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CBS News Radio is shutting down, but the impact to KYW Newsradio is limited

It's unclear if the latest round of layoffs will impact CBS3.

The outside of the 2400 Market Street building where Philly-based radio giant Audacy is in Philadelphia, Pa., on Tuesday, Sept., 6, 2022. Audacy is owner of KYW and WIP.
The outside of the 2400 Market Street building where Philly-based radio giant Audacy is in Philadelphia, Pa., on Tuesday, Sept., 6, 2022. Audacy is owner of KYW and WIP.Read moreTYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photograp
    by Rob Tornoe
    Updated 
    Published 

CBS News is slashing jobs as its parent company, Paramount Skydance, prepares to merge with Warner Bros. Discovery in a $111 billion deal making its way through regulators.

Roughly 6% of the CBS News workforce of about 1,000 staffers were expected to lose their jobs in Friday’s round of layoffs.

“It’s no secret that the news business is changing radically, and that we need to change along with it,” CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski said in a memo to staff obtained by The Inquirer. “That means some parts of our newsroom must get smaller to make room for the things we must build to remain competitive.”

It was unclear if those cuts would trickle down locally to CBS3, which is owned and operated by the company. Several staffers at CBS’s Washington bureau announced their jobs had been cut, including political reporter Hunter Woodall and assignment editor Nick Kurtz.

Two longtime correspondents — Elaine Quijano and Omar Villafranca — were among those laid off Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported. Quijano also served as an anchor and moderated the 2016 vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.).

CBS News is also shutting down its storied radio division, but the impact to Philadelphia stations should be limited.

CBS used to own hundreds of radio stations across the country, including KYW Newsradio and 94.1 WIP, but sold those to Entercom in 2017, which later merged with Audacy.

CBS News continued to offer newscasts and other content to about 700 affiliated stations across the country. That will end May 22. That includes national CBS News reports and other features sprinkled within KYW’s local newscasts.

The cuts also include World News Roundup, which has aired continuously since 1938 and featured legendary CBS News journalist Edward R. Murrow. It is currently anchored by Steve Kathan.

“While this was a necessary decision, it was not an easy one,” the company said in a separate memo. “A shift in radio station programming strategies, coupled with challenging economic realities, has made it impossible to continue the service.”

The Writers Guild of America blasted the network’s decision, calling it an example of the “recklessness and greed of their bosses,” specifically calling out Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison.

“The dozens of CBS journalists laid off today have served the American people through their talent and dedication,” the organization said in a statement. “Given the damage David Ellison has done to CBS News in mere months, the Ellison family must not be permitted to acquire CNN or any other vital news outlets.”