WCBS news ending also impacted sports

Arizona just might be the best team

Good morning, all. I hope your week is off to a terrific start.

At 12:01 AM on Monday an era came to end, when all-news radio WCBS 880 signed off for the last time. Audacy, owner of the station, is leasing the signal to the owners of all-sports radio ESPN-NY.

Much is being made of how the 24/7 news station was the go-to for news in the tri-state region, but I remember when it was also the go-to station for sports. Long before there were 24/7 sports radio stations, long before there was WFAN, long before there was ESPN and television scrolls, long before there were smart phones, there was News Radio 88 WCBS. Twice per hour at  - :13 and :43, as I recall - you could tune in for the latest sports news and scores, followed by the race results. My ears would especially be glued to the station, during the baseball winter meetings, for any morsel of potential trade rumors.

Many a sports anchor forged a broadcast identity on WCBS, Spencer Ross among them. The station, itself, had a rich, sports history, serving as the flagship for the New York Yankees “Home of Champions” radio network in the 1960s, returning as the Yankees flagship in the 1980s through the first fifteen years of the 2000s, and currently the flagship for the New York Mets. Like everything else in life, however, things change, even legacy radio stations.

Audacy also owns all-news WINS 1010 (“You give us 20 minutes, we’ll give the world!”), and in these days of turmoil in the media industry, Audacy could not justify owning two 24/7 news stations, competing against each other in New York City and also competing against today’s technology. The spread sheets could not justify such a game plan.

Enter ESPN-NY, for years simulcasting on the legacy AM frequency 1050 - whose signal had a difficult time extending beyond NYC, once the sun set - and facing the expiration of its lease on an FM signal. Confronting the new broadcast world, Good Karma, owner of ESPN-NY, acknowledged that the best way to listen to its station was via an app. But it did need a radio signal, and while remaining on the FM frequency became cost prohibitive, it opted for 880 on your AM dial. And who could blame them? Even with AM radio walking a tightrope, being on a 50,000-watt signal smack dab in the middle of the dial, even in this day and age, is a choice spot. Location! Location! Location!

My family always batters me, when I remind them, “The only constant in life is change.” Thus WCBS-AM is extinct, another reminder that change has occurred yet again. Even though you could make a strong case that a 24/7 all-news station format is itself outdated, New York’s all-news radio environment will survive, albeit down to one station. “You give us twenty minutes, and we’ll give you a changing world,” might be a slogan worth adopting.

The Arizona Diamondbacks mean business

When the Arizona Diamondbacks caught fire and surged to last year’s National League pennant, upsetting the Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs, it led one to wonder, did they just get hot at the right time or was their rebuild successful? After a stumbling start to this season, the Diamondbacks are making a strong case they should be among baseball’s elite.

Since the All-Star break, even with numerous injuries, Arizona has the best record in baseball and over the weekend lowered the boom on the Red Sox by entering Fenway Park and sweeping a three-game series. Arizona has rebuilt under a couple of former Red Sox officials, GM Mike Hazen and manager Tory Lovullo, and thus the dominance of the Red Sox had to be extra special, although both departed Boston on good terms.

MLB issues a power ranking of each team weekly. It is the sports answer to college football and basketball polls. It means nothing but is good for conversation.

This week’s update has Arizona at number eight. You could make a strong case the Diamondbacks deserve a higher ranking. This weekend’s series at Fenway was a statement made by the small-market Diamondbacks that should be pause for concern for the filthy-rich, big-market Dodgers.

Anniversary of first big league TV game

A lot was made in the media about Monday (Aug. 26) being the 85th anniversary of the first-ever telecast of a major league baseball game. Ebbets Field was the backdrop for the Cincinnati Reds vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was the first game of a doubleheader. On the 40th anniversary of that telecast, I had the honor to interview the broadcaster of that game, the legendary Red Barber. Interestingly, as you will note below, the historic occasion barely earned a mention in the next day’s New York Daily News. It was the lead blurb in what was a staple addendum in every News’ baseball story on the local clubs, “Diamond Dust,” but that was it; no other mention.

Newspapers were jealous of the burgeoning, electronic media back then (What has changed, exactly?), and so a brief note was all that the story merited. However, the big story on the front page of the News on the day of the telecast was a world on the brink. Check out the front page.

In five days, the world would be at war and would change forever. Baseball on TV and television itself would be put on hiatus. World War II would give birth to the “World News Round Up” on CBS radio, whose flagship station in New York was WABC. Go figure. Remember: the only constant is change.

That is going to do it for this week’s newsletter. Thank you for your support. I do put a lot of time into compiling the newsletter, so if you are so inclined, taking out a paid subscription would be most welcomed. Thank you.

DAN LOVALLO