CBS News Radio broadcast its final newscast on Friday, closing nearly a century of service with the iconic voice of Edward R. Murrow saying, “Good night, and good luck.” The last words were delivered by anchor Christopher Cruise: “CBS News special report. I’m Christopher Cruise.”
The network announced in March that the radio service would shut down due to budget cuts under new owners Paramount Skydance. The final newscast included veteran anchors such as Steve Kathan, who noted that “America’s longest running newscast signs off for the last time.”
Earlier in the evening, retrospectives highlighted the network’s storied history, including Murrow’s broadcasts from London during the Blitz. Former correspondents shared memories: Marvin Kalb, 95, said, “Every time that I could do a piece for the roundup, I felt honored. It wasn’t just a job. It was a calling.” Dan Rather, 94, described radio as “a kind of magic carpet” that took listeners to the war.
The radio network, which began with CBS in 1927, served around 700 stations. Many have already switched to ABC News. Brooke A. Byers, granddaughter of CBS founder William S. Paley, wrote in The Guardian that the closure “represents another crack in the crown jewel that we once relied upon to be educated citizens.”
The Writers Guild of America, East criticised the closure as “a single reckless and shortsighted decision” by Paramount CEO David Ellison and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. The union said it erodes a vital news source and leaves 26 members jobless. In March, Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski cited “shifting radio station programming strategies” and “challenging economic realities” as reasons for the shutdown.
