CBS Radio chief hits the road to court advertisers

* CBS Radio halfway through turnaround

* Radio still effective in economic slowdown

* Digital efforts creating new market for radio

By Paul Thomasch

NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - CBS Radio Chief Executive Dan Mason spent the last several weeks on a roadshow for advertisers, ready to rebut any claims his business cannot withstand satellite radio, iPods or a soft economy.

Stopping in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, New York and elsewhere, Mason pitched CBS Radio's move into digital broadcasting and the overhauls at key stations, including a format change at flagship WCBS FM in New York.

"We were asking our advertisers to rethink how they think about radio and of course it gave us an opportunity to present our whole digital presence," he said in an interview.

CBS Corp (CBS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) brought in Mason to lead its radio division in April 2007, leaving him to cope with the departures of well-known radio hosts Don Imus and Howard Stern, low ratings at a number of key stations and the threat posed by iPods, XM Satellite Radio Inc XMSR.O and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc (SIRI.O: Quote, Profile, Research).