New install, system status says "cron not running" and "timestamp mismatch"
The first thing I would check is the TimeZone setting in WP.  Go to Settings--> General.  That cannot be the default (UTC +0) as the default does not exist in php (UTC does, but not UTC +0).  That should solve the TZ mismatch.  Best to use one of these - http://php.net/manual/en/timezones.america.php  for NY I'd use America/New_York

As far as cron, I recommend that you set it using the wp-cli method as detailed here:  https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Managing+Scheduled+Jobs