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 still operating and still owned by its parent company, even though CBS sold its owned and operated radio stations in 2017.
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. 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. 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, to go into effect on January 1, 2018.

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 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. 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, 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 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, 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.
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.

Correspondents

All-news affiliates of CBS News Radio, listed by market rank: