First Listen: The Return Of WCBS-FM
Written Jul. 12, 2007 by Sean Ross in Content + Terrestrial Radio with 20 Comments
It's the most heavily covered format change of the year so far--tons of stories not only in the local press but as far afield as the Los Angeles Times. But for anybody who wasn't near a radio or the Internet at 1:01 this afternoon when WCBS-FM returned to Oldies after two years as "Jack-FM," or anybody who listened to the format change, then moved on before the station went into its regular format, here are some notes from the 2 p.m. hour and throughout the afternoon and early evening to give you a quick sense of what the new/old station sounds like so far.
1) If you're not happy with how Oldies has evolved over the years, you will indeed have some issues with this station. Even before the sign-on, it was announced that the new CBS-FM would play some music from the '80s, and would bring back station veterans Bob Shannon and Dan Taylor, but not Cousin Brucie or any of the WABC/WMCA icons who had become the public face of the station. And there was at least one moment this afternoon where WCBS-FM was playing "Jack And Diane" while WLTW was playing Diana Ross' version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," a song that was 12 years older.
2) That said, it DOES sound like WCBS-FM, even when it's playing "Glory Days" or "Let's Hear It For The Boy." Some of that is the power of the jingles and presentation. Some of that is that Joe McCoy's WCBS-FM would, for much of its existence, have played "Let's Hear It For The Boy" anyway. And I've already heard from a few people this afternoon who didn't much like the station that left in 2005 who are just fine with this one, even with Huey Lewis & the News in the mix. Just shows what two years away will do to make a station more appreciated.
3) There's not a strict 1964 (or 1966) cutoff of the sort that some Oldies stations have imposed over the years--there's still "Do You Love Me" by the Contours (unless you count that song as 1987) and even "Summertime Blues" in the mix. (There's also a summer songs stager that has given the station license to play "Summer Rain," "Under The Boardwalk" and even the Cowsills' "Indian Lake" as well.) That, along with the '70s and '80s titles does keep the station from feeling as claustrophobic as some of the Oldies stations that superserve 1968-1972 and a very thin sliver of everything else. There's also a decent representation of songs that used to be part of the overplayed Top 300 of all time, but had gotten harder to find in recent years--"Wooly Bully," "Incense and Peppermints," etc.
4) If you were a Jack partisan, this will be listenable for you, but it won't be entirely satisfying. The true Pat Benatar/John Mellencamp/Prince/Boston person will listen to the new WCBS-FM, but the hole still remains for WPLJ or somebody else to reclaim the '80s. (Or for Jack's new HD-2 incarnation to become the most successful HD-2 station ever.) That said, I did hear "Little Red Corvette" into "Magic Man" tonight, which would have been a very good Jack segue.
And here's one aspect of the change that has gotten little publicity: So far, the station has had no commercials--just sponsorship billboards at the top of each hour. Presumably, if this were going to be a permanent development, we'd have heard about it by now. And the jocks are stopping to talk in those usual stopset places--suggesting that there will be something there eventually. But if the station was able to maintain sponsorships only, that would be bigger news than any format change.
Here's the second hour of WCBS-FM at 2 p.m. today:
Tommy James & Shondells, "Mony Mony" (1968)
Donna Summer, "Last Dance" (1978)
Sam the Sham & Pharaohs, "Wooly Bully" (1965)
Bruce Springsteen, "Pink Cadillac" (1984)
Earth Wind & Fire, "Sing A Song" (1975)
Mungo Jerry, "In The Summertime" (1970)
Elvis Presley, "Suspicious Minds" (1969)
KC & Sunshine Band, "That's The Way (I Like It)" (1975)
Doors, "Light My Fire" (1967)
Elton John, "Philadelphia Freedom" (1975)
Blondie, "Heart Of Glass" (1979)
Righteous Brothers, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (1965)
Steve Miller Band, "Take The Money And Run" (1976)
Sam & Dave, "Soul Man" (1967)
Boz Scaggs, "Lowdown" (1976)
Temptations, "My Girl" (1965)
Steve Winwood, "Roll With It" (1988)
Spinners, "The Rubberband Man" (1976)
Reader Comments
Your 2¢, in chronological order — add your comment below.
I would have rather CBS Radio retire CBS-FM as an "oldies" station or whatever they're calling it now than try to spin this as the CBS-FM that I knew and loved growing up.
As the saying goes, you cant reheat a soufle. The same goes for a radio station, especialy for one that was as great as the 101 CBS-FM I remember and loved as a kid.
