CBS News will shut down CBS News Radio on May 22 as part of a restructuring that includes a 6% reduction in staff.
The development will leave approximately 700 affiliated stations seeking another source for features such as news at the top of the hour. While similar options are available from ABC News Radio, Fox News Radio and SRN News, there’s one iconic sounder that has been etched in the minds of many listeners for nearly a century, dating back to its use of the “chirp” tone.
(Read a full feature on the history of CBS Radio from our John Schneider.)
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and President Tim Cibrowski made the announcement Friday morning, informing staff in a memo reported by multiple media outlets that it was a “difficult day” for the company. Approximately 60 employees will be affected, according to the New York Times.
Stations that use CBS News Radio programming, such as correspondent reports, include high-profile outlets like WINS(AM/FM) in New York, KNX(AM/FM) in Los Angeles, WBBM(AM) in Chicago, KCBS(AM) in San Francisco and WTOP(FM) in Washington, D.C.
“A shift in radio station programming strategies, coupled with challenging economic realities, has made it impossible to continue the service,” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote. “We are sharing this announcement now to fulfill our commitments to our radio partners and affiliates, which require advance notice of the service’s conclusion.”
Last October, Weiss was named editor-in-chief of CBS News after Paramount-Skydance acquired The Free Press, which she founded.
Several affiliates addressed the change publicly and assured listeners that their stations aren’t going away, such as WBBM in Chicago and WWJ in Detroit.
The union SAG-AFTRA issued a brief reaction announcement, saying it was “appalled to learn of CBS‘s decision to shut down CBS News Radio and lay off countless network news division staffers across its media platforms. For more than a century, CBS News has been a bedrock of broadcast journalism. Many distinguished journalists who performed their work with courage, integrity and loyalty to CBS lost their jobs today.”
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers expressed dismay about the employee cuts at CBS, noting, “This is the second round of cuts since CBS came under Skydance Media’s control.”
It said, “Skydance’s actions raise serious questions about the future of good union jobs in broadcasting. And with Skydance reportedly planning to merge CBS News into CNN following its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, lawmakers and regulators must ask whether further consolidation in the broadcast industry will help working people or hurt them.”
History
The CBS News Radio division dates back to Sept. 27, 1927, with a live orchestra broadcast, according to Schneider. It was the second of the national radio networks to reach the airwaves after NBC, with 16 stations as far west as St. Louis, according to a New York Times profile from 1977 that celebrated the network’s 50th anniversary.
Desperate for a financial solution, Arthur L. Judson offered to sell controlling interest in the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System to Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of WCAU(TV) in Philadelphia. The Levys brought in additional investors, including Sam Paley, owner of the Congress Cigar Company.
Then, after a difficult year of trying to run the business remotely, they offered to sell part of the network to Paley’s 26-year-old son, if he would run it. William S. Paley was intrigued by the offer. He had managed his father’s cigar company radio advertisements on WCAU and the Columbia network and had been impressed with its impact on sales. And so, barely a year after the struggling network’s first broadcast, Paley moved to New York and took charge.
According to Wikipedia, CBS News Radio is the second-oldest unit of the Paramount-Skydance corporation after Paramount Pictures.
The network offers “news-on-the-hour” newscasts and the CBS World News Roundup, which itself dates back to Edward R. Murrow’s on-air debut in 1938 from Vienna.
Following the 2017 merger between CBS Radio and Entercom, the radio network remained under the management of CBS News, which later signed a distribution contract with Skyview Networks in August of that year.
Audacy’s Infinity Networks announced a distribution partnership with CBS News Radio in October.
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