CBS News Radio will be winding down its operations over the next several weeks.
The news was shared via an internal memo from CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski and first confirmed to Streamline Publishing by Manager of Affiliate Services Amy Bolton, who is attending the Country Radio Seminar (CRS) in Nashville.
The memo confirms that May 22 will be the final day for the nearly century-old news service. Bolton, when contacted for confirmation of the news, noted that she is in the process of speaking with some of the approximately 700 affiliated stations about the upcoming closure of the audio service.
Among the stations that use CBS News Radio are Audacy properties formerly owned by CBS Radio, such as WBBM Radio in Chicago, KNX in Los Angeles, KCBS Radio in San Francisco and KMOX Radio in St. Louis. The top-billing radio station in the U.S., Hubbard Radio’s WTOP, also uses CBS News Radio’s top-of-the-hour newscasts as an integral part of its programming.
A WTOP representative tells Radio Ink no definitive decision has been made yet regarding what the station will air come May 23, and lamented the loss of jobs and disappearance of CBS News Radio.
Jobs will indeed be disappearing, as the memo reads:
Unfortunately, this decision means that all positions within the CBS News Radio team are being eliminated. We understand how difficult this news is for our staff and their colleagues, who have worked side by side with us to cover some of the most significant stories of our time.
Weiss and Cibrowski also explained the pending closure of the long-running audio service.
While this was a necessary decision, it was not an easy one. A shift in radio station programming strategies, coupled with challenging economic realities, has made it impossible to continue the service. 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.
The memo also notes how CBS News Radio’s World News Roundup “remains the longest-running newscast in the country” and that CBS News Radio “served as the foundation for everything we have built since 1927.”
That history will be coming to an end just shy of that 100th anniversary commemoration.
The memo concludes:
The coming weeks will be difficult for the team members who have worked tirelessly at CBS News Radio. We are committed to supporting these valued colleagues with care and respect as we wind down operations. They have been critical to our success and remain treasured friends and professionals. We thank them deeply for their contributions. Thank you all for your dedication and for the compassion you show one another as we move forward.” — Bari and Tom
It is believed that between 60 to 70 staff members will be impacted by the coming closure.
A second email from Weiss and Cibrowski was distributed to staff that confirmed the job cuts. It reads:
We always turn on the CBS radio news if we’re in the car at the beginning of an hour. However, we immediately turn the radio off as soon as the advertisement begins.
If one wonders if a radio news network still makes sense in the modern era, they need look no further than NPR which is moving forward despite a massive loss of federal funding, yet somehow Bari Weiss can seem to figure out how to keep a 100-year-old legacy network going because of “economic realities”. Just another point in wondering if she was the right person for the job.
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