Joe in 1967 on the eve of Newsradio 88's launch

- ALL-NEWS RADIO PIONEER JOE DEMBO DEAD 3/15/10. Dembo, who died of cancer at the age of eighty-three, spent twenty-eight years at CBS in a variety of important news positions, including that of Vice President, CBS News, Radio. Joe joined WCBS in 1960, and became an executive producer and later its news director. In 1967, Joe was named vice president and general manager in charge of turning the CBS radio flagship into an all-news operation. See article in Broadcasting Magazine. He left Newsradio 88 in 1971 to head the CBS News Bureau in Rome. Joe retired from CBS in 1988 to join the journalism faculty at Fordham University. Official CBS obituary: HERE

- Don Swaim. 3/15/10. The article below was passed along by Bill Diehl. It's a piece in TV-Radio Mirror, November 1958 about Hal Simms who, while not a meterologist, broadcast a daily five-minute weather show on WCBS in addition to his CBS staff announcing duties. Hal was 83 when he died in 2002. To hear Hal reading the news on WCBS on the morning of Nov. 6, 1958, click HERE

click to enlarge

- JOE DURSO, JR's REPORT TO CONSUMERS. On 2/28/10, Robert T. Resnick sent us an interesting aircheck dating to the late 70s. It's a consumer report by the late Joe Durso, Jr., who later headed the CBS Radio Stations News Service. What's interesting is that Joe's subject is those amazing, new-fangled [and expensive!] video tape recorders, so quaint now. Anchor on this aircheck is Ralph Howard. LISTEN.

- Don Swaim. 2/6/10. The recent death of J.D. Salinger reminds us that the reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye attended the famous P.S. 6 grade school on Manhattan's Upper East Side, as did such CBSers as Bob Gibson, Wes Vernon, and Lou Freizer. For my audio entry on Salinger, go to: Book Beat: The Podcast.

- WCBS-AM NEW YORK MARKET'S TOP BILLING STATION. 1/15/10. Matthew Flamm in Crain's New York writes, "Industry insiders credited WCBS Newsradio 880's win to high ratings for broadcasts of Yankee games -- especially of the World Series -- and a busy news cycle." For details go to: Crain's.

- ALLEGRA BRANSON [former WCBS newswriter]. From Bob Gibson [former WCBS anchor] 1/10/10: People have asked me from time to time what I hear from or about Allegra and I'd tell them that I've not heard from her or spoken to her in many years. I did remember to ask Palmer Payne about her recently and he got back to me late this afternoon and okayed my passing this along to you for posting on the site, if you so desire. The way Palmer explained it to me the problem is dementia. Here's his note...

[12/21/09] I got more info from Allegra's sister, Annie, who visited her recently. It is not a pleasant picture. Allegra recognized Annie as someone she had known for a long time but NOT as her own sister. They tried to put her in a daycare place but she was insistent on coming home ASAP. There is not much more that can be said about the situation.

- WCBS PRIMARY ELECTION COVERAGE 1974. 1/4/10. Former anchor Bob Gibson unearthed this 1974 memo from WCBS Assistant News Director Bill Lynch. What's interesting is the degree of coverage the station gave to an otherwise lackluster primary -- yet the names of the reporters covering is amazing, not to mention the logistics. This is a PDF. Go to: 1974 primary.

- H. PAUL JEFFERS 1934-2009. From Sid Goldstein. 12/4/09 [a Jeffers friend]: "I regret to inform you that Paul died tonight [Dec. 4, 2009] in Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He had been hospitalized just the day before, when his condition at his rehab facility was deemed to be unstable. He was undergoing tests when his blood pressure dropped, they returned him to his room, his breathing weakened, and he quietly expired. The cause is tentatively being called heart failure.His longtime friend and colleague Ed Rickards was there at the end. He was 75. Arrangements are pending. Under discussion is a family service in his home town of Phoenixville, PA., followed at some later date by a memorial service in New York. Ideas for the memorial service will be welcomed. Sorry for the news." [UPDATE: The family advises the following: Cremation. Paul's ashes will be sent home to Phoenixville, PA., and a memorial service will be held there in the spring. Sid]

