The network said it would eliminate about 6% of its workforce — roughly 60 employees — and end its century-old radio service on May 22.
The audio network provides top-of-the-hour national newscasts carried by about 700 stations, including KCBS.
KCBS is owned by Audacy, not CBS News, and produces most of its programming locally. A source at the San Francisco station, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about internal decision-making, said staff were awaiting guidance on how the changes will affect operations.
The person was granted anonymity in accordance with Chronicle policies on sourcing. In a memo to employees, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski and editor-in-chief Bari Weiss said affected staff would be notified by the end of the day.
“It’s no secret that the news business is changing radically, and that we need to change along with it,” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote in the memo. “New audiences are burgeoning in new places, and we are pressing forward with ambitious plans to grow and invest so that we can be there for them. That means some parts of our newsroom must get smaller to make room for the things we must build to remain competitive.”
In a separate note to radio staff and affiliates, the executives said the shutdown would eliminate all positions in the radio division.
“While this was a necessary decision, it was not an easy one,” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote. “A shift in radio station programming strategies, coupled with challenging economic realities, has made it impossible to continue the service.”
CBS News said the service reaches about 700 affiliated stations nationwide.
The company said CBS News Radio had operated for nearly a century and pointed to its role in carrying Edward R. Murrow’s World War II reports and the long-running “World News Roundup.”
Friday’s cuts are the second round of layoffs at CBS News in about six months, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The latest reductions are the first tied directly to Weiss’ restructuring plan for the division.