CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides
news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...
to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by
Paramount Global
Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...
. It is the last of the three original national U.S. radio networks (CBS,
NBC Radio Network
The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...
and
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Golden Age of Radio, ...
) still operating and still owned by its original parent company, even though CBS sold its
owned and operated radio stations in 2017. The current NBC Radio Network is owned by
iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...
, and licenses use of the NBC name and audio from
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
.
CBS News Radio is one of the two national news services distributed by Skyview Networks, which transmits national news, talk, music and special event programs, in addition to local news, weather, video news and other information to radio and television stations, as well as traffic reporting services.
Background
The network is the second-oldest unit of Paramount Global after
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
. CBS Radio traces its roots to CBS's predecessor, United Independent Broadcasters, founded in 1927 with 47
network affiliates. The next year,
invested in the radio network, which was named the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System. Eventually, the record company pulled its backing from the struggling web.
William S. Paley bought a half-interest in what became the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928, and became its president. (In 1938, CBS bought its former parent, Columbia Records.) For more about the network's history, see
CBS.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Corporation announced that its shareholders had acquired a majority stake in Entercom (now
Audacy, Inc.), whose corporate management will continue to oversee the company along with CBS's radio assets. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th. The CBS News Radio network service will continue to be managed by CBS News.
On August 2, 2017, CBS announced that it had signed a contract with Skyview Networks for distribution of CBS News Radio. This went into effect January 1, 2018.
Programming
Stations and affiliates
Today, CBS News Radio is best known for its news and public affairs programming distributed to more than 500 affiliates, including
flagship station WCBS in New York (which ended their all-news format in August 2024 and is now known as WHSQ), and several other
all-news and
news-talk stations. They include
KNX and
KNX-FM in Los Angeles,
WBBM in Chicago,
KCBS in San Francisco,
KRLD in
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
,
KYW in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
WTOP-FM in
Washington,
WBZ in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
WWJ in Detroit,
WCCO in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
,
KXNT in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
,
KMOX in
St. Louis, and
WTIC in
Hartford
Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
. (
WINS and
WINS-FM in New York do not carry the newscasts but make use of voicers and actualities from CBS News Radio, though without attribution.)
CBS News Radio offers hourly ''News-on-the-Hour'' newscasts (available in three- and six-minute versions) and a one-minute newscast at 31 minutes past the hour. They are sent to member stations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition to the over-the-air product, reports and actualities are made available to affiliates via the network's Newsfeed service. Many of the aforementioned outlets make heavy use of the CBS network feed material throughout their broadcast day.
The network is home to the morning and evening editions of the ''
CBS World News Roundup'', U.S. broadcasting's oldest news series. The ''Roundup'' dates back to a special network broadcast on March 13, 1938, featuring live reports from Europe on Germany's annexation of
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. Since 2010, Steve Kathan has anchored the morning show, which airs at 8 am ET and 7 am PT, while Jennifer Keiper hosts the evening edition at 7 pm ET. Each Friday afternoon, the network also distributes the ''
CBS News Weekend Roundup,'' an hour-long look at the top stories of the week, hosted by correspondent Allison Keyes.
News reporters and anchors
CBS News Radio has an impressive list of reporters around the world including Jim Krasula, Peter King, Linda Kenyon,
Cami McCormick, Vicki Barker, Elaine Cobbe, Sabina Castelfranco and Robert Berger.
Mark Knoller was the network's long-time
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
correspondent. Knoller often made additional appearances on CBS Television, especially if he was the day's
pool reporter for the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
Press Corps. Knoller no longer filed radio reports after about 2011, transitioning to report mostly on twitter. He left CBS in 2020.
Features and news programs
In 2009, CBS launched a long-form late night talk program hosted by Jon Grayson, based at
KMOX St. Louis, and a morning talk show hosted by
Michael Smerconish, based at
WPHT
WPHT (1210 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station broadcasts a talk radio radio format, format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios are in Audacy's corporate headquarters on Market Stree ...
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, on some of its owned-and-operated stations. CBS handled the syndication of Grayson's show itself, while syndication for Smerconish's show to non-CBS stations had been outsourced to
Dial Global (which at that time was not involved with the CBS Radio Network itself). Grayson's show, ''Overnight America'', also entered national syndication via Dial Global on January 30, 2012.
Smerconish discontinued the morning show in 2011 and Grayson's show ended its national distribution a few years later.
Three of CBS's television programs are currently simulcast over CBS News Radio affiliates; those are ''
Face the Nation
''Face the Nation'' is a weekly news and Sunday morning talk show, morning public affairs program airing Sundays on the CBS radio and Television broadcasting, television network. Created by Frank Stanton (executive), Frank Stanton in 1954, ''Fa ...
'', ''
60 Minutes
''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...
'', and the ''
CBS Evening News''. Some stations, including WCBS in New York and WBZ in Boston, aired the entire ''Evening News''. In addition, the ''
Late Show with David Letterman''
Top Ten List was also broadcast by the network in a short-form-feature format until the show's conclusion with David Letterman's retirement in 2015.
