Larry Magid says his radio feature “The ConnectSafely Report” is thriving despite the recent closure of CBS News Radio, its former home.
The one-minute report, sent twice a week, is now carried by 15 radio stations including all-news WTOP in Washington and news outlets in Boston and Chicago, according to his organization ConnectSafely.
“Those stations, together with listeners on major podcast platforms, have restored the program’s reach to levels approaching its longtime national distribution while positioning it for continued growth,” according to a press release.
ConnectSafely is a nonprofit that Magid co-founded “to help people navigate the digital world safely, securely and responsibly.”
The feature is about online safety, privacy, security and AI. Its final episode on CBS aired on May 22. It returned the next week via independent distribution.
“Before launching the report in partnership with CBS News in 2020,” Magid said in the release, “ I spent more than 20 years as its technology analyst, with daily segments heard nationwide, so naturally I was dismayed when the radio network was shuttered. But here’s the irony: the network may be gone, but the report isn’t. In today’s digital world, you don’t need a traditional network to have a national audience. … The old network model may be changing, but radio and audio are still very much alive.”
Magid launched a syndicated newspaper column about tech in 1983 and was heard on KCBS in San Francisco for 25 years. In addition to the feature, Magid provides affiliates with debriefs, sound bites and live interviews.