Should have doo-wop and 50's as part of the mix...forget the 80's.......
Ahhhh ... and all is right with the world. As zero hour approached, 1:01pm, I enjoyed the humour they applied to Jack "moving out" ... v/o guy Howie Coogan doing his snarky liners, interrupted by someone "delivering boxes" ("Oops, I was supposed to drop these off when nobody was here." Coogan responding, "What's goin' on around here??"). It was gratifying just to hear that arrogant Jack voice not in control!
Not sure if it was a mistake or if they simply have sales inventory they're still commmitted to, but at 10am this morning, they aired a promo for the "Jack on the Beach" promotion that's taking place ten days from now ... although I notice the countdown to that event disappeared from the Jack website the day before the format flip. There was a touch of dead air before and after the promo, and for a second I could feel the hearts of tri-state oldies fans skip a beat ... then on came the CBS-FM top hour jingle.
All in all, a triumphant return to personalities, the jocks have been given time to finally air their "rebuttal", and have gotten down to business. I just wonder how fans of older Elvis stuff, and that selection of late 50s/early 60s tunes that no longer has a home on CBS feel about the re-launch. As you mentioned, Sean, the change hasn't been vicious, but the shift in era is noticeable.
Sorry, Sean ... I didn't sign my comments:
J.C. Douglas
Director of Programming
Newcap Radio
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Cheers,
jc
Pretty cool hour of tunes, doncha think!
-no dogs
-plenty of tempo, rhythm and beat
-every song is a bonafide number one super smash
-biggest/best artists of the 60's and 70's.
I'd lock it in!
TY
Memphis
Sean, do you get the feeling (as I do) that they launched this new version of CBS-FM to be a little more "oldies friendly" to take advantage of the good pub, and then will evolve into more of a Classic Hits playlist a la KFRC? The new CBS-FM sounds good, I just don't see this working long term anymore than I did with CBS-FM in 2005.
WE COULD HURT CHICAGO WITH THE NON PRODUCTIVE WCKG 105.9 SIGNAL COULDN'T WE
94.7 AND SCOTT'S EFFORTS ARE OK BUT THE BEST THING HAPPENING IS LANDECKER. BIONDI IS MARGINAL...THE MUSIC AINT HAPPENING. THERES STILL A WHOLE HOLE IN CHICAGO. YEAH FOR DUSTIES. thanks for the mail.
Sean,
Great comments on the relaunch of WCBS-FM, a station I grew up with.
While this is not my dad's WCBS-FM and some people will still complain about the lack of Five Satins, Beatles, Stones, Supremes and Frankie Valli records and the presence of 1980s music, I happen to like the tempo, flow and overall sound thus far. It's something K-Earth 101 in L.A. should look at in taking things up another notch out there. Here in Miami, the hiring of Bruce Kelly for mornings at Majic is a step in the right direction, but the music is still very much "stuck" in the 1960s and has yet to evolve as it has in other markets.
Now back to New York - you are absolutely correct with your statement that the hole still remains for WPLJ or somebody else to reclaim the '80s.
As WCBS-FM's return has proven, it is all about image and listener expectations. What does the listener expect at 101.1 FM? WCBS-FM.
Even though Jack FM was top 5 25-54 middays and had higher 25-54 numbers than WCBS-FM did in spring 2005, the expectation was that 101.1 was WCBS-FM - period. Advertisers and high-level New Yorkers who controlled ad budgets just couldn't get around that when making their buys, or CBS Radio/New York's sales team was ineffective in selling Jack. No pun intended.
When I think of WPLJ, I think of 1980s rock and pop. Period. Yet when I turn on 95.5 I hear Merrill Bainbridge and a host of unfamiliar new songs and recurrents.
WPLJ owned these artists once and there is no excuse for them to own them once again.
Sorry, but as a 34-year-old former New Yorker, WPLJ is Bon Jovi. WPLJ is Springsteen. WPLJ is Billy Idol, and Billy Joel, and Madonna, and Prince. Hell, WPLJ is John Cougar Mellencamp, Eric Clapton, Genesis, The Police and Def Leppard too.
A huge opportunity exists for the new management at WPLJ for Scott to relive the magic of the 1980s with a Pirate/Z100 musical hybrid that superserves the "outer donut" of NJ, Westchester and Long Island while also appealing to city dwellers.
That's a recipe for success, with all due respect to Mat Kearney and Rob Thomas.
