WCBS-FM (101.1
FM) is a
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
offering a
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
format
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and is owned and operated by
Audacy, Inc.
Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...
The station's studios are in the combined Audacy facility in the
Hudson Square
Hudson Square is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by Clarkson Street to the north, Canal Street to the south, Varick Street to the east, and the Hudson River to the west. To the north of the neig ...
neighborhood in
lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
, and its
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
is located at the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
.
WCBS-FM was one of the first notable
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
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
Jack FM is a radio network brand, licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits radio format, format, in most cases not using disc jockey, DJs.
Format c ...
". 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.
From 2014 to 2022, The station was the home of the ''
Scott Shannon
Michael Scott Shannon (born July 25, 1947) is an American radio disc jockey who hosted the morning show for WCBS-FM in New York City from 2014 to 2022 as well as ''Scott Shannon Presents America's Greatest Hits'' which is syndicated nationally wi ...
in the Morning'' show.
History
Early years
![WCBS-FM logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/WCBS-FM_logo.png)
In 1940, during the early days of
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...
, what is now WCBS-FM was allocated an FM
frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...
and
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
, W67NY, becoming
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
's first FM station. The original transmitter site was located at
500 Fifth Avenue
500 Fifth Avenue is a 60-story, office building on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon in the Art Deco style and constructed from 1929 to ...
. The allocated frequency changed several times before the station finally went on the air at 46.7 MHz on December 1, 1941. On November 1, 1943, the callsign was changed to WABC-FM for Atlantic Broadcasting Company, the former owner of CBS's AM station (no relation to the present-day
WABC). With the reallocation of the FM band, WABC-FM's new frequency became 96.9 MHz; finally, in September 1947 the station became WCBS-FM, and the frequency moved to the current 101.1. This allowed the station to reflect its corporate ownership by the Columbia Broadcasting System or CBS. The transmitter was moved to the Empire State Building in the early 1950s.
For many years, WCBS-FM simulcast its programming with its AM sister station. From the 1940s until the late 1950s, both stations aired a typical network-dominated general entertainment format with
comedies
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term origin ...
,
dramas
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been c ...
, news and information, sports,
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...
s and some music. As these types of radio shows either moved to
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
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
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
became popular, the stations played only softer songs of the genre.
Each of the stations began broadcasting its own programming in 1966. The AM station retained its personality-oriented
middle of the road format until August 27, 1967. WCBS-FM initially programmed a younger-leaning
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
format known as "The Young Sound", playing soft instrumental versions of current
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
songs. This automated format was syndicated to CBS stations across the country and to AFN (
American Forces Network
The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...
). On August 27, 1967, the AM station had to launch its news format (which was not full-time until 1972) on WCBS-FM because a small airplane had crashed into the AM radio tower a few hours earlier.
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 late in 1971; both remained there until 2005. Radio personalities such as Bobby "Wizzard" Wayne, Tom Tyler, Ed Williams, Steve Clark,
Roby Yonge
Roby Yonge (July 25, 1943 – July 18, 1997) was an American radio DJ, most notable in the 1960s. He was best known for being fired from New York City station WABC in 1969, after he reported over the air that the singer Paul McCartney might have ...
, 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, Wayne and Williams also stayed into the early part of the oldies format.
Original oldies years and greatest hits
WCBS-FM was never successful with their rock format, where it competed with stations such as
WPLJ
WPLJ (95.5 FM) is a non-commercial Christian adult contemporary music radio station licensed to New York City. It is owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and broadcasts EMF's flagship programming service, K-Love. WPLJ's transmitte ...
and
WNEW-FM
WNEW-FM (102.7 FM, ''NEW 102.7'') is a hot adult contemporary formatted radio station, licensed to New York, New York and owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are located at the Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manha ...
; these two stations had most of the rock audience. As a result, WCBS-FM switched to
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...
on July 7, 1972, becoming one of the first full-time stations in the country to use that format. The change coincided with rival
WOR-FM's decision to drop pre-1964 oldies from its playlist a few months prior (as they became WXLO). Johnny Michaels, formerly of
WMCA WMCA may refer to:
*WMCA (AM), a radio station operating in New York City
* West Midlands Combined Authority, the combined authority of the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom
*Wikimedia Canada
The Wikimedia Foundation, ...
, played the first record,
Dion's "Runaround Sue". The entire staff from the rock format remained at the station.
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 number 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. WCBS-FM's oldies format weathered many trends and corporate moves. By 1979, three FM stations owned by CBS had begun playing
disco music
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano ...
. 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 Hot Hits was a radio format created by consultant Mike Joseph in the 1970s. That concept, which helped spur the birth of what is now known as CHR, also revitalized the Top 40 format and would play a role in bringing the format to the FM band throug ...
". The oldies format on WCBS-FM continued to be a success.
One ongoing 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
The Five Satins are an American doo-wop group, best known for their 1956 million-selling song, "In the Still of the Night (The Five Satins song), In the Still of the Night." They were formed in 1954 and continued performing until 1994. When it w ...
' doo wop classic "
In the Still of the Night" was #1 and "
Earth Angel
"Earth Angel", occasionally referred to as "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)", is a song by American doo-wop group the Penguins. Produced by Dootsie Williams, it was released as their debut single in October 1954 on Dootone Records. The Penguins had ...
" by
The Penguins
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
was #2. "In the Still of the Night" remained at #1 every year after that. In 1992, WCBS-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 "
Mack The Knife
"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (german: "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", italic=no, link=no) is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama ''The Threepenny Opera'' (german: Die Dreig ...
" by
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American musician and actor. He performed jazz, Pop music, pop, rock and roll, Folk music, folk, Swing music, swing, and country music.
He started his car ...
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 more pre-1964 oldies than most other such stations of that decade. 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
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...
abandoned music in favor of talk, WCBS-FM began employing many
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
s who were widely known on other New York City stations (and sometimes nationally), most notably
Musicradio 77 WABC alumni
Ron Lundy Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald.
Ron or RON may also refer to:
Arts and media
* Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character
* Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character
*Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...
,
Dan Ingram
Daniel Trombley Ingram (September 7, 1934 – June 24, 2018) was an American Top 40 radio disc jockey with a 50-year career on radio stations such as WABC and WCBS-FM in New York City.
Career
"Big Dan" started broadcasting at WHCH Hofstra Col ...
,
Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, and
Harry Harrison, as well as former
WMCA "Good Guys" Dan Daniel and
Jack Spector
Jack Spector (September 15, 1928 – March 8, 1994) was an American radio disc jockey and TV host, particularly known for his work in New York City during the 1960s "rock radio" era.
WMCA Good Guys
Spector began his radio career in 1955. In ...
.
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.
In 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 number 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
JAM Creative Productions, Inc., is an American company that produces radio jingles, promo music for television, and commercial jingles for advertisers. It has made more radio jingles than any other jingle company and has become part of American ...
in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
. 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
Radio Victory
Radio Victory was the independent local radio (ILR) station for Portsmouth in southern England. It was launched on 14 October 1975 and served south Hampshire, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight initially until 1986, with various later reincarnat ...
.
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 Norm N. Nite (born Norman Durma, January 25, 1941), is the author of the ''Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock N' Roll'' book series. Nite began his career as a disk jockey at WGAR (AM) in Cleveland and later at WMJI there. He went ...
(who had been with WCBS off and on since 1973). Also in that year, Harry Harrison and Dan Ingram both retired. In spring 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. WCBS-FM's last morning show host of this period was ex-
Monkee
The Monkees were an American Rock music, rock and pop music, pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones ...
Micky Dolenz
George Michael Dolenz Jr. (born March 8, 1945) is an American actor, musician, TV producer and businessman. He is best known as the drummer and one of three primary vocalists for the pop-rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and multiple reunions ...
, who had appeal to this audience segment by virtue of 1970s reruns of
his band's eponymous television series and the mid-1980s Monkees revival. His last broadcast on June 3, 2005 was a remote at a
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
restaurant to celebrate his 100th day at the station. However, by the end of that day, the station would be changed dramatically.
101.1 Jack FM: Playing What We Want
In the spring of 2005, Infinity Broadcasting, which was CBS' radio division during that time, contracted with Sparknet Communications, which owns the licensing of an Adult Hits format branded as "Jack FM", a format that has seen on-air success in Canadian areas since the early 2000s. In return, Sparknet Communications gave Infinity Broadcasting permission to bring the "Jack FM" format to some of Infinity's radio markets in the United States. That April, Infinity flipped radio stations
KCBS-FM
KCBS-FM (93.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts an adult hits music format branded as "93.1 Jack FM".
