As part of today’s layoffs at CBS News, the company has announced that it will shut down CBS News Radio on May 22.
In a memo to staff from CBS News Editor-In-Chief Bari Weiss and President/Executive Editor Tom Cibrowski, the company noted that the network will conclude its operations after just shy of a century of operation. The move will mark the complete end of radio programming from CBS as the News division was the only part retained following the 2017 sale of CBS Radio to Entercom.
The shutdown is part of wider cuts at CBS News that will see 6% of all positions eliminated. CBS News Radio can trace its lineage to the launch of United Independent Broadcasters network in 1927 ahead of purchases from Columbia Records and then William Paley in 1928 that would give the network its established name. The first newscast would air in September 1927.
CBS News had partnered with Audacy’s Infinity Networks last October to manage distribution for CBS News Radio. Among the services being offered by CBS News Radio were 3 or 6 minute top of the hour newscasts, 1 minute bottom of the hour newscasts, special reports/breaking news, access to audio newsfeeds including correspondent reports, news and entertainment actuality material, one minute features on news, finance, entertainment, health, lifestyle & technology, a daily Country music feature, and long=form programs including simulcasts of television programs including 60 Minutes, Face The Nation, CBS News Sunday Morning, and the CBS Evening News.
Today, we informed our CBS News Radio team and approximately 700 affiliated stations that we will end the service on May 22, 2026.
Unfortunately, this decision means that all positions within the CBS News Radio team are being eliminated. We understand how difficult this news is for our staff and their colleagues, who have worked side by side with us to cover some of the most significant stories of our time.
While this was a necessary decision, it was not an easy one. A shift in radio station programming strategies, coupled with challenging economic realities, has made it impossible to continue the service. We are sharing this announcement now to fulfill our commitments to our radio partners and affiliates, which require advance notice of the service’s conclusion.
For nearly 100 years, CBS News Radio has delivered original reporting to the nation-from Edward R. Murrow’s World War Il reports in London to today’s daily White House updates. 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.
The coming weeks will be difficult for the team members who have worked tirelessly at CBS News Radio. We are committed to supporting these valued colleagues with care and respect as we wind down operations. They have been critical to our success and remain treasured friends and professionals. We thank them deeply for their contributions.
Thank you all for your dedication and for the compassion you show one another as we move forward.
Bari and Tom
Affiliates received the following memo notifying them of the conclusion of the services:
Harrry W. 
This will be strange. KCBS radio with no CBS Radio
This has the same historic significance as emploding American treasures as the hotels in Las Vegas. It’s un-American to just let sacrilege of American entertainment excellence,and the beacon of American CBS RADIO NEWS,not be permitted to exist. The United States America 🇺🇲 is losing a great vestige of her soul.
When WCBS New York signed off, I wrote that it was the station that my Dad and I shared together, but it was more broadly CBS News whether it was there or on WTOP Washington, either of which could be playing on a late-night road trip. I had also discovered CBS News through CBS Morning News, because it came on before Captain Kangaroo (!) and I was therefore familiar with many of the shared staffers/commentators.