Not affiliated with CBS or its current owners, and is independent, sometime critical, often impertinent.

Edward R. Murrow died for our sins

Col 1
online history and archive
of this legendary CBS radio flagship station


edited by Don Swaim
Lou Adler * Jim Donnelly
Anchors Lou Adler (left) Jim Donnelly (right) 1978. Photo courtesy Martin Hardee.
click to enlarge



CHARLES OSGOOD, 1933-2024

Excerpt from Bob Gibson's Touching Remembrance

When I hear the name Charles Osgood, my first reaction is to smile or reflect on some of the silliness that was part of the last time we were together. Time with Charlie was ALWAYS time well spent and it could be informative even if the two of us were busy telling 'war stories.' Charles was always light on his feet when it came to talking to people or hearing a story.

I never called him this but Charlie was most definitely a wordsmith! CBS decades ago referred to him as "The poet laureate of CBS News." They never had one before and I doubt there will ever be another for good reason! Sometimes a serious story on his "Osgood File" broadcasts on CBS Radio would become humorous by virtue of his whimsical, rhyming verse.

Charles Osgood's resume includes the expanse of a half-century at CBS with the first four years at the company's flagship radio station, WCBS, as the morning news co-anchor and the other 46 years as a CBS News Correspondent, with the aforementioned, "Osgood File," the anchor of the "CBS Sunday Night News" on television, where his visibility would increase and nobody could ever forget his 22 years as the friendly face of the award-winning, "Sunday Morning" broadcast which won several Emmys during the course of his tenure.And somewhere along the way, Charlie also handled the news updates on "CBS This Morning."



Charles Osgood (r) and Don Swaim (l) compare notes


Osgood posing with the Marconi Award to WCBS as the
Legendary Radio Station of the Year. 2017.
Osgood's first WCBS broadcast can be heard in the Audio link below.









ANY BUYERS?
THE COMPANY THAT BOUGHT CBS RADIO
GOES BANKRUPT


click image to weep

RICHARD LORENZO

A mainstay of the informal "CBS Board," Lorenzo died on Oct. 30, 2023. He was 78 and lived in New Providence, New Jersey. The "CBS Board" was a gathering of past and present CBS and other network and broadcast luminaries, along with friends and guests, which met twice a year until kayoed by the Covid pandemic.


Richard was born in Newark, attended St. Benedict's Prep, and majored in English at Seaton Hall University. He studied programming and on-the-air training at the Columbia School of Broadcasting. His radio career began at KUDL in Sacramento, WDAF in Kansas City, and WWYZ, Waterbury, Connecticut, where he was Operations/Program Director. This led him to WCBS-FM as Music Director and to ABC News Radio as General Manager.

Richard's love for rock 'n' roll resulted in his curating Facebook's "Relic Rack Memories," which Richard described as about: "...Rock n Roll...ElvisÉR & BÉRockabilly...sounds of the city...Broadway...Beatlemania...Folk RockÉMonterey, Woodstock and Altamont...bubble gum rock...soft rock...soul...disco..."

He was working on a book about his life in popular music at the time of his death.


A HAPPY BIRTHDAY
BUT AN AWKWARD START!

Fifty-three years ago, WCBS NEWSRADIO88 went on the air on Monday, August 28, 1967 -- just barely. The day before, a small airplane crashed into the station's transmitter tower on High Island in The Bronx, killing the two on board and silencing the station as well as WNBC.

But, as the clipping from Broadcasting Magazine at the time shows, WCBS limped into action on its then little-heard FM band. READ HERE




WAYNE CABOT: 35 YEARS!
Congratulations to WCBS morning drive anchor Wayne Cabot, who celebrated thirty-five years on the job in June 2023. A radio buff since childhood, Wayne put in his dues at small broadcast markets to large before signing with Newsradio 88, where he's been a fixture ever since. Talk of his retiring anytime soon is mere hearsay.


