KYW (AM)

KYW
City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area Delaware Valley
Branding KYW Newsradio 1060
Slogan All news. All the time.
The newswatch never stops.
Frequency 1060 kHz (also on HD Radio)
94.1 MHz WIP-FM-HD2
First air date November 11, 1921 (1921-11-11) (in Chicago, moved to Philadelphia in 1934)
Format All-news
Language(s) English
Power 50,000 watts
Class A (Clear channel)
Facility ID 25441
Transmitter coordinates 40°06′12.0″N 75°14′56.0″W / 40.103333°N 75.248889°W / 40.103333; -75.248889 (NAD27)
Callsign meaning No meaning; sequentially assigned[1]
Former callsigns WRCV (1956–1965)
Affiliations CBS News
Westwood One News
Associated Press
Bloomberg Radio
Owner CBS Radio
(CBS Radio East Inc.)
Sister stations KYW-TV, WIP-FM, WOGL, WPHT, WPSG, WZMP, WXTU
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.cbsphilly.com

KYW (1060 AM, "KYW Newsradio 1060") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by the CBS Radio subsidiary of CBS Corporation and broadcasts an all-news format. The station's studios are located in Center City Philadelphia and its transmitter and two-tower directional antenna array are located in Lafayette Hill.

KYW uses HD Radio on its AM signal 24 hours a day.[2][note 1] The station's programming is also available to listeners with an HD Radio receiver via a simulcast on the HD2 subchannel of sister station WIP-FM.

History

1922 lullaby in Chicago

Origins

KYW began in 1921 in Chicago, Illinois.[3] It was jointly owned by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and Commonwealth Edison. Westinghouse later bought out ComEd's share and became sole owner of the station. In 1927, Westinghouse aligned its four radio stations (KYW, KDKA in Pittsburgh, WBZ in Boston and WBZA in Springfield, Massachusetts) with the NBC Blue Network, which originated from former sister station WJZ (the present-day WABC) in New York City. Westinghouse had been a founding partner of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), NBC's original parent company.

Move to Philadelphia

In 1934, the assignment of clear channels took a frequency away from Illinois and gave it to Pennsylvania, resulting in Westinghouse moving KYW to Philadelphia.[4] Upon arriving, KYW supplanted WFI and WLIT (which merged as WFIL in 1935) as Philadelphia's Blue Network affiliate – an affiliation that lasted 20 years (according to the June 14, 1940 edition of the Philadelphia Daily News, KYW used the frequency of 1020 AM at the time).

In March 1941, KYW changed frequencies to 1060 AM as part of a nationwide shift of radio frequencies mandated by the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement. KYW and the other Westinghouse radio stations remained with NBC after RCA was ordered by the FCC to break up its radio networks, aligning with the former Red Network (the predecessor of modern-day NBC) in 1942. KYW acquired a television counterpart when Westinghouse bought WPTZ (channel 3) – the nation's third commercial television station and NBC's second television affiliate – in 1953.[5]

WRCV, owned by NBC

Further information: NBC Red Network, KYW-TV, WKYC and WTAM

In June 1955, Westinghouse agreed to trade KYW and WPTZ to NBC in exchange for the network's properties in Cleveland: WTAM, WTAM-FM & WNBK television. Westinghouse also received $3 million in cash compensation.[6] The main impetus for the trade was NBC's desire to acquire an owned-and-operated television station in the fourth-largest American television market. NBC had to seek a waiver for the swap since KYW and NBC Radio's New York City flagship, WRCA (now sister station WFAN) were both clear channel stations; at the time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) normally did not allow common ownership of clear-channel stations with overlapping nighttime coverage. After clearing final regulatory hurdles, the swap went into effect on January 22, 1956.[7] On February 13, NBC renamed 1060 AM as WRCV (for the RCA-Victor record label), and Westinghouse moved the KYW call letters to Cleveland.[8]