It was a brilliant kickoff. From the bit of Summer Wind to the montages to the first song's acknowledgement of what they were and Bob Shannon gettng the first words, then Frankie Valli, then Springsteen. The station in those first minutes laid out it's turf, reminded everyone of its heritage, and ultimately felt as comfortable as an old pair of jeans you haven't pulled out of the closet for awhile . . . but still fit great. Moreover, this is classic hits in 2007. That format descriptor no longer means classic rock-lite.
Where's the reverb? I'm listening over the internet and I don't hear the familiar reverb on the jocks voices. As far as I'm concerned, it's not CBS-FM if it doesn't have the reverb.
Although I am a music lover,some of this music means absolutely nothing to me. Titles like "Wooly Bully" and Mony Mony" are not my idea of listenable product. Then i gotta sit through Elvis Presley and the Righteous Bros? I would listen to classics like "Philadelphia Freedom", "Lowdown", I could even tolerate "Last Dance" and "My Girl" but those early '60s titles of nonsense songs can go to hell. I'm 47 and am a fan of hip hop, rock and R&B. I've heard the restof those song WAAAAAAAAAAAY too many times. Not interested.
It had always surprised me that "Jack" would have replaced WCBS-FM at all, seeing as Joe McCoy's WCBS-FM of the 80s was the granddaddy of the concept (and so much more). This new incarnation sounds more like it than any of the versions of CBS-FM that we heard in the three years prior to the off-switch. Hearing Ed Koch deliver the "mea culpa" was good, but not as good as it would have been if we had heard it from Dan Mason himself as well.
Nice to see some good sense return to a major radio group.
sorry kids...this ain't no "oldies" station...looks like an older version of "jack"
Just as CBS was required to do in Philly with WOGL, due to the existence of "Ben", they have morphed WCBS into the natural progression of what oldies should be for a 35-54 listener today. It has worked well at OGL and has been very listenable using the same music concept and the same idea of veteran mature jocks, but, with the exception of Harvey Holiday, who still sounds contemporary, not the icons of 40 years ago. Our own COOL 101.3, attempts, in a small market version, to do the same thing - present a contemporary radio station that just happens to play music from the 60's through the early 80's. It makes sense.
Mark: if you're 47 the world is in trouble. Also why sould KRTH take it's cues from CBS FM, quite frankly it's a more successful radio station. Nobody has it right yet, in terms of oldies/classic hits. Simply targeting your demos key years won't crank it any longer. It's a sound, not a specific dateline. I am very successful programming another format, however I am willing to bet I could do a better job at this than these tin-horn consultants who tend to research themseleves right out of the g-d business. Too much analysis, too little creativity.
I think WCBS-FM should be a model to
tweak many stations across the U.S.
with a "Classic Hits/Oldies" format,
broaden the playlist, and your
listenship will grow.
There is still a hole in the market for what we used to call an "oldies station". One that actually plays oldies. What about all the music from 1955-1964? Where's the wall of sound from Phil Spector? Elvis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino.. Doo-Wop.. Early Motown. How many times do we need to hear "My Girl"??? There were so many other great Motown songs and artists. What station is playing them? Not CBS-FM
After the "limited commercial interruptions" of the first few days, the downside of the old CBS-FM returned: endless blocks of commercials. The playlist is different, but that would have happened anyway, and it is not a drastic change. I've heard some interesting "iPod" style mixes and a few surprises-- "Rock This Town" by The Stray Cats was one. Really, what we think of as "oldies" was born in the late 60's (Sha Na Na was already a novelty oldies group in 1969) and early 70's. "American Graffiti" and "Mean Streets" (1973) presented doo-wop, soul, and early rock and roll as nostalgia heard on the radio and jukeboxes. Now, almost 35 years later, it seems unlikely that a mass audience station would still go heavy on The Shirelles, The Platters, Sir Acker Bilk, etc. Subscription radio, the web, and our own mixes can give us any wide or narrow mixes we want. It remains to be seen if the "new" CBS-FM can give us any more surprises and remain vital.
WCBS FM sounding good on line in the UK guys. But agree with Steve Fox, (from Q95 per chance?) that the 1950's needs to be represented as well in playlisting.
I was beyond thrilled when I read and heard CBS
FM 101.1 was returning to an oldies station as
I am a loyal listener since 1972 again except
during the "Jack Years". Although I like the
current format, I wish "The Cuz (Brucie)" could
re-join the mix; he is a ledgendary fixture most
of us grew up with and we miss him! I know CBS
FM is trying to appease everyone, but why not
consider expanding their playlist even further by
playing more of the 50's classic hits of all time!