This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2012) |
High Island as viewed from nearby Orchard Beach. | |
Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Long Island Sound |
Coordinates | 40°51′34″N73°47′10″W / 40.859571°N 73.786159°W |
Archipelago | The Pelham Islands |
Area | 0.02 sq mi (0.052 km2) |
Length | 0.7 mi (1.1 km) |
Width | 0.8 mi (1.3 km) |
Administration | |
State | ![]() |
City | ![]() |
Borough | ![]() |
Demographics | |
Population | 0 (2017) |
High Island is a small, uninhabited, privately-owned island, part of the Pelham Islands in the Bronx, New York City. It lies east of the north end of City Island between City Island Harbor and Pelham Bay in Long Island Sound. It is connected to City Island by a sandbar that emerges at very low tide, as well as by a small private bridge.
Previously used as a stone quarry and then a summer resort, the island today is used to support two radio station transmitters and antennas.
High Island was once known as Shark Island due to the many sand sharks which used to swim in the nearby waters of Pelham Bay. The island is comparatively high with a shape similar to a gumdrop, thus alluding to the origin of its present-day name. [1]
Elisha King purchased the island in 1829 to quarry stones. [2] : 97 During the 1920s the Miller family operated a community of summer rental cottages catering to about 40 families. [2] : 111
In October 1960, the National Broadcasting Company purchased the island and acquired its deed, with plans to construct a radio transmission tower. CBS later purchased half of NBC's interest, creating a joint venture. [3] [4] After over two years of construction, the new tower and supporting structures housing the transmitters for WNBC (660 AM) and WCBS (880 AM) went into operation in 1963. Prior to High Island the WCBS facility was located on nearby Columbia Island in New Rochelle, New York, and the WNBC transmitter was based in Sands Point, New York. [5]
On August 27, 1967, a small private airplane crashed into the radio tower, destroying the antenna and taking WCBS and WNBC off the air, the day before WCBS's all news format launched. [6] Both stations were able to borrow nearby transmission facilities for about a week, until an emergency tower could be erected on High Island. The permanent replacement was built with a second (shorter) tower as an emergency backup.
The deed to High Island remained with NBC until 1988, when it was transferred to Emmis Communications as part of the latter company's purchase of WNBC. Emmis owned WFAN, an existing station which moved to WNBC's frequency in October 1988. WFAN was sold by Emmis in 1992 to Infinity Broadcasting, while CBS and WCBS were acquired by Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1995. WCBS and WFAN became sister stations in 1997 when Infinity was purchased by Westinghouse.
As of 2024 [update] , the entire island and two transmitters are owned by Audacy, Inc., which through several acquisitions and mergers has owned both WCBS and WFAN since 2017.
The taller of the towers is 548 feet (167 m). The shorter tower is 300 feet (91 m) and was built in 2001 to replace the emergency tower erected in 1967. The proximity of these two AM radio stations has, at times, caused interference on telephones and electronic equipment on nearby City Island. High Island is only an AM radio transmission facility. It does not have any studios or tower tenants, other than the two AM radio stations. Both WCBS and WFAN broadcast from studios located at the Hudson Square Broadcast Center in Manhattan.
A full-time caretaker's residence was in use from 1961 to 2007. The island is currently uninhabited and maintained by the radio stations' engineers and contractors. Advances in broadcast and security technology have made remote monitoring of both the radio equipment and the physical property more feasible than in earlier years where a full-time human presence was required.
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadcasting since the 1970s. The broadcasting company was sold to Entercom on November 17, 2017.
WBZ is a commercial AM radio station, licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, and owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. Its studios and offices are located on Cabot Road in the Boston suburb of Medford.
WOR is a 50,000-watt class A clear-channel AM radio station owned by iHeartMedia and licensed to New York, New York. The station airs a mix of local and syndicated talk radio shows, primarily from co-owned Premiere Networks, including The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, The Sean Hannity Show, and Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor, from CBS Audio Network is heard at night. Since 2016, the station has served as the New York outlet for co-owned NBC News Radio. The station's studios are located at 125 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, with its transmitter in Rutherford, New Jersey. WOR began broadcasting on Wednesday, February 22, 1922, and is one of the oldest continuously operating radio stations in the United States with a three–letter call sign, characteristic of a station dating from the 1920s. WOR is the only New York City station to have retained its original three-letter call sign, making those the oldest continuously used call letters in the New York City area.
