Posted on 03/20/2026 8:23:47 AM PDT by VanShuyten
CBS News Radio is being axed as part of layoffs that were announced by division honchos Bari Weiss and Tom Cibrowski on Friday, The Post has learned.
The pair told staffers the nearly century-old service will shut down May 22 with all roles in the unit eliminated.
The move comes as CBS News slashes roughly 6% of its workforce — impacting about 60 employees — in a sweeping overhaul driven by Weiss as she reshapes the newsroom under owner David Ellison.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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CBS News Radio went off the air almost two years ago in NYChitty....their traffic and weather reports were worth a listen...
End of an era.
For years CBS radio news would end its’s hourly report with if the stock market was up or down.
If the market was down, the preceding story would be about a Republican.
If the market was up, the penultimate story was about a Democrat.
https://www.tvinsider.com/1252846/cbs-evening-news-ratings-tony-dokoupil/
My wife did some stringer work for them in the 80’s and 90’s.
We liked when they would pick up a story. It meant we could go out to dinner with the $35 they paid.
That entire industry is going by the wayside. The days of local news and national networks ended 15 years ago. Most people never noticed because they listen through their phones now.
It was only a matter of time. CBS sold their radio stations in 2017. Radio is dying and it wasn’t what it was. AM radio is on the ropes and FM will soon follow. It is all podcasting and internet streaming now. Also, Ellison need to pay down a $79 billion debt (https://gulfbusiness.com/en/2026/media/paramount-debt-to-hit-79bn-after-warner-bros-deal-no-plan-to-sell-cable-assets/) after buying Warner Bros Discovery. That deal still has to be approved.
At some point it becomes a paper shell with no need to have production staff.
The people who are laid off will likely end up working for one of the partners.
How it all began.
CBS World News Roundup - March 13, 1938, in response to Hitler’s annexation of Austria. It was the first broadcast to bring the voices of correspondents stationed around the world together for a live news broadcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUx2zvHEzoY
I haven’t thought about or heard John Batchelor in over 10 years. That’s mostly b/c in my Bay Area, 99% of all the Talk Shows have been taken away from terrestrial radio and substituted with muzak or taped programming. I dearly miss my talk shows and have yet to search for them online.
It’s just not the same thing.
John Batchelor had a unique sort of show. He was a good interviewer. World politics and society studies.
At the beginning of John’s shows, he used to play an intro of music. Often classical, often blasting and dynamic.
As a way to grab the listeners’ attention.
CBS Radio Sports (in name only) ceased to exist in 2019.
CBS Sports Radio was initially launched in January 2013 through a collaboration between CBS Radio and Cumulus Media, eventually transitioning to full CBS ownership with Westwood One managing syndication distribution and ad sales. Audacy, inheriting the network through its acquisition of CBS Radio, was bound by an agreement necessitating a brand change by the end of 2020. This led to the removal of the CBS Eye logo from the network’s branding and marketing efforts in 2019.
https://radioink.com/2024/04/08/to-infinity-beyond-cbs-sports-radio-finishing-audacy-rebrand/
I did stringer work for them in the late 70’s when I was in radio. Paid $25 but was easy money
John Batchelor still has a good show. It’s about the only way to find out what’s happening in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. He has good in-depth reports on the various wars and political movements around the globe, and he has regular reports on space and technology. His author interviews are generally very interesting, although I don’t listen to many of those because of the topics. He also has a couple of regular contributors that are lefties or otherwise untrustworthy, but still good to listen to.
I usually listen to his podcasts because his shows comes on late on the East Coast.
I still remember a CBS (Complete BS) radio news report during Rush’s show, which mentioned that a lower court had ruled in Slick Willy’s favor in the impeachment case. The Supremes overturned that decision shortly thereafter.
What was memorable was that CBS Fake News factually reported the event, but they added the word “fortunately”, which made it into an editorial.
Good riddance.
As the News Director for a small stand alone AM station in Santa Cruz County, I had one of my stories go live for CBS World News Now. It was the visit of the Second Lady to Watsonville post Loma Prieta Quake. That was kinda exiciting. I used to pick up extra cash submitting stories for UPI also.
I am still upset they axed CBS Radio Mystery Theater
I used to see Batchelor’s interviewing style as similar to Charlie Rose. Sophisticated, urbane and at times lighthearted. Charlie has never been able to recover from the Me-2-Crusades. Too bad.
Even though Rose tended to be liberal, he really knew how to conduct an in depth interview. I don’t know if his programming equal has been ever been heard yet.
Who’s next? Amos ‘n Andy? Fibber McGee and Molly?
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