"CBSFM Yesterday - All the Way to New York's Greatest Hits Today"

[andreaj10]

I was reminded on the other board that June 3, 2005 was the day that the music died in NYC.

The way that 101.1 got "Jacked" up, NYC radio, its listeners and supporters were all thrown for a loop. At that time, there were still terrestrial stations where you could hear the music of the 50's and 60's - WFDU 89.1 and WBZO 103.1 (note on the latter: 103.1 did NOT have strong signal, but it did have some strong air personalities such as Keith Allen and The Wiseman and Frank - the music mix was also very good.

CBSFM's air personalities were thrown for a loop too - unbeknownst to us, it would be the last time we would hear Bill Brown, Harry Harrison, and Ron Lundy - sadly, these three are sadly no longer with us. We would not hear Bobby Jay do the Top 20 Countdown or Mike McCann playing every Elvis song ever made.

July 12, 2007 at 1:01PM - WCBSFM 101.1 came back - as a whole new station - the music mix forwarded well into the late 1960's and 1970's, with air personalities not known to the listeners.

February 2014 - another big shift at the station - Scott Shannon started doing morning drive. He brought in a lot of his old Z100 audience. And shifting going on within the station itself.

Today, June 4, 2022 - 17 years later - the station is targeting 25-34 demo and sadly is not the station a LOT of us grew up with. (they can't be - the audience is aging.)

So when I see people on the boards talking about the station that was and wish it could be again, i say to myself - "this is not our station" - remember that....

Andrea
(WCBSFM listener 1984-2014 - I no longer listen to the station)

 

[TheBigA]

I say this all the time. Radio would be so much easier to do, and probably better to listen to, if two things happened: People didn't get older, and radio stations weren't advertiser supported. The last part is the big one. If radio got its revenue in other ways, the age of the audience wouldn't matter. Which is why you still have music of the 40s 50s & 60s on Sirius.

The key for FM radio to survive is for it to develop another revenue stream, probably from digital, and wean itself from on-air advertising and Nielsen.

 

[gr8oldies]

Didn't some of the former CBS-FM personalities come back?

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I say this all the time. Radio would be so much easier to do, and probably better to listen to, if two things happened: People didn't get older, and radio stations weren't advertiser supported. The last part is the big one. If radio got its revenue in other ways, the age of the audience wouldn't matter. Which is why you still have music of the 40s 50s & 60s on Sirius.

The key for FM radio to survive is for it to develop another revenue stream, probably from digital, and wean itself from on-air advertising and Nielsen.

Agreed, but the issue is that everybody sells digital. (Virtually) all radio stations, all TV stations, Pandora, Cable representatives i.e., Ampersand and Effectv (Comcast). And I'm not talking about just being on the station's website, I mean programmatic display and social. And some station groups, CMG and iHeart among them, have top people manning their digital operations. They are competing against specialized programmatic companies, which I generally prefer. And the station salespeople are under pressure to sell it (even more so than selling their stations).

I do buy CTV/OTT through TV stations and once purchased a streaming schedule from iHeart.

TV stations are in a much better position than radio because advertising revenue is augmented in a big way by retransmission fees, which have increased exponentially in recent years.

 

[Kemosabe]

Didn't some of the former CBS-FM personalities come back?

Dan Taylor and Bob Shannon come to mind.

 

[BruceNYC]

The bottom line is that WCBS-FM in 2005 needed to appeal to younger listeners, but they executed it the wrong way by flipping to Jack. I, Like Andrea, don't listen to it any longer. I am 73 years old. Does any radio station want me as a listener?

 

[TheBigA]

Does any radio station want me as a listener?

WOR, WABC, WINS.

 

[ThePowerCow]

And getting their best ratings ever

 

[MVB13]

You know you feel old when you hear TLC's No Scrubs on CBS FM lol 😆 😂 🤣 I am old. How much longer until I hear Fall Out Boy on CBS FM? Then I'll be happy lol

 

[andreaj10]

Didn't some of the former CBS-FM personalities come back?

not a LOT - Shannon came back full-time; you also had guys like Bobby Jay doing the "Sunday Night Radio Greats" - Dan Taylor came back in mornings (then middays) until July 2019.....

 

[andreaj10]

Dan Taylor and Bob Shannon come to mind.

like i said above, FULLTIME for BOTH - Shannon it was until 2012; Taylor was until July 2019...

 

[andreaj10]

WOR, WABC, WINS.

also WFAN and WCBS AM 880

 

[andreaj10]

You know you feel old when you hear TLC's No Scrubs on CBS FM lol 😆 😂 🤣 I am old. How much longer until I hear Fall Out Boy on CBS FM? Then I'll be happy lol

OY VEY, don't say that - 2018's Summer BlastOff was one of the last outdoor events pre-pandemic - now will someone will tell this 63-year-old who Smash Mouth is? They were one of the acts there....

 

[andreaj10]

And getting their best ratings ever

with a younger demo

 

[AceBiscuits]

OY VEY, don't say that - 2018's Summer BlastOff was one of the last outdoor events pre-pandemic - now will someone will tell this 63-year-old who Smash Mouth is? They were one of the acts there....

Smash Mouth is a 90’s/early 2000’s band. Their big song was “All Star”— definitely was weird hearing that for the first time on 101.1, as someone who grew up listening to the post-Jack version of CBS-FM.

I will put my two cents in and say that CBS-FM has evolved nicely. The presentation is super fresh, and the station is the best (in my opinion) sounding station in the city. Great to see Broadway Bill Lee still rocking, he’s awesome.

 

[andreaj10]

Smash Mouth is a 90’s/early 2000’s band. Their big song was “All Star”— definitely was weird hearing that for the first time on 101.1, as someone who grew up listening to the post-Jack version of CBS-FM.

I will put my two cents in and say that CBS-FM has evolved nicely. The presentation is super fresh, and the station is the best (in my opinion) sounding station in the city. Great to see Broadway Bill Lee still rocking, he’s awesome.

it was even weirder seeing them - same thing with Taylor Dayne - both artists who i never thought would be played on 101.1;

also, as i was trying to indicate above - the station had to evolve because many of its listeners - such as yours truly - were aging out of the demo! So even though it's not the station that I remember - it had to evolve!

 

[davideduardo]

with a younger demo

No, with the same demo they have always wanted: the higher end of 25-54.

We humans have the strange habit of getting a year older every 365 days or so....

 

[andreaj10]

No, with the same demo they have always wanted: the higher end of 25-54.

We humans have the strange habit of getting a year older every 365 days or so....

High end of 25-54, David? IIRC, that was the demo that "The Golden 101" was probably shooting for back in the day!!

 

[davideduardo]

High end of 25-54, David? IIRC, that was the demo that "The Golden 101" was probably shooting for back in the day!!

Many formats shoot for 35-54. Urban AC does, so does traditional AC.

Nearly 100% of general market agency buys target 25-54 or some subset, although ethnic buys are mostly 18-49 as is Television.

 

[andreaj10]

Many formats shoot for 35-54. Urban AC does, so does traditional AC.

Nearly 100% of general market agency buys target 25-54 or some subset, although ethnic buys are mostly 18-49 as is Television.

We’re not talking AC here - we are talking about a LEGACY station which has seriously lowered its target demo since the 80s (ps - I just turned 63 in April 😀). My point? CBS probably was going for upper end 35-54 back in my day - now I would say the target demo is 25-34 😓