City | New York, New York |
---|---|
Broadcast 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 |
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 (main antenna) 40°51′35.3″N 73°47′12″W / 40.859806°N 73.78667°W (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 |
Website | newyork |
WCBS (880 AM), often referred to as "WCBS Newsradio 880" (pronounced as "Eight Eighty"), is a radio station located in New York City. Owned by CBS Radio, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of CBS Radio News. The station's studios are located in the combined CBS Radio facility in the Hudson Square area of Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on High Island in the Bronx, New York.
WCBS broadcasts in the HD format.
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.