AP Article on WCBS-FM Format Change

[radiolover78]

New York (AP)-It's the day the music died-again.
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
-disco, punk, hip hop, talk, sports talk-but WCBS-FM remained unchanged, a warm and welcoming presence at 101.1 on the FM dial.
The station's new format is called "Jack", an eclectic mix of hit music from the '70s through the present. The station's owner, Infinity Broadcasting, made the same format shift at its Chicago oldies station, WJMK-FM, where classic Top 40 had aired for the past 21 years.
"We did a lot of market research and found a hole in the market that wasn't being served by any other station," said Chad Brown, WCBS-FM vice president and general manager.
There are currently about a dozen stations nationally using the Jack format.
"Youth must be served", Taylor said about the changes. "If you look at a lot of media, older Americans aren't important unless your selling Craftmatic beds."
At 5pm Friday, just as Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind" faded out, WCBS listeners heard a voice announce: "Why don't we play what we want? There's a whole world of songs out there."
The first song played on the new 'CBS-FM: "Fight for Your Right" by the Beastie Boys.
Until that moment, there were no indications of any imminent change at the station. Earlier in the day, Micky Dolenz-yes, the former Monkees drummer-celebrated his 100th show with the station by hosting a live broadcast from B.B. King's Blues Club just off Times Square.
In the Winter 2005 Arbitron ratings, WCBS-FM was ranked eighth among the city's stations-a strong showing, but apparently not strong enough.








I can't believe what the Taylor guy said which was saying "older Americans aren't important". What!? I was shocked when I read that. Infiniy is saying that New York NEEDED this type of station. Put it on Mix or K Rock. The folks at Infinity who decided to do this are idiots.

<P ID="signature">______________
Kevin</P>

 

[radionut987]

> New York (AP)-It's the day the music died-again.
> 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
> -disco, punk, hip hop, talk, sports talk-but WCBS-FM
> remained unchanged, a warm and welcoming presence at 101.1
> on the FM dial.
> The station's new format is called "Jack", an eclectic mix
> of hit music from the '70s through the present. The
> station's owner, Infinity Broadcasting, made the same format
> shift at its Chicago oldies station, WJMK-FM, where classic
> Top 40 had aired for the past 21 years.
> "We did a lot of market research and found a hole in the
> market that wasn't being served by any other station," said
> Chad Brown, WCBS-FM vice president and general manager.
> There are currently about a dozen stations nationally using
> the Jack format.
> "Youth must be served", Taylor said about the changes. "If
> you look at a lot of media, older Americans aren't important
> unless your selling Craftmatic beds."
> At 5pm Friday, just as Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind" faded
> out, WCBS listeners heard a voice announce: "Why don't we
> play what we want? There's a whole world of songs out
> there."
> The first song played on the new 'CBS-FM: "Fight for Your
> Right" by the Beastie Boys.
> Until that moment, there were no indications of any imminent
> change at the station. Earlier in the day, Micky Dolenz-yes,
> the former Monkees drummer-celebrated his 100th show with
> the station by hosting a live broadcast from B.B. King's
> Blues Club just off Times Square.
> In the Winter 2005 Arbitron ratings, WCBS-FM was ranked
> eighth among the city's stations-a strong showing, but
> apparently not strong enough.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I can't believe what the Taylor guy said which was saying
> "older Americans aren't important". What!? I was shocked
> when I read that. Infiniy is saying that New York NEEDED
> this type of station. Put it on Mix or K Rock. The folks at
> Infinity who decided to do this are idiots.

Talk about the end of an era, huh? It's only a matter of time before oldies all but disappears but as a viable format, like adult standards, easy listening, etc. Unfortunately, there's not much, if anything, most of us can do about it.

 

[Matt]

> Talk about the end of an era, huh? It's only a matter of
> time before oldies all but disappears but as a viable
> format, like adult standards, easy listening, etc.
> Unfortunately, there's not much, if anything, most of us can
> do about it.

