NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Legendary 1010 WINS morning news anchor Lee Harris signed off Friday morning after nearly 30 years at the station.
Harris has been a recognizable voice for New Yorkers in the morning since joining WINS in 1995.
He has covered some of the city's biggest news and helped the five boroughs navigate the terror of 9/11 as events unfolded that day.
He has also had positions in general management, programming and station ownership. He created QGoLive, a software program that allows reporters to quickly get on the air in broadcast quality simply by launching an app and pressing one button.
Now, after the 2:15 a.m. weekday morning alarms, Harris shared his final on-air message Friday.
"It's been my privilege to do the mornings on what is inarguably the greatest all-news radio station that ever was," he said. "It has also been an honor to play a role in making New York function day to day. Talking to New Yorkers over the years, I've learned 1010 WINS is a very vital part of this city."
"Day in and day out he spoke the language of most New Yorkers," Ben Mevorach, vice president of New York news at Audacy, wrote in a recent email to staff announcing Harris' departure. "He could be funny, irreverent or sarcastic. He viewed the world and everything in it with a healthy dose of skepticism, often pointing out the absurdity of a story or sound byte along the way. ... He is a New Yorker through and through."
Now Harris will step away from the microphone and join NewsNation as director of integrated operations. In this newly created role, Harris will be responsible for the development and distribution of the network's audio content.
"As I was always told whenever I asked for a raise, 'the station is the star,'" he said Friday. "And that's true. 1010 WINS will get along fine without me, but I can't get along without it because I'm a New Yorker. I'll be listening. I know you will be too, and I thank you for the time you spent listening to me."