A startup around-the-clock radio news network will make its debut with four experienced voices from CBS News Radio.
Worldwide News Network is a 24-hour national radio news service that is slated to debut at midnight on May 23, or just after the shutdown of CBS News Radio’s operations.
Former CBS Radio journalists Michael Wallace, Cooper Lawrence, Bill Rehkopf and Matt Pieper are the network’s first big hires.
[Related: “A Fond Farewell to CBS News Radio”]
John Catsimatidis, the owner and CEO of Red Apple Media, the network’s parent company, which includes New York’s WABC(AM), said in a release that the startup’s goal is to be “fact-driven” and worldwide, with an expansion into Europe planned.
Experienced hires
Red Apple said that it is making a large investment in journalism for its news syndication efforts, and that its first four hires are evidence of its commitment.
“We are assembling top-tier journalists and building a modern radio news operation rooted in speed, authority and facts,” Lee Harris, vice president of news for the Worldwide News Network and WABC, said in a release.
Wallace was an anchor for WCBS(AM) for 19 years.
Lawrence has also anchored for WCBS and 1010 WINS(AM) and is currently a CBS News Radio host, anchor and writer, until the network sunsets on May 22.
Rehkopf has been a news anchor at KDKA(AM) and WCBS and a CBS News Radio correspondent over a 40-year career.
Pieper was an anchor and editor for both CBS News Radio and CBS TV for approximately 10 years.
Red Apple Media hired Harris earlier in May as VP of news. He brings approximately 30 years of newsroom leadership from his time at 1010 WINS(AM), and Harris was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2024.
News network offerings
Red Apple Audio Networks syndicates programs from its studios at flagship WABC. The Worldwide News Network will feature top- and bottom-of-the-hour newscasts every hour, seven days a week.
The top-of-the-hour news will include three minutes of national and international news, with an additional minute that is optional, a spokesperson said.
The bottom-of-the-hour segment is one minute in length.
The segments are suitable for both commercial and noncommercial outlets.
In addition, the Worldwide News Network will offer crisis coverage during major events.
Interested stations are encouraged to visit Red Apple Audio Networks’ website or contact Sue Falco.
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