Parts I recorded of the WCBS 880 special: Honoring the historic station

pretty good just busy on 440 as you're getting up into the area right around Victory Boulevard I'm tom o handland in the WCBS traffic center well here's the weather forecast on the WCBS party at 70 in Manhattan we're heading for a high of 77 it's clear tonight low of 63 in the city 50s in most of the BS and tomorrow the high temperature around near 80° we're saying goodbye to WCBS News Radio 880 a radio station that traces its roots to 100 years ago 1924 you believe it it's remarkable and what is remarkable is our history as a news radio station I want to talk to Tim sheld who was a reporter here and then moved into the management team he was always a comforting presence to know that a guy who had been on the street as a reporter also was in the management office and I'm wondering if your experience as a reporter as an employee of WCBS shaped what you did in that office you knew it was like to do the job totally because this is a very very hard job to do uh being on the air uh giving up your family uh being you know called and and having to come in at the worst moments of your life and and and talk to a whole Community to help them through floods fires pandemics that kind of thing so you you needed to lead with a little Humanity because you needed to bring people in from their families I mean think of Sandy we many of us who were in this room slept in the floor and the middle of the night when the storm was raging Michael Wallace was at the microphone Alex Silverman was at the battery and I was in this room with uh you know we were the ones that were up uh all night long during the storm and so my work as a reporter made me think that I better treat the people who worked in The Newsroom with as much Humanity as I could because um you know they really are you know the heart and soul of an operation and Harvey's over there uh you don't have to bring him on but but he's responsible for me being both a reporter because he brought me over with Bernie I was at w radio and Harvey was running CBS and I came over and uh was a reporter in the late 80s early '90s and then Harvey was the one who whispered in my ear and said WCBS is looking for a news director would you be interested when I was a network correspondent at ABC News and so Harvey is responsible for me arriving as a reporter and me arriving as a as a manager to this place and you're also responsible for me coming into this uh room as an anchor I can tell the story on the air of how I came into your office and you literally were pinching the bridge of your nose and you had your eyes closed and the first word you said was listen and I said well Tim that's the beginning of every great radio conversation what what is the line that you used to use the WCBS face remember that what C CBS face it's kind of a scrunch that's why we have the crows feet on either side of our eyes yeah that Tim had issue face you knew there was an issue when you saw that look on his face hey do you have Alex ready to go over there I yeah he's good to go he's on uh let's see kugo 881 oh hey Alex remember kugo 81 I sure do hey guys Alex Silverman um I love this story it has to do with weed oh we want to tell this story of course we're going to tell the story go ahead you tell the story Alex still works for the company just so you know that's all that's okay this is this is a fine story is legal in Most states at Syracuse University and uh I had done a story for a radio class there um about weed about smoking weed and I that that's actually how I got my first job a program director in um uh in Syracuse heard that story and decided they wanted to put me on the air but around that time I was listening and this was right this was back in the a when you could first uh start streaming stations from around the country and I was listening to WCBS at the gym at college and I heard it it was 4:20 that day I think at 4:20 p.m. and you Wayne said on the air made some reference to smoking weed on 420 and I tweeted and again this is the very beginning of Twitter we didn't really understand the implications as a college kid I can't believe Wayne citt on WCBS just uh made a 420 reference nothing happened for a week a week later Steve Scott who I think had just come back from a conference where he learned how to search Twitter um replied to my tweet and said Wayne was so excited that you noticed his 420 reference and I said oh my God Wayne citt at WCBS who I grew up listening to thinks I'm I'm a I'm a horrible Stoner you know flunky kid so I got to do something about this so I found Wayne's email address somewhere on the internet I sent you an email not thinking anything would happen not 5 minutes later I get an email back from you the nicest thing I've ever seen in wrting in the world inviting me to the radio station uh you know telling me listen to my work uh as a young reporter in radio in Syracuse and the next thing I knew I was in Tim's office and Tim was hiring me to be a reporter and anchor at WCBS a couple of years later uh and so I have both of you and and uh and 420 to thank well I think your emotions ran the gamut with me because soon you became a manager who at times became furious at me I don't think I was ever Furious there was the whole Rush limbo incident remember that oh yeah yeah okay oh yeah a rush limbo called us