Ed Williams, WCBS-FM New York | July 10, 1972

101.1 FM New York WCBS-FM Bill Brown Bob Shannon Dan Taylor Ron Lundy Dan

Courtesy of Contributor Henry Nelson (WHRK, WMC-FM), here’s one of the earliest incarnations that we can find of Oldies 101 WCBS-FM!

Were it not for Bill Gilliam giving the date at the start of the 10pm newscast, we’d have guessed this aircheck to be from 1971 or so.

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Modern day programmers would cringe at Ed Williams’ delivery. Talking over the ends of songs, in most breaks, not a mention of the radio station call letters… I’m not sure where Williams went after WCBS-FM, but someone may know. This aircheck is so different from all the other ones of 101.1 that it’s not even worth comparing. If this is the overnight show (and I think this is, but it could be daytime) then the laid-back delivery fits, if not, then Williams was on an FM station going up against Ron Lundy over on WABC, and nobody was going to beat Lundy! Lots of do-wop songs in format, and while it’s cool to hear, certainly way out of place is hearing “If” by Bread, which would have been a recurrent since it was recorded the year before, in 1971.

There’s a lot of bleed through from an earlier recording on this tape, or there was a microphone on in the room… or perhaps interference from another radio station (although this is not likely because its on FM).

Heard toward the end of this recording is a short but full newscast delivered by Bill Gillian. The news starts out with Gillian telling us the date of this recording, and a ‘This Date in History’ segment (a nuclear test explosion). You’ll hear about a total eclipse occurring in NYC and seen around North America this date before the recording runs out.