When Charlie Chaplin allowed the world to hear his voice after twenty years of silent performance, he chose CBS for the broadcast.
(Source: LA Times)
CBS Corp. is poised to exit the radio business that it helped create.
Eighty-eight years ago, the company’s founder, William S. Paley, bought the nascent Columbia Broadcasting System, and those radio stations became the nucleus of a budding broadcast empire.
But on Tuesday, CBS Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said the company was exploring strategic options, including a sale or spinoff, of its entire radio division.
“The aim here is to unlock value for our shareholders,” said Moonves, who made the announcement during an investor day in New York.
The decision marks the end of an era and highlights the waning influence of commercial radio, which is no longer considered a growth industry. Young adults spend more time listening to digital music files, podcasts and subscription Internet radio services such as Spotify and Pandora. The shift has prompted major advertisers, including car dealerships, wireless phone companies and financial services firms, to steer more of their marketing dollars to digital platforms.
Interesting. Most of the MW broadcasters still using HD are stations owned by CBS. I periodically DX 50 kW stations in my area at night for HD signals. I fairly regularly lock onto KRLD, KMOX, and KFAQ. Although I think losing those HD stations would be a blow for HD, I don’t think the blow would be terminal. However, the hybrid mode of HD needs to be banned on the MW band. We’ll see how this potential sale of CBS’ radio division affects HD radio. I don’t really see any adverse effect on radio in general. Good riddance, CBS! LoL
How can you DX 50 kW HD MW stations “in my area”?
MW HD in the USA was a failure. It was whipped by local analog FM.
You are right about local coverage. As much as I like to listen to 50 kW MV stations for news at night the audience numbers for these stations pale in comparison to the local daytime numbers.
Dumb-down wins by the numbers, every time.
I’m surprised they stayed at it for so long.
This is ominous news for radio listeners like myself who value quality news coverage. Two of the three 24/7 live 50kW AM news stations on the west coast are CBS owned. When those are gone AM radio will be a talk radio wasteland.
The digital industry is doing its very best to hasten the demise of radio broadcasting. The smart phone i am pecking upon at this very moment is equipped with an actual FM receiver. This receiver is disabled for use in North America thanks to the collusion of cell phone manufacturers and the phone companies that want to sell data.