Well, to be fair, for all the recent good developments in the industry, there's been plenty of not-so-good ones as well. I'm even leaving Jack out of this for the moment....for all those who hated the formats (including many oldies purists who were more upset/angry at seeing CBS-FM go than anything else), it also had its following. I personally liked a lot of the music it played.
The issue here is the sheer hypocrisy of certain "purists", who, when CBS-FM flipped to Jack, forgot about all the whining they were doing about CBS-FM, for its limited playlist, for the way some jocks were let go long before the flip, for the morning show, for the lack of 50's music, for playing too much disco, for not playing enough disco, for playing 80's music, for not playing the right 80's music, and so on. And yes, some of those complaints raised more valid issues about the direction of commercial radio, such as tight playlists.
But...
All of that negativity about CBS-FM magically turned into an incredible disdain for Jack FM the moment the flip occurred, and suddenly, it was like CBS-FM was the greatest thing to ever happen to radio. People have been on this and other boards begging for the station to return for two years. It ranks right up there with the people begging for country to return to the airwaves. It was probably one of the most common topics on this board and the "other" major NYC radio board.
Suddenly, Jack gets Jacked. CBS-FM is back. Some of the legendary jocks are back. The station has moved forward a bit in time but still plays plenty of 60s tunes in proportion to its entire playlist, and has even dipped back into the 50s.
And what do we get?
All of the begging and pleading for the great CBS-FM to return ends, and the complaining and whining about how bad CBS-FM is resumes, right where it left off before the format change. Not enough 50's music. Why is it playing 80's music. Why is it playing too much rock? Why is it playing too much disco? Why isn't this jock back on the air? Why is this jock doing evenings? He sucks. There's no ads now, but what's going to happen when the station airs commercials again? Why is it playing this song? Why is it playing music from this artist? Where's the doo-wop shop? Why should it only be a specialty program? Why should there be specialty programs? Why is the station jockless/voicetracked at 4:26 AM the first day it's back on the air? I mean....come on now.
I mean, the amount of whining and complaining is crazy but a lot of it just boils down to the fact that all the whiners and complainers seemed to romanticize about the "ideal" image they kept of CBS-FM in their heads during the two years of Jack on 101.1, but when the real CBS-FM is back on the air, everyone seems to want to turn it into their own personal over-the-air jukebox.
I mean, gee. I'm sure there's plenty of classic rock fans out there who get tired of hearing Stairway to Heaven every day on Q104.3. The dance fans can't stand KTU for going only as far as Gloria Gaynor and Marc Anthony as far as "dance" music is concerned. But most people who post here understand how radio works (and how it often doesn't work). CBS-FM isn't someone's own personal ipod or online radio station. It's there to do what every commercial station is supposed to do: make money. And the way in which CBS-FM operates is no different than any other major market commercial station, and in fact, even having as many live voices on the air as CBS-FM does is a bit of a refreshing change from the current trend of voicetracking and syndicated programming (see: Delilah on 106.7).
Overall, I just sense a lot of bitterness from the oldies "purists" and a denial of what the reality today, in 2007, is, both in radio and overall. To an extent, I sympathize with them and with so many others who cannot hear their favorite music on the radio anymore. However, after waxing nostalgic about the station for two years, starting the whining and complaining literally minutes after the station returns to the airwaves is a bit absurd, especially when they were whining about the same problems before the flip in 2005, problems which were "forgotten" (put aside) to complain about Jack for two years. Even in the hypothetical scenario that CBS-FM suddenly pumps out lots more 50s tunes in its regular playlist...even then, I am sure the purists would find something to whine or nitpick about...it's not the right music...or why are they playing all that other stuff...that's not oldies.....and so on. It never seems to end.
Guys, if you really, really want to hear 50's music, do what the fans of real dance music, modern rock, country, classic alternative, triple A and other unrepresented genres of music in the NYC area have done: get Sirius or XM, or a CD player, or an mp3 player, or an HD radio, or listen to one of literally thousands of online streams (they're even going to be online a while longer since Soundexchange isn't going to enforce the increased royalty rates right away...horray!), or even in the case of so-called real oldies...dust off the old vinyl, cassette tape and 8-tracks. See, that wasn't so bad, was it? ;D