out on something and I addressed it on the air and and then he talked about it right and he talked about it again and he was shocked that you were such a nice guy something like that something like but but let me say that Alex was one of the best reporters we ever had and this is in a room filled with some of the best reporters Steve Burns is here Shawn is sitting next to me um Debbie's here Debbie was a reporter early on we worked together at WR but Alex was one of the best reporters we had in my time at at this radio station and one of the best anchors and to lose him as a reporter and an anchor to become a manager was was really hard for for the organization but it was better for Alex I think and and um look he's in a terrific place now but he has a real place in history for the radio station well it's incredible to hear you say that Tim and I I have you to thank for it and I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person today and you were talking about Sandy earlier and whenever I think about my time reporting at w CBS it comes to mind because it was definitely the the biggest most kind of impact broadly impactful thing that I covered and I was thinking this week about a moment when I was out there in lower Manhattan covering Sandy and I was you know it was dark it was flooded I was looking up at the New York Stock Exchange and the lights were out and I kind of blurted out this line um and it struck me as bizarre at the time um but I said I've never felt more alone in New York City and you know what I realized a couple of days after that uh when I started getting messages from all over the region and actually all over the country from people who had hurt us that night uh you know from their dinner tables and from their cars and their houses with no power and they said you kept us company the most important thing that you did was you reassured us uh and it kind of hit me in that moment that I was not alone and that was the whole point the entire point of what we're doing here when we are talking when we when people are hearing us they are hearing themselves and they are not alone and and you've asked a lot of people this week what you think the legacy of the radio station is for me that's it it's that people were not alone we were a companion we gave them hope and you know we believed we'd always be there always the reporter Alex and you put it so well there we did your your remarks are I mean the the room has finally Fallen silent Harvey what do you what do you think what he had to say and I think that uh that the people at the radio station don't realize the impact that they have particularly at moments of Crisis because there are literally hundreds of thousands of people who turned to the radio station and you can see that in the outpouring and the response from people who have talked about the demise of the radio station and how important it was to them and what it means to them and how important it was as they went about their daily lives and the jobs that you guys do day in and and day out is unheralded and it's going to be a huge loss to the tri state area Harvey nler Tim sheld Chris Quimby our present managers we have about 30 managers out there and no one has yet come in here to yell at us for blowing the format up uh we didn't get to traffic and weather together on the eights this time uh we will not be doing it after Monday but you know what we're going to do just this one time one more time one more time set your time to WCBS news 88 four tones will follow the fourth and final tone marks the exact [Music] time this is CBS news on the hour sponsored by Progressive Insurance I'm Steve cayan democratic convention delegates are set to give the presidential ticket what's likely to be a rousing sendoff tonight cbs's Matt Piper is WCBS 880 News the people Monday in the morning at news radio 88 WCBS Fridays and WCBS news radio 88 mobile unit number one the moment reie is in his third home run of the game an unidentified man who is apparently walking on a tight rope between the towers of the World Trade Center the events that shaped our lives all I can tell you is there were severe electrical storms to the north just prior to the blackout here stri schite enough already the anxiety is setting in about how I'm going to get home and I haven't gotten to work yet here's Wayne citt Palmer name and Bridget Quinn it's a rare thing to have a New York politician who actually understands how the radio works and what it's like to be on the radio and the challenges of radio but we were lucky to have that with the former Governor of New York David Patterson on the line Governor Patterson wow it's great to have you back on the radio again again it's been a little while and I just remember having spoken with you about what a connection this particular radio station has to you I love that story thanks for coming on with us it means the world well it's uh as I was growing up in Long Island and um you know I couldn't read the newspaper because I'm legally blind and um uh the television had not embraced the news the way it has today uh this was really my uh the first when w started in 1955 but then on news radio 88 in 1967 which I like more because first of all I'd like to hear the news without hearing a teletype behind it and secondly because I just thought that the coverage was more extensive and uh I remember