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Lee Harris hired by Red Apple Media and WABC to debut a worldwide news network on May 23, just days after CBS News Radio shuts down.
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.
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AI-assisted synthesis by the TrendWatcher Editorial Desk · sourced from 2 outlets · Jun 16, 2026 · How we report
Apple News is a news aggregator app for Apple operating systems that allows users to read articles from selected publishers and topics. It functions by pulling stories from web feeds and the Apple News Format to provide a consistent reading experience.
Apple News was released on September 16, 2015, alongside the launch of iOS 9. It was initially available only in the United States before expanding to Australia and the United Kingdom within a month.
Apple News+ is a subscription service that provides access to content from over 300 magazines and select newspapers. Subscribers can also access an Audio tab to listen to narrated versions of articles.
Apple News is officially available in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada. While the app is installed by default in other regions, it is not made visible to users outside of those specific countries.