• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, June 21, 2012

Perhaps in response to the growing share of national ad spending in radio ad budgets, broadcast radio groups are churning out new national networks. CBS Radio has announced the launch of a new national network devoted to sports, CBS Sports Radio, which will carry round-the-clock programming from CBS Radio and CBS Sports. It debuts Jan. 2.

CBS Sports Radio will have additional reach, thanks to a partnership with Cumulus Media, its exclusive syndicator and sales partner, which will help secure affiliate agreements and ad sales through Cumulus Media Networks.

Cumulus will also make CBS Sports Radio programming available on 67 of its own stations. At launch, CBS Sports Radio will reach listeners in nine out of the top 10 markets, with a cumulative audience of about 10 million listeners across all its markets.

Programming on the new network will be led by high-profile CBS Radio assets, including WFAN-AM in New York, WSCR-AM in Chicago, WIP-FM in Philadelphia, WBZ-FM in Boston and WXYT-FM in Detroit, among others.

Content will include expert sports commentary and interviews with major sports figures, along with listener calls and fan interaction -- all produced live with an array of hosts, anchor teams and contributors. CBS Sports updates will be available on affiliate stations beginning Sept. 4, with headlines, breaking news and scores heard hourly.

The CBS Sports Network will also stream broadcasts live online.

This is just the latest in a series of new national radio networks unveiled over the last couple of months. Earlier this month, Univision revealed plans to launch a national, Spanish-language AM radio network featuring local, national and international news. The new network, Univision America, will include AM stations in nine major Univision markets: Miami, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, McAllen, TX, El Paso, San Antonio, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

In March, NBC News and Dial Global partnered to create NBC News Radio, a round-the-clock radio news network with national distribution courtesy of Dial, which provides programming and services to over 8,500 radio stations nationwide.