The static is real. If you grew up in the Tri-State area, the sound of 880 CBS Radio New York—known for decades by its iconic call letters WCBS-AM—was basically the soundtrack to your morning coffee or your miserable commute on the Long Island Expressway. It was dependable. You had the traffic and weather on the eights, the booming voices of anchors like Wayne Cabot or Pat Farnack, and that sense that if something happened in the world, these guys would tell you before anyone else.
Then, everything changed.
In August 2024, the "Newsradio 880" brand officially went silent. It wasn't a slow fade, either. Audacy, the parent company, decided to lease the 50,000-watt signal to ESPN New York. Just like that, the news was gone, replaced by sports talk. It felt like a gut punch to millions of loyal listeners who had relied on that frequency since the all-news format first kicked off back in 1967.
The Day the News Died on 880 CBS Radio New York
Honestly, the end of an era is a cliché, but it fits here. When WCBS-AM flipped to ESPN, it signaled a massive shift in how we consume information. Audacy was buried in debt—we’re talking billions—and they had to make a cold, hard business move. Maintaining a 24/7 newsroom is incredibly expensive. You need writers, editors, field reporters, and anchors around the clock. Sports talk? That’s much cheaper to produce.
But for the listeners, it wasn't about the balance sheet. It was about the loss of a civic institution. This was the station that stayed on the air through the 1977 blackout, the September 11 attacks, and Superstorm Sandy. When the power went out, you grabbed a battery-operated radio and tuned to 880. It was the "clear channel" signal that reached from Canada to the Carolinas at night. Now, if you tune in, you’re hearing Mike Greenberg or Dan Roth instead of a breakdown of the latest City Council drama.
Why All-News Radio is Dying (Sorta)
It’s easy to blame the internet, but it’s more complicated than that. You’ve got a perfect storm of aging demographics and massive corporate consolidation. The average listener for 880 CBS Radio New York was, to put it bluntly, getting older. Advertisers want the 25-54 demographic. If your audience is pushing 65+, the "ad buy" becomes a harder sell, even if you have millions of listeners.
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Also, look at the cars.
Newer electric vehicles, like Teslas, famously dropped AM radio because of electromagnetic interference from the motors. While Congress has pushed the "AM Radio in Every Vehicle Act" to save the band for emergency purposes, the damage is kinda already done. People are used to hitting a button for a podcast or Spotify. The habit of "spinning the dial" is becoming a lost art.
The 1010 WINS Factor
You can't talk about 880 without talking about its sister station, 1010 WINS. For years, they were rivals under the same roof. It was a weird "co-opetition." WINS was the fast-paced, "give us 22 minutes" station. 880 was more conversational, with longer-form reporting and a bit more breathing room.
When Audacy filed for bankruptcy and restructured, they decided they didn't need two all-news stations in the same market. They chose to keep 1010 WINS alive and let 880 go. They even started simulcasting WINS on 92.3 FM to capture the younger audience that doesn't even know what an "AM band" is. It was a survival move. Basically, they sacrificed one legend to save the other.
The Voices We Lost
Think about the talent that walked through those halls. You had Tom Kaminski in the helicopter, literally guiding people through the worst traffic jams in the country. You had business reports with Joe Connolly that actually made sense. The chemistry between the anchors wasn't fake; these were people who had worked together for thirty years.
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When the station signed off, they did a massive retrospective. It was hours of archival clips—interviews with Beatles, coverage of the moon landing, and the heartbreaking reporting from 9/11. It reminded everyone that 880 CBS Radio New York wasn't just a frequency. It was a historical record of the city itself.
What’s Left for New York Radio?
So, where do you go now if you want news? You’ve still got 1010 WINS, obviously. There’s also WNYC for the NPR crowd, and Bloomberg 1130 for the finance junkies. But the "big tent" of 880 is gone. The move to ESPN New York (WEPN-AM) actually solved a problem for the sports station, which had lost its FM signal earlier in the year. It was a marriage of convenience, but it left a lot of people out in the cold.
The reality of 2026 is that local news is in a crisis. Whether it's newspapers folding or radio stations flipping formats, the "boots on the ground" reporting is shrinking. When 880 closed its newsroom, dozens of veteran journalists were laid off. Those are people who knew the difference between a "delay on the Q train" and a "total system failure." You don't replace that expertise with an algorithm or a national sports feed.
The Legacy of the 880 Signal
Even though the "CBS" branding is gone and the news is history, that 880 signal is still a beast. It’s one of the most powerful in North America. Its transmitter on High Island in the Bronx pushes that signal across the Atlantic. It’s why ESPN wanted it. In the world of radio, "signal is king." You can have the best content in the world, but if people can't hear it in a tunnel or a basement, you’re dead.
It's worth noting that the "CBS" name itself has been a bit of a shell for a while. Audacy actually licensed the name from Paramount (the current owners of CBS). So, while we call it 880 CBS Radio New York, the actual CBS network hadn't owned it for years. It was a brand—a very good one—but a brand nonetheless.
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Navigating the New Dial
If you’re still looking for that specific 880 vibe, you aren't going to find it in one place. The digital age has fractured everything. Some of the old 880 staff have moved over to WINS, while others have started their own newsletters or podcasts.
If you want to stay informed in the post-880 world, here is how you have to pivot:
- Move to the FM side: If you’re in New York, 1010 WINS is now on 92.3 FM. The audio quality is better, and you don't get that annoying AM buzz under power lines.
- The Audacy App: They are pushing the app hard. You can stream the "WINS" feed globally, which is what they want everyone to do anyway.
- Support Local Digital Outlets: Sites like THE CITY or Gothamist are filling the gap that radio left behind. They don't have the "live" urgency of a radio break, but they have the depth.
- Podcast Subscriptions: Many former 880 anchors are popping up as guests or hosts on local news podcasts. Search for their names specifically on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
The loss of 880 CBS Radio New York is a reminder that nothing in media is permanent. We take for granted that when we turn the knob, the voice will be there. But the voice costs money, and the money moved to the internet.
The best way to honor what 880 was is to actually pay attention to local news in whatever form remains. Don't just rely on your social media feed to tell you what's happening in your backyard. Find a reporter you trust and follow them. Whether they are on 880 AM or a Substack, the journalism is what matters, not the transmitter.
To stay ahead of local changes in the New York media landscape, your best move is to download a dedicated local news aggregator or bookmark the New York Press Club’s updates. The era of the "all-news" powerhouse might be fading, but the need for the information hasn't gone anywhere.