale, the radio dial would always seem to glow just a bit less brightly.