NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Legendary WCBS Newsradio 880 reporter Rich Lamb has announced that he will be retiring next month after 50 years in the broadcast radio news business.
"I can remember days when I was working nightside when I thought, 'Can I possibly do another 20, 30 years of this?' And then, you know, it's such an interesting job. That's the thing about it," Lamb said, speaking with WCBS 880's Lynda Lopez about his decision to call it a career. "I worked the stories large and small, terrible and beautiful. I covered popes and presidents, and ticker tape parades, and indictments, and the attacks on the World Trade Center, of course, the pandemic, which is still a big story. I think it might well be the strangest, and most widely impactful of them all. It's surely a time we shall never forget."
After graduating from the University of Detroit, the Connecticut native, who was born in Hartford, started his broadcasting career in Michigan in 1970, working as an anchor and reporter at WEXL in Royal Oak, WNIC in Dearborn, and at WOMC in Detroit.
In 1974, he landed at New York City's WXLO, known then as the rock station 99X, where he had been the “sidekick” of morning man Jay Thomas.
Three years later, at the urging of legendary WCBS 880 political reporter Steve Flanders, after whom the plaza in front of City Hall is still named, Lamb applied for the reporter's position being vacated by the renowned Jerry Nachman.
In December 1977, News and Program Director Lou Adler hired Lamb, whose start date at the station wouldn't come until two months later.
His first assignment at WCBS 880 on Feb. 26, 1978, was quite unremarkable, Lamb remembered as he celebrated 40 years with the station back in 2018.
“It was a Sunday, and the local Polar Bear group was going into the ocean for an icy dip,” Lamb said. “I filed (reports) from a greasy yellow phone in the kitchen at Nathan’s on a floor so slippery my feet were sliding apart.”
That same year, he covered the 88-day newspaper strike and was one of the station’s mainstays in the transit strikes of both 1980 and 2005.
He covered the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the destruction and aftermath of 9/11.
The award-winning journalist has covered four major plane crashes, all of the mayoral, gubernatorial and presidential elections since 1978, murders, fires, blackouts, St. Patrick’s Day, Columbus Day, West Indian Day and ticker tape parades.
Lamb has traveled the world covering news and visiting places such as Nicaragua with then-Mayor Ed Koch; Havana, Cuba to see Pope John Paul II; and Rome, Italy where, he covered Vatican events — including the elevation of Cardinal John O’Connor, the Funeral of Pope John Paul II, and the election of popes Benedict and Francis. In 1990, he traveled to Saudi Arabia to witness the buildup to the Gulf War.
Despite his heavily-stamped passport, Lamb has done most of his reporting in the city he loves – New York, mainly covering City Hall.
"It has been a most extraordinary honor of a professional lifetime to have been a member of the WCBS radio team," Lamb said. "Through all the news stories, great and small, beautiful and terrible, it has been my good fortune to have reaped the benefits of the skills, knowledge and camaraderie of my fellow professionals at this station."
Fittingly, Lamb's last day will be February 26, 2021 — 43 years to the day after his first assignment covering the Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge.
"Rich is a one of a kind reporter and human being," WCBS 880 News Director Tim Scheld said. "He will be missed not just for his broadcast journalism and eloquent storytelling but Rich is a selfless friend, colleague and mentor whose influence and friendships can be seen across the New York City landscape in business, journalism and politics. Rich may be leaving, but he has left each one of us at WCBS 880 with something to help us carry on his legacy."
News of Lamb's retirement was met with an overwhelming response on Twitter, garnering reaction from Mayor Bill de Blasio, former New York City mayor and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, and many others in government, as well as his many colleagues in the news industry.
"Legendary New York newsman Rich Lamb - a consummate professional - is retiring after 50 years in the business of giving it to people straight. Congratulations, Rich - you’ve earned it," Bloomberg tweeted.
"Rich! What a voice for our city. This is a loss for New Yorkers and local journalism, but on behalf of the city you serve, I wish you a happy, well-earned retirement," de Blasio tweeted. "Looking forward to every last question you have for me in the weeks to come."
Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres said, "Thank you, Rich Lamb, for enriching all of us with your extraordinary career in news radio. It is an honor to know you."
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said, "The end of an era! Rich is smart, kind and dedicated to informing WCBS listeners about the ins and outs of city government. I'll miss seeing him at City Hall, but I can't say a guy who has worked this hard for 50 years doesn't deserve a break. Congrats Rich, all the best!"
City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Scott Stringer said, "Few get to enjoy such a long, sterling career as Rich Lamb has over 50 years of reporting. Congrats on a well-deserved retirement! New York City journalism won't be the same without you."
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said, "Congratulations to the great Rich Lamb on an incredible career. Our city won’t be the same without him on the airwaves, but we are certainly better for the decades of service he has given the listeners of WCBS 880".
Fellow WCBS 880 reporter Peter Haskell shared a photo of himself with Lamb and wrote, "Bittersweet news learning Rich Lamb is retiring from WCBS 880 next month. He has more words than Roget and strings them together more eloquently than Shakespeare. Beyond that, he is as fine as a person as you will ever meet; warm, kind, empathetic and fun. Happy trails."
Mets radio broadcast veteran Howie Rose said, "I had the pleasure of working with Rich when I was at WCBS in the mid 1980s. There is no more dedicated, trustworthy, classy and simply solid newsman in the radio business. Congratulations on a great career and enjoy a long, rewarding and enjoyable retirement. You’ve earned it."
NPR's Steve Inskeep shared several memories of his encounter with Lamb and wrote, "Many years ago, when I was a broke reporter in New York who had no idea what I was doing, Rich Lamb was constantly generous and encouraging—traits people don’t associate with New York but should."
While fellow City Hall reporter, Wall Street Journal's Katie Honan, shared a picture of Lamb decked out in his St. Patrick's Day best and enjoying some Irish soda bread.
Lamb was humbled and grateful for the best wishes and kind words that have been pouring in on social media.
"Sometimes when you're alone in a room with a microphone it's difficult to imagine how many people might be listening and how many lives you may have touched. It's really humbling when a few of them take the time to say a kind word about your work," Lamb said.
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