880 CBS will be going away from all news format

[MUTNAV]

880 CBS new york, A standard for news on the East coast, will be moving away from an all news format and transitioning to ESPN New York.

Journalism 'Headwinds' To End News Format On NYC's WCBS 880 - Radio Ink

After more than a half-century of serving New York City with all-News programming and information, 880 WCBS-AM will be leaving the format.

radioink.com

 

[popnokick]

Much to the delight of WINS 1010 / 92.3 I'm certain. But they don't have the Maine-to-Florida signal 880 does.

 

[a727469]

Yes, very sad. When we lived in NY and Ct. It was THE news station..then WINS pulled ahead. Still way up near the top in advertising revenue, but partly because it carried local sports. We can hear weakly during the day in Maine and solid at night.
Audacity radio is leasing the frequency to Good Karma Brands for ESPN sports use whatever that means. Not known what will happen to 1050..more here.

https://radiodiscussions.com/forums/new-york-city.702/

 

[MUTNAV]

For some reason I always enjoyed it more when far away.... I loved listening to the NYC weather while I was in Florida....

Other people were amazed that I could here local news from that far away.

If they go to just sports, hopefully they will reduce power, there is a Canadian station on 880 (in English and French last time I heard them) and another station in the Midwest that would be more entertaining.

Thanks
Joel

 

[a727469]

The radiodiscussions forum I mentioned above has actually become somewhat nasty with comments on wcbs etc. For some reason everyone there is an expert on the how and why this happened and they let you know. Still interesting reading for anyone with an understanding of NY radio history but don’t expect the same generally nice people we have on RR.
I too enjoyed them when we traveled to Florida and other locations. I do doubt that they will reduce power since that was probably one of the selling points in the leasing negotiation.

 

[MTS2000des]

OTA radio will be a memory this decade. It's on borrowed time. Advertising revenue alone cannot support the business model. AM, FM and OTA TV days are numbered.

 

[ctiller]

when I was little, I used to turn in to 880 and it was my first taste of DX. One of the things that got me into radio. I used to like hearing the news and traffic reports from the big city.

 

[mmckenna]

KGO 810am did this in San Francisco a few years back. Switched to all sports/sport betting all the time. A waste of a good clear channel AM allocation, great antenna system and amazing coverage up and down the west coast of North America.

 

[bharvey2]

OTA radio will be a memory this decade. It's on borrowed time. Advertising revenue alone cannot support the business model. AM, FM and OTA TV days are numbered.

I'm afraid you may be right. While I believe AM/FM radio is one of the most reliable methods for local news distribution, too many see it as outdated and prefer to use internet based media solutions (requiring far more infrastructure) Heck, look at the talk regarding auto manufacturers dropping AM radios altogether. Unfortunately, the clock is ticking on terrestrial radio.

 

[a727469]

There are still some relatively high ratings AM stations in some unique larger markets but (I know I will be lambasted on this) AM radio is basically a dead medium with mostly older listeners. Check the age market data on the AMs.
I say all this as having worked right after college for two years at a small/medium market am/fm that was very successful at the time. It does not exist now. Will some AM stations still be around? Yes, but don’t try to sell one 5-10 years from now. FM should continue but only the strong will survive as far as profitability.
As far as WCBS, remember that WINS is still news AND it is also on FM where their ratings are quite good.

 

[w2dsx]

Always thought 880 was better than WINS, and I couldn't take the background teletype noise 1010 used to carry, I have no idea why they carried it for so long. But it was great having traffic and weather on the '8s, and then catching another viewpoint 3 minutes later on 1010. Can't remember the last time I actually listened since my vehicles carried the info on their display. Good luck to the crew on 880, wish them the best!

 

[bharvey2]

AM radio is basically a dead medium with mostly older listeners.

**sigh** I was really hoping we wouldn't have to go there

 

[MUTNAV]

There are still some relatively high ratings AM stations in some unique larger markets but (I know I will be lambasted on this) AM radio is basically a dead medium with mostly older listeners. Check the age market data on the AMs.
I say all this as having worked right after college for two years at a small/medium market am/fm that was very successful at the time. It does not exist now. Will some AM stations still be around? Yes, but don’t try to sell one 5-10 years from now. FM should continue but only the strong will survive as far as profitability.
As far as WCBS, remember that WINS is still news AND it is also on FM where their ratings are quite good.

The one, hopefully positive observation, is that people and society cyclically go through different phases of how they behave.... In the late 60's through early 80's, building and working on your own computer was kind of popular (at least to the people around me (I'm not talking about assembling things into a case, I'm thinking ELF 2 etc...

and nowdays Arduino /Raspberry computers seem popular.

It's a whole realm of people doing good things. I think they are called "Makers", which covers everything from Legos,... competitive Robotics clubs (check your local high schools) and up.

