Once a mainstay of the radio dial, local news is signing off as stations struggle to survive in the digital age

For more than a century, Americans have been turning to a trusted and reliable source for local news: the radio. Now, the terrestrial broadcasts are facing an existential threat as listeners and advertising dollars rapidly shift, forcing stations to slash staff and even sign off the air for good.

For more than a century, Americans have been turning to a trusted and reliable source for local news: the radio. Now, the terrestrial broadcasts are facing an existential threat as listeners and advertising dollars rapidly shift, forcing stations to slash staff and even sign off the air for good. This week, one of the nation’s biggest local news radio outlets, New York City’s WCBS 880 AM, announced it would sign off by the end of the month, ending a nearly six-decade run as a local news source for the five boroughs and beyond. The station’s parent company, Audacy, blamed the challenges facing the news business for the decision, saying it plans to replace WCBS’s current all-news format with ESPN sports talk programming. “New York has always been proudly unique in supporting two all-news radio brands, but the news business has gone through significant changes,” Chris Oliviero, Audacy’s New York Market president, said in a statement. “The headwinds facing local journalism nationwide made it essential to strategically reimagine how we deliver the news for the most impact.” Across the dial in New York, staffers at WNYC news radio learned Wednesday that the station will cut its staff by at least 8% next month — its second such reduction in a year — as it scrambles to contend with a free fall in advertising dollars. “Despite our best efforts to contain costs and grow our revenue, we continue to face severe financial headwinds,” LaFontaine Oliver, president and chief executive of New York Public Radio, WNYC’s parent company, said in a memo to staff. “Our deficit has continued to mount and it has become painfully clear that without swift action, we will soon face significant questions about our ability to continue to serve New York.” Over the border near Toronto, 900 CHML, a 50,000-watt news-talk station on the air for nearly a century, announced Wednesday it would shutter following “years of financial loss.”