[BC] CBS history

[rfoxwor1 at tampabay.rr.com]

I was one of the techs hired by WCBS AM when they began the all-news
format "Newsradio 88" in 1967. We were all IBEW Local 1212. My recollection
is that the headcount went from 18 to 42 techs max. The AM studios were
on the 16th floor of BlackRock (the entire floor)and FM was the 17th floor,
I think, part of that floor. I was at WCBS from 1967 until 1982 (at "51 W 52")when I
was reassigned to Radio Network opns due to staffing reductions at AM ("local
radio") and then began working at 524 W 57th.

As a side note, the first day of Newsradio 88 was the 28th of August 1967, and my
first day of work there.  That previous afternoon, a Sunday at 4.20 pm, during
a misty rain storm, a twin engine (Navajo??) hit one of the guy wires for the
880 tower (shared with 660 WNBC), collapsing the tower. WCBS began their new
format on the WLIB aux XR running maybe a kilowatt. 660 was on another jury-rig
signal as well, from Lodi NJ (WABC) and the 660-770-880 mixture of audios on the
off-air monitor was something to behold..

> If I remember correctly, WCBS (AM) and WCBS-FM moved to Black Rock (51 West 52 - Floors 17 and 18) in the 1964 time frame.  Approximately a dozen years ago, WCBS (AM) moved to an ancillary building

>> Well, not exactly. WCBS AM and FM moved to Blackrock 24 years ago

> End of Broadcast Digest, Vol 118, Issue 37
> ******************************************