However, almost immediately after the trade was finalized, Westinghouse complained to the FCC and the United States Department of Justice about NBC's coercion and an lengthy investigation was launched.[9][10] In September 1959 the Justice Department issued a decision which, in part, forced NBC to divest WRCV AM & WRCV-TV by the end of 1962.[11] Several months later in early 1960, NBC announced it would trade the WRCV stations to RKO General in exchange for its Boston outlets, WNAC AM-FM-TV.[12] That proposed station swap would be held up for nearly four years until the FCC issued a final decision in August 1964, when the Commission renewed NBC's license for WRCV radio and television – but only on the condition that the 1956 station swap with Westinghouse be reversed.[13] RKO General contested the FCC's decision initially, but soon gave up its efforts and bowed out of the competition.[14] Following nearly a year of appeals by NBC, Westinghouse regained control of WRCV-AM-TV on June 19, 1965 and subsequently restored the KYW call letters to the radio station (the television station became KYW-TV at this point).[15] To this day, the KYW stations insist that they "moved" to Cleveland in 1956 and "returned" to Philadelphia in 1965. However, the two stations' facilities remained the same.[16]

From a programming standpoint, WRCV carried all of NBC's network programming, such as the weekend Monitor, as per its responsibilities as an NBC-owned outlet. Philadelphia radio legend Hy Lit worked briefly at WRCV during its first year, hosting a local rock-and-roll program and an adult standards show for the NBC network. Prior to the reversal of the 1956 swap, WRCV was evolving into an adult-oriented middle-of-the-road (MOR) station.

Going all-news

On September 21, 1965, shortly after Westinghouse regained control of 1060 AM, the newly rechristened KYW once again dropped its NBC radio affiliation and was converted into one of the first all-news stations in the country.[17] Newsman Steve Porter read the first newscast. It had been edited by Fred B. Walters, the former Harrisburg bureau chief and eventual Executive Editor.

Five months earlier Westinghouse Broadcasting converted WINS, KYW's New York sister station since 1962, from a Top-40 format to all-news.[18] A similar move was made three years later at another Westinghouse-owned station, KFWB in Los Angeles.[19] KYW has been one of the highest-rated radio stations in the country since that point and has been the market leader in Philadelphia for much of that time. The Westinghouse all-news trio, meanwhile, revolutionized and defined the all-news format. KYW's early format elements were shared with WINS, such as the distinctive teletype sound effect playing in the background, and the slogans "All news, All the time", "The newswatch never stops", "Listen 2, 3, 4 times a day" and "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world".

Its television sister took advantage of the radio station's popularity by incorporating a version of KYW's musical sounder into its news themes from 1991 to 2003. In addition, a television program entitled KYW Newsradio 1060 This Morning aired from 5 to 8 a.m. on sister station WPSG (channel 57) in the early 2000s, adapting KYW's "clock" to television. The show was popular among local cable programming in its daypart, and in late 2004 was usurped (due in part to a new affiliation to Traffic Pulse) by television staffers and assumed the name Wake UPNews.

Westinghouse Electric announced its purchase of CBS in 1995, and upon its completion KYW became a sister station to its long-time rival, CBS-owned WGMP (1210 AM, now WPHT). That station, under its original WCAU call letters, attempted to compete with KYW in all-news programming during the late 1970s but failed, dumping the format after only three years.

KYW is currently the easternmost station in the United States whose callsign begins with the letter K. It is also one of three such stations in Pennsylvania, the other ones being KQV and sister station KDKA, both in Pittsburgh.

The station has been using the HD Radio system created by iBiquity since September 2007 after an initial testing period. KYW programming is also simulcast on the HD2 channel of sister station WIP-FM. From 1986 to 1998, KYW used the C-QUAM AM Stereo system , but abandoned the system about the time of the CBS-Westinghouse merger and went back to standard monophonic AM.

Studio locations

The former KYW Building on Independence Mall East, used by the station from 1972 to 2007. This building has since been demolished and replaced by the National Museum of American Jewish History.

