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WCBS (AM)
Encyclopedia
WCBS often referred to as "WCBS Newsradio 880" , is a radio station
in New York City
. Owned by CBS Radio
, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of the CBS Radio Network
. Its studios are located in the combined CBS Radio
facility on Hudson Street in the TriBeca
area of Manhattan
, and the transmitter is located on High Island in the Bronx, New York.
started WAHG at 920 kHz. WAHG was a pioneering station in New York, and was one of the first commercial radio stations to broadcast from remote locations including horse races and yachting events. Two years later, in 1926, Alfred Grebe changed the call sign to WABC (for his Atlantic Broadcasting Company) after concluding a business arrangement with the Ashland Battery Company (which had owned the call sign for a station in Asheville, North Carolina
) and moved his studios to West 57th Street, not the last time the station would operate from 57th Street. (This station has no relation to the longtime American Broadcasting Company
770 kHz flagship station that began in 1921, as WJZ and has operated as WABC (AM)
since 1953.)
In 1928, General Order 40
moved the station's frequency to 970 kHz, and the station became a part time affiliate of the Columbia Broadcasting System, which was looking for a full time radio presence in New York City. (CBS's first flagship was WOR
, which today carries programming from CBS's Westwood One
service.) After a short time broadcasting CBS programming three days a week, CBS president William S. Paley
purchased WABC and it became a subsidiary
of CBS.
Soon after this purchase the station moved to a new frequency, this time to 860 kHz, and would eventually increase its power from 5,000 to its present 50,000 watt
s. The station also moved its studios into the CBS headquarters at 485 Madison Avenue (corner of 52nd Street
). The station, still operating as WABC, featured a mix of local interest programming, ethnic content and music shows from CBS's national feed. As time went by WABC turned more and more to the national programming provided by CBS and its affiliate
s, and its broadcast day was influenced by CBS's growing interest in news programming. In 1939, the broadcasting studios were moved across 52nd Street from the headquarters to the new CBS Studio Building
. In 1941, WABC moved
to the frequency
it currently occupies, 880 kHz, and changed its call letters to WCBS on November 2, 1946, to identify more closely with its parent network, the Columbia Broadcasting System or CBS, and avoid possible confusion with the rival network of the American Broadcasting Company
which had begun operation in 1943.
Over the next 20 years WCBS developed a series of radio soap opera
s, afternoon talk shows and an all night easy-listening music show, "Music 'til Dawn" hosted by Bob Hall and sponsored by American Airlines
. During this time WCBS featured well-known personalities including Arthur Godfrey
, future CBS News President Bill Leonard
, author Emily Kimbrough
and folk singer Oscar Brand
.
) that took over leadership of the flagship New York chapter of the broadcasters' union AFTRA
.
After Faulk and WCBS came under pressure from anti-Communist group Aware, Inc., Faulk and attorney Louis Nizer sued Aware, Inc. for libel, a case often considered one of the key turning points in the battle against McCarthyism
. Faulk was supported by fellow CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow
, who was tipped off to Faulk's plight by Carl Sandburg
. According to Murrow biographer Joe Persico, Murrow gave Faulk the money he needed to retain Nizer as his lawyer. Faulk finally won the case in 1963, in the meantime becoming a popular radio personality in his native Texas, and later, a national TV personality as a regular in the cast of the country music/humor variety show Hee Haw
.
WCBS actually fired Faulk because of declining ratings while he waited for the case to come to trial, but Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson's book The Murrow Boys asserted that WCBS executive Arthur Hull Hayes admitted on the stand the station's overall ratings, not Faulk's specifically, had slipped.
The controversy became the subject of the 1975 CBS television movie Fear on Trial, based in part on Faulk's autobiography of the same name.
