Bill Brown, WCBS-FM New York | July 12, 1971

There are few recordings out there from before the Oldies format took hold at WCBS-FM. Still, many do remember the somewhat-progressive Rock format which was heard at 101.1 FM prior to 1972. Its an odd format that took many elements of AM top 40 radio – the jock talking over the music, Jingles, and one or two spots every other record or so. Hardly what one remembers as progressive rock. But what makes this stand out is the playlist. No doubt, Bill Brown is picking much of the music himself. Some album songs, a few hits (Its nice to hear “Mercy, Mercy Me from Marvin Gaye), and some low charting music, like the Steppenwolf cut early on in this scoped presentation.

Our Contributor, Steve Green, says this is one of his recordings. Taken from the source tape, it held up pretty well over the years, aside from some tape rumble and lack of low end frequency response. We’ve tried to clean it up a bit with some light processing, but essintially left most of this intact, as recorded from 1971.

Listen to the wide variety of cuts in this pre-Oldies WCBS-FM jingle library. They are used often, out of stopsets and in segues. Runs 14 minutes, total.

John Zacherle, Halloween Special, WCBS-FM 101.1 New York | October 31, 1991

This has to be the best Haloween special I’ve ever heard. WCBS-FM really did it up right, letting John Zacherle take over the hosting duties for a night of scary fun. Contributor Ray Bozzanca sent this in, in pieces (and unscoped for future use by us if we ever are financially able to pay royalties…) which your webmaster lovingly scoped down to something acceptable to the powers that be.

The music is scoped out, but anything not subject to royalties is left over, which is most of this 3 hour show. Zacherle has a wierd sense of humor, but so appropriate as he picks just the right music for a Howlin’ good time!

Adding to the frightening nature of this aircheck, about halfway through, WCBS-AM Newsradio 880 Meteorologist Craig Allen cuts in with the old EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) alert sounder to give a weather emergency. A word about this… the old two-tone alert and the way the announcement was made really gave a sense of urgency to the situation. In your webmaster’s opinion, the current EAS alert, which is a series of computer tones to trigger an automated message, doesn’t do much of anything to scare the pants off listeners – but that’s what its SUPPOSED TO DO! The old system DID wake up listeners. I know, I used to drop what I was doing to listen to it. Editorial finished.

This runs 1 hour, 15 minutes, scoped.

Radio Greats: WCBS-FM Remembers Murray The K | 1992

This only runs about 10 minutes long but you get a good idea about what Murray Kauffman’s show was all about. Son Peter Altchuler is interviewed about mid-way through this aircheck and comments briefly about his father’s career. Listen carefully to Ronnie Spector’s long comment’s about Kauffman’s career. Did you realize that a handful of these huge NYC DJs took their shows to the stage as an act? How many jocks today could be creative enough to create their own Broadway-type show? And one wonders what happened to radio? Listen to this. It’s truly a fascinating look at a man who really fashioned the early days of AM top 40 radio, and unfortunately we only get 10 minutes, cut off in the middle of Ronnie Spector’s comments.

Thanks Ray Bozzanca for the donation!

Dan Ingram on WCBS-FM New York | 1992

Another great Dan Ingram performance is demonstrated here on what’s yet another near-perfect recording from 1992. Listening to ‘CBS-FM, you’ll notice everything at the peak – the jingles, the format (with a nice variety of 50s through the 80s), that wonderful reverb… and Dan Ingram and his famous one-liners.

Another from contributor Ray Bozzanca

QuickCheck: Dan Ingram, 50s Weekend on WCBS-FM New York | Winter, 1992

Courtesy of Ray Bozzanca, here’s a short scoped listen to Dan Ingram and his one liners. This one is in excellent shape, an original recording in superb quality!

Its a 1950s weekend, something WCBS-FM doesn’t do anymore with their core music now the late 60s into the 70s, but man does it sound GOOD!. You’ll hear plenty of old fashioned reverb on the WCBS-FM signal, and Ingram is in good form on this recording. He’s the king of one-liners and it stands out so much here! It’s a Wintry day with a big snowstorm about to hit New York… Can you guess the EXACT date? Hint: Listen to the commercials (at least the ones not edited out).