I Am Saddened By Audacy (Formerly Entercom Communications), A Successor Company To CBS Radio And Westinghouse/Group W; Pulling The Plug On The All-News Format Of WCBS-AM, A Format That Is A Brainchild Of William S. Paley; The Founder Of CBS.

WCBS-AM was originally put on the air in 1924 as WAHG-AM by Alfred H. Grebe (whose initials had served as the Station’s original call letters).

In 1925, WBOQ-AM (whose call letters stood for the Borough Of Queens) was also put on the air by Alfred H. Grebe. From 1928-1940, WBOQ-AM would share time with the AM Radio Station that would eventually become WCBS-AM.

In 1926, the call letters were changed to WABC-AM (which stood for the Atlantic Broadcasting Company, and no relation to Leonard Goldenson’s American Broadcasting Company, and WJZ-AM; which would later take the call letters WABC-AM).

In 1928, after a short time airing CBS Radio programming three days a week; William S. Paley would purchase Alfred H. Grebe & Company, Mr. Grebe’s Radio Stations WABC-AM and WBOQ-FM.

Alfred Grebe’s publicity manager, Bill Schudt Jr.; would stay with CBS long after the purchase of WABC-AM and WBOQ-AM; would go on to become CBS’s very first Director of Television when Bill Paley and his company had put their experimental Television Station that would ultimately become WCBS-TV on the air in 1931 with the call sign W2XAB; and Bill Schudt Jr. would retire from CBS in 1966. By the time of his retirement, Bill Schudt Jr. had held the position at CBS as the Director of Television Affiliate Relations.

In 1941, WBOQ-AM was taken off the air, and deleted from the FCC’s database of licensed AM Radio Stations; and WABC-AM would remain on the air full time from this point forward.

In 1946, Bill Paley and his company would change the call letters of his AM Radio Station, his relatively new FM Radio Station, and his Television Station from WABC-AM-FM and WCBW-TV to WCBS-AM-FM-TV.

William S. Paley, gravely concerned about the basement-low ratings of WCBS-AM and FM in the mid-1960’s; as the Old-Time Radio era had given way to Television, WCBS-AM’s part-time Middle Of The Road format was not faring as well as local competitors WNEW-AM and WOR-AM; and WCBS-FM (originally experimental FM Station W67NY) was still simulcasting WCBS-AM, and had yet to begin airing its own programming.

By and large, WCBS-AM and FM were still airing the last of CBS Radio’s Old-Time Radio programming by the mid-1960’s, and part of the time; had aired a Middle Of The Road format whenever the AM Station (and the FM Station piggybacking the AM) had aired any Music.

In 1967, WCBS-FM; along with CBS’s other owned and operated FM Radio Stations in Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, Boston, and in Los Angeles; would finally cease to simulcast the programming their AM parents; and begin to air the automated Easy Listening format known as “The Young Sound”.

Also in 1967; as fate would have it, due to a small Airplane crashing into the dipole Tower of WCBS-AM on a Transmitter Site that is shared with WNBC-AM on High Island, New York (located off of the Coast of the Bronx) due to the Aircraft flying in a rainstorm with limited visibility, and accidentally crashing into, and dismantling WCBS-AM’s Tower as a result. The dipole tower is also shared with WNBC-AM, and both WCBS-AM and WNBC-AM had transmitted their signals from this very same tower. This incident, in turn; had resulted in both WCBS-AM and WNBC-AM being taken off the air, and leaving CBS with no other choice than to debut the All-News format on WCBS-FM; while the dipole tower of WCBS-AM and WNBC-AM was in the process of being reconstructed, and an Emergency/Reserve/Backup Tower that is shorter in height was also constructed in the process.

WCBS-FM would cease to air the automated Easy Listening format coined “The Young Sound” in 1969, would begin to air a live, Disc Jockey-oriented Progressive Rock format instead of the automated “The Young Sound” format; Disc Jockeys Bill Brown and Don K. Reed would both start their jobs at the FM Station right when it took its Progressive Rock format in 1969, would take the nascent and newfangled Oldies format in 1972; and Bill Brown and Don K. Reed would both stay with the FM Station long after it took the Oldies format, right up until they had both retired in 2005.

After 57 Years, ‘NewsRadio 880’ To Depart New York Airwaves

Journalism ‘Headwinds’ To End News Format On NYC’s WCBS 880

Good Karma or Bad News? Radio Reacts to WCBS 880’s End

https://donswaim.com/wcbsnewsradio88.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawE8lJVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHUUe4KDwn_Jv0543PeFEBQYvVF2czMnSF2o7AqoG46WE_B2bsJCg4H4Sng_aem_q4TgqzehUOVAs_y1gtVIHg

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/wcbs-880-radio-ending-whsq-starting/