Lee Harris joins Red Apple Media to launch global news network

Lee Harris left CBS to help Red Apple Media and WABC roll out a new global news service on May 23, one day after CBS News Radio ends its top‑of‑hour newscasts on May 22【2】.

The move came after Red Apple’s president Chad Lopez hired Harris just two and a half weeks before CBS’s shutdown. In the short span, Harris set up a temporary studio that “sounds better than any studio we have already built here at WABC,” and recruited senior talent to staff the operation【2】. Lopez praised Harris’s “knowledge, relationships, and credibility,” calling him a “unicorn” for the radio world.

The timing is critical: CBS News Radio’s exit will leave hundreds of affiliates without the hourly news they rely on. Red Apple Media aims to fill that gap and then expand the service beyond the United States, a vision Lopez attributes to former CBS executive John [Last Name not provided] and to Harris’s reputation from his time at WINS and CBS【2】.

Launching a worldwide network on such a sprint schedule underscores the urgency Red Apple feels to capture the audience vacuum and to prove that radio can still deliver timely news amid corporate headwinds.

If the temporary studio holds up and the hired talent can sustain a 24/7 feed, Red Apple could reshape affiliate news sourcing and set a precedent for rapid, cross‑border media launches. The real test will be whether the network can attract listeners and advertisers fast enough to replace the revenue lost by CBS’s departure.