WABC is a commercial radio station licensed to New York City, carrying a conservative talk radio format known as "Talkradio 77". Owned by John Catsimatidis' Red Apple Media, the station's studios are located in Red Apple Media headquarters on Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and its transmitter is in Lodi, New Jersey. Its 50,000-watt non-directional clear channel signal can be heard at night throughout much of the Eastern United States and Eastern Canada. It is the primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System in the New York metropolitan area and New Jersey. WABC simulcasts on WLIR-FM in Hampton Bays, New York, on eastern Long Island.
WNBC is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WNJU. WNBC's studios and offices are co-located with NBC's corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan; WNJU's facilities in Fort Lee, New Jersey, also serve as WNBC's New Jersey news bureau. Through a channel sharing agreement with WNJU, the two stations transmit using WNJU's spectrum from an antenna atop One World Trade Center.
WFAN is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, with a sports radio format, branded "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area, while its 50,000-watt clear channel signal can be heard at night throughout much of the eastern United States and Canada. WFAN's studios are located in the Hudson Square neighborhood of lower Manhattan and its transmitter is located on High Island in the Bronx.
KKOB is a commercial AM radio station, licensed to Albuquerque, New Mexico and owned by Cumulus Media. Its news/talk format is branded as "96.3 Newsradio KKOB", reflecting a simulcast with co-owned KKOB-FM 96.3 MHz. Studios and offices are located in Downtown Albuquerque. KKOB is the oldest station in New Mexico and is the state's primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System.
The Pelham Islands are a group of islands in western Long Island Sound that belonged to Thomas Pell in the 17th century. The islands, and most of the surrounding area, were purchased from the Siwanoy Indians by Pell in 1654, creating Pelham Manor. This large tract of land would eventually become the present-day Town and Village of Pelham and Pelham Manor, Town of Eastchester, cities of New Rochelle and Mount Vernon in Westchester County, and the Pelham Bay and Eastchester neighborhoods of the Bronx in New York City.
KCBS is an all-news AM radio station located in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., which took over after its merger with CBS Radio.
WCBS-TV, branded CBS New York, is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WLNY-TV. The two stations share studios within the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan; WCBS-TV's transmitter is located at One World Trade Center.
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WCBS is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are in the combined Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Lower Manhattan and its transmitter site is located on High Island in the Bronx. Its 50,000-watt clear channel signal can be heard at night throughout much of the eastern United States and Eastern Canada.
WCBS-FM is a radio station owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. licensed to New York, New York, and broadcasting a classic hits format. The station's studios are in the combined Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, and its transmitter is located at the Empire State Building.
WINS (1010 kHz) is a commercial, all-news AM radio station licensed to New York City, owned by Audacy, Inc. The station brands itself as 1010 WINS, with the call sign phonetically pronounced as "wins". WINS's studios are located in the combined Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood in lower Manhattan, and its transmitter is located in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
WFAN-FM, is a commercial radio station licensed to New York City. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station simulcasts a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM", or "The FAN", along with co-owned WFAN. Its studios are in the Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.
Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus and Mike Francesa. Infinity merged with CBS Corporation in 1997 and later became part of Viacom in 2000, when CBS and Viacom merged, serving as the radio division of CBS. After the Viacom split in 2005, Infinity changed its name to CBS Radio; the company would later merge with Entercom, presently known as Audacy, Inc.
WCNI is a radio station broadcasting a freeform format and licensed to New London, Connecticut, serving the New London area. The station is owned by Connecticut College Community Radio, Inc. and is operated by students and members of the community. The station features eclectic musical genres that are less often heard on the majority of radio stations.
Columbia Island, is an island in the Long Island Sound and part of New Rochelle, New York, United States. It is situated off the south-eastern coast of Davids Island, immediately adjacent to Pea Island. Before sea walls and other structures were built on the island, the exposed rock varied in size from about one acre to 175 square feet depending on the tide.
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