The Infinite Dial

For several years, Greater Media's WMTR (Classic Oldies 1250) Morristown, N.J., was a reliable place to hear the '50s and early '60s Oldies that were disappearing from the format on FM. And for the few years when WCBS-FM New York became Jack FM, it was the only Oldies station that some in the area could hear. Pre-Beatles AMs proliferated at a pretty good clip during those years; WMTR was one of the few that got traction.

So it was disappointing last fall when WMTR turned most of its day over to a satellite mainstream Oldies format, and parallel programming began running on co-owned WCTC New Brunswick, N.J. WMTR had already dabbled in the early '70s a little, but once the new format was installed, there wasn't enough difference in era from what was again available on CBS-FM.

So it was encouraging when the New York Radio Message Board reported last month that WMTR was e-mailing its database promising a return to its Classic Oldies format. And on Jan. 4, I turned on WMTR and there was "Little Things" by Bobby Goldsboro, one of the old station's signature records that has indeed long disappeared from FM. (That may be for cause, but I was still happy to hear it again.) WMTR and WCTC are now running separate, mostly local Oldies formats with a mix of live and automated announcers.

If you follow format changes on AM music stations, you know how stories like this usually end. With a flip to sports. Or brokered programming. Not with this sort of reversal. Among radio's many downers right now, it's not a big story. But "Little Things" matter, too.