NYC Radio: All-News WCBS-FM Signs-Off, WHSQ Airing ESPN Sports

WCBS 880 AM signed off at midnight this morning — after 57 years of delivering breaking crime news, political happenings and subway delays to New Yorkers, many of whom now rely on apps.

The final minutes of WCBS 880 pic.twitter.com/yaFgVpmdQP

— 𝕏 - Ross (@RossInBergen) August 26, 2024

“Marla [Diamond] and Sean [Adams] tell compelling stories in less time than most people spend ordering their coffee,” reflected former 880 Newsradio journalist Peter Haskell in an X post Saturday. “Tom [Kaminski] has been calm and descriptive, reporting on countless big stories from the chopper, including 9/11.

“Whenever I covered someone or something, I wanted to do the story justice. To tell it in a way that people could relate to and care about. When done well, that’s the magic of radio,” Haskell said.

Kaminski spent nearly 36 years at the station reporting traffic delays from an iconic news chopper — and not without the occasional Bruce Springsteen reference from thousands of feet in the air.

“All I can say is thank you,” Kaminski said in a statement. “It’s been a privilege to try to get you from point A to point B as quickly as possible. I have never taken that responsibility lightly, I have never taken that privilege for granted, and I’m grateful for every minute we’ve spent together.”

The station has relaunched as WHSQ-AM ESPN New York on Aug. 26 – leaving 1010 WINS 92.3 FM as the New York market’s remaining all-news format station. Both WCBS and WINS are owned by Audacy.

ESPN will air New York Mets games on WHSQ.

ESPN New York have a stronger signal while ending the nearly six-decade run of WCBS-AM 880’s all-news format. Audacy, the parent company of WFAN, and Good Karma Brands, the owner of ESPN New York, announced the agreement earlier this month.

The deal will see Audacy license its 880 AM signal to ESPN New York under a local marketing agreement. The move comes as ESPN New York’s current lease for its WEPN-FM 98.7 signal is set to expire at the end of August, with station executives opting not to renew. Instead, ESPN New York will focus on digital delivery, though the stronger 880 AM signal will now carry its local programming.

David Seifman, former City Hall Bureau chief for The Post, said WCBS 880 was a driving force in covering the mayor and city council. That coverage included 880 journalist Rich Lamb’s weekly “Ask the Mayor” radio program, which started under former mayor Rudy Giuiani and continued through Mike Bloomberg’s tenure.

The station held a three-hour special Thursday eulogizing its impact on countless listeners in New York and beyond.

During its announcement, Audacy cited “headwinds facing local journalism nationwide” as the reason behind the station’s closure. More than 20 staff members were laid off as a result, the Writers Guild of America East told the New York Times. 

The announcement of the station’s closure came days after the WNYC newsroom announced an 8% reduction in staff – all part of a larger landscape of consolidating local newspapers and downsizing newsrooms across the US.

In a statement, the Writers Guild of America East — which represents WCBS journalists — denounced WCBS 880’s closure as “another example of consolidation by a major media conglomerate, which ultimately deprives the public of critical local news stories with different perspectives.