From Don Swaim: H. Paul Jeffers, a Fulbright scholar and graduate of Temple University, worked at ABC and WINS Radio before joining WCBS-AM as a part-time writer. He became News Director from 1983 to 1985. While he was a true-blooded conservative, with a full-length portrait of the convicted Iran-Contra felon Oliver North on his Manhattan apartment wall, he never allowed his politics to interfere in his journalism. In addition to his news expertise, Paul was a prolific author and active member of the Baker Street Irregulars, a Sherlock Holmes fan club. One of his early novels was a mystery with a gay detective, Portrait in Murder and Gay Colors. When he lost his CBS job he beat the management by posting his own resignation letter. Late in life and unemployed, he petitioned his friends and acquaintances to chip in so he could continue work on a book in progress. He promised them a party and a share of the royalties, if any. A list of the amazing number of books he published can be found here. He told me he almost married once, but he died as a single man, although his close friend, Ed Rickards [well-known local broadcast news figure], was reportedly at his side at the end./

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CBS "BOARD," TEANECK, NJ, 12/5/09

Standing center: Steve Porter, Charles Osgood -- first Newsradio 88 anchors. click to enlarge

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- OSGOOD, FIVE OTHERS NAMED TO B'CAST HALL OF FAME
By Bob Gibson (former WCBS anchor) 11/14/09

Harrison, Osgood (click to enlarge) Charles Osgood of CBS News and Harry Harrison, who enjoyed a colorful 44-year New York career at WMCA, WABC, and CBS/FM, were among a half dozen veteran broadcasters given the red carpet treatment at the induction ceremony that the NYS Broadcasters Association held November 12, 2009... For details and more photos click HERE.

- Robert Leeder (CBS Board Chairman) 10/2/09. The next luncheon meeting of "The CBS Board" will be Saturday, December 5th, 2009! DETAILS...

McCarthy

- Jim McCarthy (former WCBS Washington Reporter) 9/26/09. I've been in more hospitals than Ben Casey (gawd, am I that old?) and Dr.Kildare (wow! that's even older) combined as they poke and prod. But that means I'm still here...if not all there. I'm keeping up on things via your site and enjoying some of the other remembrances. I even catch 88 on my radio at night up here in the boondocks [Wilkes-Barre, PA]. It ain't the same. Knowing your love of history, vis-a-vis WCBS "Golden Days," I thought you'd be interested in these pictures that I ran across while cleaning out the attic. Photos and commentary: HERE

- ERNIE McDANIEL (Former head of Technical Services, WCBS) DIES. McDaniel, who was eighty, died at St. Vincent's Hospital, New York, on September 17, 2009. He supervised more than forty technicians during the early years of Newsradio 88 before making the gutsy decision to leave management and become a camerman at WCBS-TV. Ernie said later that he had no regrets in changing from a suit to jeans.

From Barbara McDaniel: Many of you are aware of this news but some are not--my husband, Ernie, passed away on Thursday, September 17th after two weeks in the hospital recovering from a broken hip. Thank you for the support and kind words expressed - it certainly has helped. I can be reached at: barmcdaniel@yahoo.com and (212) 475-8651. At some future date, Ernie's e-mail and phone will probably be discontinued. I wish you all the best, Barbara

- J.J.R. Ramey (Former newswriter, WCBS) 8/29/09. Hello Don: Back in the 1980's, you interviewed me on BOOK BEAT about my western novel, West of Paradise Run, while we both worked at WCBS NewsRadio 880. I wanted to let you know that I am getting a reprint of the novel through the Authors Guild.

- Tony Gatto (Former Desk Assistant, Writer, Producer, Managing Editor, Asst. News Director, WCBS) 8/21/09. Too many memories to even try to start writing them down. I tell people that I grew-up in the WCBS Newsroom. The people at WCBS played as important a role in my life as my family and closest friends.

- Tim Scheld (Director of News and Programming, WCBS Newsradio 880) 8/18/09. Don, Glad to see you putting the Book Beat material on line and love the fact that you keep the WCBS appreciation site so up to date with memories and photos. It's important to me to make sure that everyone who works here is aware of, and respects the legacy of this radio station and all who contributed to its prominence. We're very proud of where we came from. As difficult as the media climate is out there these days we are encouraged by the fact that radio listening is up nationally and news listening in this market continues to be popular. WCBS and WINS are the top two newsradio stations in America. Over the past few months, WCBS has enjoyed its best news ratings in decades. Thanks for keeping the entire community in contact. All the best. Tim

- FORGOTTEN CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT. David Schoenbrun [1915-1988] was part of the "second wave" of Edward R. Murrow's boys during World War Two. Despite a distinugished career at CBS and the author of half a dozen books, Schoenbrun is little remembered, ending his career at WNEW and WPIX-TV in New York. He details his battles with what was then the bureaucracy of CBS and why he had to leave. But, "There's no bitterness in me..." To listen to Don Swaim's thirty-minute interview with Schoenbrun click here.

