CBS RADIO

[oldiesfan6479]

To the best of my knowledge, the Mutual brand has been phased out. It's not on the WW1 website.

That means, no more "bee-doop." Oh well.

Isn't there at least one WW1 sat channel that still "bee-doops"?

 

[ercjncpr]

Things change over time.....as I'm a little over 50, as a child I remember our CBS radio station (according to radio listings) running audio of the TV series "House Party." Of course even earlier, they ran regular programs that TV eventually usurped, like soap operas, dramas/comedy/variety at night.

When TV took over, radio had to change, including the radio networks. I think radio did well responding to the changes, giving news on the hour, some features that would include music (like NBC Monitor), etc. But in the 70s & 80s it seemed like only news reports, and now, people don't even want *that* on the radio.

CBS Radio was pretty decent as I was growing up. I used to listen to Mystery Theater, a daring attempt by CBS to go back to those days of yesteryear. That, in addition to the news, and sports scores/features ("all sports" radio was only a dream then).

But, yes, things have changed, and we can't go back.

cd

I'm 58, and remember House Party on the radio, too - also Arthur Godfrey and a few other programs. My mother's favorite radio station was KNX - their O&O in Los Angeles. Even in the 60s, KNX was a mix of local and CBS programming. The most notable local show was probably Bob Crane's morning show, which featured his comedy, and MOR music. He quit when he got Hogan's Heroes.

KNX had a lot of other local shows (talk, cooking shows, etc), but also ran all of CBS's programming, which was news intensive. On weekends, KNX ran only MOR music, with the exceptions of top-of-the hour network news, and somebody reading local headlines.

What happened, in my opinion, is that the old model of "full service" radio stations faded away. KNX started to feel serious competition in 1968 when KFWB became "All News, All the Time", and by the mid 70s, had moved closer to that model.

KNX was so good because it was run by one of the last of the old-time CBS execs, George Nicholaw (the General Manager). As long as he was at the helm, the traditional CBS Radio could be heard in Los Angeles even up to 2002 when new CBS Radio big wigs in NYC canned him.

 

[Tim L]

My first memories of extended radio listening as a teenager was to the old WOIO-AM 1060 in Canton, Ohio, when they were doing an early form of local talk radio in the late 60's early 70's..Their taglines were:

Two-Way Radio
"All Talk, All News, All Day"

That News came from CBS nationally, and they even had Arthur Godfrey till his last broadcast in April 1972..

 

[Oldbones]

The most obvious example is the World News Roundup, which has become like the Holy Roman Empire - neither World News nor a Roundup. It's another hourly newscast with cut-aways and fillers - lots of fillers since stations, including Newsradio 880, are cutting out at :04 and they have to get all the good stuff in before then.

I'm curious why they stick with this. Dunno about 6pm, but I know they still do it at 8am. Given that most stations that carry CBS TOH newscasts are in smaller markets and are likely to be automated (with syndicated morning shows), it seems a network newscastswhere the breakaways float somewhat are just gonna create chaos. Most of these syndicated morning shows have a 6 or 6:30 window at the TOH...4 min network news, and 2 or 2:30 local news/sports/weather. If the network doesn't have a consistent cutaway time it messes up the whole works.

 

[radiophiler]

Clear Channel's agreement to put Fox radio news on all its news/talk stations nationwide had a huge effect on CBS radio news. Many of the CC stations were CBS affiliates.

Also: For years, CBS required affiliates not only to clear two minutes of commercials per hour, but to also take the first four minutes of the top of the hour newscast live. They did grant exceptions, but mostly to 50,000 watt stations in major markets. CBS offered less flexibility to local stations when ABC and CNN were offering news formats that included the option to only air one minute of national news per hour ... or none, if you just wanted to include ABC or CNN audio cuts during a local newscast and only run the network TOH cast during off hours such as nights and weekends.

Now CBS has loosened that policy, probably because they had to due to the competition.

I wonder if only having one or two (in the days of RadioRadio) networks compared to ABC's 5 (Info, Entertainment, Direction, Contemporary and FM) hurt them.

 

[TheBigA]

Now CBS has loosened that policy, probably because they had to due to the competition.

It's an interesting statement that national news and great resources alone isn't enough to get major stations to clear the first 4 minutes. KYW Has lots of options for TOH. ABC would love to get that spot. But the station has been doing local there for almost 20 years.

I wonder if only having one or two (in the days of RadioRadio) networks compared to ABC's 5 (Info, Entertainment, Direction, Contemporary and FM) hurt them.

I don't think it matters any more. I wonder what the role of a radio network anymore is when stations won't clear TOH news.

 

[MattParker]

KYW was not a CBS affiliate before Westinghouse took control of CBS, Inc. Currently, it has affiliations with CBS, ABC and CNN. It does not run any of their top of the hour newscasts. It uses material from their various newsfeeds and, of course, runs spots from all three. They will also take Updates from CBS or ABC during breaking news and do live interviews with CBS reporters on current stories.

WPHT in Philadelphia has been a CBS affiliate (as WCAU going back to the network's founding) and an O&O since 1958. Except during off-hours, it does not run CBS' TOH newscasts either. It even runs Charles Osgood reading spots without the actual Osgood file.

Apparently CBS doesn't care what you do about the TOH news, as long as the spots are run.

 

[TheBigA]

KYW was not a CBS affiliate before Westinghouse took control of CBS, Inc.

It actually was an NBC Radio affiliate when owned by Westinghouse. That's a whole 'nother story.

 

[LKellerIII]

Things change over time.....as I'm a little over 50, as a child I remember our CBS radio station (according to radio listings) running audio of the TV series "House Party." Of course even earlier, they ran regular programs that TV eventually usurped, like soap operas, dramas/comedy/variety at night.

When TV took over, radio had to change, including the radio networks. I think radio did well responding to the changes, giving news on the hour, some features that would include music (like NBC Monitor), etc. But in the 70s & 80s it seemed like only news reports, and now, people don't even want *that* on the radio.

CBS Radio was pretty decent as I was growing up. I used to listen to Mystery Theater, a daring attempt by CBS to go back to those days of yesteryear. That, in addition to the news, and sports scores/features ("all sports" radio was only a dream then).

But, yes, things have changed, and we can't go back.

cd

I'm 58, and remember House Party on the radio, too - also Arthur Godfrey and a few other programs. My mother's favorite radio station was KNX - their O&O in Los Angeles. Even in the 60s, KNX was a mix of local and CBS programming. The most notable local show was probably Bob Crane's morning show, which featured his comedy, and MOR music. He quit when he got Hogan's Heroes.

KNX had a lot of other local shows (talk, cooking shows, etc), but also ran all of CBS's programming, which was news intensive. On weekends, KNX ran only MOR music, with the exceptions of top-of-the hour network news, and somebody reading local headlines.

What happened, in my opinion, is that the old model of "full service" radio stations faded away. KNX started to feel serious competition in 1968 when KFWB became "All News, All the Time", and by the mid 70s, had moved closer to that model.

KNX was so good because it was run by one of the last of the old-time CBS execs, George Nicholaw (the General Manager). As long as he was at the helm, the traditional CBS Radio could be heard in Los Angeles even up to 2002 when new CBS Radio big wigs in NYC canned him.

Yes - let's give props to George Nickolaw, who (if I understand correctly) was the GM at KNX from the mid 60s thru the 90s. He was in control durng KNX's conversion from an old fashioned "full service" AM station to "NewsRadio." My father - a liberal - was annoyed by Nicoloaw's editorials, which were rather conservatitve. but Nicolaw deserves a lot of credit for hie leadership of KNX.

 

[MattParker]

Yes, prior to 1955 all Westinghouse stations were NBC affiliates. Westinghouse was one of the partner companies (along with GE) in RCA, which owned NBC. Originally, NBC operated the Westinghouse and GE stations. The Justice Department forced Westinghouse and GE to divest their interests in RCA and forced RCA to divest one of its two radio networks in the early 40s. In 1954 NBC pressured to Westinghouse to trade stations in Philadelphia and Cleveland and the KYW calls moved to Cleveland; the Philadelphia station became an NBC O&O (as WRCV) until 1964 when the FCC reversed the trade. Meanwhile, in 1955 all Westinghouse radio stations dropped NBC and the Westinghouse radio stations flipped to a full service top 40 format. The move caused something of a stir because NBC was still doing old time radio dramas and comedies and NBC's soap operas and other serial programs (like One Man's Family) were cut off in the middle of their story lines. In the early 60's, Westinghouse acquired WINS in New York. The station was not doing well with a top 40 format against WMCA and WABC, so Westinghouse decided to go with the somewhat novel at the time all news format, with which Gordon McClendon had had some success in Chicago and Southern California. When KYW returned to Philly in 1964 NBC's inept management had pretty much run the station into the ground; it was being beaten the ratings by three FM stations at a time when hardly anybody listened to FM. Westinghouse opted to use the all news format in Philly, as well (and to drop NBC radio). KYW, with no network affiliation beyond reports from Group W correspondents, proved to extremely successful with all news.

 

[TheBigA]

Back to my previous thought:

With CBS Radio being the last of the original radio networks, what is the future of these kinds of things? Scrapheap? Museum?

With TV so dependent on national platforms, with the popoularity of cable and the World Wide Web, is the time ripe for a return to the old radio network model of the 30s and 40s?

 

[MattParker]

Back to my previous thought:

With CBS Radio being the last of the original radio networks, what is the future of these kinds of things? Scrapheap? Museum?

With TV so dependent on national platforms, with the popoularity of cable and the World Wide Web, is the time ripe for a return to the old radio network model of the 30s and 40s?

Scrapheap.

And ABC radio, as one of NBC's two radio networks, pre-dates CBS.

 

[TheBigA]

And ABC radio, as one of NBC's two radio networks, pre-dates CBS.

But no longer owned by ABC. That was the point I was making.

Its current owner, Citadel, ceased the use of the name ABC Radio Network in 2009. It's now known as Citadel Media.

As for your scrapheap comment, let me suggest that the things that led to the creation of radio networks in the 1920s exist today: The need for cheap but high quality programming, the value of selling a mass audience to advertisers, and the desire on the part of the public to enjoy mass culture.

 

[radiorob2.0]

In all this discussion, it's worth mentioning WSM Nashville. They were a NBC (Red) affiliate from start to end when NBC was nothing but a letterhead and Westwood One discontinued the service. WSM became an ABC affiliate with Paul Harvey, who even produced custom intros. The ABC affiliation was short lived as it soon moved to WLAC. WSM then became a CBS affiliate that it still has today. WSM is probably one of a few if not only old line clear channel that has been affiliated with all the old line networks.

Speaking of CBS and Westinghouse, Pittsburgh comes to mind. When I visited in 2000 KQV was utilizing the Westinghouse news format and elements along with CBS news at the top of the hour.

 

[fybush]

I'm pretty sure WMAQ qualifies, too. It was a CBS affiliate very early on (late 1920s into the early 30s), then an NBC O&O for many decades, and I'm pretty sure it used some ABC content during its time as a Westinghouse all-newser.

 

[TheBigA]

Speaking of CBS and Westinghouse, Pittsburgh comes to mind. When I visited in 2000 KQV was utilizing the Westinghouse news format and elements along with CBS news at the top of the hour.

I never lived in Pittsburgh, but I was there recently. I imagine KDKA was originally an NBC affiliate, but is now owned by CBS, so that's the network they carry. In another thread, it was mentioned that KQV now runs AP.

 

[davideduardo]

The station was not doing well with a top 40 format against WMCA and WABC, so Westinghouse decided to go with the somewhat novel at the time all news format, with which Gordon McClendon had had some success in Chicago and Southern California. When KYW returned to Philly in 1964 NBC's inept management had pretty much run the station into the ground; it was being beaten the ratings by three FM stations at a time when hardly anybody listened to FM. Westinghouse opted to use the all news format in Philly, as well (and to drop NBC radio). KYW, with no network affiliation beyond reports from Group W correspondents, proved to extremely successful with all news.

A more precise timeline on all news is at http://www.davidgleason.com/Archive BC/BC 1966/BC 1966 06 27.pdf with an article about the early all news stations starting on page 101.

WINS switched only a matter of months after WNUS in Chicago did. XETRA in SoCal dates further back in the 60's, and legend has it that McLendon copied the format from a station he heard on a vacation in Cuba where all-news had existed since 1949.

 

[TheBigA]

WSM then became a CBS affiliate that it still has today.

Didn't WSM make a brief switch from CBS to Fox? Then back to CBS?

 

[Ultimajock]

I'm pretty sure WMAQ qualifies, too. It was a CBS affiliate very early on (late 1920s into the early 30s), then an NBC O&O for many decades, and I'm pretty sure it used some ABC content during its time as a Westinghouse all-newser.

...WMAQ was strictly a CNN Radio affiliate during the Westinghouse all-news period. ABC in Chicago during that time was split between WLS (the O&O) and WGN (the Entertainment/Paul Harvey affiliate, having taken that affiliation away from WJJD sometime in the early '80s). The closest WMAQ ever came to being an ABC affiliate was when it carried material in the 1930s from ABC's predecessor, the Blue Network of NBC, after said material was rejected by all three Blue affiliates there (time-sharing WLS and O&O WENR, and secondary affiliate WCFL). Glenn Miller's Sunset Serenade was one such Blue offering that the other three passed on...

 

[radiorob2.0]

WSM then became a CBS affiliate that it still has today.

Didn't WSM make a brief switch from CBS to Fox? Then back to CBS?

I'm not sure. FWIW they might have lost their brief moment with Fox for the same reason they lost ABC due to a Clear Channel agreement for multiple stations.

It's worth noting that WSM doesn't run the top of the hour CBS product for news and instead time shifts a bottom of the hour update. I guess it save face when back timing.