area new york metropolitan area branding wcbs newsradio 880 slogan new york s traffic station . this is wcbs newsradio 880 . frequency 880 khz also on hd radio also on hd radio via wcbs fm hd2 first air date september 20 1924 ; 92 years ago 1924 09 20 format commercial all news language s english power 50 000 watts class a clear channel facility id 9636 transmitter coordinates 40 51 35.3 n 73 47 7.6 w 40.859806 n 73.785444 w 40.859806 ; 73.785444 main antenna 40 51 35.3 n 73 47 12 w 40.859806 n 73.78667 w 40.859806 ; 73.78667 auxiliary antenna callsign meaning w columbia broadcasting system former legal name of cbs former callsigns wahg 1924 1926 wabc 1926 1946 former frequencies 920 kc . 1924 1928 970 kc . 1928 860 kc . 1928 1941 affiliations cbs radio news owner cbs radio cbs radio east inc. sister stations wbmp wcbs fm wcbs tv wfan wfan fm wins wlny tv wnew fm webcast listen live 1 website newyork.cbslocal.com station wcbs 880 wcbs 880 am known as wcbs newsradio 880 pronounced as eight eighty is an all news radio station in new york city . owned by cbs wcbs is a 50 000 watt clear channel class a station and is the flagship of the cbs radio network . 1 the station s studios are located in the combined cbs radio facility in the hudson square area of manhattan and the transmitter is located on high island in the bronx new york . wcbs broadcasts in the hd format . 2 it is also heard on the hd 2 channel of 101.1 wcbs fm . contents 1 history 1.1 before the news 1.2 fear on trial 1.3 time announcement 1.4 now the news 2 traffic and weather together 3 influence 4 sports 5 wcbs online 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit before the news edit the station s history traces back to 1924 when alfred h. grebe started wahg at 920 am . 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 station s call sign to wabc for his atlantic broadcasting company 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 which would not be the last time the station would operate from 57th street . in 1928 general order 40 moved the station s frequency to 970 am and the station 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 . 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 am and would eventually increase its transmitting power from 5 000 to its present 50 000 watts . the station also moved its studios into the cbs headquarters at 485 madison avenue on the corner of 52nd street . the station still operating as wabc featured a mix of local interest programming ethnic content and music programs 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 1939 the broadcasting operations were moved across 52nd street from the headquarters to the new cbs studio building . in 1941 wabc moved to the frequency it currently occupies 880 am and changed its call letters to wcbs on november 2 1946 to identify more closely with its parent network the columbia broadcasting system or cbs and avoid possible confusion with the rival network of the american broadcasting company abc which had begun operation in 1943 . as a result this station has no relation to the longtime abc radio flagship station on 770 am that began in 1921 as wjz and has operated as wabc since 1953 . over the next 20 years wcbs developed a series of radio soap operas afternoon talk shows and an all night easy listening music show music til dawn hosted by bob hall and 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 . fear on trial edit one cause c l bre 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 . 3 faulk finally won the case in 1963 in the meantime becoming a popular radio personality in his native texas and later a national television personality as a regular in the cast of the country music humor variety show hee haw . wcbs fired faulk because of declining ratings while he waited for the case to come to trial 4 but stanley cloud and lynne olson s book the murrow boys asserted citation needed 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 television movie fear on trial based in part on faulk s autobiography of the same name . time announcement edit since 1924 wcbs has been known for announcing the time consistently every three minutes . citation needed this is because during the early 20th century not all listeners had reliable time pieces . citation needed they relied on syncing their clocks up with the radio almost every day . to this day wcbs announces the time frequently . on the hour wcbs plays the iconic and distinctive cbs network ding 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 owned and operated news radio stations nationwide . now the news edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message by the late 1950s and early 1960s wcbs evolved into a middle of the road mor music and personality format which included limited talk programming . personalities included legendary morning host jack sterling bill randle and lee jordan . like many mor stations at the time wcbs did mix in softer songs by rock and roll artists . 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 standing as cbs s flagship radio station . during the 1960s cbs chairman william s. paley was concerned about the station s low ratings and that concern started a process that would lead to the creation of a news radio format that would become known as newsradio 88 . this format debuted on august 28 1967 although on wcbs fm because a small airplane had crashed into and destroyed the wcbs 880 antenna tower just a few hours earlier . its original roster of anchors included charles osgood ed bradley robert vaughn not related to the actor of the same name and pat summerall . later anchors included veteran newscaster lou adler and others like jim donnelly harvey hauptman bill lynch and gary maurer . initially the station ran news in the drive time periods but maintained an mor format during the midday and overnight hours and within a couple of years it ran all news programming for much of the broadcast day except for overnights . newsradio 88 began its transformation into an all news format 5 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 6 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 suburbs because of its broadcast signal pattern . its traffic reports and news coverage includes more of long island and the northern and western suburbs of new york city 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 . 7 also unlike wins wcbs does not change anchors every thirty minutes during its daily schedule . instead each solo anchor or anchor team on weekdays has a set shift from 5 am until 8 pm with two anchors switching every one or two hours after that . on weekends anchors also alternate every hour . in october 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 . around this time the station began referring to itself on air as newsradio 880 . on december 2 2011 the station moved its operations again to 345 hudson street known as the hudson square broadcast center sharing space with cbs radio s other new york stations . traffic and weather together edit for years wcbs has sold the fact that it pairs its traffic and weather reports every ten minutes and came up with the tagline traffic and weather together to promote this . 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 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 . influence edit wcbs switch to all news was directly spurred by the switch of wins to a similar format in april 1965 . it was also the first move in cbs radio s long term plans to convert its group of am stations along with wcbs the group was then composed of knx in los angeles wbbm in chicago wcau in philadelphia kmox in st. louis weei in boston and kcbs in san francisco to some form of news programming . once wcbs had been established in the format cbs began to work on the rest