WCBS-FM was one of the first notable oldies stations in the country, with the format dating back to July 7, 1972.
Between June 3, 2005, and July 12, 2007, the station aired the automated adult hits format "Jack FM". The new programming was unsuccessful, and WCBS-FM switched back to a personality-driven classic hits format. The station is continually ranked one of the highest-rated stations in the New York market, as well as one of the highest-rated classic hits stations in the United States.
1967As these types of radio shows either moved to television or were canceled outright, WCBS and WCBS-FM evolved toward a personality-oriented format featuring news and information, popular music, and sports. As rock and roll became popular, the stations only played softer songs.
Gus Gossert doing the CBS-FM pre-oldies thing, which was a combination of pop, light rock and some R&B. The first segment features a very low-key interview with Jose Feliciano.
This aircheck also features some interesting jingles, news and spots. Judging by the news, we think this aircheck is from either October 6th or 7th in 1970.LISTEN: Part 1 & Part 2 (32:51)
In 1969, WCBS-FM launched a freeform rock format, which was becoming increasingly popular, and all other CBS-owned FM stations followed suit. For the first time, WCBS-FM would have an airstaff. Bill Brown began his long tenure with the station, and Don K. Reed began his in 1971. Both remained until 2005.
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Radio personalities such as Bobby "Wizzard" Wayne, Tom Tyler, Ed Williams, Steve Clark, Roby Yonge, K.O. Bayley (Bob Elliott from WOR-FM), Les Turpin, Bob "Bob-A-Lew" Lewis also briefly joined the WCBS-FM "freeform" format. Besides Bill Brown and Don K. Reed, Wizzard Wayne and Ed Williams also stayed into the early part of the oldies format.
A WCBS-FM scoped aircheck circa the Summer of 1970, featuring DJs Rocky G, Bill Brown and Steve Clark from the semi-progressive days of CBS-FM. It didn't sound free-form, but it did sound low key.And the playlist was a strange mix of just about every genre of rock music. There are many vintage Coca-Cola commercials sung by the big artists of the day. In fact, there aren't too many spots aside from Coke. [ Part 1 ] [ Part 2 ].
Uncola Contest Postcard.
Bobby Wayne on July 12, 1971. [ LISTEN ] (13:10)
This stereo aircheck from the CBS-FM progessive days, complete with formatics and jingles, features DJ Bobby "Wizard" Wayne. Note the diversity of the music which combined music that you might hear on AM along with select album tracks, not completely unlike what you might hear on CBS-FM today, but with more non-single album tracks: Bob Dylan, The Carpenters, Al Kooper, the Grateful Dead, Carol King, James Taylor, the Rolling Stones, Donovan, Carly Simon, the Beatles, Joe Cocker, & the Doors.
One other surprise for me was the promotion for the DJs appearing later that night: Ed Williams and Rosko (Bill Mercer). I didn't even remember Rosko ever working for CBS-FM and Ed Williams had previously appeared on WLIB. That's quite a diverse and interesting group of nighttime jocks. Note: Rob Frankel has since advised me that the Rosko show was a syndicated show produced from Rosko's then home in France.
One other surprise for me was the promotion for the DJs appearing later that night: Ed Williams and Rosko (Bill Mercer). I didn't even remember Rosko ever working for CBS-FM and Ed Williams had previously appeared on WLIB. That's quite a diverse and interesting group of nighttime jocks. Note: Rob Frankel has since advised me that the Rosko show was a syndicated show produced from Rosko's then home in France.
This aircheck is from about six months after CBS-FM moved from a quasi-progressive rock format to an oldies format. Lots of oldies that we never hear anymore but weren't actually all that old back then.
At first, the station focused on rock-and-roll hits from 1955 to 1964 and mixed in some softer hits of the late 1960s and early 1970s, as well as a few then-current songs. WCBS-FM also played a moderate amount of adult standards from the rock era. The station played two current hits per hour known as "future gold". By the late 1970s however, the station dropped most of the adult standards, with a few exceptions, and added rock hits from the late 1960s.
Jocks 1971-72.WCBS-FM's oldies format weathered many trends and corporate moves. By 1979, three FM stations owned by CBS had begun playing disco music. In the course of 1981, all of CBS's FM stations, except for WCBS-FM and their FM station in San Francisco, adopted a CHR format known as "Hot Hits". The oldies format on WCBS-FM continued to be a success.
One ongoing favorite feature was a countdown of the top 500 songs of all time, as voted by the station's listeners. The countdown always took place on Thanksgiving weekend (with a new survey taken every other year.) On even years, up to 1990, the survey from the previous year was played. In the first Top 500, The Five Satins' doo wop classic "In the Still of the Night" was #1 and "Earth Angel" by The Penguins was #2. "In the Still of the Night" remained at #1 every year after that.
In 1992, CBS-FM ran a Top 500 Countdown based on all their surveys from 1973 to 1991. They repeated 1993's Top 500 in 1994, conducting their last listener surveys in 1995 and 1996. After compiling an all-time survey based on past surveys in 1997, the station abandoned listener surveys, repeating the 1997 all-time survey on subsequent Thanksgiving weekends.
