WCBS (AM)
WCBS (880 AM, "WCBS Newsradio 880") is a radio station licensed to New York, New York, owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. WCBS's studios are located in the combined Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Lower Manhattan and its transmitter site is located on High Island in the Bronx. Its 50,000-watt clear channel signal can be heard at night throughout much of the eastern United States and Canada.
- New York, New York
- United States
- New York, New York
- United States
880 kHz
WCBS Newsradio 880
- Audacy, Inc.
- (Audacy License, LLC, as Debtor-in-Possession)
September 20, 1924
- WAHG (1924–1926)
- WABC (1926–1928)
- WABC-WBOQ (1928–1940)
- WABC (1940–1946)
- 920 kHz (1924–1925)
- 950 kHz (1925–1927)
- 970 kHz (1927–1928)
- 860 kHz (1928–1941)
Columbia Broadcasting System, former owner's former legal name CBS
9636
A (Clear channel)
50,000 watts (unlimited)
Listen live (via Audacy)
Programming[edit]
Time announcement[edit]
Since 1924, WCBS has been known for announcing the time every three minutes. This is because during the early 20th century, not all listeners had reliable time pieces. They relied on synchronising their clocks up with the radio almost every day. On the hour, WCBS plays the iconic and distinctive CBS network "bong" indicating that the time is on the hour, although the station now broadcasts with a 10-second delay. The time is distinctly introduced with "WCBS news time: _:__". This standard practice, with slight variations, is also used at other CBS-affiliated news radio stations nationwide.
"Traffic and Weather Together"[edit]
For many years, WCBS has promoted its pairing of traffic and weather reports every ten minutes "on the eights", and has used the tagline "Traffic and Weather Together". The station's chief meteorologist, Craig Allen, and its rush hour traffic reporter Tom Kaminski, have both been with WCBS for over three decades and recorded a series of commercials together to that effect. WCBS part-time meteorologist Todd Glickman, who fills in for Craig, has been with the station since 1979.
WCBS's promotional work was the inspiration for the title of the Fountains of Wayne album Traffic and Weather, according to an interview the New Jersey-based band gave to the station.
Sports[edit]
In 2019, WCBS became the new flagship station for Major League Baseball's New York Mets, succeeding WOR.[29] For several years prior, WCBS had served as the primary overflow outlet for sister station WFAN (AM) and WFAN-FM's coverage of the NFL's New York Giants, the National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets, and the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils. When the Mets moved to WCBS, Entercom allowed WFAN to split its AM and FM feeds to accommodate such conflicts—WFAN also broadcasts New York Yankees baseball, which it acquired from WCBS in 2014. The station continues continuous news coverage on its web feed when sports events cannot be streamed due to NFL and NBA restrictions. (MLB allowed its local radio partners to stream games once again in 2019 after several years of exclusivity via MLB.com. There are no NHL radio blackouts.) In 2022, the WCBS Audacy stream began to carry Mets broadcasts within the team's broadcast territory.[30] Later that year, the station became the flagship for Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball, replacing longtime home WOR.[31]
WCBS has served three stints as the radio flagship of the Yankees, with the most recent running from 2002 until 2013. The station had previously carried the Yankees from 1939 to 1940 (when the outlet was known as WABC); and from 1960 to 1966, a period that included a time in which the team was owned by CBS Inc., which purchased a majority interest in the Yankees in 1964. The broadcaster sold the club to a group led by George Steinbrenner in 1973.
Until WFAN began broadcasting its all-sports format 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.[32] In its pre-all-news days, WCBS also carried the baseball Giants (as part of the 1930s-40s Giants-Yankees home game package), the football Giants, and the NBA's New York Knicks. In 2016, the New York Islanders moved their flagship station to WCBS for that year's playoffs, with WFAN airing select games when available; the Islanders had up to that point resorted to airing on noncommercial WNYE, which had limited the team's ability to earn money from the broadcasts.[33]
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. Sports announcer Marty Glickman served as sports director during a time in the 1960s.
Mel Allen was originally renowned as an all-purpose broadcaster on WCBS and the CBS Radio Network before and during his tenure as the Yankees' lead broadcaster. Decades later, Ed Ingles 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.[34]