Los Angeles, WBBM
Chicago, KCBS
San Francisco, WWJ
Detroit, and even its one-time arch-rival-turned-sister-station, WINS
New York.
and Lee Jordan. Like many MOR stations at the time, WCBS did mix in softer songs by rock-and-roll artists, as its ratings at the time were ordinary compared to the higher ratings at WOR and WNEW
, both of which also had MOR formats and more distinct identities. Through it all, the variety show "Arthur Godfrey Time" remained a weekday mid-morning staple. Eventually, WCBS gained a foothold in local news coverage (WOR and WNEW's strengths) bolstered by its standing as CBS's flagship radio station.
During the 1960s CBS chairman William S. Paley
was concerned about the station's low ratings, and that concern started a process that would lead to the creation of a news radio format that would become known as Newsradio 88. This format debuted on August 28, 1967 – although on WCBS-FM
, as a small airplane had crashed into, and destroyed its WCBS' AM antenna tower just a few hours earlier. Its original roster of anchors included Charles Osgood
, Ed Bradley
, Robert Vaughn (not related to the actor of the same name
) and Pat Summerall
. Later anchors included longtime anchor Lou Adler, and others like Jim Donnelly, Harvey Hauptman, Bill Lynch, and Gary Maurer.
Initially, the station had news in the drive time periods but stayed with a MOR format during middays and overnights, and within a couple of years, they were all-news except for overnights. Newsradio 88 began its transformation into an all-news format in 1970, when the overnight American Airlines
-sponsored Music Till Dawn ended in January of that year, and completed the process in 1971, when Godfrey's weekday morning variety show came to an end. The station built a reputation as an all-news powerhouse during the 1970s, and has continued with an all-news format to this day.
Although WINS
has usually received the higher Arbitron ratings of the two all-news stations, WCBS has had the stronger ratings in the outlying suburbs because of its broadcast-signal pattern. Its traffic reports and news coverage includes more of Long Island
and the northern and western suburbs of New York City than WINS, and it occasionally allows room for longer interviews and analysis pieces than does WINS. The station is less tightly formatted than WINS, and formats at a half-hour cycle instead of a 20-minute cycle.
In October 2000, WCBS made another physical move, this time from CBS corporate headquarters at 51 West 52nd Street (the building known as "Black Rock
") to the CBS Broadcast Center
at 524 West 57th Street. Around this time, the station began referring to itself on air as Newsradio 880.
WCBS's format now includes "Traffic and Weather Together" every ten minutes "on the eights." The Chief Meteorologist since 1981, has been Craig Allen, and his back-up has been Todd Glickman
who has been on-air there since 1979. Off-hour reports are provided by AccuWeather under contract.
In 2007, the New Jersey-based band Fountains of Wayne
released a song called "Traffic and Weather" on an album of the same name. In an interview on WCBS, the members of the band admitted that the station's "Traffic and Weather Together" was the inspiration for the song.
in Los Angeles
, WBBM
in Chicago
, WCAU
in Philadelphia
, KMOX in St. Louis
, WEEI
in Boston, and KCBS
in San Francisco
— to some form of news programming. Once WCBS had been established in the format, CBS began to work on the rest of its AM outlets. KCBS, KNX and WBBM all transitioned in 1968. WEEI did it in 1974, and WCAU made the switch a year later. The programming shift was a gradual one just as it had been at WCBS, with the stations running all-news most of the day while some local and network non-news programming remained at first. KMOX, which had been programming a talk radio
format for several years was left unaffected, though it would later evolve into a news/talk station.
In Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, CBS-owned stations had a monopoly on the all-news format. But in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, CBS had to compete with Westinghouse
-owned stations (WINS, KFWB and KYW
, respectively) which had adopted all-news programming before the CBS stations did. While the Los Angeles stations made the switch within days of each other, WCAU in Philadelphia went to the format in 1975, giving KYW a ten-year headstart with the audience. Many blame this as the primary reason WCAU did not succeed in competing with KYW; the all-news format on WCAU lasted only three years. In contrast, the other CBS all-news stations experienced success and stability with the format. In 1995, Westinghouse merged with CBS, making WCBS a sister station to its longtime arch rival WINS. , CBS Radio operates eight of the country's largest all-news radio stations: WCBS, KNX, WBBM, WINS, KCBS, KYW, and WWJ
in Detroit
.
