Everyone knows that many legacy media outlets are under fire these days. Perhaps we at Railway Age are more aware of the situation than most observers, because our 170-year legacy on our specialized reporting beat is one of the longest anywhere. Yet media we have known for our entire lives, and which touched those lives in so many ways, is dying. Today (May 22) marks the end of radio news on CBS. At 8:00 Eastern time this morning, Steve Kathan sat in front of a CBS Radio microphone and reported the CBS World News Roundup for the final time. It was not only the last time for him, but for a newscast that kept Americans and people elsewhere who had access to short wave radios informed since the scary days of the buildup toward World War II. Throughout the day, the hourly newscasts will toll the death watch until Christopher Cruz (scheduled at this writing) will deliver the final newscast tonight and effectively sign the network off the air and into memory. The five-note sounder, followed by the network’s newscast into: “This is CBS News on the Hour, your home for original reporting” will be heard for the last time, as the voices of what had been a journalistic and broadcasting institution will fall silent. Steve Kathan. Photo courtesy CBS News The final edition of the “Roundup” was classic CBS Radio News content. The ten-minute newscast contained six reports, the last one recapping the end of another era at CBS:…