PRIZE WINNER: WCBS
The Press Club of Long Island 2023 Awards: WCBS Newsradio 880 takes home 1st place: Best Radio News Station, Best Breaking News-Blizzard of 2022, and Sophia Hall Best Radio Reporter of the Year. Craig Allen and Sophia accepted the awards.




CBS “BOARD CHAIRMAN” BOB LEEDER

A former CBS Radio executive, Bob died in Melbourne, Florida, at the age of 83. In 1993, jokingly calling themselves “The CBS Board,” a group of current and former CBS employees began semi-annual luncheon reunion meetings in New Jersey. Bob became defacto head of this informal group.



by Bob Gibson
Though retired for more than 20 years, Bob was a good friend of mine whom I first met about 35 years ago when plans were being made for our twice-annual broadcasters' luncheons. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Leeder graduated from Amherst College in 1961. When he came to the New York metropolitan area in the early 60s, Bob served at a northern New Jersey radio station where he worked with another future management talent at CBS, Mike Ludlum. Mike and Bob hosted a morning news program called "Nothing but News" or "NBN." Later, Bob became News Director at WPAT Radio and two years later was named program director.

By 1976, an opportunity arose for Bob in the Station Relations Department at CBS Radio. He found himself talking with affiliated stations by phone and was frequently on the road visiting CBS outlets across the country. He retired from CBS in 2001.

Leeder also traveled overseas as a consultant to owners of radio stations in Bosnia-Herzogovena, educating them on the finer points of the industry. Seven or eight years ago he decided to leave the New York area and moved with his wife Esther to Melbourne.



YOU CAN CALL CBS TV A LOT OF THINGS!
but as far as its parent corporation is concerned it's not CBS



Read HERE



Phil at a "CBS Board" reunion in Teaneck, NJ

PHIL CECCHINI

Retired CBS audio technician Phil Cecchini died on December 20, 2021, of colon cancer at the age of 84. One of our best friends and a great tech, Phil wrote a wonderful story for the WCBS Appreciation Site about his early days on strike at CBS -- and observed that headquarters at Black Rock sported different colored ashtrays for every floor. Read: HERE



SUPER SUMMERALL
Time Magazine
click to enlarge
Football great Pat Summerall was the WCBS morning man just prior to all-news, after which he was the station's sports director. This ad was published in Time Magazine's New York City regional issue on April 7, 1967. (Thanks to John Landers for finding this.)


THE BARNES DANCE
Henry A. Barnes was one of the most colorful bureaucrats in New York City history. As Traffic Commissioner under two mayors in the 1960s he shook things up with innovative, often controversial schemes aimed at alleviating the city's over-crowded streets, such as "The Barnes Dance." This ill-fated effort allowed pedestrians on all four quarters of intersections to cross at the same time. When Barnes died in September 1968, WCBS Political Reporter Steve Flanders was on the air with an in-depth obit. Listen: HERE
With appreciation to Mike McCann of WFAN/CBS Sports Radio for digging up this gem.


DAVID HOLMLUND Dec. 7, 1937-Oct. 2, 2021

Long-time news producer/writer Dave Holmlund, a mainstay at WCBS for 35 years, died in New Jersey of complications from Parkinson's disease. Before joining CBS Dave was news director and anchor at WRAN-AM in Dover, New Jersey. He earned a masters in Radio-TV from Syracuse University. The undated photo above shows Dave in a festive WCBS newsroom surrounded by early computers. His full obituary can be read: HERE