This makes me feel OLD...very OLD.

When you remember that folks age 35+ comprise 60% of the U. S. population, and 55% of the sales of personal goods and services in this country, you have to ask the question of why are we not perceived as important to radio broadcasters?

There is money in back of this push to eliminate oldies as a viable radio format...money from artists and recording studios who can't stay busy if folks aren't listening to the stuff they record because their favorite songs of the past are playing on the radio.

They're pushing us into Craftmatic beds and retirement homes waaaay too soon. (as I reach for my Metamucil and Geritol chaser for the umpteen pills I take every day)

Sometimes, I'm glad I'm in TV these days.

Later...
Matt Smith, Station Manager
WGSR-TV "Star-39"
Reidsville, NC

 

[KeithE]

> > Talk about the end of an era, huh? It's only a matter of
> > time before oldies all but disappears but as a viable
> > format, like adult standards, easy listening, etc.
> > Unfortunately, there's not much, if anything, most of us can
> > do about it.
>
> This makes me feel OLD...very OLD.
>
> When you remember that folks age 35+ comprise 60% of the U.
> S. population, and 55% of the sales of personal goods and
> services in this country, you have to ask the question of
> why are we not perceived as important to radio broadcasters?

Probably because folks over 35 (especially those over 50) are getting pretty well set as to our buying patterns. We don't react to advertising the way younger people do. The older we get, the less responsive to advertising we are. That doesn't mean that we don't watch or listen to commercials. It just means that we react to it differently.

> There is money in back of this push to eliminate oldies as a
> viable radio format...money from artists and recording
> studios who can't stay busy if folks aren't listening to the
> stuff they record because their favorite songs of the past
> are playing on the radio.

I wonder how much of this has to do with money and how much is corporate Viacom's realization that they are considered to be running "old people's" networks and formats? They've been best known in radio for all-news, news/talk, and oldies stations in radio, and Grandma-friendly CBS in television. They're successful now, but their core audience (especially for CBS-TV) is on the verge of dying of old age. They're 5-10 years away from seriously tanking, both in radio and TV, if they stay the course. And they know it.

CBS-TV's president Leslie Moonves recognized that his network is called the "geezer network" a few weeks ago when he announced that "Joan of Arcadia" was cancelled (they had to make room for "CSI: Hoboken" :-D ). Maybe the radio subsidiary of Viacom is taking the hint.

> They're pushing us into Craftmatic beds and retirement homes
> waaaay too soon. (as I reach for my Metamucil and Geritol
> chaser for the umpteen pills I take every day)

My comments here have little to do with the oldies format directly, but national media & advertisers in general:

With a few exceptions (notably Viagra & clones, pickup trucks, Craftmatic beds, and cheap beer), national advertisers cater to young, affluent people (and their kids) in the biggest markets on the coasts and sun belt areas, plus Chicago & Detroit in the midwest.

I really believe that the reason for this is that the ad agencies & the ad buyers are targeting people like themselves, and most of them are young-to-early middle-age folks in NY, Chicago, and LA. Not only are their tastes different than folks their parents' age, but they don't understand (or care) what people in the middle of the country want. I hope I'm wrong here, but I'm going by what I see on the air.

For example, McDonalds may have restaurants everywhere, but their ads target young adults in the large urban areas almost exclusively. I don't know for sure, but maybe these advertisers are looking at places other than Infinity's news & oldies stations and CBS-TV. Even in NY and Chicago, these stations cater mostly to folks over 40 - people that the youngsters at the agencies & the ad buyers don't care about since they can't identify with them (yet).

If so, Viacom is right in changing their focus to formats that skew younger. They're in business to make money and keep their stockholders & advertisers (not their listeners) happy. Period. The stockholders are the company's owners and the advertisers are their customers. The listeners don't have any real say-so unless they boycott the advertisers - but maybe that'll work.