WHSQ's transmitter 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 Canada.

First signing on in September 1924, the station had been an affiliate and owned-and-operated flagship of the CBS radio network for much of its existence, and held the call letters WCBS from 1946 to 2024.

WCBS later became a sister to WINS after CBS's merger with Westinghouse Broadcasting; the two stations were differentiated in their style and extent of coverage.

WHSQ, before the end of its all-news programmming, carried a mix of local and ESPN Radio national programming, The station is the flagship of the New York Mets Radio Network; as the rights are owned by Audacy rather than Good Karma Brands, they are not part of the LMA and the station's advertising is sold by Audacy during Mets broadcasts.

[11] On November 11, 1928, WABC and WBOQ were formally consolidated as WABC-WBOQ, and the FRC's General Order 40 moved the combined operation to a "clear channel" frequency of 860 kHz.

[12] WABC-WBOQ became a part-time network affiliate of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), which actually wanted a full-time radio presence in New York City.

[14] In 1941, due to the implementation of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), the station moved to the frequency it occupied until it shut down permanently, 880 kHz.

This allowed WABC in New York to change to WCBS on November 2, 1946, to identify more closely with its parent network, the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

[16] Longtime, and unrelated, ABC radio flagship station on 770 kHz in New York was assigned the call sign WABC in 1953, after operating since its beginning in 1921 as WJZ.

During this time WCBS featured well-known personalities including Arthur Godfrey, future CBS News President Bill Leonard, author Emily Kimbrough, and folk singer Oscar Brand.

In the 1950s, one of the stations daytime hosts, John Henry Faulk, was part of an anti-blacklisting wing (including CBS newsman Charles Collingwood) that assumed leadership of the flagship New York chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) broadcasters' union.

[18] Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson's book The Murrow Boys asserted[citation needed] that WCBS executive Arthur Hull Hayes admitted on the stand the station's overall ratings, not Faulk's specifically, had slipped.

By the late 1950s and early 1960s, WCBS evolved into a middle of the road (MOR) music and personality format, which included limited talk programming.

Eventually, WCBS gained a foothold in local news coverage (WOR and WNEW's strengths), bolstered by its standing as CBS's flagship radio station.

During the 1960s, CBS chairman William S. Paley, concerned about the station's low ratings, started a process that led to the creation of a news radio format that would become known as "Newsradio 88".

Paley hired Clark B. George, then vice-president and general manager of WCBS-TV, to create the new format and turn the station's low ratings around.

[19] The format debuted on August 28, 1967 – although on WCBS-FM, because a small airplane had crashed into and destroyed WCBS's AM antenna tower just a few hours earlier.

Later anchors included veteran newscaster Lou Adler, Jim Donnelly,[22] Harvey Hauptman,[23] Bill Lynch,[24] and Gary Maurer.

[25] Initially, the station ran news only during drive time periods, and maintained an MOR format during midday and overnight hours.

WCBS's switch to all-news was the first move in CBS Radio's long-term plans to convert its group of AM stations to some form of news programming.

Along with WCBS, the group was then composed of KNX in Los Angeles, WBBM in Chicago, WCAU in Philadelphia, KMOX in St. Louis, WEEI in Boston, and KCBS in San Francisco.

While CBS shareholders retained a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom was the surviving entity, separating WCBS radio (both 880 and FM 101.1) from WCBS-TV.

[36] Audacy entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Good Karma Brands, under which the ESPN Radio programming of WEPN-FM would move to WCBS, and the station would change its call letters to WHSQ.

Good Karma Brands had been operating WEPN-FM under an LMA with its owner Emmis Communications, and did not plan to renew its contract when it expired at the end of August 2024.

The station's chief meteorologist, Craig Allen, and its rush hour traffic reporter Tom Kaminski, were both with WCBS for over three decades and recorded a series of commercials together to that effect.

WCBS's promotional work was the inspiration for the title of the Fountains of Wayne album Traffic and Weather, according to an interview the New Jersey–based band gave to the station.

Most notably, former football Giants Pat Summerall and Frank Gifford were employed in various capacities by WCBS and the CBS Radio Network late in their playing days.