CBS Radio

CBS Radio Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, fourth behind main rival Clear Channel Communications (which owns many of the radio stations previously owned by former CBS parent Viacom before 1997), Cumulus Media and Citadel Broadcasting. The corporation owns around 140 radio stations across the country. In 2002 its sales were $3.7bn, an increase of just over 1% on the previous year. It is currently part of the CBS Corporation, which also owns CBS Television and the CBS Radio Network, and jointly owns the CW television network. Infinity had operated independently of CBS until the departure of chief executive Mel Karmazin in 2004. Until late 2004, the stations' websites were not allowed to stream their programs online. WCBS-AM was the first station in the CBS able to stream their content over the internet, shortly followed by other news and talk stations. Company officials originally thought that there was no profit to be made from streaming.