WCBS 880 one year later: Where are its anchors now?

Twelve months after his 18-year run at all-news WCBS/880 AM came to an abrupt end, Levon Putney is back in front of a mic. That long run no fluke, he's got a voice for radio — smooth and melodic — which must have seemed like a warm embrace to a listener who just got off a shift in the middle of the night. As 880's overnight anchor, Putney closed out one of the last live newscasts for the station, which went dark Aug. 26, 2024.

He's got a voice for podcasting, too. A year later, Putney, 51, is still out of work but "to stay fresh" self-produces a lighthearted take on the day's news called, "Reel Pod News Cast."

When the station closed, "I started putting out feelers but, hey, one less station in the area means it's that much tougher," he said recently by phone from New Jersey, where he lives. "So here I am, still talking and still trying to land somewhere."

A few other 880 veterans have fared better in a job market that's hostile to radio news reporters, no matter their skill or renown. Afternoon anchor Steve Scott joined San Francisco all-news KCBS/740 AM, while anchor Michael Wallace went to CBS News Radio. Three of the station's best-known personalities — Wayne Cabot, Paul Murnane and Brigitte Quinn — are working part time for sister station WINS/1010 AM. Tom Kaminski, who spent 36 years at the station, most of them up in the air with Chopper 880, does backup traffic for WABC/7. The luckier ones — 880 vets Marla Diamond, Mack Rosenberg and Long Island reporter Sophia Hall — ended up full time at WINS.

Otherwise, it's cold out there. Those looking for work know that, and devoted 880 listeners, too. It's hard to find a job anywhere in the media although the 880 crew had, in fact, been out of practice. Most careers there were measured in decades because the station was considered a destination rather than a steppingstone. For this reason, people like Cabot (36 years), Murnane, Kaminski and record-holder meteorologist Craig Allen (43 years) were on the frontlines of New York news this century, as well as a chunk of the last.

That's what made last year's shutdown so painful, as if something had snapped in the tristate zeitgeist. A collective howl arose from many loyal Long Island listeners — anguish born of familiarity, trust and habit, all sundered in an instant.

Separated at birth 

WCBS/880 AM (launched Aug. 28, 1967) and WINS/1010 AM (April 19, 1965) had been like almost-twins separated (almost) from birth. The latter became the brash hard-driving New Yorker, with 880 the more thoughtful sibling who decamped for the suburbs. The stronghold for 1010 was the city, while 880's strength was a Saturn-like ring binding outer counties (like Suffolk) and different sensibilities.

Nevertheless, the corporate parent, Philadelphia-based Audacy, clearly favored one over the other. There had been some thought of turning 880 into a news/talk station — talk in the morning, news during drive time — but that ended in 2022 when Audacy began simulcasting 1010 on 92.3 FM, the former home of K-Rock. The ratings for 1010 boomed, while 880's withered.

Allen — freelancing for Bloomberg Radio, the CBS Radio Network and WCBS/2 — says, "Anytime I post on any social media platform the primary response I get from anybody is 'we still miss you and the station,' and that 'WINS is not the same.' "

He adds, "We instilled a trust and comfort in the listeners that they don't seem to feel now."

In a phone interview, Cabot (now also a weekend anchor for ABC News Radio) admits, "I don't think any one of us appreciated how intimate the connection with the audience was."

One of those longtime listeners was Huntington resident Steve Vitoff, who worked in communications for Gov. Mario Cuomo, later as a public relations executive in the city. "WCBS offered a more global view of the news environment because at the top of the hour, for three or four minutes, they hooked up to the CBS radio network," he says.

In an interview, Vitoff, who also listened to 1010 while commuting (a habit for many), wistfully recalled "my two little friends — reliable daily companions, always there. God knows, I haven't turned on 880 since the minute it left." (Sports talk ESPN New York took over the frequency.)

Something lost

Of course, the life and death of media outlets is a story oft-told, particularly in the media capital of the world. (As a reminder, there were seven major dailies in New York in the 1960s.) Circa 2025, media habits have coalesced around many other options, from podcasting to TikTok. All-news radio is hardly the sexiest of them.

"The world does not need two all-news stations owned by one company in New York City in the 2020s," says Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers Magazine, a radio trade. "Arts and commerce have always walked that line, where you want to create a product that people have deep emotional attachments to but you don't want to be so obligated to that attachment that it puts you out of business. You then become a victim of history, and of your legacy and success."

All true, but something uniquely valuable was lost a year ago, say supporters — something that still worked when the lights went out in 1977 and 2003, or when Superstorm Sandy washed away homes. WCBS 880 was reliably — thoughtfully — on the front lines of every major story for 57 years. That's how lasting friendships are forged.

Tim Scheld, 880's veteran news director before leaving in 2022, says, "It's a much more complicated time we live in, for a variety of reasons, and WCBS did their best to explain the context around the news. 1010 is fantastic at what they do — quick in, quick out, good information about what's happening right now — but we're living in an age where we need more content to explain."

"We felt like what we did was important and we felt like we were part of the community. All that meant something, and to have that taken away — that's what really hurts [and] it still hurts a year later."

Putney agrees: "I wasn't too shocked given the way the industry is now, but it doesn't take away the sadness, or that people are getting fewer options to get information the way they used to. My fear is that too many of us aren't seeing that loss and that we're not going to see it until it's too late."

Cabot — who ended 880's run with an essay warning that "our news desert is getting bigger and drier" — says he hasn't changed his opinion. "We are in the age of anger-fueled clickbait and it's never a good thing to lose a trusted news source.

"But I don't hold any resentment and look back with gratitude, that I got the opportunity to work in such a magnificent place."