CBS News Radio to shutter after nearly 100 years
Launched in 1927, the long-running news service is a victim of budget cuts by the Paramount-owned network
In a stunning decision, Paramount’s CBS News announced Friday that it was closing its radio division after 99 years, leaving nearly 700 radio stations affiliated with the network scrambling for replacements.
The news impacts Audacy-owned WBBM-AM here in Chicago; the station has been affiliated with CBS since 1928, and launched its all-news format in 1968. When it was known as CBS Corporation, the company sold its radio stations in 2017 to Entercom (now Audacy), but kept its CBS News affiliation. In a statement posted on the station’s website, WBBM said its news operations will continue as normal.
The closure was part of another round of layoffs at CBS News, which cut 6 percent of its staff on Friday as part of a restructuring effort. CBS News Radio is set to close on May 22, as Paramount implements cuts while the company acquires Warner Bros. Discovery, which will result in significant debt.
Here’s an email sent to employees by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski:
Today we are reducing the size of our workforce, and employees who are affected will be notified by the end of the day.
We recognize that this is a difficult time for those who will be leaving CBS News. Because these aren’t just names on a list. They are talented, committed colleagues who have been critical to our success. We’ll treat them all with care and respect.
It’s no secret that the news business is changing radically, and that we need to change along with it. New audiences are burgeoning in new places, and we are pressing forward with ambitious plans to grow and invest so that we can be there for them. That means some parts of our newsroom must get smaller to make room for the things we must build to remain competitive.
But these are very hard choices and today is a difficult day.
This is a tough message to receive at any time, and especially in the middle of an exceptionally intense news cycle. This organization is working its heart out to deliver for our audience. We’re so grateful to all of you, and we thank you for handling this difficult news with compassion.
CBS News Radio has been home to several esteemed journalists, including Edward R. Murrow and Charles Osgood. It’s World News Roundup – with its familiar six-note chime at the top of the hour- remains the longest-running newscast in the U.S.
Both branches of the Writers’ Guild (East and West) released a statement about Friday’s layoffs: “Once again, our members have lost their jobs due to the recklessness and greed of their bosses. CBS News Radio is an institution, where generations of the finest journalists in the country spent their careers reporting the news and holding people in power to account… The dozens of CBS journalists laid off today have served the American people through their talent and dedication.”
Since David Ellison took over Paramount, CBS News has undergone a more Trump-friendly makeover, installing Weiss as editor-in-chief with no journalism experience, installing Tony Dokoupil as anchor of The CBS Evening News, and moving it toward a more conservative-leaning direction. Critics and viewers panned these decisions, and ratings for the newscast fell further behind ABC World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News. But the negative headlines and poor ratings results haven’t detoured Weiss, who is a right-of-center individual who ran the website Free Press before Paramount bought it and brought her on board.
The move also cuts the last ties CBS has to radio.
Like linear television, radio has struggled in the digital age. CBS News Radio was reportedly losing money as listeners have shifted to on-demand products and podcasts.