beginning with the 2002 season. This contract has been renewed until the 2011 season despite CBS Radio's decision not to renew most of its MLB contracts (though WFAN
, a CBS Radio property, continues to air the crosstown New York Mets
). The station had previously carried the Yankees from 1939 to 1940, (when the outlet had the WABC call letters) and from 1960 to 1966, a period that included a time in which the team was owned by CBS (prior to WCBS's conversion to an all-news format). CBS bought a majority interest in the Yankees in 1964, and sold the club to George Steinbrenner
in 1973.
Until WFAN began broadcasting in 1987, WCBS was the primary outlet for CBS Radio Network coverage of professional sports events, including Major League Baseball
and the National Football League
. It also served as the flagship commercial station for St. John's University
basketball games during the Johnnies' renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. WCBS also served two tenures as the flagship station of the New York Jets
.
In its pre-all-news days, WCBS also carried the New York (Baseball) Giants
(as part of the 1930s-40s Giants-Yankees home game package), the New York (Football) Giants
and the New York Knicks
.
WCBS served as a springboard to athletes-turned-broadcasters in its pre-all-news period. Most notably, former football Giants Pat Summerall and Frank Gifford
were employed in various capacities by WCBS and the CBS Radio Network late in their playing days. One of New York sports broadcasting's legendary figures, Marty Glickman
, served as sports director during a time in the 1960s.
Mel Allen
gained renown as an all-purpose broadcaster on WCBS and the CBS Radio Network before and during his tenure as a renowned sportcaster and the Voice of the Yankees. Decades later, Ed Ingles (now at public WRHU-FM
) established a 25-year career as sports director and morning sports anchor at WCBS, reporter for the Jets and St. John's broadcasts, and mentor to several veteran local and national broadcasters such as Barry Landers, Bill Schweizer, Spencer Ross and Bill Daughtry.
games, which are only available on MLB.com
by paid subscription. (MLB Gameday Audio uses a feed of WCBS, including local commercials and IDs, for Yankee games.) During Yankee games, the WCBS webcast provides the same news coverage it airs the rest of the day.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Owned by CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of the CBS Radio Network
CBS Radio Network
The CBS Radio Network provides news, sports and other programming to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by CBS Corporation, and operated by CBS Radio ....
. Its studios are located in the combined CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
facility on Hudson Street in the TriBeca
TriBeCa
Tribeca is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Its name is an acronym based on the words "Triangle below Canal Street", and is properly bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Broadway, and Vesey Street...
area of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, and the transmitter is located on High Island in the Bronx, New York.
Before the news
Even though the station has been broadcasting as WCBS since November 2, 1946, its history goes back to 1924, when Alfred H. GrebeAlfred H. Grebe
Alfred H. Grebe was a pioneer in the radio broadcasting field.He was born in Richmond Hill in the borough of Queens, in New York City. At the age of 9 he was given a radio set by his father, and soon came to be such an expert that his science teacher at Public School 88 in Jamaica said Alfred knew...
started WAHG at 920 kHz. WAHG was a pioneering station in New York, and was one of the first commercial radio stations to broadcast from remote locations including horse races and yachting events. Two years later, in 1926, Alfred Grebe changed the call sign to WABC (for his Atlantic Broadcasting Company) after concluding a business arrangement with the Ashland Battery Company (which had owned the call sign for a station in Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
) and moved his studios to West 57th Street, not the last time the station would operate from 57th Street. (This station has no relation to the longtime American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
770 kHz flagship station that began in 1921, as WJZ and has operated as WABC (AM)
WABC (AM)
WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
since 1953.)
