CBS News Radio signs off Friday night after nearly 100 years of broadcasting: "An American institution"
Source: CBS News
May 22, 2026 / 5:00 AM EDT / CBS News
CBS News Radio, which provides news programming to an estimated 700 stations spanning the United States, will sign off the air Friday night after nearly a century of broadcasting. The storied service, launched in September 1927, was home to broadcast legends Edward R. Murrow, Robert Trout, Douglas Edwards, Charles Osgood, Dan Rather and many other familiar and trusted voices over its decades in operation.
"It's been around for a long time. Really, an American institution is what we're losing here," said Steve Kathan, the longtime anchor of the CBS World News Roundup. "CBS Radio should be remembered for becoming a national institution very important to the development of news other than newspapers," Rather recently told "CBS Sunday Morning." "It, for many, many years, was a part, and I would argue not a small part, of what held the country together."
The decision to shutter the radio news service was announced in March, with the company citing "challenging economic realities." In a statement at the time, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski and Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss paid tribute to the historic role of CBS News Radio in covering major events worldwide since the dawn of the broadcasting era.
"For nearly 100 years, CBS News Radio has delivered original reporting to the nation from Edward R. Murrow's World War II reports in London to today's daily White House updates," they said. "Our signature broadcast, 'World News Roundup,' remains the longest-running newscast in the country. CBS News Radio served as the foundation for everything we have built since 1927."
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-radio-last-day/
Wednesday was the last time I heard a "top of the hour" CBS News minute broadcast on my local radio news affiliate (KYW) and yesterday, although there was no top of the hour report, they still had correspondent reports with the regulars, sprinkled through the day. I expect the same will occur with the news reports during the day today (heard some this morning) but expect by tonight, those will be gone too.
And this greedy clueless loser team has made sure to systematically dismantle the whole thing.
Jacson6
(2,214 posts)All the kids used to call me radio nerd. I learned a lot about current events, politics and of course sports.
BumRushDaShow
(172,424 posts)I used to keep a list of all the AM stations I could pick up at night on my little transistor radio.
Now that many have moved to digital from analog, they don't have the range like they used to have.
Jacson6
(2,214 posts)In the 1970's I used to pull in WBZ in Boston, Chicago, New York and even Atlanta,GA. I was so amazed I could listen to a radio station so far away. Of course now AM radio is syndicated and they all broadcast the same network programming. So you need to listen for the top of the hour to find out what station you are pulling in.
BumRushDaShow
(172,424 posts)as well as Cincinnati (WLW - including the pre-MAGat era Republican - Bill Cunningham
). Since I am between D.C. and NYC, always listened to stations in both cities as well as some in Baltimore.
mahatmakanejeeves
(70,842 posts)Last edited Fri May 22, 2026, 03:56 PM - Edit history (3)
I had a five-tube RCA Victor radio. I was in Alexandria, Virginia. This was in the mid-60s.
I never got Europe. ZNS was as far as I got to the southeast. WBZ was as far as I got to the northeast. Montreal, Toronto, Windsor, and Sault Ste. Marie were my Canadian cities. WTOP in DC made WCCO impossible.
I got stations across the midwest. Chicago came in well, as did Peoria. WSM all the time; not Memphis. New Orleans was strong. WAPE in Florida was always there. KCMO and KMOX came in, but past that, device prion fell off. I could occasionally get KOA. KSL was as far west as I got.
That Mexican flamethrower came in of course.
It was fun.
BumRushDaShow
(172,424 posts)we were down at Penn's Landing here in Philly at an outdoor restaurant by the river and the restaurant location is right across from Camden where that old RCA Victor "Nipper" factory was. I pointed it out to my cousin and her SO, as part of the building is still there.

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My dad was into stereos and he and his BIL both bought Fisher hi-fi systems back in the '60s. I think the receiver was the 400 series -

(I later learned why it stopped working - a blown tube - and that sent me down the rabbit hole building a home theater back in the mid-'90s, although I opted for solid state, buying a 5-channel amp - Adcom
)
msongs
(74,230 posts)mdbl
(8,767 posts)Like their TV versions.