Since taking the reins at CBS News, Bari Weiss has faced a chorus of criticism and second guessing.
asserted
Weiss → take → criticism
But one move stands out as particularly illogical: Eliminating the entire CBS News Radio operation.
asserted
move → stand → operation
The division represented a mere drop in the bucket for the network’s overall broadcast budget.
asserted
division → represent → budget
Also on the plus side, CBS News Radio was a 99-year-old institution that reached an estimated 20 million listeners a week — a far bigger audience than the network’s “Evening News With Tony Dokoupil,” which is lucky to surpass 4 million viewers.
asserted
which → reach → viewers
Larry Magid, who worked for CBS News Radio for more than two decades before segueing to a contributor role in 2020 with his nationally distributed “The ConnectSafely Report,” was among the most recognized voices affected by the division’s dismantling.
asserted
who → work → dismantling
“She definitely does not care about traditional media,” Magid says of Weiss.
asserted
Magid → care → Weiss
“She may care about podcasting.
uncertain
She → care → podcasting
She may care about blogging.
uncertain
She → care → blogging
But it doesn’t strike me that she has a real understanding of the value of traditional broadcast.”
asserted
she → strike → broadcast
It is unclear if the division was eking out a small profit or hemorrhaging money.
uncertain
division → eke → money
A New York Times story in March claimed (with thin attribution) that CBS News was “unprofitable,” according to “a person familiar with the company.”
uncertain
News → claim → company
The Los Angeles Times also insisted that monthly revenues recently fell “as low as $67,000, according to a network executive not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.”
uncertain
revenues → insist → matter
But Magid believes the division was in the black.
asserted
division → believe → black
“I’m told that it actually made some money, that it wasn’t a losing proposition,” he says“I’m told that it actually made some money, that it wasn’t a losing proposition,” he says.
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he → tell → money
“Even if it made a dime, as a public service, to kill it, it doesn’t make sense.”
asserted
it → make → sense
It made little sense to the some 70 staffers we told you about in March who sat through Weiss’ tone deaf speech that appeared to be cribbed from Wikipedia.
asserted
that → make → Wikipedia
Meanwhile, the medium’s market share continues to impress.
asserted
share → continue → ?
A Nielsen report from earlier this year found that “radio reaches 93% of all U.S. adults each month, making it the top-reaching media platform in the country.”
asserted
it → find → country
The report noted the broad spread of car-bound listeners.
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report → note → listeners
“That reach extends across demographics, including 93% of Black consumers and 94% of Hispanic consumers,” the report stated.
asserted
report → extend → consumers
“Even among the hard-to-reach 18-34 audience, radio reaches 89% of the population.”
asserted
radio → reach → population
Magid, who recorded the final segment for CBS News Radio on May 22, was “devastated” by Weiss’ indiscriminate swing of the axe.
uncertain
who → record → axe
But the veteran tech journalist quickly bounced back.
asserted
journalist → bounce → ?
By May 29, “ConnectSafely Report” — a twice-weekly, one-minute feature on online safety, privacy, security and AI (timely!) — returned through its new independent distribution network without missing a single episode.
uncertain
Report → return → episode
Before CBS News Radio went dark, its affiliate manager called Magid and gave him the list of the stations that carried “ConnectSafely Report.”
asserted
that → go → Report
Many of them said, ‘Yeah, we want to continue, please send it to us,” Magid recalls.
asserted
Magid → say → us
Fifteen stations now carry the program in top markets like Boston, Chicago and Washington, and Magid says the list is growing.
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list → carry → Boston
Even better, he is working from his home studio in the Bay Area, which is way more luxe than what Weiss had turned the CBS News Radio digs into months before it shuttered.
asserted
it → work → digs
“Bari shrunk it to a room about the size of a small bedroom by the time they pulled the plug.
asserted
they → shrink → plug
It was tiny,” Magid says before comparing it to the grand pre-Weiss studio.
asserted
Magid → say → studio
“That was huge and was the newsroom that Walter Cronkite operated out of in the old days.”
asserted
Cronkite → operate → days
The Aporia
