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“We all leave with a sense of proud accomplishment and gratitude,” Steve Kathan says
By Nick Langan ⋅
CBS News Radio’s World News Roundup, the longest-running newscast in the U.S., aired its final broadcast Friday morning.
Steve Kathan, the program’s longtime morning anchor, handled the final edition routinely and gracefully. Headline items included the sudden death of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and Memorial Day weekend travel updates.
Then, at about the six-minute mark of the roundup, Kathan acknowledged it would be his last.
(Listen to the final World News Roundup.)
“Our history has always been important to us, and as CBS News Radio signs off today, too, we all leave with a sense of proud accomplishment and gratitude for our listeners and the great radio stations who’ve been part of our family,” Kathan reflected. “They will carry on.”
He then played a clip of Edward R. Murrow, making his on-air debut from Vienna on March 13, 1938, reporting on the Nazi invasion of Austria. That original 38-minute show, anchored by Robert Trout, featured journalists reporting live from the field and birthed the modern news roundup format.
[Related: “Remembering CBS Radio’s Beginnings”]
Kathan credited the Todd Weiss, the roundup’s producer, as well as Paul Farry, a producer for World News Roundup for 23 years before retiring last year and Steven Baltin before Farry.
“Lucky to work with such great people,” Kathan said.
Over its historic run, the World News Roundup produced approximately 23,000 episodes. While the full show traditionally ran for 10 minutes, many local stations across the country opted to carry only the first eight minutes.
As of 2023, approximately 155 stations aired the World News Roundup, as well as SiriusXM Channel 124. The episodes were also available online through the Audacy app.
Kathan joined CBS News Radio in 1987 as a writer and producer. Ten years later, he began anchoring hourly newscasts, updates and special events.
Jennifer Keiper hosted the final evening edition.
You can also read reflections Radio World has published from Paul Kaminski and Michael Antonoff on the CBS News Radio shutdown.
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Nick Langan
The author is a content producer and staff writer for Radio World, having joined the editorial team in 2024. He has a lifelong passion for long-distance FM radio propagation and is a faculty advisor for 89.1 WXVU(FM). He is also the creator of RadioLand, an FM radio location mobile app, which he completed for his Villanova University graduate thesis.
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