For New Years weekend in 1999–2000, the station compiled and played a Top 1001 countdown based on original New York radio charts, with "Hey Jude" by The Beatles at number one. This survey would be repeated on Thanksgiving weekend in 2002. In 2003, the station played a Top 500 Countdown covering the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and some 1950s songs, and in 2004 played a Top 500 Countdown with mostly songs from 1964 to 1979 with some pre-1964 songs and 1980s songs.
When the station returned to a modified oldies and classic hits format in 2007, the station compiled a new listener-voted survey and played the results Labor Day weekend. This survey featured mostly songs from the 1960s and 1970s with a moderate selection of songs from the 1955–1963 time period. There was also a moderate amount of 1980s music on the survey.
Joe McCoy took over as program director in 1981, and at that point WCBS-FM began to gradually shift its focus to the 1964–1969 era, but would also feature a more pre-1964 oldies than most other such stations. The station continued to also feature hits of the 1970s and some hits of the 1980s while cutting future gold selections to one per hour.
Also in the 1980s, after WABC and later WNBC (AM) abandoned music in favor of talk, WCBS-FM began employing many disc jockeys who were widely known on other New York City stations, most notably Musicradio WABC alumni Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, Chuck Leonard and Harry Harrison, as well as former WMCA "Good Guys" Dan Daniels and Jack Spector.
Also in the 1980s, after WABC and later WNBC (AM) abandoned music in favor of talk, WCBS-FM began employing many disc jockeys who were widely known on other New York City stations, most notably Musicradio WABC alumni Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, Chuck Leonard and Harry Harrison, as well as former WMCA "Good Guys" Dan Daniels and Jack Spector.
Bob Shannon, whose only previous New York City radio experience before coming to WCBS-FM was as a fill-in DJ at WYNY, became well-known himself through his 19-year run as the station's afternoon disk jockey. Bill Brown (who had started with the station in 1969, during their rock days) and Don K. Reed (who started at the station 6 months before the switch to oldies) remained with the station during their entire first period as an oldies station.
Bruce Morrow January 30, 1988
25th AnniversaryIn 1989, WCBS-FM limited current music to late nights and overnights. While most oldies stations were playing songs from exclusively 1955 to 1973, WCBS-FM continued to play a moderate amount of songs from the late 1970s as well as about one 1980s hit per hour. Most of the 1980s music came from core oldies artists.
The station's ratings increased during the 1990s (and were sustained into the 2000s) and market research studies showed a small and growing audience in the 35-to-49-year-old demographic as a new generation's "songs they grew up with" moved into the oldies format. The station even hit number one overall in the ratings on at least several occasions during the 1990s.
During this period, the station's on-air jingles were made by JAM Creative Productions in Dallas, Texas. Such was the appeal of the packages of jingles that stations around the world wanted that WCBS-FM sound for their stations, including for example the UK's Victory FM.
New York Daily News
Morrow January 30, 1988 Pt 2
By 2000, as demographics for 1950s and early 1960s oldies started to eclipse the target age groups that many advertisers covet, WCBS-FM began cutting pre-1964 songs while adding more music from the 1970s and 1980s.
In January 2001, they stopped playing currents and 90's hits on the overnight, dropping them altogether. The station also had cut specialty shows such as Bobby Jay's Soul Of The City on Wednesdays, Thursday Night 60's, Friday night's Heart & Soul of Rock & Roll, Monday Night 70's, and Bobby Jay's late night Saturday show Jukebox Saturday Night. Eventually, they began to shorten the regular playlist and moved away from pre-1964 and toward 1970–1989 songs even more. In the summer of 2002, Don K. Reed's long-running Sunday night Doo-Wop Shop program was cancelled. The station even began to de-emphasize the phrase 'oldies' in promotion of the station.
The station canceled more specialty shows in 2003, such as the Top 20 Oldies Countdown. In the summer of 2003, to appease some fans, they did add a specialty 1955–1964 oldies show called Heart & Soul of Rock & Roll with Norm N. Nite (who had been with WCBS off and on since 1973). Also in that year, Harry Harrison and Dan Ingram both retired.
In the spring of 2004, WCBS-FM narrowed the playlist even more. The station's playlist consisted of music almost entirely from 1964 to 1979, dividing about equally between the 1960s and 1970s, playing only a handful of pre-1964 oldies and songs from the 1980s. Joe McCoy left the station shortly thereafter and was replaced by Dave Logan.
DolenzWCBS-FM's last morning show host of this period was ex-Monkee Micky Dolenz, who had appeal to this audience segment by virtue of 1970s The Monkees reruns and the mid-1980s Monkees revival. His broadcast on June 3, 2005, was a remote at a Manhattan restaurant to celebrate his 100th day at the station. However, by the end of that day, the station would be changed dramatically.