Unlike most radio stations airing the ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and
WQSR
WQSR (102.7 FM, "102.7 Jack FM") is a commercial radio station licensed Baltimore, Maryland. The station is owned by iHeartMedia through licensee iHM Licenses, LLC. It broadcasts an adult hits radio format, using the syndicated "Jack FM" ser ...
in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
to the "Jack FM" format. On Friday, June 3, 2005,
Micky Dolenz
George Michael Dolenz Jr. (born March 8, 1945) is an American actor, musician, TV producer and businessman. He is best known as the drummer and one of three primary vocalists for the pop-rock band the Monkees (1966–1970, and multiple reunions ...
, Mike Fitzgerald, and Randy Davis all signed off their shows expecting to be back the following Monday. However, Bill Brown signed off at about 3:53 p.m. saying, "CBS-FM 101.1,
Fontella Bass
Fontella Marie Bass (July 3, 1940 – December 26, 2012) was an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter best known for her number-one R&B hit " Rescue Me" in 1965. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award twice.
Early life
Fontella Bass was b ...
... 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
William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (1972) ...
. Then, at 4:00 p.m., the station played the usual
station identification
Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, ...
, and then a mix of Oldies and Greatest Hits referring to change, including "
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" is a song written and recorded by Billy Joel originally appeared on his 1977 album '' The Stranger''. The track details the singer's disgust with the upwardly mobile bourgeois aspirations of working- and lower-middle- ...
", "
Get a Job", "
Glory Days" and "
Hit the Road Jack
"Hit the Road Jack" is a song written by the rhythm and blues singer Percy Mayfield and recorded by Ray Charles. The song was a US number 1 hit in 1961, and won a Grammy award for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording, becoming one of Charles' signat ...
" (the last song of which had the word "Jack" edited out, giving an advance hint to the new format), among others.
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
's "
Summer Wind
Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, w ...
" was the last song played before the format change. At 4:30 p.m., the station
stunted
Stunted growth is a reduced growth rate in human development. It is a primary manifestation of malnutrition (or more precisely undernutrition) and recurrent infections, such as diarrhea and helminthiasis, in early childhood and even before birth, ...
with a 30-minute montage of lines from various movies and other sources.
At 5:00 p.m., a pre-recorded station identification was played followed by a short introduction of the new
adult hits format by new station voiceover Howard Cogan, and the announcement of the new station name: "Welcome to the NEW "101.1
Jack FM
Jack FM is a radio network brand, licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits radio format, format, in most cases not using disc jockey, DJs.
Format c ...
", Playing What We Want." The first song aired was
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...
' "
Fight for Your Right". The format featured nearly 2,000 unique songs in the playlist. With this move, WCBS-FM had left the oldies format after 33 years. In an attempt to cater to fans of the old format, the station created an internet-only oldies station on its website, and soon after, simulcasted the format on 101.1-HD2. Initially, the internet-only station was DJ-less like Jack FM on the analog 101.1 and HD1 station; in between songs, the station played jingles plus pre-recorded voice overs done by their production director. In a letter on the WCBS-FM website posted on June 5, 2005, station VP Chad Brown announced the webstream would try to bring back most of the original shows and DJs, and that eventually the station would also be able to be heard on
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
. The change left
WBZO
WBZO (103.1 FM) is a rock-leaning classic hits radio station owned by Connoisseur Media and licensed to Bay Shore, New York. The station's studios are located at Airport Plaza in Farmingdale, New York, and its transmitter is located on Freeman Av ...
as the only FM station playing any type of oldies format in the market. Its signal in the Metropolitan area was weak, however, because it operated out of
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, and aired an outright oldies format, unlike WCBS-FM's old "Greatest Hits" format. On the AM dial, there were a few oldies stations receivable at night, like Buffalo's
WKBW at the time.
Many criticized the change of formats, among them Mayor
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...
, who, according to the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'', responded to the change by declaring he would "never listen to that fucking CBS radio ever again" (the quote was censored in the ''Post''). "Jack" picked up on the mayor's comments, making jokes about his quip, "Hey, Mayor Bloomberg. I heard you took a shot at us in the ''Post''. What's with all the swearin' like a sailor?
Fleet Week
Fleet Week is a United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard tradition in which active military ships recently deployed in overseas operations dock in a variety of major cities for one week. Once the ships dock, ...
is over. It's just music." In an interview with the
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
, Cousin Brucie likened the format switch to "replacing
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...
with a fruit stand". Cousin Brucie moved over to
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings.
Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...
's
'60s on 6 channel to continue playing oldies. Recognizing the controversy of the sudden change, on June 14, 2005, the station announced that it would be unique among those with the Jack format in that it would occasionally include '50s and early '60s songs in its rotation as well as songs by performers like Frank Sinatra that are normally not part of the Jack format, though a later Web update retracted this, and songs from before the late '60s were no longer played.
In March 2006, Chad Brown hired Brian Thomas as program director, replacing Steve Smith. Brown was replaced by Les Hollander later that year after a big layoff of personnel at CBS Radio. In 2007, Jennifer Donohue (from
WWFS) was named as Jack's new general manager. Later that year, Maire Mason replaced Donohue.
Classic hits format
The "Jack" format experiment at WCBS-FM is widely regarded, inside and outside the industry, as one of the greatest failures in modern New York radio history, as the station fell to the very bottom of the ratings of full-market-coverage FM stations in the New York market. In early July 2007, various websites quoted sources as saying the station was ready to shift from its current "Jack FM" format and return to its previous format.
CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
, owner of the station, declined to comment on the rumors. Initial reports about the WCBS-FM format change initially surfaced on July 6, 2007, in the ''Radio Business Report'' online newsletter and at
CrainsNewYorkBusiness.com. CBS Radio confirmed the rumors on July 9, 2007, that live announcers would indeed return to 101.1 and the HD1 channel on July 12, meaning that the "Jack" format in New York had run its course after two years, likely due to its lackluster ratings. The returning format would concentrate on music from 1964 to 1989, with selected older hits from 1955 through 1963. There would be a wider variety of hits, unlike the CBS-FM of 2005, which had a limited playlist from 1964 through 1979.
On July 12, at approximately 12:40 p.m., "Jack FM" ended with "
Don't Stop Believin'
"Don't Stop Believin' is a song by American rock band Journey. It was released in October 1981 as the second single from the group's seventh studio album, ''Escape'' (1981), released through Columbia Records. "Don't Stop Believin'" shares writ ...
" by
Journey
Journey or journeying may refer to:
* Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations
** Day's journey, a measurement of distance
** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road
Animals
* Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...
, ending in the same spot where the song abruptly ended during
the series finale of ''The Sopranos''. Then, after a few seconds of dead air and a few seconds of a "
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
" audio special effect, the oldies format returned with the resumption of the last song played before the change to Jack FM,
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
's "
Summer Wind
Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, w ...
" (starting like a phonograph record played very slowly but quickly accelerated to normal speed). This was followed by greetings from former WCBS-FM
DJs
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...
Harry Harrison and
Ron Lundy Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald.
Ron or RON may also refer to:
Arts and media
* Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character
* Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character
*Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...
. Next were audio-clip montages of music, movies, television shows, and events for each year from 1964 through 1979 followed by a single montage, similar to the aforementioned, which paid homage to the entire decade of the 1980s, with WCBS-FM jingles interspersed between. Former Mayor
Ed Koch
Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was may ...
then welcomed back the format, noting the "mistake"
CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
had made with the switch. Then at exactly 1:01 p.m., the legally mandated station identification played, and WCBS-FM's
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
format officially returned with ''
Do It Again'' by the
Beach Boys
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
.
This sequence is now repeated on-air every July 12. WOCL in Orlando, Florida, Orlando used the same sequence (with the montage starting with 1966 and running clips for every year through 1989) the 2008 in radio, following year, dropping alternative rock for
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
, and later WBMX (FM), WJMK in Chicago also used the same sequence (with a few Chicago-themed modifications) on March 14, 2011 in radio, 2011 when they switched from Jack FM to a
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s ...
format.
Upon hearing of WCBS-FM's confirmation that oldies would return, Cousin Brucie commented, "I’m thrilled that this music is getting a chance again." He added, "This music has been treated terribly, and people in their 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s are still a very viable product in this society." Mayor Bloomberg, who had criticized the Jack FM format after its debut, also welcomed oldies back with open arms, proclaiming July 12, 2007, as "WCBS-FM Returns to New York City Day". Arbitron's switch from diary to PPM facilitated a move back to oldies and classic hits as sister station WOGL in Philadelphia had demonstrated ratings success in the new methodology by reaching the top five. WCBS-FM's return to classic hits has also been a success, ranking it among the top five stations in every quarter of the new ratings for Arbitron, consistently either first or second in overall audience. In 2010, the station was number one among all stations in the New York region, 25-54 and 12+ (Arbitron PPM report, May 2010). The station went to number one again in the July 2014 & August 2017 ratings periods.