- Don Swaim 8/16/09. My CBS Book Beat website has been substantially expanded to include new material, updates, and links related to books and authors. Go to: Book Beat: The Podcast.

- DAN RATHER: PAYING A HIGH PRICE TO CLEAR HIS NAME. As he sues CBS for breach of contract, the former news anchor says, "Their strategy is to string it out, wear me out, suck the will from me, and make it so painful in the pocketbook that I want to give up." By Matea Gold in the Los Angeles Times. [UPDATE: Rather lost his suit.]

Rather

- ENGLISH SPOKEN HERE 7/30/09. ABC News Emmy-award winning newsman Ed Silverman, in The Riverside Press, attends the June 13, 2009, CBS "Board" luncheon and revels in "proper grammar, correct syntax, clear enunciation of colorful and understandable vocabulary."

- THE MAN WHO WASN'T CRONKITE 7/27/09. For some of you, his name may be vaguely familiar. For most of you, it probably will mean nothing unless you heard his three daily network hourlies on Newsradio88. Yet he was TV's first anchorman and was once the face of CBS News. By Bob Greene, CNN contributor.

- REMEMBERING WALTER CRONKITE 7/20/09. The late CBS anchor's top assistant for twenty years, Marlene Adler, denies Cronkite planned to marry Carley Simon's sister, Joanna. Adler takes on all questions, silly and serious, about Cronkite in this Q&A in The Washington Post.

- Milton Kamen (Gramercy Park Clothes, NYC) 7/18/09. I shocked your [WCBS] sales department in c. 1970 by saying I would buy 4 spots per hour from midnight to 6am, seven nights a week. That was considered wasteland but I knew NYC was truly the city that never slept and I wanted to capture the all night audience that no one knew existed. It worked. And the commercials for my company, Gramercy Park Clothes, became a conversation piece. I paid $5 each for 60 seconds and it was found money for the station. I wrote the copy, read the spots, and had my 15 minutes of fame. My only regret---I refused the nomination for a Clio; I can't remember why. I get a kick out of some postings that remember my commercials from 30 years ago. Although I cannot find pictures nor a tape, I did find some copy--this was the first spot we ran:

THE PRESIDENT!....... of Gramercy Park Clothes says: 16 advertising men and one mother-in-law have been trying to write commercials for Gramercy Park Clothes. Commercials that will make you stop dead in your tracks, leave your wife, your home, and run like crazy downtown still in your underwear to buy a suit. The president called a meeting and said: stop the baloney. Just tell everyone that Gramercy Park sells great looking suits--good quality, perfect fit and the price is right. After 78 years of manufacturing men's clothing for fine stores, Gramercy Park will sell direct to you. Come to the factory building at 64 West 23rd Street--go through the big iron gate--ask for Bella-the-fella, or Rosie-with-the-cigar. You'll look great in your new suit and you'll save a bundle. Credit cards OK. Gramercy Park Clothes. Open to 7 and on Sunday 10 to 4. Gramercy Park Clothes 64 West 23rd Street--that's 64 West 23rd Street, New York.

Part of the fun was that your competing station [WINS] didn't want to run the spot because I used the phrase "still in your underwear." What a difference 35 years can make. Regards and good wishes, Milt Kamen

Roberts

- THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN THROAT DIES AT 99. CBS announcer Kenneth Roberts, who died in New York on June 19, 2009, began his broadcast career at a small station in New Jersey in the 1920s. In 1931, Roberts beat out 40 other applicants for a full-time position as an announcer on CBS's New York flagship, WABC, the call letters before they were changed to WCBS. A retrospective by T. Rees Shapiro in The Washington Post.

- Don Blair (former WCBS anchor-reporter & author of Splashdown: NASA and the Navy) 6/24/09. "The archives you (and others?) have put together are priceless... especially for a nostalgia nut like myself... but aren't we all? We know what it was like and what it is today and we are thankful to have been in it when it still had a touch of quality and integrity." For MORE and for two of Blair's exclusive Apollo 11 photos -- including one of Neil Armstrong plucking the ukelele click HERE

- Jim McCarthy (former WCBS, Mutual Washington reporter) 6/23/09. Hello Don: Well, once again the hands of fate took over and screwed me out of a great luncheon reunion. Not that too many of the crew even remember me. I have been under MD's care for a while now, and had to take a stress test on Friday, the day before the reunion. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the medication and it stopped my heart. As a result, I am now wearing a pace maker and defibrilator. My son, Tim, says "You're going to the next one (reunion), and I'm driving to make sure you get there". Keep fingers and toes crossed for December. Love to all, and keep up the great work on the web site. PS: Are any of the "originals" still around to be especially invited? You know, the Joe Dembo's, Friedman's, Reeves, Joyce's, etc. I used to talk with Jerry Nachman all the time a few years ago, and we had manys the good laugh. I still miss his humor. Oh well, take care... Jim.

