ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY
Rest of the News was a radical radio news group formed in Ithaca, New
York in 1971. The group produced 10-15 minute broadcasts following the regular
news on WVBR in Ithaca, focusing on significant current topics such as the
Attica Prison rebellion of 1971, the liberation movement in Zimbabwe, the
Native American movement, the War in Vietnam, and other issues. Broadcasts
included interviews with leading participants in these events interwoven with a
script and music. By 1973, ROTN was reaching radio stations across the country
and launched a weekly national subscription service for its news tapes. An
internal split in 1975 led to the moving of ROTN and its files and tapes to New
York City in the middle of the night. The more radical New York contingent
continued broadcasting for about a year, but its strident, rhetorical style
caused radio stations to cancel the service, and the New York program
folded.
The Ithaca faction had meanwhile reorganized and, within a year of the
split, began broadcasting again. The Ithaca program lasted two years longer
than the New York program, but it folded, in part due to lack of outside
support.
