CBS Radio is set to broadcast its final network newscasts Friday, but the owner of WBBM-AM 780 apparently didn’t want to wait.
On Thursday, Chicago’s all-news station, along with 16 other CBS News Radio affiliates across the Audacy chain, quietly flipped the switch to ABC News, according to a source familiar with the situation. ABC News reports, including top-of-the-hour updates and breaking news coverage, will replace the programming long provided by CBS, which is pulling the plug on its century-old radio network.
ABC News had already supplanted CBS News at the top of the hour as of Thursday afternoon on WBBM-AM 780 and 105.9 FM. That means the iconic five-note CBS News Radio sounder has rung out for the last time – without fanfare – on the Chicago airwaves.
Making the move to ABC for national and international news a day ahead of the swan song for CBS was meant to ensure a smooth on-air transition for the 17 Audacy-owned CBS News Radio affiliates across the country, according to the source. The abrupt network change does not impact local newsroom staffing or programming, the source said.
Existing Audacy-owned ABC affiliates such as 1010 WINS in New York and KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia, will continue their longstanding relationships with ABC News, the source said.
CBS News announced in March it was ending its storied radio news service after nearly 100 years of operation, blaming economic conditions and the changing media landscape. The network, which provides news to 700 stations across the country, will shut down on Friday at midnight.
Acquired by the fledgling CBS Radio Network in 1931, WBBM-AM was integral to the development of a national news platform that documented history in real time through world wars, moon landings and the advent of the digital age, which ultimately proved to be its undoing.
Philadelphia-based Audacy, one of the largest radio chains in the U.S., acquired WBBM as part of a cluster of Chicago stations through a 2017 megamerger with CBS Radio. WBBM-AM maintained its 95-year affiliation with CBS Radio until a day before the network ended.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
