All-news radio was born 49 years ago today, but KRLD is much older

Profile America — The first all-news radio format in the U.S. debuted on this date in 1965, as WINS-AM in New York City switched from rock and roll to rip and read. Almost 20 years earlier, the station had notched another first by broadcasting every New York Yankees game live, both home and away. The station shut off the music — its last record was the Shangri-La’s “Out in the Streets” — and became “all news, all the time.” The format has been successfully replicated in cities around the country.

Today in the U.S., there are over 7,200 radio broadcasting establishments, employing over 124,000 people, with annual industry revenues of around $19 billion. You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy from the American Community Survey at www.census.gov.

Locally KRLD is the leading local all-news radio station, and is nearly 90 years old having launched on Halloween in 1926. Read more about the rich heritage of KRLD here. It appears the station was not all news in the beginning. 

Sources: Kane’s Famous First Facts, 6303 
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2008/11/04/wins-history-the-early-years-from-the-airwaves-of-new-york-2/
http://thedataweb.rm.census.gov/TheDataWeb_HotReport2/econsnapshot/snapshot.hrml?NAICS=51511

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau.