CBS in radio to stay.

That’s the message CEO Les Moonves reiterated yesterday to analysts on the company’s quarterly earnings call.  It came as CBS announced it would combine radio and television earnings into a single, local broadcast segment.

While it won’t have any impact on day-to-day operations, the move is a way to highlight its major-market footprint to advertisers and investors.  Moonves says, “Combining our local TV and radio stations into a single local broadcast segment will allow us to focus on producing the most valuable content in major markets across the country regardless of platform.”  It will bring with it new cost efficiencies.

CBS has said it would like to trim additional markets from its radio division and Moonves says, “We continue on that quest.”  But with the sales market weak, there’s no rush. He says, “The good news is we do not have to sell anything — but as activity comes back, there are certain markets where we would consider trimming.”