On Friday, June 3, 2005, Micky Dolenz, Mike Fitzgerald, and Randy Davis all signed off their last on-air shifts (including everybody else) expecting to be back the following Monday. But, Bill Brown signed off at about 3:53 p.m. saying, "CBS-FM 101.1, Fontella Bass... Do you ever feel the urge to just kinda scream, "RESCUE ME!?"... I'm beginning to get that feeling, here's Fontella Bass." The station segued to "Use Me" by Bill Withers. Then, at 4:00 p.m., the station played the usual station identification, and then a mix of Oldies and Greatest Hits referring to change, including "Movin' Out", "Get a Job", "Glory Days", "Hit the Road Jack", among others. Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind" was the last song played before the format change. At 4:30 p.m., the station stunted with a 30-minute montage of lines from various movies and other sources.
Then, at 5:00 p.m., the station began its new "Jack FM" format, identifying itself by that name. A pre-recorded station identification was played followed by a short introduction of the new format by Howard Cogan (Jack FM's station imaging voice) and the announcement of the new station name: "Welcome to the NEW 101.1 Jack FM, Playing What We Want." The first song aired was Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right". The format featured nearly 2,000 unique songs in the playlist.
In the fall of 2014, the station dropped the pre-1964 oldies altogether and also dropped many of the songs from the 1960s, cutting the amount down to one to two per hour. In addition, the station has broadened their format to include select hits from the 1990s, up to about 1999.
As of 2016, the station no longer plays music from the 1960s (save for major artists such as The Beatles, The Four Seasons, etc.), and is mostly focused on songs from the 1980s, with a moderate amount of 1970s' and 1990s' hits.
On November 19, 2016, the "Saturday Night Block Party" was discontinued after four years in favor of regular programming.
On July 9, 2017, "BackTrax USA" debuted on WCBS-FM by every sunday nights at 9PM-12AM by playing music of the 80's and 90's, hosted by former Z100 Kid Kelly.
WHO WORKED AT WCBS-FM? Here is the list: Herb Barry, Bill Brown, Sean Casey, Paul Cassidy, Chris Charles, Gary Clark, Chuck Collier, Dan Daniel, Randy Davis, Bob Dayton, Mickey Dolenz, Jim Douglas(Using The Name Jack Mitchell), Mike Fitzgerald, Charlie Greer, Jim Harrington, Harry Harrison, Dick Heatherton, J.D. Holiday, Rick Hunter, Dan Ingram, Bobby Jay, Brian Kelly, Max Kinkel, Holly Levis, Ron Lundy, Mike Mccann, Joe Mccoy, Johnny Michaels, Jack Miller, Marty Mitchell,(Using The Name Marty Michaels), Bruce Morrow, Johnny Nichols, Norm N. Nite, Steve O’Brien, Ed Osborne, Don K. Reed, Paul Robinson, John Scott, Bob Shannon, Marc Sommers, Jack Spector, Pat St. John, Dan Taylor, John Vidaver, Bobby Wayne, Ed Williams, And Bill Winters. The news staff: Jeff Allen, Sue Evans, Mr.G., Al Meredith, Phil Pepe, Karen Stewart, Tony Warren, and Debra Wetzel.
As of 2016, the station no longer plays music from the 1960s (save for major artists such as The Beatles, The Four Seasons, etc.), and is mostly focused on songs from the 1980s, with a moderate amount of 1970s' and 1990s' hits.
On November 19, 2016, the "Saturday Night Block Party" was discontinued after four years in favor of regular programming.
On July 9, 2017, "BackTrax USA" debuted on WCBS-FM by every sunday nights at 9PM-12AM by playing music of the 80's and 90's, hosted by former Z100 Kid Kelly.
WHO WORKED AT WCBS-FM? Here is the list: Herb Barry, Bill Brown, Sean Casey, Paul Cassidy, Chris Charles, Gary Clark, Chuck Collier, Dan Daniel, Randy Davis, Bob Dayton, Mickey Dolenz, Jim Douglas(Using The Name Jack Mitchell), Mike Fitzgerald, Charlie Greer, Jim Harrington, Harry Harrison, Dick Heatherton, J.D. Holiday, Rick Hunter, Dan Ingram, Bobby Jay, Brian Kelly, Max Kinkel, Holly Levis, Ron Lundy, Mike Mccann, Joe Mccoy, Johnny Michaels, Jack Miller, Marty Mitchell,(Using The Name Marty Michaels), Bruce Morrow, Johnny Nichols, Norm N. Nite, Steve O’Brien, Ed Osborne, Don K. Reed, Paul Robinson, John Scott, Bob Shannon, Marc Sommers, Jack Spector, Pat St. John, Dan Taylor, John Vidaver, Bobby Wayne, Ed Williams, And Bill Winters. The news staff: Jeff Allen, Sue Evans, Mr.G., Al Meredith, Phil Pepe, Karen Stewart, Tony Warren, and Debra Wetzel.
Some of the materials used on this page were originally published by the following: New York Radio Archive.