It to gives me a degree of hope that the old things and ways are being rediscovered, or just started as new without realizing what went on before them.

It's funny how visually similar some things are. In the thumbnails below, the first and third image are of ELF II home-built computers, the middle is a Raspberry Pi stack.

It is remotely possible that AM radio and OTA TV could still be financially viable, it might be (financially) helpful if any Federal regulations that restrict them from profitability be removed, after all, how can a pirate radio operate off of part of the income of one person?

Thanks
Joel

 

[spongella]

I'm an old-timer who remembers when WCBS 880 wasn't an all news station. Used to listen to the Jack Sterling Show using a crystal radio in the late 1950's - early 1960's when it had regular programming.

 

[spongella]

Always thought 880 was better than WINS, and I couldn't take the background teletype noise 1010 used to carry, I have no idea why they carried it for so long. But it was great having traffic and weather on the '8s, and then catching another viewpoint 3 minutes later on 1010. Can't remember the last time I actually listened since my vehicles carried the info on their display. Good luck to the crew on 880, wish them the best!

Yes, I enjoyed hearing the background teletype too, perhaps they were being nostalgic.

 

[spongella]

OTA radio will be a memory this decade. It's on borrowed time. Advertising revenue alone cannot support the business model. AM, FM and OTA TV days are numbered.

Then I am glad I'm old .

 

[a727469]

**sigh** I was really hoping we wouldn't have to go there

So was I😢 but all of us have trouble sometimes dealing with reality, especially me!📻

The one, hopefully positive observation, is that people and society cyclically go through different phases of how they behave.... In the late 60's through early 80's, building and working on your own computer was kind of popular (at least to the people around me (I'm not talking about assembling things into a case, I'm thinking ELF 2 etc...

and nowdays Arduino /Raspberry computers seem popular.

It's a whole realm of people doing good things. I think they are called "Makers", which covers everything from Legos,... competitive Robotics clubs (check your local high schools) and up.

It to gives me a degree of hope that the old things and ways are being rediscovered, or just started as new without realizing what went on before them.

It's funny how visually similar some things are. In the thumbnails below, the first and third image are of ELF II home-built computers, the middle is a Raspberry Pi stack.

It is remotely possible that AM radio and OTA TV could still be financially viable, it might be (financially) helpful if any Federal regulations that restrict them from profitability be removed, after all, how can a pirate radio operate off of part of the income of one person?

Thanks
Joel

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I would hope so too, but, while AM will probably not die off 100%, it is hard to envision an easy way to maintain an acceptable profitability. There may be some non profit organizations who could continue, but even then, who would be the market?

 

[wa3hdi]

Yes, I enjoyed hearing the background teletype too, perhaps they were being nostalgic.

During the late 60's & early 70's, I worked at WINS's Group W Philadelphia counterpart, KYW Newsradio 1060 from 1619 Walnut Street, just after its switch to an all news format. In those early days, we didn't have a background loop of the Model 19 teletype sounds. Outside the on-air studios (booths), there was a row of 7 machines (AP & UPI broadcast, AP & UPI newspaper primary, NWS weather, AP sports, and Phila. city news releases), all running 24/7. To get our teletype backgrounder, we actually had a live mike in that narrow hallway.

On the infamous Saturday morning when NORAD made a mistake with which tape was used to issue the standing EBS test message -- they actually sent the EBS Red (Impending Nuclear Attack) message -- every AP & UPI teletype nationally received that message, preceded by 10 bells, a pause, another 10 bells, then the text.

Well, our microphone picked up the entire noise at full volume, and the on-air newsreader heard it all in his headphones. It's a good thing we had an engineer on the board that time, because he had to hit the bleep button fast for the choice comments issued!

The next week, we created several continuous-loop cartridges of teletype noise, and there was a LARGE sign posted in the hallway to speak quietly in the hallway.

 

[a727469]

Slightly off topic but it always amazed me how KYW on 1060 and what was WHN(or another of their many call letter) on 1050 in NY protected each other considering how close they were and both with super directional antennas with 50 kw.
Back on topic, I did see a youtube of the final hours of WCBS, but unfortunately I did not save the link but anyone can just search.

 

[MUTNAV]

So was I😢 but all of us have trouble sometimes dealing with reality, especially me!📻

I would hope so too, but, while AM will probably not die off 100%, it is hard to envision an easy way to maintain an acceptable profitability. There may be some non profit organizations who could continue, but even then, who would be the market?

Maybe a little imagination would be helpful for the people trying to keep stations open.

For example: If land costs for antennas are an issue, maybe it would be worthwhile to talk to environmentalists that want more open spaces. I know in NJ they like protected open spaces. Maybe not tax the radio stations for the land used?

Some things co-exist very nicely, such as
Pasture land and windmills,
Beekeepers and cropland etc...

Thanks
Joel