WCBS Newsradio 88 to shut down Aug. 26

The broadcasting company Audacy, which owns two all-news radio stations in New York City, WINS and WCBS, both of which blanket Westchester and Fairfield counties, has announced that it is shutting down WCBS Newsradio 88. Audacy says it will continue to own the radio broadcasting frequency 880 on the AM dial but will lease the radio station to Good Karma Brands, which will begin broadcasting ESPN New York, sports programming, on the frequency. The FCC will be asked for permission to change the call letters of the station from WCBS to WHSQ-AM.

WCBS, which draws its call letters from the Columbia Broadcasting System, founded by William Paley in the 1920s, has been one of the most respected radio stations in the country for decades. WCBS has been the flagship station for the CBS Radio Network.

The end of WCBS Newsradio 88 will come on August 26. The ESPN programming will take place using what is known as a Local Marketing Agreement, under which the FCC allows a licensed station owner to lease use of the frequency to another entity.

Chris Oliviero, New York market president for, Audacy said, “The headwinds facing local journalism nationwide made it essential to strategically reimagine how we deliver the news for the most impact. 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. If it happened in New York or the world, you heard about it on WCBS 880.”

Audacy earlier this year filed for bankruptcy and emerged from bankruptcy having reduced its debt from $1.9 billion to $350 million. The company owned more than 220 radio stations in the U.S. Among its stations is all-news WINS in New York City.