Longtime New York news radio station WCBS 880 will end operations later this month, as the station’s parent company sold the rights to ESPN.
The decision ends a nearly six-decade run for WCBS 880 as a go-to source for news and information across the tri-state area.
ESPN New York, which currently operates on WEPN at 98.7 FM, will take over the 880 AM signal on Aug. 26, according to a press release from Audacy, which owns WCBS.
ESPN’s FM lease will expire at the end of August.
The sale will leave 1010 WINS, also an Audacy station, as the dominant all-news network in the New York area.
“All-news is a pillar of Audacy and this decision, though difficult, fortifies that leadership position for generations to come,” the company’s New York market leader, Chris Oliviero, said in a statement.
The sale also marks an odd chapter in the well-publicized WFAN-ESPN feud, as Audacy also owns WFAN, a New York-centric sports radio station. However, the sale will increase ESPN New York’s reach and signal strength, as they take over the massive and massively popular 880 AM feed.
ESPN New York will control the programming on 880 AM for three years, sources told The Athletic. Audacy will remain the station owner, though ESPN New York will control the content. New York Mets baseball broadcasts, a staple of WCBS 880, will remain on the 880 AM channel, according to Audacy.
WCBS 880 has been an all-news broadcast since August 1967, when it pivoted from music and radio shows. Through decades of turmoil and upheaval in radio in New York and across the country, the station remained a bastion of reliable information for New Yorkers and others throughout the tri-state area.
“WCBS 880 has been one of the most respected radio stations in history, with a legacy cemented by the hundreds of world-class journalists, on and off the air, who willed it into existence over the decades,” Oliviero said. “If it happened in New York or the world, you heard about it on WCBS 880.”
At least 23 employees at WCBS, represented by the Writers Guild of America, were laid off in the sale, according to the union. It’s unclear how many non-union employees were affected.
“The closure of WCBS Newsradio 880 is another example of consolidation by a major media conglomerate, which ultimately deprives the public of critical local news stories with different perspectives,” the guild said in a statement.
Audacy applied to change the callsign of the channel from WCBS to WHSQ. The Federal Communications Commission will need to approve the request.
To commemorate the history of WCBS 880, the station will air a retrospective from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 22.
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