TRIBUTES TO DAVE

Ken Evseroff one of the classiest guys ever!!
Rich Lamb Dave was always the calm, experienced voice in the midst of a big news event. He was a class act, seasoned by experience, and equipped with an extraordinarily fine judgement what the WCBS newsroom should be doing, or not doing next. He was kind, humble, gentle, and a favorite of any colleague privileged to work with him. Please rest in piece friend.
Peter Cane RIP Dave - a calm and unflappable presence on the desk and just a nice guy.
Tom Kaminski Honored to work with him, one of the smartest, steadiest producers to ever sit behind that desk on the 16th floor.
Tim Scheld Wow. So sorry to hear this news. Dave was a solid newsman whose calm demeanor was an example for the entire crew. He was a total pro and terrific human being. Our thoughts to his family and friends
Mayer Fertig So sorry to hear this. Dave was a wonderfully nice person to work with. Condolences to his family.
Lisa Fantino So sorry to hear this. I LOVED working wknds with Dave. He was always calm in the worst storms. And I think he'd get a good laugh that there's a paper bra hanging over his head in the newsroom. How things have changed, eh guys!
Michael Kahn Dave was there on my first day. Pat Parson, who I'd grown up listening to, was doing 10a-2p, and I brought in the noon showÑwhich he immediately tossed in the trash. I must have had some stunned look on my face returning to the newsroom, but Dave told me not to worry, that Pat did that to everyone, and to forget about it. That was 1989 and I never forgot Dave's kindness to the new guy. May his memory be a blessing.
Paul Farry I am so sorry to hear this. Dave was such a pro and a great teacher for this young DA turned news writer.
Bill Schweizer Sorry to hear this! Dave was a solid journalist/writer. He was also a true gentleman. He was certainly an all-time star at WCBS!
John Leisher I'm sad to learn that another person from my WCBS family has passed. I always liked working with Dave. To do a good job on the air, an anchor needs to believe in and trust his producer. I always knew that Dave had my back and our relationship was one I will treasure until we are reunited. In the meantime, Dave Rest In Peace and may God bless your family.
Fred Fishkin Dave was such a wonderful colleague. A great person and great professional. I am so sorry to hear it.
Steven Reed What a wonderful life well lived ! Condolences to Dave's family and our WCBS family. Dave was a steady guiding light in the newsroom and a gentle soul. He also had a cool sense of humor. I'll never forget Dave on the desk when famed atheist existentialist Jean Paul Sartre died. After reading the wire service copy, Dave looked up and said with a matter of fact inflection, "well, now he knows."" Rest in Heavenly Peace Dave.
Todd Glickman Dave was so kind to me on my first weekend at WCBS in 1979 and our friendship continued on, even after he retired. A true professional and a very kind man. May his memory be for an eternal blessing.
Barry G Siegfried I am so sad to learn of Dave's passing. One of the many things that occurred during the winter holidays year after year like clockwork for the longest time was that we would receive a greeting card from Dave & Mary. He was a fiercely loyal WCBS employee for 35 years and an absolute joy to work with as a writer and producer. If I remember correctly, Dave started working at WCBS the same year that I did, in 1975 shortly after I started. I remember working with Dave for the first time in "tape ops". Not only did we know some of the same people who had worked at WRAN, but I found him to be kind, analytical, talented and trustworthy. We immediately became friends and our friendship lasted for the entire 35 years he worked at WCBS. I have missed Dave's presence in the newsroom since the day he retired in 2010, which was just prior to WCBS's move from the CBS Broadcast Center to Hudson Street. May he Rest In Peace and my sincerest condolences to Mary and the rest of his family.
Gary Maurer this is awful news. what a a sweet man & a joy to work with. my thoughts are with dave's family.
Wayne Cabot Another of the many greats who made us all better journalists through his steady hand and solid judgment. Plus, a super sweet guy.
Matthew Schwartz Dave was so kind to me when I was right out of college in 1976 and working at WCBS as a lowly desk assistant. RIP.
Lon Braithwaite My condolences, Don. I remember Dave.
Peter Haskell So sorry to hear. Dave was a gentleman.




