America says 'Good night and good luck' to radio giant built by Washington State University alum

May 22-A media giant whose legacy was built by a Washington State University graduate bellowed its last few notes last week.

CBS News Radio issued its last broadcast at 11 p.m. Friday, marking the end of a 99-year run . Company and newsroom leadership said the decision to shutter the network did not come easily, but was necessary due to audience decline, "challenging economic realities" and a shift in programming strategy.

All radio jobs associated with the network, carried on 700 affiliated stations nationwide, were eliminated, according to a news announcement from the company.

"We understand how difficult this news is for our staff and their colleagues, who have worked side by side with us to cover some of the most significant stories of our time," CBS News President Tom Cibrowski and Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss said in a statement.

The end to CBS News Radio is another sign of the "intense period of change" journalism finds itself in, said Bruce Pinkleton, dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at WSU. The college's namesake played a large role in bringing the network to the heights it once enjoyed

"It's a tragic loss in my mind," Pinkleton said. "There were nearly 700 radio stations shut down, and this is Murrow's network. A truly historic network."

Murrow was raised on a homestead in Blanchard, Washington, and enrolled at then Washington State College after earning the tuition to do so by working in the timber industry after high school.

The university was one of few in the nation with radio courses and a serviceable station, which is how Murrow first got introduced to the medium.

"We had some engineers who were interested in radio, and I presume, given our remote location, that might have contributed to some of the development," Pinkleton said.

The 1930 graduate went from humble roots to an industry leader with his fair, unflinching reporting that brought the world directly to the listener. He became a household name during World War II for his coverage of Nazi air raids on London, live from the rooftops, and later was one of the first reporters at the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

By the end of the war, Murrow flew on 25 Allied combat missions in Europe, providing a bird's-eye view of war operations in a truly pioneering fashion. His office in London was bombed on three occasions during the Blitz, but Murrow escaped injury each time, according to university records.

"He flew numerous bombing raids, so many bombing raids actually he would have been dismissed if he'd actually been enlisted in the military," Pinkleton said. "He has really had a profound influence on the state of journalism and in our field, and broadly in the world through his work. That all really started with radio."

His signature sign-off, "Good Night and Good Luck," became the title of Murrow's biopic, which is still required viewing for all Murrow College freshman.

Later in his career, Murrow's reporting would prove pivotal in ending the Red Scare that gripped American politics, and in highlighting the abuses migratory farm workers in America faced. Pinkleton said he has a particular shine for the latter because it highlights how good reporting can draw focus to "critical events, things in our country that many aren't familiar with."

"We talk about ethics and courage and professional excellence - what I would kind of call broadly 'the Murrow standard,' " Pinkletion said. "It's a part of our DNA and part of our thinking, and it really is part of what we try to communicate to students, and what we think about as faculty.

WSU professor Lawrence Pintak, a former CBS News Middle East correspondent, said Murrow was the gold standard of broadcasting. He recalled how when on assignment in London one time, he signed off with the same "from London" as Murrow would, and a shiver ran down his spine.

"The bottom line is CBS Radio was created and built by Murrow, and every one of us who has gone to work for CBS News has, I don't care whether they ended up president or Dan Rather as anchor, walked through the doors that first time saying, 'Oh my God, this is the house that Murrow built and I'm working here,' " Pintak said.

Pinkleton said that in Murrow's day, and still in many locations across the world, radio served a key function. It's a cost -effective way to get information to the masses, brings listeners to the front lines of a developing scene and can be immediate in its delivery.

Radio impacts an audience in a way other reporting mediums cannot, Pintak said. His coverage of a massacre of European miners in then -Zaire, Africa, which involved his own graphic descriptions of what he saw, is something that would not have been done justice on television or in print. Murrow's reporting from Buchenwald was impactful in much the same way.

Pintak said it's sad to see the historic network come to an end, and he questioned how the current political landscape played a role in the decision. Weiss has taken flack for apparent kowtowing to the Trump administration.

"CBS News Radio was the foundation of everything; it was the entry of CBS in the national news business, it was the foundation of international broadcast news, and it was the template for how CBS News evolved," Pintak said.