Other public-affairs features include ''CBS Healthwatch'' with Dr. Emily Senay, ''Raising Our Kids'' (formerly suffixed with ''in the 90s'' during that decade) with former WCBS morning anchor Pat Carroll, ''What's in the News,'' and "Eye on Washington," a daily look at goings on in the nation's capital.
During the overnight hours, the
CBS News 24/7 streaming service carries a simulcast of CBS News Radio's top-of-the-hour reports.
In March 2021, CBS News Radio hired
John Batchelor to host a nightly newsmagazine, ''Eye on the World''. Batchelor had previously hosted an eponymous show that was syndicated through Westwood One and, before that, through
ABC Radio Networks.
CBS News Radio offers several weekly one-hour programs to its affiliates for airing on Saturdays and Sundays. They include ''The
CBS News Weekend Roundup'' with Allison Keyes, ''CBS Eye on Travel'' with
Peter Greenberg
Peter S. Greenberg (born January 20, 1950) is an American journalist. He is the CBS News Travel Editor, reporting regularly on '' The Early Show'', its replacement '' CBS This Morning'', and the '' CBS Evening News''. He may be best known as ...
, ''Jill on Money'' with Jill Schlesinger and ''The Takeout'' with
Major Garrett.
WNAX.com/Program-Schedule
/REF>
Sports programs
Historically, the sports coverage now produced by Westwood One was branded as CBS Radio Sports and, like the news features, was associated with the CBS Radio Network. However, after CBS began managing the original Westwood One in the mid-1990s, the sports broadcasts came under the Westwood One banner (with both identities used in the late 1990s. It was a practice that would continue even after CBS stopped managing Westwood One in 2007.
CBS launched a 24/7 sports radio
Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...
network, " CBS Sports Radio," in fall 2012. It was distributed through Cumulus Media Networks, owned by Cumulus Media. (Cumulus Media Networks was merged into Westwood One in 2013, following Cumulus' acquisition of Westwood One.) In 2017, CBS Sports Radio was sold to Entercom (now Audacy, Inc.) after it acquired CBS Radio. It now uses the title "Infinity Sports Network."
Anchors
* Deborah Rodriguez - Weekday Mornings - New York
* Steve Kathan - World News Roundup & Weekday Mid-days - New York
* Jennifer Keiper - World News Roundup Late Edition & Weekday Evenings - Chicago
* Cami McCormick - Weekday Afternoons - Washington, D.C.
* Michael Wallace - New York
* Jen Clark - CBS Connected Minute
* Christian Chase - CBS Connected Minute
* Cooper Lawrence - CBS Connected Minute - New York
* Wendy Gillette - Fill-in - New York
Reporters
* Jennifer Brown - Executive Editor
* Stacy Lyn - Washington
* Allison Keyes - Washington
* Linda Kenyon - Washington
* Christopher Cruise - Washington
* Michael Toscano - Washington
* Matt Pieper - New York
* Chris Mavridis - Toronto
* Jim Krasula - The Carolinas
* Peter King - Orlando
* Chris Fox - Austin
* Stephan Kauffman - Prescott, Arizona
* Heather Bosch - Seattle
* Vicki Barker - London
* Robert Berger - Jerusalem
* Linda Gradstein - Jerusalem
* Elaine Cobbe - Paris
* Sabina Castelfranco - Rome
* Lucy Craft - Tokyo
* Adrienne Bard - Mexico City
* Scott Mayman - Brisbane
''Music and the Spoken Word''
While the network's ''World News Roundup'' is the longest-running news show on radio or TV in the U.S., the title of longest-running network radio show of any kind goes to another CBS Radio program—'' Music and the Spoken Word,'' a half-hour of music and inspirational thought featuring the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. It began on July 15, 1929, and currently airs each Sunday morning at 11:30 Eastern Time. (The longest running radio show of any kind is the ''Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
'', broadcast on WSM in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
since November 28, 1925.)
All-news affiliates
:''These stations were formerly owned-and-operated by CBS Radio before November 17, 2017, and are now under ownership of Audacy, unless otherwise noted.''
All-news affiliates of CBS News Radio, listed by market rank:
* WCBS 880 AM: New York, New York (Ended in August 2024 and is currently known as WHSQ) (#1) Farewell, WCBS 880: One of NYC’s last all-news radio stations signs off after almost 60 years on-air
Axelrod, Scott R., 'Staten Island Advance', 25 August 2024.
* WINS 1010 AM and WINS-FM 92.3: New York, New York (#1)
* KNX 1070 AM and KNX-FM 97.1: Los Angeles, California (#2)
* WBBM 780 AM and WCFS-FM 105.9: Chicago, Illinois (#3)
* KCBS 740 AM and KFRC-FM 106.9: San Francisco, California (#4)
* KRLD 1080 AM: Dallas, Texas (#5)
* KYW 1060 AM and WPHI-FM 103.9: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (#8)
* WTOP-FM 103.5: Washington, DC (#9) ( Hubbard Broadcasting)
* WBZ 1030 AM: Boston, Massachusetts (#10) (iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...
- late nights)
* WWJ 950 AM: Detroit, Michigan (#11)
References
External links
*
{{White House James S. Brady Press Briefing Room seating chart
CBS Radio networks
Paramount Global subsidiaries
Radio stations established in 1927