In 1928, General Order 40
General Order 40
General Order 40 was an order issued on August 30, 1928 by the new Federal Radio Commission under the Radio Act of 1927 which provided for a reallocation of the commercial broadcast radio spectrum....
moved the station's frequency to 970 kHz, and the station became a part time affiliate of the Columbia Broadcasting System, which was looking for a full time radio presence in New York City. (CBS's first flagship was WOR
WOR (AM)
WOR is a class A , AM radio station located in New York, New York, U.S., operating on 710 kHz. The station has a talk format and has been owned by Buckley Broadcasting since 1987, after the station was sold by RKO. The station has conservative, or right-of-center hosts.Its call letters have no...
, which today carries programming from CBS's Westwood One
Westwood One
Westwood One was an American radio network and was based in New York City. At one time, it was managed by CBS Radio, the radio arm of CBS Corporation, and Viacom and was later purchased by the private equity firm The Gores Group...
service.) After a short time broadcasting CBS programming three days a week, CBS president William S. Paley
William S. Paley
William S. Paley was the chief executive who built Columbia Broadcasting System from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States.-Early life:...
purchased WABC and it became a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of CBS.
Soon after this purchase the station moved to a new frequency, this time to 860 kHz, and would eventually increase its power from 5,000 to its present 50,000 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s. The station also moved its studios into the CBS headquarters at 485 Madison Avenue (corner of 52nd Street
52nd Street (Manhattan)
52nd Street is a long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-Jazz center:The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue were renowned in the mid-20th century for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life...
). The station, still operating as WABC, featured a mix of local interest programming, ethnic content and music shows from CBS's national feed. As time went by WABC turned more and more to the national programming provided by CBS and its affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
s, and its broadcast day was influenced by CBS's growing interest in news programming. In 1939, the broadcasting studios were moved across 52nd Street from the headquarters to the new CBS Studio Building
CBS Studio Building
The CBS Studio Building is a seven-story office building at 49 East 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan that has at various times served as a Vanderbilt family home, the first graduate school of the Juilliard School, CBS Radio studios and Columbia Records studio....
. In 1941, WABC moved
North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement
The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement, usually referred to as NARBA, is a treaty that took effect in March 1941 and set out the bandplan and interference rules for mediumwave AM broadcasting in North America. Although mostly replaced by other agreements in the 1980s, the basic bandplan...
to the frequency
Frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
it currently occupies, 880 kHz, and changed its call letters to WCBS on November 2, 1946, to identify more closely with its parent network, the Columbia Broadcasting System or CBS, and avoid possible confusion with the rival network of the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
which had begun operation in 1943.
Over the next 20 years WCBS developed a series of radio soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s, afternoon talk shows and an all night easy-listening music show, "Music 'til Dawn" hosted by Bob Hall and sponsored by American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
. During this time WCBS featured well-known personalities including Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
, future CBS News President Bill Leonard
Bill Leonard (journalist)
William A. "Bill" Leonard 2d , American journalist and television executive who served as President of CBS News from 1979 to 1982.-Life and career:...
, author Emily Kimbrough
Emily Kimbrough
-Biography:Emily Kimbrough was born in Muncie, Indiana on October 23, 1899. In 1921 she graduated from Bryn Mawr College and went on a trip to Europe with her friend Cornelia Otis Skinner. The two friends co-authored the memoir Our Hearts Were Young and Gay based on their European adventures...
and folk singer Oscar Brand
Oscar Brand
Oscar Brand is a folk singer, songwriter, and author. In his career, spanning over 60 years, he has composed at least 300 songs and released nearly 100 albums, among them Canadian and American patriotic songs...
.
Fear on Trial
One cause célèbre involving WCBS emerged in the 1950s. One of its daytime hosts, John Henry Faulk, was part of an anti-blacklisting wing (including legendary CBS newsman Charles CollingwoodCharles Collingwood (journalist)
Charles Collingwood was a television newscaster.Born in Three Rivers, Michigan, Collingwood graduated from Deep Springs College and Cornell University and in 1939 received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University. After working in London for United Press, Collingwood was hired by Edward R...
