A Fond Farewell to CBS News Radio

Paul White, Ed Klauber and William S. Paley’s brainchild of the 1930s, the Columbia News Service, became CBS News Radio. Next Friday, on May 22, that entity will exist no more. It set standards for reporting, programming and technical innovation. And the fabric of the network was woven well beyond what you’d hear at the top of the hour. I asked four voices in the industry intimately familiar with CBS News Radio to reflect on this “goodbye” from the technical, operational and station affiliation standpoints. Technical operations Mitch Glider. Credit: LinkedIn Mitch Glider was responsible for the technical operations for the radio newsroom and the network as CBS News Radio’s supervising engineer. He and his fellow engineers maintained one of the largest Sierra Audio Systems installations with the network’s studios in the New York broadcast center, in Washington D.C. as well as individual home studios. Editorial standards drove engineering audio standards when correspondents and reporters fed audio, he explained. “Our editorial management took it very seriously,” Glider said. His team and the editorial staff were always accessible to the affiliates. “I’d like to think we’re going out on top editorially as well as (in) engineering,” he told us. A voice in Carolina Mike Raley Mike Raley began working at Curtis Media’s WPTF(AM) in Raleigh, N.C., as a staff announcer and news anchor even before 50,000-watt WPTF became a CBS Radio affiliate some 51 years ago. On that fateful Friday morning, March 20, Raley described his emotion after hearing of CBS News Radio’s impending demise as devastation. “The loss of a trusted friend is painful, excruciating,” Raley told us. “It was a punch to the gut.” CBS provided thousands of audio reports and features for WPTF through the years, Raley estimated, and it is material that Raley said won’t easily be replaced. “Our standard of accuracy, independence, fairness and accountability was lifted up by the steady presence of CBS. “I can’t imagine that CBS Radio will be replaced. The trend in broadcasting and journalism tells me it won’t be,” he said. Motor City chronicles Jeff Gilbert Jeff Gilbert worked at the formerly CBS owned-and-operated station WWJ(AM) in Detroit, and covered the automotive beat for the network with the “Car Chronicles” feature. “My relationship with CBS began when I arrived at WWJ in 1990,” Gilbert recounted. “It was a thrill working with them.” In those days, reporters often fed material by telephone, so Gilbert remembered the constant dialogue with different CBS news desk editors, including Steve Kathan, who would become the voice of the “World News Roundup.” By the late 1990s, CBS sought to bolster its live reporting presence. “I was the early morning street reporter at WWJ, and — on big stories — we would often go live on CBS at the top of the hour, and turn around and go live on WWJ when the hourly newscast ended,” he remembered. Gilbert is the president of the North American Car of the Year organization, and launched the Car Chronicles segment first for WWJ in 1997. What’s one memory etched in his mind? Gilbert anchored special network coverage when General Motors declared bankruptcy in 2009. “CBS News Radio has been a part of my life for a long time, and when the final newscast runs, a part of that life will be over.” Instant credibility Dave Radigan Dave Radigan made his first foray into broadcast ownership when he bought WEBO(AM) in Owego, N.Y., in 2006. One of his first decisions was to seek out affiliation with CBS Radio News. It fit into his strategy to build a full-service station with a top-of-the-hour newscast, heard each hour, day and night. “Charles Osgood, Harley Carnes, the afternoon updates, Peter King, these voices on CBS News,” Radigan recalled. “That’s what people came to trust and they made our station.” The loss of CBS News Radio, he said, is something he’d never believe would come to fruition. “It’s one of those institutions that has been around for a long time, and we’re sad to see it go.” Right place, right time I have some of my own history with CBS News Radio, which started because of my coverage of auto racing. It began when I was reporting on a NASCAR Truck series race at Daytona International Speedway in February 2000 when a spectacular crash stopped race action. The network news desk called the Daytona press room to get information, and I just happened to be in that room working on another feature. CBS asked if I had any details on the crash. I spoke with one of the drivers involved and sent that report back to the network. It was the start of a relationship where I covered not only auto racing, but I reported spot news and softer features. Many of the product evaluations I’ve done for Radio World were done in the field; the use of those products contributed to my reporting. Contributing to CBS broadcasts was a personal and professional challenge that made me a better reporter and evaluator of equipment. Like a few in this business, I have the CBS News Radio top of the hour sounder as my alternate ringtone. No longer will it herald news at the top of every broadcast hour, but it’ll remind me, and a lot of others, of what once was. Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com. The post A Fond Farewell to CBS News Radio appeared first on Radio World.