CBS Radio News closes shop

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• At any news radio station worth their salt, news anchors should be able to put together two minutes of national plus the local report. Just a shame that CBS Radio News is going the way of newspapers, dial phones, and good local radio.

• As a major affiliate with a news/talk format, KIRO didn't make as much use of the network as you might think. For example, they routinely cut away from top-of-the-hour newscasts at the two-minute mark. Perhaps the programming department believes CBS is just "filler," and the remaining three minutes would be a tune out.

• What a shame. I always enjoyed the CBS hourly news and listening to the distinctive sound byte that preceded the news. Dallas Townsend, Douglas Edwards; they spoke with educated, authoritative voices. The current presenters should listen to recordings of them and learn something about proper English and on air presence.

  • Yes, an audio memory. This and the network cue tones. https://www.qzvx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/CBS-news-Sounder-1969-2001.mp3

    • I think the silent words to the that was CBS Radio

    • Those "little beeps" (often described as clicks, chirps, bleeps, or "bee-doops") that listeners heard before and sometimes during U.S. radio network newscasts in the mid-20th century through the 1980s/1990s were primarily network cue tones (also called alert tones, NetAlert, Hotline, or Mutualert tones).

      Radio networks CBS, NBC, ABC, and Mutual distributed programming over telephone lines (and later satellites) to hundreds of affiliate stations across the country. These tones served as automated electronic signals to:
      Alert local stations that network news or a special bulletin was about to start (so engineers or automation could switch feeds, play the network ID, or prepare for the broadcast).
      Trigger "hotline" or emergency cut-ins for breaking news, overriding local programming without manual intervention.
      Provide countdowns or synchronization cues (e.g., a series of beeps leading up to the exact top-of-the-hour news).

      They became a familiar (if quirky) part of the listening experience. Different networks had their own signature sounds:
      CBS NetAlert: Started with loud clicking/bleeping sequences (like rotary phone dialing) in the 1960s, later softer "chirps" or warbles (touch-tone-like pairs). A countdown of several beeps often preceded the news jingle. (durenberger.com)

      Mutual:"Bee-doop" tones (short dual-frequency bursts), used from the 1970s onward.

      https://www.qzvx.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/CBS-Mutual-ABC-NBC-radio-news-sounders.mp3

      These systems evolved with technology—early versions were basic tone sequences; later ones carried more data. By the late 2000s, many (like CBS's chirps) were phased out as digital/satellite feeds and automation made them unnecessary.

      NBC Chimes (three tones: G-E-C): These were a famous network identifier and cue for program switches or IDs, not specifically for news beeps (though a fourth chime signaled major breaking news).

      Teletype/teletypewriter sounds: Clacking or tapping in the background of old newscasts (or dramatized in movies) came from wire service machines printing stories. This was sometimes played as an effect for atmosphere, not the same as the cue beeps.

• In the memo concerning radio-- Bari Weiss noted that “the coming weeks will be difficult for the team members” since they’ll be keeping the radio network on the air until May while knowing their jobs are ending.

• Surprising news, but then again... not surprising considering the state of radio in 2026...

  I am wondering though, what happens with the stations that carry CBS News(both the top of hour newscasts, and long form programming)? KIRO-FM in Seattle, for example...

  Do they go with another network, or just program locally produced news at the top of the hour?

  • That is a question soon to be addressed by those stations -- https://shorturl.at/w1MNy

• When I started in the business in the mid-1960s, and later as news director at a CBS affiliate, the network was the "North Star" in broadcasting, followed closely by NBC Radio. The latter, which went on the air a year before CBS, was closed down in 1999. And now the death knell for CBS Radio. Unimaginable.

• CBS News’ homepage did not carry news about the radio division on its homepage.

• Bari, not Barry. Just to clarify, Bari Weiss is a woman.

• Decisions. Decisions. Bari Weiss, founder of the Free Press website and without broadcast news experience before being hired by CBS parent Paramount’s new management, has quickly become a headline-maker and polarizing figure in journalism.

• CBS News was cutting about 6% of its workforce, or more than 60 people, on Friday