New York City’s Premier All-News Station Biting the Dust

NEW YORK — WCBS-AM, known to decades of listeners as Newsradio 880 and long considered one of the premier all-news radio operations in the country, is going off the air effective Aug. 26.

The stunning news that a “voice” New York metropolitan area residents have listened to for 57 years is about to be stilled, forever, was announced by the station’s owner, Audacy, Monday morning.

Come 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 26, the all-news format and the call letters of WCBS-AM will be retired. 

Audacy will maintain ownership of the frequency, but all programming responsibilities on it will transition to ESPN New York under a local marketing agreement.

ESPN New York is owned by Craig Karmazin’s Good Karma Brands. Pending Federal Communications Commission approval, the new station will be rebranded as WHSQ-AM.

The all-news format won’t completely disappear from New York’s airwaves, however. 

Audacy also owns 1010 WINS-AM, the city’s other bastion for radio journalism, and it said Monday that it plans to continue to grow that station’s listener base through its FM simulcast, “[email protected] FM.”

“New York has always been proudly unique in supporting two all-news radio brands, but the news business has gone through significant changes,” said Audacy New York Market President Chris Oliviero in a written statement. 

“The headwinds facing local journalism nationwide made it essential to strategically reimagine how we deliver the news for the most impact,” he added.

Anchor Steve Scott, who was on the air on WCBS when the decision was made public, called it a “gut punch.”

“It has hit a lot of us hard today. A lot of us are like family here,” he admitted to listeners while simultaneously apologizing for WCBS being the news rather than just the bearer of it. “We’ve been together a long time.”

Marla Diamond, an anchor and reporter who joined the station in 1997 as its New Jersey correspondent, said she was at a loss for words over the announcement.

“It’s a very, very sad day,” she said during Scott’s show. “It’s not just a job, it’s a family … and that includes not only the staff, but the listeners as well.

“You know, so many of us have been here for so many years, and you don’t stay at a place where people don’t like one another or consider their colleagues and coworkers something more than that,” Diamond continued.

“You guys are family, and [the effect of this news] is like there’s been a death in the family today. It’s a very, very bitter pill to swallow,” she said.

Wayne Cabot, an anchor and reporter at NewsRadio 880 for 37 years, joined Scott on the air from his vacation home on Cape Cod, where, he joked, he was wearing Bermuda shorts and flip flops and about to make himself a margarita when word came of the WCBS’ demise.

“I’m not sure if I’m shocked but not surprised, or surprised but not shocked,” Cabot said. “We all have seen the headwinds in the radio industry and we all knew what was happening with advertising going to digital. It’s affecting radio, television, newspapers … all of the old media. So we can be logical about it, and yet, as you said, it’s still a gut punch.”

Cabot said when he joined the WCBS newsroom in the late 1980s, he walked among “a bunch of industry luminaries and legends.”

“I was sure I did not belong there, and was waiting for them to tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘We made a mistake. You’re fired.’ Well, this morning, after 37 years, I finally got that tap on the shoulder.

“That said, it’s gratifying to have been part of a legendary radio station; a station, I would say, over the course of years, [that] was the best radio station in all of America, and one that touched people on so many levels.

“It wasn’t just a source of information and reliability, it also provided companionship and warmth and a sense of family for anyone who listened, as I did from the time I was a kid, listening in the back of my dad’s car, or in the kitchen of our homes, to when I later worked there.

“It has been an immense privilege that few people in this industry have ever experienced or ever will. So for that, I am immeasurably grateful,” Cabot said.

Scott and Cabot then briefly talked about the big moments they experienced over the years on the air, including the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, which was covered live by traffic copter reporter Tom Kaminski as it played out in real time, and Hurricane Sandy, when WCBS, somehow, was one of the few stations that was not knocked off the air.

“Somehow we stayed on and people out there with their transistor radios and little crank radios were able to listen to us … and I remember we got letters and emails from people later that said, ‘Man, I was scared, and you guys comforted me. You made me feel safe,’” Cabot said.

Tim Scheld, a former WCBS news director and long-time reporter, also shared his thoughts on the day’s developments.

“This is a sad day for the WCBS family, but the reality is people still want news,” Scheld said. “The question for those of us in the business is, where are people, particularly the young people that I teach today, going to find it?

“So this can serve as a lesson to us somehow,” he continued. “But I’m sad. I’m sad for my friends. I’m sad for people who’ve been personally impacted and who will be personally impacted, because I know how good they are at what they do, and how good they are as human beings.

“You know, I heard you say the call letters are going to be retired,” Scheld said to Scott. “They’re not. They’re in the hearts of all of those who’ve worked at the radio station over the course of decades. WCBS will always be a part of our lives. But today, there’s a hole, kind of in the heart of New York City, because of this news.”

Listeners — and industry insiders — also responded to the news, most saying they were gobsmacked by the decision, especially as Newsradio 880 is reportedly still generating an annual revenue of about $30 million a year.

Others, however, said they began to believe WCBS’s days were numbered last year when Audacy merged its newsroom with that of WINS, and began having some reporters appear on both stations.

The announcement was very good news for ESPN New York, which has been engaged in decadeslong battle with Audacy-owned WFAN, which for years was New York’s sports radio titan.

Until today, it seemed, ESPN New York was losing ground in dramatic fashion. It is set to lose its FM presence on Aug. 23, when its local marketing agreement with Emmis Corporation, another station owner, was scheduled to end.

That deal enabled ESPN New York to be heard on 98.7 of the FM dial, but Emmis plans to sell the signal, and, without that deal, ESPN would have been relegated to being heard only on the scantily listened to 1050 AM.

With its much stronger signal, the switch to 880 AM will give ESPN New York a much wider terrestrial radio reach while it also works to build its digital presence.

As part of the deal, broadcasts of the New York Mets baseball team, currently on WCBS, will continue to be heard on the new WHSQ-AM.

To commemorate the legacy of WCBS 880, a special live broadcast, “WCBS 880 News: The People, the Moments, and the Events that Shaped our Lives,” featuring interviews and historical clips celebrating the station’s impact, is scheduled to be aired by the station on Thursday, Aug. 22, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In his statement, Audacy’s Oliviero acknowledged the legacy of the station whose death he’d announced by saying, “If it happened in New York or the world, you heard about it on WCBS 880.” 

But he quickly turned the page.

“Today, 1010 [email protected], equally iconic, moves forward as New York’s only 24/7 all-news station with the best distribution platform, the largest audience and the most recognized brand in the industry,” he said. “All-news is a pillar of Audacy, and this decision, though difficult, fortifies that leadership position for generations to come.”

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue