Hold the Phone, Is It Illegal to Record Phone Calls in New York State?

On Tuesday, I learned about a law that I did not know existed.

First, for context, a quick peak behind the curtain: we were having some maintenance done in our studios on Tuesday. Because of this, we had to find a new way to record an interview for our show, as some of our guests are only available during the morning and early afternoon of a given day.

Being the problem-solver that I am, I opened up Microsoft Teams on a computer in our back-up studio (which does not have a phone line), and prepared myself to call a guest through the app's phone function.

I learned at that moment that, though I could call the person and talk to them as I please, I could not record the conversation for legal reasons. Naturally, I had to learn more.

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Here's what The City had to say about this legal matter:

"New York is a “one-party consent” state, which means that you can record conversations if you are physically in the state and are taking part in the conversation, or if you have permission from one of the parties in the conversation. This applies to both phone calls and in-person conversations." - The City

They continued:

"It does not matter how many people are in the conversation; if one person consents to the recording, the law says it is okay." - The City

So, while some states may have laws against this practice, it is legal in New York, and I should've been able to do this.

Well, now I'm upset about all of this.

But, at least I learned something, and hopefully, you did too.