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O.T- WCBS FM switched formats- no longer oldies station


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Oldies Are a Thing of Past at Top Station

06/04/2005 1:25 PM, AP

Larry Mcshane

It's the day the music died. WCBS-FM, the top oldies station in the nation for more than three decades, stunned its legion of listeners by abruptly switching formats this weekend.

Goodbye, Buddy Holly and the Beach Boys.

Hello, Duran Duran and Jet.

"I'm sure this move angered and bewildered its listeners," said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio. "A lot of people punched in WCBS-FM, heard Pink's `Get The Party Started,' and said `Something's wrong with my radio.'"

The station had switched to an oldies format in 1972, initially as a bastion for the doo-wop sounds of the '50s. Although the playlist changed over the years, WCBS-FM always remained the outpost for classic Top 40 radio in the nation's largest radio market.

It was also the home to many of New York's legendary Top 40 DJs, including "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, Harry Harrison, Dan Ingram and Norm N. Nite.

Radio formats came and went

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Old CBS- FM was a unique station-you could listen to oldies- now it is another run of the mill copy cat you can get any place- that is what is sad for me-originality is lost

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As someone who was a DJ for about 15 yrs, corporations killed FM radio. It will never be the same, and individual creativity is gone from the medium forever. ('cept some Satellite radio stuff & now Podcasting over the net)

It truly is sad, because radio was my passion, I didn't care what little money I made (and trust me, it was LITTLE), what format I was doing at the time (from Oldies in Monmouth NJ to modern rock in Rochester), I loved what I did, and the 5 hours a day I was on the air was when I felt most alive. I could always relate to how artists would talk about being on stage or athletes talk about game-time, I got the same rush from being on the radio.

But watching the nature of the biz change since the early 90's caused me to get out of the game full-time, and now when my current station decided to change from the PLJ-ish sound for a sleepy "Lite-Rock" format, the only reason for doing it so they could have a direct-competition for the Lite-Rock station owned by the other corporation across town... I said the hell with it and haven't been back on the air since... There's nothing passionate about playing that same Celine Dion song for the 8 millionth time... and a part of me has died since...

Very sad to see CBS-FM go down... just as it was sad to see WHFS in DC (one of the truly great Alternative stations in the country) change to a Spanish format...

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As someone who was a DJ for about 15 yrs, corporations killed FM radio. It will never be the same, and individual creativity is gone from the medium forever. ('cept some Satellite radio stuff & now Podcasting over the net)

It truly is sad, because radio was my passion, I didn't care what little money I made (and trust me, it was LITTLE), what format I was doing at the time (from Oldies in Monmouth NJ to modern rock in Rochester), I loved what I did, and the 5 hours a day I was on the air was when I felt most alive. I could always relate to how artists would talk about being on stage or athletes talk about game-time, I got the same rush from being on the radio.

But watching the nature of the biz change since the early 90's caused me to get out of the game full-time, and now when my current station decided to change from the PLJ-ish sound for a sleepy "Lite-Rock" format, the only reason for doing it so they could have a direct-competition for the Lite-Rock station owned by the other corporation across town... I said the hell with it and haven't been back on the air since... There's nothing passionate about playing that same Celine Dion song for the 8 millionth time... and a part of me has died since...

Very sad to see CBS-FM go down... just as it was sad to see WHFS in DC (one of the truly great Alternative stations in the country) change to a Spanish format...

Would that be jlk ?

I used to work at WADB in Belmar till right before they changed and became the RAT

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As someone who was a DJ for about 15 yrs, corporations killed FM radio. It will never be the same, and individual creativity is gone from the medium forever. ('cept some Satellite radio stuff & now Podcasting over the net)

It truly is sad, because radio was my passion, I didn't care what little money I made (and trust me, it was LITTLE), what format I was doing at the time (from Oldies in Monmouth NJ to modern rock in Rochester), I loved what I did, and the 5 hours a day I was on the air was when I felt most alive. I could always relate to how artists would talk about being on stage or athletes talk about game-time, I got the same rush from being on the radio.

But watching the nature of the biz change since the early 90's caused me to get out of the game full-time, and now when my current station decided to change from the PLJ-ish sound for a sleepy "Lite-Rock" format, the only reason for doing it so they could have a direct-competition for the Lite-Rock station owned by the other corporation across town... I said the hell with it and haven't been back on the air since... There's nothing passionate about playing that same Celine Dion song for the 8 millionth time... and a part of me has died since...

Very sad to see CBS-FM go down... just as it was sad to see WHFS in DC (one of the truly great Alternative stations in the country) change to a Spanish format...

Wolfe Jet- you have first hand experience of corporations taking over practically all the local radio stations- it is just not going to be the same without cbs-fm not playing 50's songs and Motown songs,etc

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Would that be jlk ?

I used to work at WADB in Belmar till right before they changed and became the RAT

No, it wasn't jlk - if memory serves, I think the calls were WZVU - it was "Oldies 107.1" in Long Branch, I was there back in '93-'94... Did a few different night shifts & fill-ins for Middays & PM Drive... Presentation just like CBS-FM, treating Oldies like they were CHR, very upbeat, uptempo... a fun way to do Oldies.

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I like what they did to 101.1...it's refreshing. You never know what they'll play next. I hope they can 104.3 next. It seems their playlist has dwindled down to about 20-30 songs. I can't take Free Bird anymore!

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I like what they did to 101.1...it's refreshing. You never know what they'll play next. I hope they can 104.3 next. It seems their playlist has dwindled down to about 20-30 songs. I can't take Free Bird anymore!

Beware, it's still corporate cookie-cutter radio, so eventually all of this "unpredictability" you feel now will probably fade as you start to hear repetition there too... The "song you haven't heard for a while" will eventually become the "song they've beaten to death (again)"...

As the original article about this pointed out, "There are currently about a dozen stations nationally using the Jack format."

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