WCBS 880 radio will send its final transmission at midnight — after 57 years of delivering breaking crime news, political happenings and subway delays to New Yorkers, many of whom now rely on apps.
“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 will relaunch as WHSQ-AM ESPN New York on Aug. 26 — leaving 1010 WINS 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.
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.
“Rich Lamb was a major player,” Seifman said.
Lamb told The Post that when the station’s former chief political reporter, Steve Flanders, suggested he audition for a job there, “I thought it was a ridiculous idea.
“But It worked out, and I walked away 43 years later,” Lamb said in an email.
“[I] did nightsides for 12 years, covered murders, fires, plane crashes, newspaper strikes, subway strikes, cop and firefighter funerals, court cases, budget crises and of course Nathan’s hot dog eating contests, but actually ate Gray’s Papaya dogs at night,” Lamb quipped.
“I met con men, comedians, brilliant scientists, PR geniuses, authors, bodega owners, restaurateurs, presidents, politicians, ordinary New Yorkers and other saints. I froze at winter stakeouts, baked on summer subway platforms, had rain run down my back, and was held up at gunpoint once,” he recalled.
“I mourn the passing of this greatest of all news radio stations, for those who have lost their journalism jobs, but also for the American public, which is facing a critical time of judgment hinging on fair and accurate delivery of information which WCBS always strove to deliver.”
The station held a three-hour special Thursday eulogizing its impact on countless listeners in New York and beyond.
“As I was growing up in Long Island, I couldn’t read the newspaper because I’m legally blind, and the television had not embraced the news the way it has today,” former New York Gov. David Paterson said during the retrospective.
“I just thought that the coverage was more extensive,” Paterson said, noting he heard the news of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination from the station.
“[It was] big moments, where my first understanding of it came from listening to this station. I’m really sorry that this is going away.”
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.
Seifman said that before major media cutbacks, there would be reporters from six different radio stations attending City Hall press conferences.
“They were part of the culture,” he said.
Not so much now.
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.
“Audacy’s decision is even more egregious given that this is a critical election year,” the guild added.
“This is a giant loss for New York City and the news industry at large.”
