WCBS/880 AM's news format to end; ESPN New York Radio to take over frequency

WCBS/880 AM, the all-news radio station New Yorkers have known for decades by the trademark "Traffic and weather together on the 8’s," will sign off Aug. 26, parent company Audacy announced Monday.

In a twist to an enduring sports talk radio battle, Audacy will license the 880 frequency to ESPN New York, rival to its own WFAN sports radio talk station. ESPN New York carries Knicks and Rangers games. The Mets will continue to be heard on 880 AM.

Dozens of staffers, including some of the best-known names on New York radio, will be laid off in the move, according to the union representing them.

In an on-air interview Monday on 880, morning anchor Wayne Cabot called the news a "gut punch."

Radio and podcast giant Audacy said in a news release that it would now focus its news efforts in the New York City metropolitan area on its other marquee New York station, 1010 WINS, which it called the most-listened to news station in the United States.

"New York has always been proudly unique in supporting two all-news radio brands, but the news business has gone through significant changes," said Chris Oliviero, New York market president, Audacy. "The headwinds facing local journalism nationwide made it essential to strategically reimagine how we deliver the news for the most impact."

Adam Jacobson, editor-in-chief of Radio and Television Business Report, which covers the broadcasting industry, said Audacy, which received court approval for a plan to exit bankruptcy earlier this year, "needed to focus on its resources in a way that was most efficient and fiscally prudent in one of its most important marketplaces ... Having two all-news stations in the same market, under the same ownership in 2024 doesn’t make sense."

Staffing for news gathering can be costly, and news radio faces competition from unregulated digital media, Jacobson said. Also this year, Congress failed to pass a law that would have required automakers to include AM broadcast radio installed as standard equipment in new motor vehicles.

The signoff will come amid a yearslong retrenchment for the news business, said George Bodarky, a journalism professor and community partnerships and training editor at the city’s public radio station, WNYC. "It’s sad to see the shrinking of local journalism," he said. "Having local journalism and journalists on the ground is critically important to democracy."

Roughly two dozen staffers will be laid off because of Audacy’s decision, according to their union, the Writers Guild of America East.

They include journalists who have been on the air there for more than 30 years, like chief meteorologist Craig Allen and Tom Kaminski, managing editor, traffic and transit information. Morning anchors Paul Murnane and Cabot are expected to leave, too, as well as afternoon anchors Steve Scott and Michael Wallace, and overnight anchor Levon Putney.

Writers, editors and members of the station's technical support team will also be laid off.

David Heim, an Audacy spokesman, said he could not confirm the names or numbers. Heim also said he could not disclose terms of Audacy’s marketing agreement with Good Karma Brands, ESPN New York’s parent.

In a phone interview, Allen, 67 — who has spent 43 years at 880 as its longest tenured reporter, with 30 of those years broadcasting from his home studio in Merrick — called Monday's announcement "shocking. It's just a sudden ending, a loss in the family."

1010 WINS and WCBS — or simply "880" to generations of listeners — battled for local radio news supremacy dating back to the mid-60s, with the launch of their all-news formats (1965, for 1010, and 1967, for 880). 1010 has long been a traditionally stronger station in New York City, while 880's stronghold has been Long Island, Connecticut, and suburbs north and especially east. The WCBS antenna, based on a small rock outcrop off City Island, directs much of its firepower due east, and can be heard clearly as far as Rhode Island.

The battle largely ended after Philadelphia-based Audacy — then called Entercom — bought the CBS-owned stations in 2017, then began to simulcast 1010 on 92.3 FM in 2022. The move was designed to introduce younger listeners to 1010 and to boost that listenership beyond the five boroughs.

Since then, 1010's ratings have improved dramatically, while 880's dropped. Allen said Monday that there had been indications that Audacy had favored 1010, but the idea that the competition had turned into a zero sum game — with one prevailing, the other going under — was unthinkable, he said. That was because 880 — boosted by a 50,000 "clear channel" signal — had remained a fixture throughout the tristate area.

Sophia Hall, 880’s Long Island reporter, said the mood in the newsroom was somber. While Hall will continue to appear on 1010, she said she will miss the 880 job, which she started in 2001.

She had met young people who had grown up listening to the station in their parents’ cars on the way to school and older listeners who had tuned in for decades, she said. "It was a true dream to get the job when I was in my mid-20s, just to hold that 880 microphone every day and interview people," she said.