WCBS (AM)
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| WCBS | |
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| Broadcast area | New York, New York |
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| Branding | WCBS Newsradio 880 |
| First air date | September 20, 1924 (as WAHG) |
| Frequency | 880 (kHz)  |
| Format | News |
| ERP | 50,000 watts |
| Class | A |
| Callsign meaning | W Columbia Broadcasting System |
| Owner | CBS Radio |
| Website | www.wcbs880.com |
WCBS (880 kHz.), often referred to as "WCBS Newsradio 880", is a radio station in New York City. The station is on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio, and is the flagship station of the CBS Radio Network. [1]. Its studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center in midtown Manhattan, and the transmitter is located on High Island in the Bronx, New York.
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[edit] History
Even though the station has been broadcasting as WCBS since November 2, 1946, its history goes back to 1924 when Alfred H. Grebe 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 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.
In 1928 the station moved to 970 kHz., and 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. 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 affiliates, and its broadcast day was influenced by CBS’s growing interest in news programming. In 1941 WABC moved to the frequency it currently occupies, 880 kHz., and changed its call letters to WCBS on November 2, 1946.
Over the next 20 years WCBS developed a series of radio soap operas, afternoon talk shows and an all night music show 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.
[edit] 'Fear On Trial'
One cause celebre 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 Collingwood) 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 and eventually became a radio personality in his native Texas.
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-TV movie Fear on Trial, based in part on Faulk's autobiography of the same name.
[edit] Now, the News
By the late 1950's and early 1960's, WCBS evolved into a MOR music and personality format, which included limited talk programing ("Talk of New York" with erstwhile WCBS-TV weather girl Carol Reed and others). Personalities included legendary morning host Jack Sterling, Bill Randall 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 role as CBS's flagship radio station.
During the 1960s William Paley was concerned about the station's low ratings and started a process that would lead to a highly successful all-news format that would become known as Newsradio 88. This format debuted on August 27, 1967 -- although on WCBS-FM, as a small airplane had crashed into, and destroyed its WCBS' AM transmitter just a few hours earlier. Its original roster of anchors included Charles Osgood, Ed Bradley, Robert Vaughn and Pat Summerall.
Initially, the station had news in the drive time periods but stayed with a MOR format during middays and overnights, as 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 1972 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 suburbs 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. [2]
In October of 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.
[edit] WCBS and sports
In December 2001 WCBS won the rights to carry radio broadcasts of the New York Yankees 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 in 2005. [3] [4]) 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 the advent of WFAN in 1987, WCBS was the primary outlet for CBS Radio Network coverage of professional sports events, including Major League Baseball. 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.
[edit] WCBS online
In late 2004, WCBS introduced an online simulcast on its website. The biggest difference between the online feed and the AM broadcast is the absence of Yankee games, which Major League Baseball webcasts on its own website. During Yankee games, the WCBS webcast provides the same news coverage it airs the rest of the day.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- WCBS Website
- WCBS Newsradio88 Appreciation Site
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WCBS
- [5]- WCBS Newscast
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