101.1 WCBS-FM
Bill Brown, WCBS-FM New York | July 12, 1971
Date of Recording: 07.12.1971 Station: 101.1 WCBS-FM New York, New York, USA Format: Oldies Owner: CBS, Inc. Featured Air Personality: Bill Brown Contributor: Steven Green Comments: 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...
John Zacherle, Halloween Special, WCBS-FM 101.1 New York | October 31, 1991
Date of Recording: 10.31.91 Station: 101.1 WCBS-FM New York, NY, USA Featured Air Talent: John Zacherle (09.26.1918 – 10.27.2016) (WCAU-TV, WABC-TV, WOR-TV, WPIX-TV, WNJU-TV, WNEW-FM, WXRK-FM, WCBS-FM). Elected into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia in 2010. Died on 10.27.2016 at age 98. Contributor: Ray Bozzanca Airchexx Entry: 433 (Repost at entry 1,450) (What does this mean? (1)) We interrupt this program because of a local weather emergency. This is NOT a test! Comments: With that statement and EBS tones, (at 38 minutes in) the whole tone of this FRIGHTFULLY GREAT aircheck is set in stone! 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...
Rick Stacy, WCBS-FM New York | August 25, 2007
This begins with Top-of-hour IDs from WWFS “Fresh 102.7” and “CD 101.9” before heading into today’s brutally hot weather forecast from CBS-FM. You then get treated to about 10 scoped minutes of a scoped 30 minutes of New York’s Greatest Hits.
Dan Taylor in the Morning, WCBS-FM 101.1 New York | July 26, 2007
It’s not often I get New York FM stations up here in Massachusetts, but this particular July morning we had a bit of a tropo opening along the east coast, giving me the opportunity to hear WCBS-FM for the first time ever from this location (It’s never been heard at this location due to a line of hills, and I’m at the bottom at about the lowest elevation in the area). Enough about my DX hobby. This is a unique aircheck for another reason. Dan Taylor is back at the helm of WCBS-FM’s morning show, after first relinquishing it to a Monkee (Mickey Dolenz), then the station flip to Jack-FM. Taylor sounds superb, even if the signal isn’t so good from about 200 miles away. This is the re-tooled WCBS-FM, playing “New York’s Greatest Hits”! I’ve ...
101.1 WCBS-FM Returns from Jack | July 12, 2007
When Dan Mason returned as President of CBS Radio in the Spring of 2007, the first thing he did was make it clear that many of the blunders of the past few years needed to be fixed. The “Free-FM” brand was slowly dissolved, leading to the return of K-Rock. San Francisco’s KFRC was relaunched on a new frequency just a few months after that station had dropped its heritage format. All that remained was dealing with that pesky Jack in New York. On July 12, 2007 at appropriately 1:01pm, Jack shifted over to 101.1’s HD-2 signal and made way for the return of a slightly modified WCBS-FM. Dan Taylor and Bob Shannon were brought back, but were joined by newcomers Broadway Bill Lee, Joe Causi and more 80’s music. This version is nearly 45 minutes long and includes a scoped last hour of Jack-FM and ...
Radio Greats: WCBS-FM Remembers Murray The K | 1992
More in our series honoring Murray the K. 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 SpectorR...
Dick Heatherton, WCBS-FM 101.1 New York | February, 1977
Date of Recording: February, 1977 (Exact Date Unknown) Station: WCBS-FM 101.1 New York Contributor: Big Apple Airchecks Featured Air Talent: Dick Heatherton Aircheck Entry: 1,406 Comments: Here’s our third aircheck featuring Dick Heatherton on WCBS-FM. Although the news is cut out of this recording, you hear the start and end of two newscasts. Bill Gilliam is the Newsman. This tape came in with four different airchecks on it and no date of recording. The closest we can get to dating it is by the chart positions of the current music – yes, in 1977 CBS-FM still played currents in between the 50s and 60s Oldies. “Torn Between Two Lovers” is number 2, Abba’s “Dancing Queen” is number 15. That narrows things down to about the 2nd week of February, but s...
Max Kinkel, WCBS-FM 101.1 New York | September 7, 1993
Well over 20 years ago, and it feels like yesterday, WCBS-FM was considered the most listened to Oldies Station in America! The good thing about this recording is – well, everything! But in particular, aside from “Super” Max Kinkel and his quick wit & charming personality, we get to hear TWO full newscasts. The first one occurs about 18 minutes in, and it’s the World and National headlines (at the top of the 5:00 hour) with CBS Network News. The second is a local news report at the end of this aircheck, which runs just over 38 minutes, scoped. The audio quality of this tape is superb! A couple of records (and you can really tell that this is vynl, or vynl recorded onto magnetic tape cartridges) have a bit of distortion, the kind that record collectors and old t...
Dick Heatherton, 101.1 WCBS-FM New York | July 29, 1974
Courtesy of Big Apple Airchecks, here’s an original tape which took quite a bit of time to re-master. Dick Heatherton is upbeat and fun, and the music spans three decades! At this point in the ‘Golden 101″ era, CBS-FM is playing everything from the 1950s to then-current songs, with an emphasis on late-50s and early 60s music. Interestingly enough, CBS-FM plays enough current music to do a music survey! The historic nature of this aircheck becomes readily apparent as soon as the first newscast, read by Bill Gillian, begins. President Richard Nixon has announced he will resign at noon the following day, and he will hold a news conference shortly to tell the American people of his plans to resign. That news conference may just be one of the most famous presidential news conf...
The “Do-Wop Shop” with Don K. Reed, WCBS-FM 101.1 New York | January 29, 1978
From a cold Winter Sunday night, “Weekend 101” and the Do-Wop Shop featuring longtime host Don K. Reed. There’s not much featured on this aircheck to indicate that it was recorded in 1978, other than those who remember those old jingles who might have been able to round down the general late-70s era. No commercial breaks, but Reed does do a couple of weather reports (this was right after the Blizzard of ’78 if I recall correctly) and one traffic report. Notable because no music station I know of does traffic reports on a Sunday night anymore! This is all Do-Wop, mid and late 1950s music. A staple of the WCBS-FM format for over two decades, in fact, right up until CBS ditched the original 60s/70s Oldies format for the ill-fated “Jack-FM” Variety Hits form...
WCBS 880 Announces the Return of Oldies on 101.1 WCBS-FM | July 12, 2007
After the ill-fated “Jack-FM” format crashed and burned, CBS brass woke up to the fact that blowing up the personality-heavy Oldies format on 101.1 FM probably wasn’t the wisest thing. Listen now as All News WCBS 880 interviews Cousin Bruce Morrow and Bob Shannon about the return of CBS-FM! Narrated by your webmaster, this includes a great WCBS-FM jingle montage at the end you won’t want to miss! Thanks to contributor Gary Podoto for providing the WCBS 880 aircheck!
WCBS-FM 25th Anniversary with Bob Shannon | July 7, 1997
WCBS-FM held a special event for their 25th anniversary. This is the first incarnation of CBS-FM’s Oldies format, with lots of songs from the dawn of Rock ‘n Roll up through the very early 1980s. The on-air celebration included old airchecks from the station’s relatively humble beginnings through much of the late 70s. This particular recording is of the final hour of Bob Shannon’s show, which ended early so that WCBS-FM could air a special retrospective. Heard throughout the aircheck, plenty of weather as severe storms were moving through Queens and Brooklyn, having caused considerable damage as the northern end of the line moved through Connecticut. Also features a full newscast. Our thanks to Frank Bruno for providing this fantastic aircheck!
