CBS News Radio
CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by ViacomCBS. It is the last of the three original national U.S. radio networks (CBS, NBC Radio Network and Mutual Broadcasting System) still operating and still owned by its parent company, even though CBS sold its owned and operated radio stations in 2017. (Today's NBC Radio Network is actually owned by iHeartMedia but uses the NBC name and has access to NBC's TV news reports.)
 | |
| Type | News radio network |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| Owner | ViacomCBS |
| Parent | CBS/CBS News (producer) Skyview Networks (distributor) |
Launch date | 1927 |
| Webcast | Listen live Listen live (via Radio.com) |
Official website | CBS News Radio |
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 ViacomCBS after Paramount Pictures. CBS Radio traces its roots to CBS's predecessor, United Independent Broadcasters, founded in 1927 with 47 network affiliates. The next year, Columbia Records 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, whose corporate management will continue to oversee the company along with CBS's radio assets.[1] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[2][3] 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, to go into effect on January 1, 2018. [4]
Programming
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, and several other all-news and news-talk stations. They include KNX in Los Angeles, WBBM in Chicago, KCBS in San Francisco, KRLD in Dallas, KYW in Philadelphia, WBZ in Boston, WWJ in Detroit, WCCO in Minneapolis, KNXT Las Vegas, KMOX in St. Louis and WTIC in Hartford.
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. Steve Kathan anchors the morning show, which airs at 8am ET and 7am PT, while Dave Barrett hosts the evening edition at 7pm ET. The Roundup dates back to a special network broadcast on March 13, 1938, featuring live reports from Europe on Germany's annexation of Austria. 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 Steve Dorsey.
CBS News Radio has an impressive list of reporters around the world including Pam Coulter, Steven Portnoy, Cami McCormick, Sabina Castelfranco and Robert Berger. Mark Knoller is the network's long-time White House correspondent. Knoller often makes additional appearances on CBS Television, especially if he is the day's pool reporter for the White House Press Corps.
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 Philadelphia, 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.[5] 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, 60 Minutes, and the CBS Evening News. Some stations, including WCBS in New York and WBZ in Boston, air 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.
Historically, the sports coverage now produced by Westwood One was branded as CBS Radio Sports and, like the news features, associated with the CBS Radio Network; however, after CBS began managing the original Westwood One in the mid-1990s, the sports broadcasts would come under the Westwood One banner (with both identities used in the late 1990s), a practice that would continue even after CBS stopped managing Westwood One in 2007. CBS launched a 24/7 sports radio network, "CBS Sports Radio" in fall 2012 through Cumulus Media Networks, owned by Cumulus Media (Cumulus Media Networks was merged into Westwood One in 2013, following Cumulus' acquisition of Westwood One).
During the overnight hours, CBS' streaming video service CBSN carries a simulcast of CBS News Radio's top-of-the-hour reports.
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, broadcast on WSM in Nashville, Tennessee since November 28, 1925.)
Correspondents
- Bard, Adrienne CBS News Radio Reporter, Mexico City
- Barker, Vicki CBS News Radio Reporter, London
- Berger, Robert CBS News Radio Correspondent, Jerusalem
- Castelfranco, Sabina CBS News Radio Correspondent, Rome
- Chenevey, Jim CBS News Radio Correspondent
- Cohen, Andrew CBS News Radio Legal Analyst and Commentator
- Coulter, Pam CBS News Radio Correspondent
- Dorsey, Steve CBS News Radio Executive Editor/Correspondent, Washington
- Falk, Pamela CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst
- Foty, Tom CBS News Radio Correspondent
- Futterman, Steve CBS News Radio Correspondent, Los Angeles
- Kathan, Steve CBS News Radio Correspondent; anchor of CBS World News Roundup (8 a.m. ET Monday-Friday)
- Kaufman, Stephan CBS News Radio Correspondent
- King, Peter CBS News Radio Correspondent, Orlando
- Krasula, Jim CBS News Radio Correspondent, Raleigh
- Litzinger, Sam CBS News Radio Correspondent
- Lyons, Mike CBS News Military Consultant
- Magid, Larry CBS News Technology Analyst
- McCausland, Jeff CBS News Military Consultant
- McCormick, Cami CBS News Radio Correspondent, The Pentagon
- Nunn, Gary CBS News Radio Reporter
- Portnoy, Steven CBS News Radio White House Correspondent
- Rehkopf, Bill CBS News Radio Correspondent
- Schlesinger, Jill Editor-at-Large, CBS's Moneywatch.com
- Swagler, Craig, CBS News Radio Vice President and General Manager
- Taylor, Jim CBS News Radio Correspondent
All-news affiliates
- These stations were formerly owned-and-operated by CBS Radio before November 17, 2017, and are now under ownership of Entercom, unless otherwise noted.
All-news affiliates of CBS News Radio, listed by market rank:
- WCBS 880 AM: New York, New York (#1[6])
- KNX 1070 AM: Los Angeles, California (#2)
- WBBM 780 AM and 105.9 FM: Chicago, Illinois (#3)
- KCBS 740 AM and 106.9 FM: San Francisco, California (#4)
- KRLD 1080 AM: Dallas, Texas (#5)
- KYW 1060 AM: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (#8)
- WTOP 103.5 FM: Washington, DC (#9) (Hubbard Broadcasting)
- WBZ 1030 AM: Boston, Massachusetts (#10) (iHeartMedia)
- WWJ 950 AM: Detroit, Michigan (#11)
References
- CBS Radio To Merge With Entercom - Radio Insight (published February 2, 2017)
- "Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio". Archived from the original on 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
- Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger
- CBS News Radio and Skyview Networks press release - "Skyview networks" (published August 2,2017)
- "Dial Global offers syndication of KMOX's "Overnight America With Jon Grayson"". Radio-Info.com. January 24, 2012. Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
- Arbitron Radio Market Rankings - Fall 2012
