Changes at WBBM Newsradio 780

One of the very best traffic reporters may soon be looking for work at CBS's WBBM. Beginning April 1, the station will launch its own traffic service so Bart Shore and others who work for iHeartMedia's Total Traffic may not be reporting traffic reports for the station which includes Shores,Habermehl, Pries and Bonnie Greene. Bart Shore is certainly the very best and he along with the others will definitely be missed.

Are you sure it will be WBBM's own service? I thought U.S. Traffic Network (formerly Radiate Media) signed all of the CBS-owned stations. They've had the Cumulus stations for years. You might be hearing the WLS traffic reporters on WBBM.

CBS will be starting its own service of traffic reporters on April 1, while U.S. Traffic (formerly Radiate) will supply the info, and maybe some voices nights and weekends. Each of the CBS All-News stations (NY, LA, Chicago, SF, Dallas, Philly, Boston, Detroit) and some of the larger Talk stations are building or dedicating a studio for traffic reporters.

It is still being determined whether some Total Traffic reporters will relocate to CBS. Only a handful across the nation likely will. Some may stay with Total Traffic on other stations, some may be out of a job. That still has not been finalized.

Will the traffic reports originate from the stations or from a central location? iHeart Media's traffic report for my area originate from New Orleans. One time, a traffic report for Brownsville, TX, was accidentally aired here in Jackson.

That is a good question golden eagles97

The traffic call in number at WBBM is being changed to an 855 area code number so Maybe the traffic reporters will not be in Chicago.

As far as I know, each CBS All-News stations (WCBS and WINS, KNX, WBBM, KCBS, KRLD, KYW, WBZ and WWJ) will all have in-house traffic reporters. Not sure about the larger market CBS talk stations (WCCO, KDKA, KMOX, KXNT). It's possible some larger CBS stations may cover smaller stations overnight and weekends. For instance, I heard WWJ is only hiring four traffic reporters, so obviously some non-prime hours will have to be done elsewhere.

Since the old call-in numbers went to Total Traffic offices, some numbers may be changing. In NYC, WCBS uses a 212 number while WINS uses 877, a toll free number. Both numbers currently ring in the Total Traffic studios near Met Life Stadium. So if WBBM begins using toll-free 855, that does not indicate the traffic reports will be done outside of Chicago.

Even though the final total isn't known yet, it appears many Total Traffic reporters currently heard on the CBS stations will NOT be joining the new CBS service.

This week is Bart Shore's last week on WBBM. He along with the rest of the traffic reporters will be replaced.

So I take it you are saying Dr Wayne to enjoy them while you still can

Starting Monday morning, Bart Shore can be heard on 93.9 WLIT. Wishing him the very best!