) that took over leadership of the flagship New York chapter of the broadcasters' union AFTRA
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...
.
After Faulk and WCBS came under pressure from anti-Communist group Aware, Inc., Faulk and attorney Louis Nizer sued Aware, Inc. for libel, a case often considered one of the key turning points in the battle against McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
. Faulk was supported by fellow CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
, who was tipped off to Faulk's plight by Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."-Biography:Sandburg was born in Galesburg,...
. According to Murrow biographer Joe Persico, Murrow gave Faulk the money he needed to retain Nizer as his lawyer. Faulk finally won the case in 1963, in the meantime becoming a popular radio personality in his native Texas, and later, a national TV personality as a regular in the cast of the country music/humor variety show Hee Haw
Hee Haw
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being...
.
WCBS actually fired Faulk because of declining ratings while he waited for the case to come to trial, but Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson's book The Murrow Boys asserted that WCBS executive Arthur Hull Hayes admitted on the stand the station's overall ratings, not Faulk's specifically, had slipped.
The controversy became the subject of the 1975 CBS television movie Fear on Trial, based in part on Faulk's autobiography of the same name.
Time announcement
Since 1924, WCBS has been known for announcing the time constantly every three minutes. This is because during the early 20th century, not all listeners had reliable time pieces. They relied on syncing their clocks up with the radio almost every day. To this day, WCBS announces the time frequently. On the hour, WCBS plays the iconic and distinctive CBS network "ding" indicating that the time is on the hour. The time is distinctly referred to as "WCBS news time ___". This standard practice, with slight variations, is also used at other CBS-owned-and-operated news radio stations nationwide, such as KNXKNX (AM)
KNX is an all-news radio station in Los Angeles, California, USA. The station operates on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio. KNX broadcasts from facilities shared with sister stations KFWB, KCBS-FM, KTWV, and KAMP on Los Angeles' Miracle Mile...
Los Angeles, WBBM
WBBM (AM)
WBBM is an all-news CBS radio station in Chicago, Illinois broadcasting on the AM dial at 780 kHz. It is owned by CBS along with WBBM-TV....
Chicago, KCBS
KCBS (AM)
KCBS is an all-news radio station in San Francisco, California, that is a key West Coast flagship radio station of the CBS Radio Network and Westwood One. Its transmitter is located in Novato, California. KCBS currently has studios on Battery Street, where it shares the location with co-owned KPIX...
San Francisco, WWJ
WWJ (AM)
WWJ is Detroit, Michigan's only 24-hour all-news radio station. Broadcasting at 950 kHz, the station is owned and operated by CBS Corporation subsidiary CBS Radio. The station first went on the air on August 20, 1920 with the call sign 8MK...
Detroit, and even its one-time arch-rival-turned-sister-station, WINS
WINS (AM)
WINS , known on-air as "Ten-Ten Wins", is a radio station in New York City, owned by CBS Radio. WINS's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in the TriBeCa section of Manhattan, and transmitting towers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.WINS is one of the nation's oldest...
New York.
Now, the news
By the late 1950s and early 1960s, WCBS evolved into a Middle of the road (MOR) music and personality format, which included limited talk programing. Personalities included legendary morning host Jack Sterling, Bill RandleBill Randle
Bill Randle was an American disc jockey, lawyer and university professor.He was born William McKinley Randle Jr. in Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, he hosted a popular show on WJLB-AM radio called The Interracial Goodwill Hour, featuring rhythm and blues music and hot jazz...
and Lee Jordan. Like many MOR stations at the time, WCBS did mix in softer songs by rock-and-roll artists, as its ratings at the time were ordinary compared to the higher ratings at WOR and WNEW
WBBR
WBBR is a radio station broadcasting at 1130 AM in New York City. It airs Bloomberg Radio, a service of Bloomberg L.P. WBBR's format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market updates and interviews with corporate executives,...
