CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadcasting since the 1970s. The broadcasting company was sold to Entercom (now known as Audacy, Inc.) on November 17, 2017.[1]
This article is about the radio group. For the radio network, see CBS News Radio.Formerly
Infinity Broadcasting (1997–2005)
1928 (Foundation of CBS)
1997 (relaunched as Infinity Broadcasting)
2005 (relaunched as CBS Radio)
November 17, 2017
Acquired by Entercom (now Audacy, Inc.)[1]
Entercom (now Audacy, Inc.)[1]
Nationwide
Andre Fernandez, president and chief executive officer
Although CBS's involvement in radio dates back to the establishment of the original CBS Radio Network in 1927, the most recent radio division was formed by the 1997 acquisition of Infinity Broadcasting by CBS owner Westinghouse. In 1999, Infinity became a division of the original Viacom; in 2005, Viacom spun CBS and Infinity Broadcasting back into a separate company, and the division was renamed CBS Radio. It was the last radio group left to be tied to a major broadcast television network, as NBC divested its radio interests in the 1980s, and ABC sold off its division to Citadel Broadcasting (now part of Cumulus Media) in 2007.
Early origins[edit]
CBS Radio is one of the oldest units within CBS Corporation, and has been around since 1928.[2] However, the actual CBS Radio Network (now CBS News Radio) was launched in 1927, when CBS itself was known as United Independent Broadcasters.[3] Columbia Records later joined in and that company was renamed the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System. In September 1927, Columbia Records sold the company to William S. Paley and in 1928, Paley streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System.
In 1940, Paley also joined forces with the journalist Edmund Chester at CBS Radio and Nelson Rockefeller at the Department of State's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to launch the imaginative Network of the Americas (La Cadena de Las Americas) in 1942.[4][5] This innovative radio network beamed both news and cultural programming live to North and South America in support of cultural diplomacy and Pan Americanism in accordance with President Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy during World War II.[6][7][8][5][9]
Prior to the merger with Entercom, CBS Radio operated nearly all of the all-news radio stations in the United States.
They included:
As part of the merger and in order to comply with FCC Regulations, CBS Radio divested WBZ and ownership of that station was transferred to iHeartMedia.