- WCBS 880 STAFFERS, PAST AND PRESENT, REUNITE. Article by Jerry Barmash about the CBS "Board" meeting on June 13, 2009, Teaneck New Jersey. "In between the bites of veal parmigiana, many business cards were passed around, proving the art of reconnecting was alive and well." Go to NY Media Examiner.

Barmash

- CBS "BOARD" MEETS JUNE 13, 2009. Close to fifty CBSers, colleagues, ex-competitors, friends, broadcast aficionados, and radio historians gathered in Teaneck, NJ. Details and photos to come. Guest list here.

- SAN FRANCISCO'S KCBS CELEBRATES 100 YEARS ON THE AIR. Newsradio 88's sister station began as an experimental station in San Jose, California, with a regularly scheduled broadcast on June 11, 1909. KCBS returned to San Jose on the anniversary with morning anchor Stan Bunger and midday anchor Rebecca Corral broadcasting the news from the same spot where the first broadcast originated: the corner of First and San Fernando. Here's a wonderful site dedicated to the station's founder. Go to: Charles Herrold.

- Joe Cioffi (TV meterologist and listener) 5/23/09. Don, What a terrific site! As a teenager I remember it all... the jingles... the voices... Jim Donnelly, Robert Vaughn, and of course you. I dreamt the same dreams as you did but mine took me a different route. Love it all and thank you. Joe Cioffi

- Michael Kahn (former WCBS newswriter) 5/22/09. My daughter Sonia, 14, started a Facebook fan page for Wayne Cabot [WCBS anchor]. It is a way to show her appreciation after he let her tag along last month for "Take Your Child to Work Day." Every 8th grader in Fairfax County, Va., had to follow someone, and a weekly about electric co-ops is too dull. Could you put something on your site mentioning the Wayne Cabot fan page and asking everyone who is on Facebook to become a fan? Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php? #/pages/Wayne-Cabot/89104183128? ref=s Also, typing "Wayne Cabot" in the search box will get you there. We're up to 76 fans but we can do better!

- FORMER NEWSRADIO 88 "CONSULTANT" SUSPENDED FOR ON-AIR SLURS Jay Severin, a far right-wing talk show host on Boston's WTKK-FM, described Mexicans as primitives, leeches, and spreaders of VD; former Vice-President Gore as "Al Whore"; and Senator Edward Kennedy as "a fat piece of lying garbage." Severin, who once delivered commentaries on WCBS Radio from a "Republican" perspective, falsely claimed he won a Pulitzer Prize and a master's degree from Boston University. For details go to The Boston Globe.

- Steve Okonski... grew up in New York City in the 1970s with dreams of becoming a news or weather announcer. While that didn't happen, Steve remains a fan of Newsradio 88 and has sent us a recording of Pat Parson and Ben Farnsworth bantering on the air during a heat wave on July 21, 1977. To listen to the audio click HERE. [runs 1:09]

- KNX AND KFWB TAKE DIVERGENT PATHS. Former competitors, these Los Angeles all-news stations -- sister stations to WCBS -- are staking out different identities. By Steve Carney in the Los Angeles Times.

- Robert Leeder (CBS Board Chairman) 3/27/09. The next luncheon meeting of "The CBS Board" will be Saturday, June 13, 2009! DETAILS...

Jay's college grad pic

- Jay Schuster (former WCBS desk assistant) 3/16/09. From August 1969 to January 1970, I was a desk assistant, who during afternoon drive wrote the mass transit reports and produced the Lou Timalot helicopter traffic reports. Dick Reeves (great guy) hired me. Working at WCBS was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I had just graduated from Temple University with a degree in communications and never thought my first job would be at a place like that. MORE...

- EX-CBSer GIL GROSS REPLACES LATE PAUL HARVEY. Gross, a former WCBS afternoon anchor, currently broadcasts on KGO-AM in San Francisco. He'll take over the duties on Harvey's morning show. For details go to radio-online. To read a 2001 interview with Gross, who once did a talk show on WWDB, Philadelphia, go to Philly Talk Radio.

