Key Points
- Paramount will shut down CBS News Radio in May as part of layoffs within its CBS News division.
- The closure affects hundreds of affiliate stations that rely on CBS for national news programming.
- The move reflects broader challenges facing radio amid competition from streaming audio and digital platforms.
Paramount is moving forward with layoffs at its CBS News division that will lead to the full closure of its news radio division in May, according to internal memos sent to employees on Friday.
The decision to wind down CBS News Radio in May comes just months shy of the network’s centennial anniversary — the network went on the air in 1927.
Around 700 AM and FM radio stations across the country carry CBS News Radio news reports and hourly updates, and many are now scrambling to find another service for national news and supplemental reporting.
A few broadcast networks, including ABC and Fox, operate national radio divisions and offer programming that is similar to that of CBS News Radio. Some CBS News Radio affiliates are already having discussions with ABC News Radio about carrying their news updates and reports when CBS News Radio winds down in May, according to two sources. Others are likely to pick up Fox News Radio in the future.
In an e-mail to employees on Friday, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss said economic difficulties were largely to blame for the decision to shutter CBS News Radio.
“Radio is woven into the fabric of CBS News and that’s always going to be part of our history,” Weiss said. “I want you to know that we did everything we could, including before I joined the company, to try and find a viable solution to sustain the radio operation.”
CBS News Radio has pared back on some of its programming to keep the service viable, according to insiders. The syndication service canceled its “Weekend Roundup” and “World News Roundup Late Edition” last year, and has leaned into offering audio simulcasts of more CBS News television programming, including “Face the Nation,” “CBS Evening News” and “60 Minutes” to placate affiliates.
Broadcasting, as a whole, has faced numerous challenges over the past three decades as the Internet made digital media more accessible, generating stronger competition for the various businesses that are part of the industry.
Just as streaming video services have challenged broadcast and cable TV’s dominance over the past decade, connected audio platforms like streaming radio, on-demand music services and podcasts have chipped away at radio’s lead.
During that same time period, radio companies grew larger, assuming consolidation would make them too big to fail. It didn’t: All three of the largest radio broadcasters — iHeart Media, Cumulus and Audacy — have filed for bankruptcy protection at least once over the past 10 years. Audacy previously operated as Entercom, which acquired the local radio division of CBS in 2017.
Today, radio primarily relies on reach — the widespread availability of radio tuners in cars — to sell commercial advertisements against their AM and FM programming. But many of those ad budgets have since shifted to podcasts and on-demand music services, which have larger audiences and which provide marketers with more-granular details about the performance of their campaigns.
Still, radio is a medium that Americans rely on for different reasons. Sports radio is about as popular now as it ever has been, and news-format radio stations are heavily sought during local emergencies like wildfires, floods and earthquakes.
But that alone isn’t enough to prop up an entire industry, let alone an entire network-backed news radio division. Paramount’s priorities have shifted in the past few years as the company seeks to reframe its business around blockbuster films, hit TV series and connected TV platforms.
Paramount is also in the process of acquiring Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), including its cable news channel CNN, which operated its own radio news division at one point. CNN now primarily distributes audio programming as podcasts.