NAME CHANGE FOR WCBS OWNER
listen HERE


RICH LAMB
RETIRES AFTER 43 YEARS AT 880

Legendary WCBS Newsradio 880 reporter Rich Lamb retired on February 26, 2021, after 50 years in the radio news business, 43 years with WCBS. Lamb started his broadcasting career in Michigan in 1970, working as an anchor and reporter at WEXL in Royal Oak, WNIC in Dearborn, and at WOMC in Detroit. In 1974, he landed at New York City's WXLO, and in December 1977, he was hired by WCBS News and Program Director Lou Adler. The rest is (almost) history.

Rich Lamb was one of the best street reporters ever in NYC. I was so lucky to manage 88 with the best on air staff in the tristate. Rich set the standard by which all reporters should emulate He will be missed. --Robert Hyland, former vice-president, general manager, WCBS, 1979-80

__________ __________

CBS MOBILE UNIT, 1948
Images are from the 1948 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia on June 24. the vehicle was custom built on a truck chassis, an International Harvest Metro stepvan -- they were the most popular delivery vans in the country from their introduction in 1937 to their re-styling in 1963 -- allowing as many as four reporters and an engineer to work simultaneously. The bubble on top of the truck, just behind the cab, opens and allows two people to stand up and look out in all directions. Was it only used for the convention and the air races, then mothballed? By the 1952 conventions, it would have been easier to simply piggy-back the radio tech on the much larger TV trucks that were essential. And, of course, the big question -- what happened to it? Does it still exist? --Mike Hagerty, Sacremento
click to enlarge


ED INGLES 1932-2020

When legendary sportscaster Ed Ingles died at the age of 87 on March 6, 2020, he left behind a legion of friends and admirers. Ed's career as sports director at WCBS spanned twenty-four years.


  • In 1970, about a year after he began at WCBS, Ed was interviewed by Dick Pyatt on the municipal station WNYC: Listen HERE
  • WCBS anchor Wayne Cabot caught up with Ed, who was professional-in-residence at Hofstra University radio station WRHU in 2010: Listen HERE


  • GORDON BARNES 1931-2019

    Meterologist Fredrick Gordon Barnes died on December 17, 2019, in Texas. He was 87. Gordon was WCBS Newsradio 88's first weathercaster. He went on to work with Walter Cronkite and was part of the CBS Apollo Mission television team before becoming a fixture at WUSA-TV in Washington.



    Here is audio from the WCBS Appreciation Site of Gordon's first Newsradio 88 broadcast in the 5:00 am hour with anchorman Steve Porter on August 28, 1967, the very first hour of the all-news operation, which was actually heard on WCBS-FM because a plane crash had destroyed the AM transmitter tower. Listen HERE


    BLACK ROCK AND BRADLEY
    EARLY DAYS AT WCBS WITH ED BRADLEY

    An Irreverent Account by Don Swaim

    click HERE to read


    PETER BIANCO 1941-2020

    Sadly, a fixture in the WCBS newsroom for nearly forty years before his retirement in 2010 died at the age of 78 on February 13, 2020, on Long Island. PETER BIANCO was a newswriter at WCBS as well as the station's WGA shop steward. Pete launched his broadcast career as a page at ABC in the spring of 1964. He was newswriter at WPAT, Paterson, and at ABC Radio before joining Newsradio 88.


    JERRY LEVIN

    Jerry, a former WCBS producer, died in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 6, 2020, of what appeared to be a brain abscess coupled with kidney failure. Jerry was one of the first producers when WCBS went all-news. Subsequently, he worked as news director at stations in Birmingham and Houston before becoming Beriut, Lebanon, bureau chief for CNN, a period when he was kidnapped by Hezbollah gunmen and held captive for eleven months before escaping. The experience led to a film starring David Dukes as Jerry and Marlo Thomas as his wife Sis.

    Jeremy Isadore Levin was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 20, 1932. In 2009 he and Sis were recognized by the Dali Lama as "Unsung Heroes of Compassion."

    The posting about Jerry below is from an earlier entry on this site.

