For decades, Chicago’s all-news station WBBM-AM 780 (and 105.9 FM) has marked the top of every hour with its familiar five-note sounder followed by national news from CBS Radio. Those notes will play for the last time next month.
CBS News Radio will shut down for good on May 22, 2026, ending nearly a century of service that supplied top-of-the-hour newscasts to roughly 700 stations nationwide. The closure is part of broader layoffs and restructuring at CBS News amid economic pressures and the shift to digital media.
WBBM station leaders say they are confident they will fill the five-minute slot effectively, though the exact replacement remains undecided.
Schwalb, who took over in January 2023, now faces a challenge unprecedented for the station: operating without the long-standing CBS network feed.
WBBM has built its own powerful legacy as a Chicago institution. It pioneered the all-news format in 1968, helping make the “news wheel” a staple in major markets. In 2011, it added an FM simulcast on 105.9 to expand its reach. The station was acquired by Audacy (then part of the CBS Radio cluster) in the 2017 merger.
Despite the loss of CBS programming, WBBM management has emphasized that the station itself is not going anywhere and will continue delivering local, state, and national news.
The end of CBS News Radio marks the close of an era that helped shape modern broadcast journalism, from Edward R. Murrow’s reports to the development of national radio news long before television dominated.
WBBM officials are currently evaluating whether to partner with another national network or expand local programming to cover the void left at the top of the hour.