Commentary

CBS Radio Goes Silent: Network Is Being Closed In May

by Ray Schultz , Columnist, March 22, 2026

The news business has taken another big hit: CBS News is eliminating CBS Radio.

Closing of the radio network, which now has 700 affiliates, will be accompanied by layoffs.

The announcement was made to the staff on Friday by Bari Weiss, editor in chief of CBS News, and Tom Cibrowski, president of the news division.

“Today, we informed our CBS News Radio team and approximately 700 affiliated stations that we will end the service on May 22, 2026,” wrote Weiss and Cibrowski. “Unfortunately, this decision means that all positions within the CBS News Radio team are being eliminated.”

Other positions were also cut at CBS News on Friday. Newsrooms, whether in TV or print, can have their pick of the departing journalists, but it is doubtful that there will be jobs for all of them. CBS News reportedly cut 6% of its staff.

It was not clear whether this closure had a political import or was being made simply for business reasons.

As widely reported, CBS News has taken a more conservative approach following the hire of Weiss and its acquisition by Paramount. But it has also seen its ratings go down, The Washington Post reports. (This is the same Washington Post that recently laid off roughly 30% of its staff.)

Meanwhile, Weiss and Cibrowski celebrated the history of CBS Radio.

"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.

They added, “CBS News Radio served as the foundation for everything we have built since 1927."

It is hypocritical to highlight Edward R. Murrow in this context: if he were alive and reporting today, he would be vulnerable.

Even in the 1950s, Murrow raised corporate eyebrows with his reporting on Sen. Joseph McCarthy and a famous speech he gave critiquing the TV industry for its focus on entertainment. He wasn’t fired, but his influence was reduced over the next few years.

On the night of Pearl Harbor, Murrow – who was based in London but in the States at that time – shared sandwiches and beer with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the White House. It might be fun to go back and listen to some of his old broadcasts.

journalism, personnel, publishing, radio

2 comments about "CBS Radio Goes Silent: Network Is Being Closed In May".

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Lynda Crawford from n/a, March 23, 2026 at 10:14 a.m.
It feels like we're on a sinking ship.
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Dan C. from MS Entertainment, March 23, 2026 at 1:47 p.m.

I have a love for radio and radio was inspirational in my youth and early in my career. The theater of the mind still holds strong, and if Murrow were around today pulling in the numbers he had, CBS News Radio would not fold.

The reality is the amount of money required to keep the division afloat with dismal AQH ratings and advertising CPMs in the toilet for radio does not substantiate the expense.

The landscape has been changing and legacy media has struggled to figure out how to remain dominant (even relevant) in a digital world. I was around when the execs at NBC, CBS, and ABC were laughing at cable TV thinking there was no way cable could compete. I was at a major broadcast network in the late 1990s when they thought "this internet thing is a fad" when I thought it was fascinating.

Here we are almost 30 years later and the people who replaced those executives still haven't learned.