This year’s broadcast will be held on Sunday, December 3, 2023 from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. EST .    

 

How to donate: By telephone at (607) 733-3831, or by clicking here

Where to Watch: WETM-TV, WENY-TV (ABC), WENY-TV CW or via live stream at WETM-TV or YouTube.

Where to Listen: WELM (1410 AM), WENY Magic (1230AM, 106.7 FM and 106.9 FM), WPHD COOL Radio (98.6 FM; 97.1 FM, 103.3 FM and 102.5 FM), and The Pirate (106.5 FM)

 

The History of the Broadcast

When radio came to Elmira in 1932, the Arctic League branched out to create the first annual broadcast. Newspaper publisher Frank Tripp devised a radio program for the League and served as the master of ceremonies.

This broadcast began on WESG, which was owned by Tripp’s Elmira Star-Gazette, and continued on as the station eventually became WENY. The broadcast originated in the old Mark Twain Hotel (on Gray Street) and provided the listening audience with entertainment by local artists.

A new dimension was added in 1973 when the broadcast was televised for the first time from the studios of WENY-TV. In 1991, the annual broadcast changed venues to the Clemens Center’s Powers Theater. The broadcast was a two-hour program until 2000, when an additional hour was added to the uninterrupted show.

We are grateful to our broadcast partners for their support in putting the Arctic League on the air!