in 1968 and I believe the newsman was Palmer King he delivered the message that Martin Luther King had been murdered in uh in Tennessee and just you know big moments where my first understanding of it came from listening to this station I'm really sorry that this is going away yeah we are too and uh I I know how meaningful it was to all of us when you became governor of New York and suddenly we had the inside track that was nice how you doing by the way how you doing station we we we think about you a lot we really do and we we rever our listeners and there are so many over the years and you probably had the most success of any of them and I hear you on the radio still I'm not going to talk too much about that but I hear you on the radio still you got your opinions it's an interesting time in American history and it's getting more and more difficult isn't it for in this news environment to get real information out it really is and I think that was what the standard of when um all news stations first came on was not only to report the news but to report it accurately and not to jump to conclusion sometimes as you see in the print media and that's why I so appreciated listening to the uh the station I remember the first day prior to uh station coming on they had a psychiatrist whose name was Dr Rose friend BL and she used to do pieces on uh Ada so then they Incorporated her into the whole news uh uh channel news station uh but that didn't last too long and uh they had another um daily um feature called spectrum and it would come on nine times and different uh reporters and uh people of note would comment and talk about things going on in society so there was really a tremendous amount of creativity at the station that that I always appreciated I thought WCBS sounded important but you raised a an important Point too Governor that um it was really a cast of thousands here you could turn on this radio station and maybe that's what made it sound important that there were so many people involved in putting it together oh absolutely and you know Irene Cornell and um you know some of the other uh news people and that they would go right in the big of the party now I remember one time with youth Paul when they had this event called the million youth March and they flew a helicopter over it and it upset the crowd and they all started running for cover and as I'm running for cover I I saw you and we did an interview you while we were both leaning the scene I I remember that Governor I remember that Governor David patteron you remember the name Bill fan don't you yes of course a main stay on WCBS and I'd like to Governor thank you for coming on with us and I'm going to gift you and all of us with that marvelous Voice once again we heard from his daughter Robin just yesterday and she said I hope I'll be hearing my dad's voice well here's a classic Bill F on WCBS and way do you hear how quick the helicopter traffic reporter is L timot when Bill makes a rare Gaff here we go US Navy has just announced that it has suspended dumping of obsolete musici Munitions in the oceans until all alternative methods of disposal have been studied and I just got myself in deep trouble with the Musicians Union here's L timot I thought from there we had heard last of hogi car Michel but I was glad we're just losing some Munitions as they say that's a keeper that one oh I love that hogi carmichel reference on WCBS at 1208 here's Tom oin with the traffic story Tom you know that brings back a fun memory when I was in college a friend got me a ride in the WCBS traffic helicopter with Lou and we flew around the Empire State Building antenna among other things we even buzzed forom when I was a forom student well checking out what's going on in Westchester are stacked up on 287 on the westbound side from the sprain Parkway to the at the anchor desk Jim dling and Robert Baugh what I report on I'm Craig Allen and still reporting on it right now in the WCBS weather center hello Craig Allen this is the weather center right here right now and you are wherever I am and here's the interesting thing it's um 88 Dees right now and we are plus or minus 5° of that so in honor of Harvey nagler that is the weather guarantee for today we're going for a high of 88 that means that if I get that I mean really five degrees either side thank you so much for that Harvey I mean he he's over there in the Corner's like yeah I remember that it was great you know what it worked we had a bin the H bin of postcards we got a massive bin of postcards people were all into that contest you better believe it and you know what we spoke about earlier this morning and I'll do it later uh uh we didn't we never had a jingle for weather correct great are you going to sing one no absolutely not but what I'm going to do is I'm going to say that today is going to be sunny it'll be up there in the 70s despite the weather guarantee um we don't have $1,000 to give out right now anyway so it doesn't matter entire radio industry doesn't have [Laughter] $1,000 as for tomorrow look for another delightful day coming up and each day is going to get warmer as we get on into the upcoming weekend Craig Allen WCBS weather center one of my best friends in the whole world is on with us right now on the telephone I understand from uh I guess it's Santa Fe New Mexico is that where you are now Mikey uh Rio