, both of which also had MOR formats and more distinct identities. Through it all, the variety show "Arthur Godfrey Time" remained a weekday mid-morning staple. Eventually, WCBS gained a foothold in local news coverage (WOR and WNEW's strengths) bolstered by its standing as CBS's flagship radio station.
During the 1960s CBS chairman William S. Paley
William S. Paley
William S. Paley was the chief executive who built Columbia Broadcasting System from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States.-Early life:...
was concerned about the station's low ratings, and that concern started a process that would lead to the creation of a news radio format that would become known as Newsradio 88. This format debuted on August 28, 1967 – although on WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM is a CBS-owned radio station in New York City. The station's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on the Empire State Building....
, as a small airplane had crashed into, and destroyed its WCBS' AM antenna tower just a few hours earlier. Its original roster of anchors included Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood is a radio and television commentator in the United States. His daily program, The Osgood File, has been broadcast on the CBS Radio Network since 1971. He is also known for being the voice of the narrator of Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film released in 2008, based on the book...
, Ed Bradley
Ed Bradley
Edward Rudolph "Ed" Bradley, Jr. was an American journalist, best known for twenty-six years of award-winning work on the CBS News television program 60 Minutes...
, Robert Vaughn (not related to the actor of the same name
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
) and Pat Summerall
Pat Summerall
George Allen "Pat" Summerall is a former American football player and television sportscaster, having worked at CBS, Fox, and ESPN.Summerall is best known for his work with John Madden on NFL telecasts for CBS and Fox.-High school:...
. Later anchors included longtime anchor Lou Adler, and others like Jim Donnelly, Harvey Hauptman, Bill Lynch, and Gary Maurer.
Initially, the station had news in the drive time periods but stayed with a MOR format during middays and overnights, and within a couple of years, they were all-news except for overnights. Newsradio 88 began its transformation into an all-news format in 1970, when the overnight American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
-sponsored Music Till Dawn ended in January of that year, and completed the process in 1971, when Godfrey's weekday morning variety show came to an end. The station built a reputation as an all-news powerhouse during the 1970s, and has continued with an all-news format to this day.
Although WINS
WINS (AM)
WINS , known on-air as "Ten-Ten Wins", is a radio station in New York City, owned by CBS Radio. WINS's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in the TriBeCa section of Manhattan, and transmitting towers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.WINS is one of the nation's oldest...
has usually received the higher Arbitron ratings of the two all-news stations, WCBS has had the stronger ratings in the outlying suburbs because of its broadcast-signal pattern. Its traffic reports and news coverage includes more of Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
and the northern and western suburbs of New York City than WINS, and it occasionally allows room for longer interviews and analysis pieces than does WINS. The station is less tightly formatted than WINS, and formats at a half-hour cycle instead of a 20-minute cycle.
In October 2000, WCBS made another physical move, this time from CBS corporate headquarters at 51 West 52nd Street (the building known as "Black Rock
CBS Building
The CBS Building in New York City, also known as Black Rock, is the headquarters of CBS Corporation. The building, opened in 1965, was designed by Eero Saarinen. It is located at 51 West 52nd Street, at the corner of Sixth Avenue . The 38 story building is tall and measures approximately 872,000...
") to the CBS Broadcast Center
CBS Broadcast Center
The CBS Broadcast Center is a television and radio production facility located in New York City, New York. It is CBS's main East Coast production center, much as Television City in Los Angeles is the West Coast hub.-Overview:...
at 524 West 57th Street. Around this time, the station began referring to itself on air as Newsradio 880.
WCBS's format now includes "Traffic and Weather Together" every ten minutes "on the eights." The Chief Meteorologist since 1981, has been Craig Allen, and his back-up has been Todd Glickman
Todd Glickman
Todd Glickman is a meteorologist whose weather reports can be heard on in New York City and internationally at . He has been a fill-in meteorologist there since May, 1979.-Early Years:...
who has been on-air there since 1979. Off-hour reports are provided by AccuWeather under contract.