    FORMER NEWSRADIO 88 PRODUCER JERRY LEVIN FINDS SOLACE IN OPERA AND FAITH


    Jerry Levin


    Opera News Sep. 1985
    click to read


    click to access

    Fidelio is Beethoven's only opera, the story of a faithful wife who rescues her husband from a political prison. "Fidelio is my story," said Jerry Levin, ex-WCBS, in 1985 shortly after his miraculous escape from Muslim extremist hostage-takers in Lebanon. Almost an opera story, Jerry's wife, Sis, crisscrossed the Mideast seeking her husband's release. The drama was made into a TV movie, Held Hostage, with Marlo Thomas as Sis and David Dukes as Jerry.

    Jerry says he treasures an article about him in the September 1985 issue of Opera News titled "To Freedom," in which Jerry compares Sis to Beethoven's Leonore and himself to Florestan.

    After graduating from Northwestern, Jerry joined WCBS as a producer in 1967, where his hyperkinetic newsroom style involved wielding a ruler like a riding crop.

    Following stints in Birmingham and Houston, he went to CNN, where he became chief of the cable channel's Beirut Bureau, leading to his capture by Hezbollah gunmen.

    In captivity and in isolation for eleven months, Jerry played opera games in his mind while experiencing a spiritual reawakening.

    Sis Levin's book, Beirut Diary, describes Jerry's captivity and her efforts to gain his freedom.

    Currently, Jerry lives in Birmingham, Alabama, where he and his wife are involved in educational efforts to achieve peace through non-violence. And Jerry has not lost his love for opera. (DS)




    The "CBS Board," an informal coalition of broadcasters from all the networks, various radio and TV stations, plus print and PR, gathered on Saturday, November 2, 2019, in Teaneck, NJ. Renowned media figures crammed into the restaurant, where veteran CBS News, Radio, editor Larry McCoy regaled the gathering with anecdotes about the editing process.



  • More Photos from Nov. 2, 2019, luncheon, HERE
  • Latest copy of the CBS Board's newsletter, The New York Crimes, HERE
  • Photos from all recent luncheons HERE

  • ___________________________________


    Long suppressed by sinister forces at CBS and its accomplices within the federal government, this tell-all chronicle is posted in full on the Internet for the first time as a pdf file. Previously available only in a limited-print edition, it may now be read by all, despite the threat of physical violence and legal action by CBS.

    TO READ CLICK HERE



    original call letters

    more than you need to know about

    WCBS
    ON THE AIR!
    History & Times
    of a Legendary Radio Station


    HERE







    courtesy Bob VanDerheyden




    Part memoir, part history, this is the incredible
    story of Newsradio 88's helicopter fleet and its pilots

    THE DAYS OF WILBUR & ORVILLE
    1960s-era photo of the WCBS traffic helicopter fleet, flown by Bob Richardson and a rotating crew of pilots (who called themselves on the air Wilbur and Orville). Before All-News began in 1967. Read Rita Sands' illuminating history of the Newsradio88 traffic choppers and its pilots: HERE.
    Photo courtesy of John Landers.


    RITA SANDS' SCRAPBOOK(S)

    Former WCBS anchor Rita Sands gives us dozens of candid, behind the scenes Newsradio88 snapshots from her own collection dating back to the 70s and 80s. They're presented here in slideshow form:




    WCBS
    MEMENTO GALLERY

    A collection of WCBS souvenirs, program schedules, artifacts, pictures, posters, old ads, memorabilia, hats, clothes, kitsch, and just plain junk.

    HERE



    Mitch Lebe, budding announcer
    Joke! Joke!


    AN EIGHTH GRADER'S INTERVIEW WITH
    JIM DONNELLY, 1973

    by Larry B. Kling


    Donnelly

    I unearthed clips from an interview I did as a middle school student with [the late WCBS anchor] Jim Donnelly at Black Rock ca. 1973. You can hear the wonderful clatter of typewriters as he speaks to me in the old "88" newsroom.

