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!
Hi, Steve… re WCBSfm aircheck… you’ve mentioned ‘popularity’ of the use of reverb sound for era programming; however, I don’t recall any ‘extensive’ use of this on west coast stations in this time period. WCBSfm’s use seems unnecessary (to me, and in 2015); however, was it mostly an eastern/southeastern US thing in earlier years? Thnx for the great work you do on this site.//jS
John, You really have to be from New York City to understand CBS-FM. Specifically, nearly all the elements used on the station both in its Oldies incarnation and its current Classic Hits version are based upon historical elements of radio in NYC. The reverb was a throwback to the old MusicRadio 77 WABC, which used the reverb entirely through it’s Top 40 years, until 1981 when they went AC and 82 when they abandoned music entirely. The jingles have historic meaning, as well. For much of the past decade, WCBS-FM has used a version of JAM jingles that was used on WABC. Since last year, when Scott Shannon took over mornings, WCBS-FM has been much more 80s oriented and now use a good mix of JAM jingles that Shannon used in programming WHTZ “Z100”. Its all a throwback, much the way KRTH goes back to the heritage of KHJ and to some degree, KFI. And you’re right. The reverb was more of an east coast thing, but not because of its location, but because Bill Drake HATED it. Drake had more influence in the west than the east (but of course, there were exceptions to that). ABC O&O stations used the reverb, as in the case of WLS Chicago. Fun comment, thanks for jumping in.
West