In 2007, the New Jersey-based band Fountains of Wayne
Fountains of Wayne
Fountains of Wayne is an American power pop band that formed in New York City in 1996. The band consists of members Chris Collingwood, Adam Schlesinger, Jody Porter and Brian Young.-Early years:...
released a song called "Traffic and Weather" on an album of the same name. In an interview on WCBS, the members of the band admitted that the station's "Traffic and Weather Together" was the inspiration for the song.
Influence
WCBS' switch to all-news was directly spurred by the switch of WINS to a similar format in April 1965. It was also the first move in CBS Radio's long-term plans to convert its group of AM stations — along with WCBS, the group was then composed of KNXKNX (AM)
KNX is an all-news radio station in Los Angeles, California, USA. The station operates on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio. KNX broadcasts from facilities shared with sister stations KFWB, KCBS-FM, KTWV, and KAMP on Los Angeles' Miracle Mile...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, WBBM
WBBM (AM)
WBBM is an all-news CBS radio station in Chicago, Illinois broadcasting on the AM dial at 780 kHz. It is owned by CBS along with WBBM-TV....
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, WCAU
WPHT
WPHT is a CBS Radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, broadcasting on 1210 kHz. A 50,000-watt clear-channel station, it broadcasts in an omnidirectional pattern that allows it to cover most of the eastern half of North America at night. It uses the nickname "Talk Radio 1210 WPHT." The...
in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, KMOX in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, WEEI
WEEI
WEEI is a sports radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, that broadcasts on 850 kHz from a transmitter in Needham, Massachusetts, and is owned by Entercom Communications. The station is one of the top-rated sports talk radio stations in the nation. Studios are located in Brighton, Massachusetts...
in Boston, and KCBS
KCBS (AM)
KCBS is an all-news radio station in San Francisco, California, that is a key West Coast flagship radio station of the CBS Radio Network and Westwood One. Its transmitter is located in Novato, California. KCBS currently has studios on Battery Street, where it shares the location with co-owned KPIX...
in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
— to some form of news programming. Once WCBS had been established in the format, CBS began to work on the rest of its AM outlets. KCBS, KNX and WBBM all transitioned in 1968. WEEI did it in 1974, and WCAU made the switch a year later. The programming shift was a gradual one just as it had been at WCBS, with the stations running all-news most of the day while some local and network non-news programming remained at first. KMOX, which had been programming a talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format for several years was left unaffected, though it would later evolve into a news/talk station.
In Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, CBS-owned stations had a monopoly on the all-news format. But in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, CBS had to compete with Westinghouse
Westinghouse Broadcasting
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication....
-owned stations (WINS, KFWB and KYW
KYW (AM)
KYW is a class A AM radio station on 1060 kHz licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW is owned by the CBS Radio unit of CBS Corporation, and has broadcasted an all-news format since 1965. The station's studios are located on Market Street in Center City Philadelphia, and it transmitters...
, respectively) which had adopted all-news programming before the CBS stations did. While the Los Angeles stations made the switch within days of each other, WCAU in Philadelphia went to the format in 1975, giving KYW a ten-year headstart with the audience. Many blame this as the primary reason WCAU did not succeed in competing with KYW; the all-news format on WCAU lasted only three years. In contrast, the other CBS all-news stations experienced success and stability with the format. In 1995, Westinghouse merged with CBS, making WCBS a sister station to its longtime arch rival WINS. , CBS Radio operates eight of the country's largest all-news radio stations: WCBS, KNX, WBBM, WINS, KCBS, KYW, and WWJ
WWJ (AM)
WWJ is Detroit, Michigan's only 24-hour all-news radio station. Broadcasting at 950 kHz, the station is owned and operated by CBS Corporation subsidiary CBS Radio. The station first went on the air on August 20, 1920 with the call sign 8MK...
in Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
.