Spokane County Public Information and Communications Manager Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter, a longtime radio reporter, producer and host at several local stations, said the immediacy of radio is an aspect that always excited her. In a time before cellphones, she could call in a report from the scene as it happened, or shortly after.

"I didn't have to wait for a paper to be printed; I didn't have to go back to a station to edit video," Wheatley-Billeter said.

Wheatley-Billeter's career includes eight years at KXLY's station when it was still a CBS radio affiliate. It was before the 24-hour news cycle on television, so radio proved crucial in getting key information to rural corners of Spokane County. On election nights, for example, radio reporters often had the results from the county auditor first.

"There would be a scrum of reporters, TV, radio, The Spokesman, all wanting to get the latest update," Wheatley-Billeter said. "Radio is the only one who could actually go on air right then and say, 'Hey, this race has changed,' 'Someone pulled ahead,' or 'It looks like the school levy is passing now.' "

As a reporter, Wheatley-Billeter covered the retrial of South Hill rapist Kevin Coe while stationed in Seattle for a month, traveled through South America with a delegation of North Idaho and Eastern Washington leaders and was whisked away on assignment to monitor Mount St. Helens when it showed high activity a few years after the 1980 eruption.

She said the latter led to a Mark Twain award and being named "reporter of the month" after she discovered a Portland photographer who was presumed dead after he went missing in the days after the volcano became active. He was alive.

There was a lot of local coverage too, of weird police and fire calls, at events like Odessa's Deutschesfest and play-by-play of Bloomsday. A healthy local media ecosystem meant plenty of reporters to catch stories across the Inland Northwest.

Wheatley-Billeter, who also teaches at Gonzaga University, said she stresses to her students the importance of that variety. She makes the analogy to a diet: You can't fill up on just cheap junk food. Like nutrition, consuming information should be well-balanced, which also includes looking abroad for information.

"Be judicious, be thoughtful in where you go for your news and information," she said.

The loss of CBS Radio News means less variety available to the public, and fewer reporters covering local and foreign issues. Wheatley-Billeter said it saddens her to see the network shuttered.

"Radio will always have a special place in my heart," she added.

For Pinkleton, the closing of the radio network is more representative of a threat to democracy than to journalism. The craft is carried out in the interest of the public good, of protecting democracy, a cause seemingly becoming only more important, he said.

Murrow used broadcasting to ensure a healthy democracy, like in his coverage of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's campaign against alleged Communist influence. His reporting helped bring an end to the Red Scare that plagued America's halls of power in the 1950s.

"If you love democracy, you love journalism," Pinkleton said. "It's really a critical part of our history as a country, and Murrow played a critical role in that."

Pintak spends a lot of time nowadays looking into the freedom of the press in developing countries. Whether it's Pakistan, Uganda or Zimbabwe, he said his work has shown him that one of the biggest roadblocks to journalistic freedom is media oligarchies. He worries that is what the closure is indicative of in the U.S.

"It's these oligarchs who own multiple businesses and are in bed with whatever the regime is and buy up media and use those to cozy up to the regime and to further their other business interests," Pintak said.

CBS Radio shuttered as the journalism industry continues to grapple with new platforms and sources of information for consumers, dwindling subscriptions and corporate takeovers. Pinkleton pointed to the $6.2 billion merger of media giants Tegna and Nexstar Media Group as an example, and like Pintak, Wheatley-Billeter echoed his concern about "mega infotainment conglomerates."

Meanwhile, news deserts continue to widen as more organizations close their presses and studios.

"I think it does raise real concerns about our future as a country, as well-informed democratic participants in the process of governance," Pinkleton said.

Pinkleton said he often reflects on how remarkable it is that a titan of the industry just so happens to be a Cougar. He says he still hears from students eager to enter the field, despite the challenging landscape nowadays, who travel great lengths to attend the university because of the weight, and responsibility, associated with Murrow's name.

It gives him faith in the future of the industry, he said.

There's a lot to think about with journalism today," Pinkleton said. "But I really believe that the functions of journalism may be more important today than they were during Murrow's time."

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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 8:19 AM.