    The original recording was made on a Sony that was kin to the device WCBS's field reporters were using at the time.

    I did the interview for a school report on the news media. Donnelly and I covered the waterfront, including discussing the story he found the toughest to put on the air (RFK's assassination, when Donnelly was still at WNEW-AM, where my grandfather, Dave Sohmer, worked as an engineer), the quest for objectivity amidst the rise of advocacy journalism (a trend he said bothered him a great deal), and radio's role as a source of news (and the high bar set by the WCBS news team to report with immediacy and accuracy).

    I am struck today, as I was as a boy, by Donnelly's unshakable integrity. These clips convey why he is truly one of the great standard bearers of modern broadcast journalism.

    Larry B. Kling, Highland Park, N.J., WCBS Newsradio listener since 1967

  • LISTEN

  • MERVIN BLOCK WINS
    NEW YORK PRESS CLUB AWARD


    Block (left) receives the 2017 NYPC 2017 President's Award from Steve Scott

    Block was cited for writing "the book on news writing." Such books of his as Writing Broadcast News have become staples in the industry. Merv has been a staff writer at WCBS, at CBS News where he wrote for Walter Cronkite, as well as stints at NBC and ABC.

    WCBS RADIO's RODRIGUEZ NOW
    CBS NEWS RADIO MORNING DRIVE ANCHOR


    photo by Steve Scott
    Deborah Rodriguez anchored midday and afternoons for Newsradio 880, joining the station in 1992. She was also news director of WCBS-FM from 2008-2014. Rodriguez's hourly newscasts can be heard on CBS News Radio affiliates Mon-Fri starting at 5am. Her broadcast career includes positions at Mix 105, WNSR, WGBB and WHVM. Congrats, Debbie.
    WCBS-FM PAGE
    Dedicated to Newsradio 88's younger,
    musical sibling Go HERE

    BOOK BEAT

    Famed author Norman Mailer appears on Ohio University's "Wired for Books," 1991, one of more than 700 unedited Don Swaim interviews with the greatest writers of the 70s, 80s 90s, and preserved by Ohio University, which organized and posted the archive on the Internet. In addition, all of the broadcast's actual two-minute features, some 3,000 of them, are available as mp3 files at Book Beat: The Podcast. The archive narrowly escaped extinction, but, thanks to Ohio University and Wired for Books, is reaching fans and scholars in a way the original broadcasts could not do.

    Cited by PC Magazine's "Best of the Internet" in November 2007.


    click image to hear Mailer interview


    __________ __________

    THROUGH THESE PORTALS...

    Original Newsradio88 studios at 51 W. 52nd St.


    Black Rock, 51. W. 52nd St.


    A designated NYC landmark


    click on links below to open

  • CBS Radio at 80
    American Heritage.com
  • WCBS Radio's EKKO
    Radio Verification Stamps
  • 1980s News88 TV Spot
    Quicktime Video
  • Rita Sands
    Photo Album One
  • WCBS "Art" Gallery
    memorabilia
  • Behind Every Great Building...
    The CBS Ediface

  • WCBS's Dave Atherton reads Poe

  • Memories of WCBS
    Personal Recollections


















  • CBS LOGOS




    Pre-1967 WCBS logo
























































  • site edited by Don Swaim
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    Special thanks to John Landers, Bob Gibson for their contributions
    _______________________________

    VISIT SOME OF DON'S OTHER SITES

    WCBS Appreciation Site   Book Beat: The Podcast   Wired for Books   Radio Days   Aspinwall HS Class of 55   Ambrose Bierce Site   Bucks County Writers Workshop   Errata   Steinbeck in Bucks Co   Pennsylvania Sunsets   Growing Up in WW 2   Don's Houses: Where I've Been   Fighting the Hun in WW I   Official Stuart Cummings Ripley Site   Swaim Name in History   The Swaim in America