Philly Radio: End Of Era As KYW Stops Airing School Closings

Ending an era, CBS Radio's KYW 1060 AM has stopped broadcasting school closing numbers on snow days, a source of anticipation for children in the Philadelphia area for a half century.

Blame the Internet, cell phones, and robo calls for finishing off a childhood ritual.

According to philly.com, KYW and other radio stations had broadcast the numbers since the 1960s, when Philadelphia's City Hall became the regional clearing house for school closings around the region.

But in 1989, the city got out of the business and KYW took it over, prompting many stations to abandon the practice and making KYW the exclusive source of news that could make or break a kid's day.

The station has been phasing out the service for a couple of years and decided in the off season to stop the on-air report, said Steve Butler, director of news and programming for KYW.

The station will still provide the information on KYWschools.com, and the data they collect from 1400 school districts, colleges and other schools will be used by CBS3 TV, he said.

The decision was an easy one to make. With schools delivering the news via  their own websites, texts, Twitter, or phone trees, many students and parents already know if they have a snow day or not without turning on the radio.

Reading the school numbers took up to 14 minutes of air time each hour. That time will be devoted to more information on traffic, airport conditions and even reports from neighborhoods,  Butler said.