KYW's studios are currently located at 1555 Hamilton Street in Philadelphia, where they joined KYW-TV on the 6th floor in March 2014. This is referred to on-air as the "CBS Broadcast Center". The studios were previously located at 400 Market Street in Center City Philadelphia from March 2007 to March 2014 after spending the previous 35 years one half-block away at Independence Mall East, at Fifth and Market streets.

Upon arriving in Philadelphia in 1934, KYW utilized the studios and sales operations of WCAU. In 1938 and after returning to the city in 1965, KYW's (and WRCV's) studios were located at 1619 Walnut Street in Center City.

Format features

The assortment of local, national and global headlines are read at the top and bottom of each hour, with news summaries at the quarter hours immediately before the sports report. Besides the main news stories, KYW also carries a variety of other features. KYW receives news reports and sound-bites, along with continuous coverage of breaking news from ABC News Radio and NBC News Radio as well as CBS News.

Station identifications

Teletype

A noticeable "trademark" of KYW is the constant sound of Teletype machines printing in the background. This sound plays constantly during times when the news is being read by a KYW reporter at the headquarters. During other times, particularly during commercials or taped news segments, including AccuWeather forecasts, it is not heard. It is intended to allow the listener to immediately know the station that they are listening to and saves them from checking.

The Teletype sound, along with the slogans "All news, all the time", "The newswatch never stops", "Listen two, three, four times a day" and "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world", all originated at WINS. KFWB, Los Angeles and WMAQ in Chicago, Illinois also used the branding until they changed formats; WMAQ was shut down by Viacom in 2000; WMAQ became WSCR Sports talk radio.

Notable on-air staff

Notes

  1. ↑ Some AM stations use HD Radio only during daytime hours, per Barry McLarnon's AM IBOC page (see references below).

References

  1. ↑ United States Callsign Policies, United States Early Radio History.
  2. ↑ McLarnon, Barry (2016-04-18). "AM IBOC Stations on the Air". Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  3. ↑ Radio broadcast-Volume 1-Radio Has Gripped Chicago-pages 503-511
  4. ↑ "New KYW Opens December 3rd (page 4)" (PDF). The Microphone. 24 November 1934. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  5. ↑ "Westinghouse buys WPTZ (TV) for record $8.5 million." Broadcasting, February 23, 1953, pp. 27.
  6. ↑ "NBC, WBC trade properties in Cleveland, Philadelphia." Broadcasting, May 23, 1955, pp. 65-66, 68.
  7. ↑ "NBC, Westinghouse complete exchange." Broadcasting, January 30, 1956, pg. 59.
  8. ↑ "NBC, WBC outlets change calls today." Broadcasting, February 13, 1956, pp. 98.
  9. ↑ "NBC-Westinghouse swap approved; FCC stirs Justice Dept. interest." Broadcasting, January 2, 1956, pg. 58.
  10. ↑ "Justice Dept. hauls NBC into court." Broadcasting - Telecasting, December 10, 1956, pp. 27-32.
  11. ↑ "Now TV has a consent decree" and "What RCA-NBC consented to." Broadcasting, September 28, 1959, pp. 35-40.
  12. ↑ "NBC swap with RKO taking shape." Broadcasting, January 25, 1962, pg. 52.
  13. ↑ "Philadelphia circle is complete," and "Nine-year history of that trade in Philadelphia." Broadcasting, August 3, 1964, pp. 23-25.
  14. ↑ "RKO gives up on Philadelphia." Broadcasting, June 7, 1965, pp. 78-79.
  15. ↑ "The great swap takes place June 19; Westinghouse, NBC return to original properties." Broadcasting, June 14, 1965, pg. 83.
  16. ↑ KYW Newsradio Station History, which details the evolution of the station from Chicago, to Philadelphia, to Cleveland and back to Philadelphia.
  17. ↑ "WBC turning KYW into all-news plant." Broadcasting, June 21, 1965, pg. 9.
  18. ↑ "The toughest test of all-news format." Broadcasting, April 19, 1965, pg. 76.
  19. ↑ "Dry run precedes KFWB's switch to all news." Broadcasting, March 11, 1968, pg. 66.

External links

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