As of August 2009, WCBS-FM started carrying New York Giants American football, football on occasions when sister station WFAN could not carry the game. For the 2010 season, two Giants pre-season games and two regular season games were carried on WCBS-FM including the first game at the New Meadowlands Stadium against the New York Jets on August 16.
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 number down to one to two per hour. In addition, the station broadened their format to include select hits from the 1990s, up to about 1999. 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'', hosted by former WHTZ jock Kid Kelly, debuted on WCBS-FM on Sunday nights. Prior to 2016, WCBS-FM used JAM Creative Productions, Inc. for their jingles. However, to focus on a new and changing demographic, they now use Reel World for their jingles. As of 2018, WCBS-FM no longer uses any JAM Jingles, and the station also no longer plays any music from the 1960s, while also starting to cut back on the amount of early 1970s music played. Gradually and subtly, WCBS-FM is increasing the frequency of 1980s and 1990s hits per day and is also adding music from the 2000s.
On February 2, 2017, CBS agreed to merge CBS Radio with Entercom, currently the fourth-largest radio broadcaster in the United States; the sale was conducted using a Reverse Morris Trust so that it would be tax-free. While CBS shareholders retained a 72% ownership stake in the combined company, Entercom was the surviving entity, separating WCBS radio (both 101.1 FM and WCBS (AM), 880 AM) from WCBS-TV.
The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17.
Signal strength
WCBS-FM broadcasts at 6,700 watts. WBEB, an adult contemporary station in Philadelphia, also broadcasts on 101.1 MHz. WBEB's signal reaches far north into New Jersey, especially along Interstate 287 south of Morristown, New Jersey, Morristown, and in Northwestern New Jersey. In those areas WBEB interferes with WCBS-FM, and in some spots, WBEB's signal actually seems stronger. This is because WBEB broadcasts at 14,000 watts, although from a lower antenna height.
WCBS-FM's subcarrier also airs Spanish language Catholic Church, Catholic programming for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from Radio Maria Hispana, a local unit of Radio Maria USA.
HD radio operations
A few hours after the change back from Jack FM, WCBS-FM's '60s and '70s music was brought back online on the stations website. CBS-FM's longtime music director Jeff Mazzei was retained as program director of the wcbsfm.com oldies stream. Over the next couple of weeks, the station started playing pre-1964 oldies again. Additionally, the '60s and '70s oldies became broader and '80s and early '90s oldies were also mixed in, and the format got much deeper. However, it was commercial-free and had no airstaff. WCBS-FM HD2 also began broadcasting in
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
on December 12, 2005 (before most of the other New York stations, which launched in early 2006).
Air personalities did on-air auditions on the WCBS-FM HD2 oldies station on July 11, 2007, as a preview of the next day's changeover. The format then moved to the analog and HD1 channels. The HD2 station also simulcast the oldies format until 2:00 p.m. that day, at which time Jack FM moved to HD2. At 3:00 p.m. that day, Jack FM resumed streaming on their website. In February 2008, Howard Cogan was replaced by Pat St. John as the pre-recorded voice of the Jack character on WCBS-FM HD2 and ilikejack.com. On May 7, 2008, the Jack branding was dropped from WCBS-FM HD2 and was just called 101.1 HD2 or WCBS-FM HD2 due to the end of a licensing agreement with the owner of the Jack name and slogan, Sparknet Communications. During the holiday season in 2008, WCBS-FM's HD1 and analog signal played Christmas music, resulting in the oldies format being temporarily moved back to the HD2 channel. In late June 2009, the HD2 channel was rebranded again as ''ToNY'', meaning "to New York" but pronounced as "Tony". The channel continued to feature an
adult hits format until December 21, 2012, when it was dropped and replaced with a simulcast of WCBS (AM), WCBS.
On October 2, 2008, WCBS-FM HD3 was launched as a simulcast of WCBS. On January 2, 2013, WCBS-FM HD3 flipped to CBS Sports Radio.
In February 2021, the HD3 sub-channel flipped to The True Oldies Channel; CBS Sports Radio would subsequently move to WXBK, WNSH’s HD3 sub-channel.
See also
*WCBS (AM)
*WCBS-TV
*List of radio stations in New York (state)
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Entercom
HD Radio stations
Radio stations in New York City, CBS-FM
Radio stations established in 1941
1941 establishments in New York City
Classic hits radio stations in the United States
Audacy, Inc. radio stations
Hudson Square