Sports
In December 2001, WCBS won the rights to carry radio broadcasts of the New York YankeesNew York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
beginning with the 2002 season. This contract has been renewed until the 2011 season despite CBS Radio's decision not to renew most of its MLB contracts (though WFAN
WFAN
WFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
, a CBS Radio property, continues to air the crosstown New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
). The station had previously carried the Yankees from 1939 to 1940, (when the outlet had the WABC call letters) and from 1960 to 1966, a period that included a time in which the team was owned by CBS (prior to WCBS's conversion to an all-news format). CBS bought a majority interest in the Yankees in 1964, and sold the club to George Steinbrenner
George Steinbrenner
George Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. During Steinbrenner's 37-year ownership from 1973 to his death in July 2010, the longest in club history, the Yankees earned seven World Series...
in 1973.
Until WFAN began broadcasting in 1987, WCBS was the primary outlet for CBS Radio Network coverage of professional sports events, including Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. It also served as the flagship commercial station for St. John's University
St. John's University (New York City)
St. John's University is a private, Roman Catholic, coeducational university located in New York City, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission in 1870, the school was originally located in the borough of Brooklyn in the neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant...
basketball games during the Johnnies' renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. WCBS also served two tenures as the flagship station of the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
In its pre-all-news days, WCBS also carried the New York (Baseball) Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
(as part of the 1930s-40s Giants-Yankees home game package), the New York (Football) Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and the New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
.
WCBS served as a springboard to athletes-turned-broadcasters in its pre-all-news period. Most notably, former football Giants Pat Summerall and Frank Gifford
Frank Gifford
Francis Newton "Frank" Gifford is a Hall of Fame former American football player and American sportscaster.-Early life:Gifford was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Lola Mae and Weldon Gifford, an oil driller....
were employed in various capacities by WCBS and the CBS Radio Network late in their playing days. One of New York sports broadcasting's legendary figures, Marty Glickman
Marty Glickman
Martin "Marty" Glickman was a Jewish American track and field athlete and sports announcer, born in The Bronx, New York. His parents, Harry and Molly Glickmann, immigrated to the United States from Jassy, Romania....
, served as sports director during a time in the 1960s.
Mel Allen
Mel Allen
Mel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions...
gained renown as an all-purpose broadcaster on WCBS and the CBS Radio Network before and during his tenure as a renowned sportcaster and the Voice of the Yankees. Decades later, Ed Ingles (now at public WRHU-FM
WRHU-FM
WRHU is a radio station broadcasting a Variety format. Licensed to Hempstead, New York, USA, the station is owned by Hofstra University. Beginning in the 2010-11 NHL season, the station is the radio home of New York Islanders games...
) established a 25-year career as sports director and morning sports anchor at WCBS, reporter for the Jets and St. John's broadcasts, and mentor to several veteran local and national broadcasters such as Barry Landers, Bill Schweizer, Spencer Ross and Bill Daughtry.
WCBS online
In late 2004, WCBS began to simulcast over Internet streaming. The biggest difference between the online feed and the AM broadcast is the absence of YankeeNew York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
games, which are only available on MLB.com
MLB.com
MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. . MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports columns...
by paid subscription. (MLB Gameday Audio uses a feed of WCBS, including local commercials and IDs, for Yankee games.) During Yankee games, the WCBS webcast provides the same news coverage it airs the rest of the day.
See also
WCBS-AM's sister stations serving the New York Tri-state area.- WCBS-FMWCBS-FMWCBS-FM is a CBS-owned radio station in New York City. The station's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on the Empire State Building....
, CBSFM 101.1 - WCBS-TVWCBS-TVWCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
, CBS 2 HD - WINS-AM, 1010 WINS
- WFAN-AM, Sportsradio 660, The Fan
- KYW-TVKYW-TVKYW-TV, virtual channel 3, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW-TV shares a studio facility with its sister station, CW flagship WPSG just north of Center City Philadelphia...
, CBS 3 HD Philadelphia - KYW-AM, KYW Newsradio