Beech Tree News Network

This week I’ll write about the end of an era.  After 99 years, CBS News Radio, the last remaining connection to the former CBS Radio empire, will be shutting down for good on May 22 of this year.  The move is part of a recently announced layoff that will result in an overall 6% reduction in position in the news division.  

Affected are roughly 700 affiliates carrying various programming provided by CBS News, including short newscasts(3-6 minutes in length)normally run at the start of each hour, one minute headline newscasts carried at the bottom of each hour, special reports and breaking news feeds as they happen, short features focusing on health, lifestyle, entertainment and finance, and even simulcasts of CBS television programming such as “Face The Nation” and “60 Minutes”.

Most of the programming was carried by stations owned by Audacy-including KNX 10710 AM and 971.1 FM-as Audacy-then known as Entercom, took over the former CBS Radio station network back in 2017.  After that sale, CBS News Radio was the only remaining tie to the CBS Radio division that dated back to 1928.

The genesis of the news division pre-dates CBS itself, when the United Independent Broadcasters launched in 1927; Columbia Records started purchasing stations and providing programming to affiliates beginning in 1928, spearheaded by William Paley, who must be rolling over in his grave seeing what has happened to his once-sterling empire.

Give credit where credit is due.  CBS held on much longer than competing networks.  NBC sold off its radio programming division to Westwood One in 1987 and sold its last remaining station (WNBC/New York) one year later.  ABC-once known as NBC Blue Network and became ABC when NBC divested the network of stations in 1943-sold most assets in 2007 and shut down the division fully with the discontinuation of Radio Disney in 2015.

What will happen with former affiliates like KNX? Not much.  The trend for owner Audacy is to centralize the operations, and I assume that’ll continue but that is unrelated to the move by CBS News.  The hunch is that Audacy will fill the void with similar programming concepts.

Finally, for something I never thought I’d see: TikTok has partnered with iHeart to launch iHeart TikTok Radio.  It’s available on the HD2 stream of KYSR (98.7 FM)-if you have an HD Radio tuner in your car or home-as well as the iHeart Radio app.  “Basically, if a song, trend or creator is blowing up on TikTok, there’s a good chance you’ll hear it here” . according to an online description of the format.  Launched March 13, the format is currently available in 13 HD substations across the country.  TikTok Radio is designed to be a live version of the app’s “For You” feed.  (www.dailynews.com)