Rancho down the road from Santa Fe this is Michael Khan who was not on the air at WCBS but was probably the heart and soul of this radio station in my opinion for a good long time in the 1980s and 1990s who knows where the bodies are buried uh and has seen people come and go including himself as a matter of fact hey Michael I got to say you you are one of my best friends in the whole world and I wanted you to come on and tell the story because we just mentioned excuse me just mentioned Bill Fain a minute ago who we worked with and uh you have a great story about coming in from Rockland County for your early morning writing shift well Bill of course had the voice of God and uh one morning back I guess it was in the early 99s something had happened and WCBS was airing emergency broadcast system activations there were always tests but for some reason we started running activations which of course nobody who grew up in New York had ever heard this anyway it's about A4 to 5 one morning I'm in my apartment in White Plains getting ready to walk to the train station I put on WCBS on my Walkman and the first thing I hear out of out of the headphones is Bill F announcing this is not a test I repeat this is not a test followed by that tone and I thought for sure this was the end of the world or the Russians were marching down the throughway or whatever it was and it turned out of course it you know it was raining on Long Island or something but you know it was it was classic Bill fan in fact in 2007 the D news did a uh a little survey of readers about you know their all-time favorite DJ lineups and I wrote into David inkley and I submitted you know instead of you know Dan Ingram or Ron Lundy I said you know how about Patt and Ben and L and Jim and you know some of the classics on WCBS and and I was quoted in that article as saying that when the end of the world comes I want to hear it on WCBS from Bill F he had that voice of God yeah hey Michael before you run the legacy of WCBS you're a word Smith you wrote for the Associated Press for CBS uh CBS network tell us about that UPI and and probably a few other places that still owe you money uh tell us about the legacy of WCBS well I do I hope to collect that AP pension one day uh you know the legacy of WCBS I've heard a lot this morning about the great voices you know John wyra Harvey hman Bob Glenn so many people uh a lot of people behind the scenes who of course are not mentioned uh I would just like to quickly mention my late friend dick Spencer who was a great influence to me when I worked at 88 uh taught me how to run a news desk uh beyond that I mean the legacy is is just incredible this the station itself it's the station where you you talk about the end of the world Orson Wells broadcast the war of the world on WCBS uh the the it was the station my dad always had on in the car in the office in the house I it was where I wanted to work as a kid I you know you and I Wayne we were the kids who who listened to Pat and Ben instead of Dan Ingram in the afternoon uh this station the way this station will be missed cannot be understated you know you mentioned dick Spencer the morning producer here at WCBS who had a wonderful test that he would run in his mind to see if a story was relevant interesting and he would talk about Mrs this is what Mrs Spencer wanted to hear and I was you know we decided we were going to cover more lifestyle stories and it was a slow news morning and I was sent to cover I kid you not they were going to have a bunch of brides and bridal gowns and they had a huge wedding cake in the middle of Time Square and the brides were going to jump in and there was a prize somewhere in the cake and if they won the prize they won the prize but there was going to be this big wrestling match in a cake in the middle of morning drive so got there do it the 6 I do the 6: a.m. report 7:00 a.m. 7: a.m. it's going to happen this event like 9:00 or something so finally it happens in the meantime I had discovered that it wasn't just a real cake it was actually largely Crisco so this thing now is turning into a greased wrestling match wrestling match in the middle of Time Square at 9:00 in the morning they blow the whistle the brides jump in my phone rings and it's dick Spencer and he says Mrs Spencer wants to know how the greasy wrestling match is going he had that that was that was his way that was his way he was a wonderful morning producer and I think the Mrs Spencer test was the thing that really worked don't you yes absolutely there there's no question dick understood uh about you know talking to the audience not at the audience he was he was really very good at that excellent I'm so glad we mentioned him because there are so many names that we want to make sure that we mention as WCBS goes away and Michael I'm so glad that we mentioned your name and we want to thank all the writers in the producers and the wonderful the the force of The Writers Guild at WCBS and thank you all for your work well it was it was it was a pleasure it was it was a thrill of my life and uh boys I just wanted can I do one thing before I go sure can I give the legal ID cuz I'll NE I never did it and I'll never get the chance again go right ahead WCBS New York well done Michael you're hired for the next uh day and a half uh hey you mentioned Bob Glenn your ID was a whole hell of a lot better than his ID you ready for this 13 minutes before 7:00 on WCBS news radio 88 your station 4 news and information in New York New Jersey and Kentucky I'm Michael's story about the Russians coming down the throughway they would have been easier to take Kentucky if they taken the throughway and got to the tapen Z they would have said forget it they can keep it Top Hand any sign of Russians on the thway let's see gosh I hope not n no sign looks like we're clear so far but we'll keep an eyee on it well that thway is doing okay we're looking at the Rockland County side of the tapen SE bridge and you're good now it's been a real workout trying to get to Rockin by way of the tapen not the bridge itself so much now but they cleaned up that car fire from earlier and had to do some work so that means the westbound side of 287 we're still packed pretty tight from the sprain on over in Connecticut going up 95 not bad at all stop and go in the southbound side in Norwalk and the merits pretty slow in new Canan Long Island the lie in the Northern State busy into queens now the Cross Island Parkway still has stop and go the radio weather experience here on WCBS and we are gifted to have Todd here right now giving us an actual forecast or are you stealing it from aie weather I'm stealing whatever Craig had in front of him 10 minutes ago but it turns out that Craig and I together have 88 years on WCBS and that is the actual number we are blessed so how about this blessed with the weather bright Sunshine some clouds today nah 77 now let's make it near 88 it's close enough clear and comfortable tonight really nice overnight 63 in town 50s in the suburbs another beautiful day tomorrow scouted clouds temperatures near 80 Sunday warm a little bit more humid temperatures will be in the mid 80s and Monday it's going to be nice as well but you won't be able to hear it here on WCBS and we will miss you dearly I hope they do the weather I hope they mention it once in a while but you know what it's up to them it's their station right yeah it's great to have you you know we have such a legendary list of meteorologists and you are probably you and Craig are the brightest stars because you're the names that have come up all the time well thank you guys and I I just want to add to what Michael KH said the thing that I remember most about coming into this radio station whether it was in person or on the phone or down the line no matter who is on the air or who is off the air behind the scenes it was the same because we were one WCBS family it was consistent it was the best and that's what I'll remember most about WCBS thank you Tom Amen to that hey you know what I got over here speaking of WEA people you want to hear a little Gordon Barnes and Jerry nackman from 1975 sure probably doing what everyone would expect WCBS to do they're in the middle of a blizzard and they're talking about it expect for the rest of today Cloudy Skies Gusty winds out of the Northeast and snow which will be moderate at times total accumulations of 3 to 5 in however there's a pretty good chance in some areas that those amounts will be higher than the 3 to 5 and temperatures will be holding steady and in the 20s uh currently the airports are reporting moderate snow and of course whether or not that's affecting travel ask Jerry about that in just a moment but um uh the center of the storm now seems to be right around Nori Virginia and it's still trying to get organized so this mon to heavy snow that we are currently experiencing can be around for another few hours and then taping off to a light snow by mid or late afternoon and then taping off the Flores later on tonight uh Jerry nackman have you got any reports from the airports uh earlier this morning Gordon they were saying that they were below visible minimums and I expect by this time we're starting to have delays on takeoffs and landings as soon as we know that for certain ah here's something all Eastern airlin shuttle flights to and from Washington and Boston have been cancelled through 1:00 so if you planned on shuttling Via Eastern to Washington and Boston and between now and 1:00 you're not going to be able to do it isn't that radio that's WCBS radio something happened instantly and it was on the air that fast no Eastern Airlines can you imagine anyway jerman there with Gordon Barnes WCBS 1975 well we're on a weather Jag here I want to bring in Dr whoops just playing Bob Harris in the WCBS weather center you recall the controversy right he was on the air meteorologist Dr Bob Harris he wasn't a meteorologist or a doctor I don't even think his name was Bob to tell you the truth but uh he was phenomenal he was so so good and so so smart uh I still recall the daily news headline when he was outed as not having that degree in geophysics at columia University and the Daily News Headlines said forecasters lack of degrees raises temperatures anyway here's Bob Harris on WCBS with J Donald between 59 and 64 and Friday hazy sunshine a bit of Indian summer again temperatures in the upper 60s on Friday right now clear 53° at WCBS okay time to call the airline so they can put me on hold maybe play me a little fol hey what am I going to do with all the time they're saving me I mean this is New York I'm not supposed to have all this time you don't it's a minute to 7:00 it always seem to but you don't know what you it's