On Thursday, Chicago’s all-news station WBBM and 16 other CBS News Radio affiliates owned by Audacy quietly transitioned to ABC News, according to a source familiar with the move.
ABC News programming, including top-of-the-hour updates and breaking news coverage, has now replaced the CBS News content that WBBM and the other stations had carried for decades.
The change took effect Thursday afternoon on WBBM-AM 780 and 105.9 FM, meaning the iconic five-note CBS News Radio sounder aired on Chicago radio for the final time without any special sendoff.
Audacy’s existing ABC News affiliates, including 1010 WINS in New York and KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia, will continue their long-standing partnerships with ABC.
CBS News announced in March that it would shut down its radio news service after nearly a century of operation, citing challenging economic conditions and a rapidly evolving media landscape. The network, which had been providing national and international news to roughly 700 stations, will officially cease operations at midnight Friday.
In Chicago, WBBM-AM, acquired by the fledgling CBS Radio Network in 1931, played a significant role in building the national radio news infrastructure that covered major historical events — from World War II and the moon landing to the rise of the digital age that eventually contributed to its decline.
Philadelphia-based Audacy acquired WBBM as part of a large cluster of Chicago stations in the 2017 merger with CBS Radio. The station maintained its affiliation with CBS News Radio for 95 years, right up until the day before the network’s final sign-off.