Gil Gross

- Thomas Turner, Framingham, MA, 3/4/09. I just came across your site while surfing the Internet. You have done a great job with detailing the history of your station. Found the audio segments quite enjoyable, but am having trouble with some of them. What media player(s) do you use for them? I currently have Windows Media 11, RealPlayer, and QuickTime in my computer at home. I've been able to hear some using Windows Media at work, but not at home. When I was going to college at Emerson in Boston, I worked part-time at WNAC Radio and TV. At that time, they were affiliated with CBS on the TV side and later switched to ABC. WNAC Radio was the flagship station for the Yankee Network, which supplied news and programming to various stations in the New England area, I was there from 1959 to 1961. WEEI Radio was the primary CBS Net outlet at that time; now it's WBZ. Keep up the good work!!

[reply] Don Swaim. I converted all the audio on the site into mp3 files, so any audio player that can play mp3s, such as QuickTime or iTunes, should work. Some of the files are quite long, so it's possible some computers with less than adequate memory might have problems. [The larger the file the longer it takes to open.] The files aren't made for RealPlayer -- and Windows Media is fussy about playing some non-Microsoft created files.

- Palmer Payne (former WCBS anchor) 3/1/09. Re: MURROW PHOTO [below]. Note the venetian blinds in the background. This is the news studio at 485 Madison Ave. The newsroom, less than half the size of News88, is on the other side of the window with the blinds. The general rule in the "old" days was that the newscaster should read all of the wire copy, transcripts from correspondents, etc. and then turn away from all of that and write his five minute newscast from memory and submit it to the editor on duty. He would often stroll into the studio a few minutes before air time and the corrected copy would be brought in to him. They tell the story that once Robert Trout waited for his copy but it was not delivered. He went on the air, waving his arms frantically in hope someone in the newsroom would get the idea (the blinds were open that day), managing to deliver a flawless newscast totally from memory.

- WRITE YOUR OWN! Here's a website where you can add your own captions to photos of people, famous or not. See what they've done with Edward R. Murrow! Go to PUNDIT KITCHEN.

ANOTHER KANDER & EBBS JINGLE MYSTERY?

- Mark S. Leff, Ohio University, 2/26/09. Hi from an OU broadcast news faculty member teaching this year in Beijing. I used to listen to WCBS when I worked in NYC in the mid-70s, first at TVN and then at NBC News. At NIS, I remember working election night 1976, going home early in the morning and riding the elevator with some glum-looking radio executives, and waking up in the afternoon to hear Pat Parson and Ben Farnsworth reading my obituary (NBC's decision to shut down NIS because it wasn't making money).

Here's a bit of Ohio music trivia you may enjoy or even remember -- something I discovered when researching a bunch of OU bicentennial history minutes I did for WOUB-TV. First, listen to Alma Mater Ohio (unless you know it by heart). Now listen to this song that OU alumnus Samuel Zarnokay (Sammy Kaye) wrote for his Sunday radio show December 15th, 1941: Remember Pearl Harbor. I ran it by a music prof who said it's probably more than coincidence...

Cheers,
Mark Leff, Assistant Professor
E. W. Scripps School of Journalism
Ohio University, Athens, OH
2008-2009 Fulbright Lecturer School of TV and Journalism, Beijing

- "OBAMA INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS." So says Jeff Ballabon, newly named Senior Vice President of Communications for CBS News, of the President of the United States. Ballabon maintains that Democrats are "inherently bad" while Republicans are "fundamentally good." Did CBS hire a right-wing nut? More from Ira Forman on The Huffington Post.

Ed Hotaling

- FORMER WCBS NEWSWRITER ED HOTALING... caused quite a stir when he learned (and reported) that both the U.S. Capitol Building and the White House were built with slave labor. Ed, who became Mideast Bureau Chief for CBS News, is the author of four books and currently lives in Washington. Ed's website HERE

- Bob Gibson (former WCBS anchor) 1/19/09. Bob Vaughn sent me this photo and I thought you'd enjoy seeing it and realizing, as I did, the flood of memories it generates. Bob's guess is this was snapped in 1986... Best wishes to one and all!

Vaughn (left), Jim Donnelly (right)

- MARK Di GIORGIO (WCBS listener, W. Hartford, CT) 1/7/09. I am a 51 year-old man and absolutely LOVE your WCBS Appreciation Web site. I have listened to News 88 since I was in high school, and at the time I lived in a small town named Torrington in the Northwest hills of Connecticut. I could could barely get the News 88 signal. In many ways, I feel like Wayne Cabot's twin. MORE...

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News and Recollections 2009-2010
News and Recollections 2008
News and Recollections 2007
News and Recollections 2006
News and Recollections 2005


WCBS NEWSRADIO88 APPRECIATION SITE