gone amen Johnny right through words never spoken everything is an is an is an exit Anthem musically you know and that's what we've been going through since we got the news about our station I just want to really thank cuz it's going to take us both Paul and everybody out there in The Newsroom uh days and days to respond to the literally thousands of emails and even letters those snail mail letters and phone calls in The Newsroom the phone I'm not joking yesterday I was out there because I did the um the modern day equivalent of getting a huge cardboard box to get my stuff and the modern day equivalent is a flash drive and I'm taking all these files and I heard this noise and it was the phone ringing and nobody was picking up I looked behind me and the entire Newsroom was empty cuz there was a writer Guild meeting to discuss whatever they had to go through so I picked up the phone and it was somebody saying I just want to say I've been listening for 35 years how much you've meant to me and then I thanked them and hung up and then the phone rang again I just want to tell you I've been listening for 26 years how much you've meant to me and the phone hasn't stopped and I've decided my first day not being a WCBS I'm going to try and answer all of the messages that I've received just personally so I have something to do Tim sheld you were famous for returning every single email and every single phone call every complaint you dealt with and you dealt with it personally I thought your head was going to explode in there well uh if I can tell an off color story Wayne cuz you know that I don't do that it's about time we've waited years for this so angry at at a listener email that I got one year and I don't even remember what it was about and I said sat and rewrote that email Sean's looking at me cuz he knows that I used to do that I would pick up the phone The Newsroom would say there's a listener on the phone and they knew that I would like to talk to them and it wasn't a challenge it was these people cared enough to find our number and call us I was working on this complaint email response and and then I'm about to hit send and I looked at the email and it was gas passer 31 at AOL.com and I'm thinking Wayne's response is priceless Wayne Wayne's like does that mean were 30 other gas passers well a few of them might have sat in Paul's anchor here I've been hearing for years you know Google's right next door and the guys in the Gmail Department right now are saying listen we've got to get these guys out of the system can I just say one thing just because I heard you talking and I wanted to pick up um the headphones and say I I don't know if you heard the show that uh WNYC did yesterday or the day before did you hear that no we've been busy WNYC did a half hour segment on the Lo of WCBS and Jerry barmash who is a friend of all of ours in the media uh and is a talented broadcaster and now an author who has written about TV anchors and has a terrific book out there Jerry came in the studio and did um a half hour show with Allison Stewart I apologize if I got her name wrong they did it half an hour and they took calls they took calls from listeners on WNYC who's a neighbor around the corner right about the loss of WCBS in the market and the heartfelt phone calls that that were on that radio station about this radio station really stuck me I was I mean I sat and listened to it it was a half an hour and it was what Harvey was was saying that we do what we do we did what we did without thought who's listening on the other end and now we're hearing from all the people that were listening on the other end about how important we were for for what they did and that's not a self-important comment we're just hearing people say that you meant so much and your loss is going to mean so much to us well you understand that the What's significant about this is uh had we just sort of withered on the vine and ATR feed and maybe well we'll do news in the morning and then maybe do some talk in the middle of the day maybe do some sports later uh and Faded Away we would have been like a lot of other once great stations that faded instead it's being removed at a point when it's at its peak when people still love rever remember need uh use the radio station so there's something missing there's now a void and as Joanie Mitchell said You Don't Know What You Got Till It's Gone and now we know it's going to be gone we feel it I worry that future Generations are going to look at the little piece of glass in their hand and the text on the screen that onedimensional thing and think that's the news we did an interview the other day Wayne and I said the news is not a push notification it's not yes but a push notification can get you to what you want from the news and that's really the future you know what when the rain was coming down the other day I had so many because I have them from know from my various gas passer you don't know if gas passer is sending it that's the beauty of the brand is that that that when somebody sees something from a WCBS you can Bank on it when there's a plane down in the Hudson if it's Joe at Joe 33 on Twitter there's a plane down you don't you don't know that that's true but um but when you see it from WCBS you're like oh my God there's a plane down I I need the I need the human voice I need someone telling it to to me as well