60's Music Gone From WCBS-FM

I saw this post on the Dentist's Board and Bob T wrote about WCBS-FM and the elimination of the 60's music. Here's what it says:

Hearing from reliable sources that WCBS-FM has begun the complete phase out of 1960s music.
Same unproven link between demos and sales figures at fault.
Aside from the fiasco that was "Jack", 101.1 has had Top 5 ratings for a decade.
Guess they'd rather invite lower ratings in exchange for the dubious possibility they can sell through better.
Say goodbye to classic Motown, Beatles, British Invasion, Beach Boys and Four Seasons.
Wonder if there's any dial position left for this heritage music?

That must be a bad move for WCBS-FM. They removed the music from 1960-69 including Lesley Gore, Roy Orbison, the Beatles, a lot of Motown stars like Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Diana Ross & the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, Martha & The Vandellas, the Marvelettes and just to name a few other great Motown artists of the 60's as well as a few soul stuff for example "La-La Means I Love You" by the Delfonics, "Yes I'm Ready" by Barbara Mason and others and let's not forget Barbra Streisand with her first hit "People" from "Funny Girl".

I love 60's music as well as the 50's music. I've been a longtime CBS-FM listener for years going back to the 1980's and 1990's when CBS-FM was still an oldies station under the realm of Joe McCoy who ruled the station for a long time as the Program Director.

As of now, you can hear oldies elsewhere that fans of the old WCBS-FM might end up. We got WGNY-FM "Fox Oldies" at 98.9 in the Hudson Valley, WMTR in Morristown, NJ and WROW's "Magic 590" in Albany. All three stations still plays the oldies. WCBS-FM is the first station to get rid of the entire decade of the 1960's to make way for more 70's and 80's and of course someday, it will add 90's music in the mix. Will have more to come as it happens. What a sad to see WCBS-FM getting rid of 60's music completely. The 60's has coming to an end.

Also Big Joe Henry plays the 60s on NJ 101.5...he even has the WABC chime time.

With all due respect some of those songs Lesley Gore,Roy Orbison,particularly Barbara Streisand have not been played on OLDIES Stations for a very long time but The Beatles,Rolling Stones,others like "Hang on Sloopy" by The McCoys,"Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann,"House of The Rising Sun" by The Animals,"Stop In The Name Of Love"-Supremes and "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones certainly do pass the Longevity test. Let's face the fact,WCBS is a "Classic Hits" Station has been since After JACK not actually an "OLDIES" Station. But you may begin to see The OLDIES Format become the Next "Music of your life" in area's where sponsors and listeners will support 60's,70's & Early 80's "Oldies".

Can't believe CBS-FM would do that. A lot of younger listeners including myself love music from the 60s. I used to listen to them years ago before a new classic hits station popped up in my area. How can they not play the Beatles?! WOGL in Philadelphia is probably next. Thankfully, I have a locally owned classic hits station that has no problem playing the Animals, Supremes, Elvis, Rascals, Beatles, and other artists from the 60s with their 60s/70s/80s playlist.

JPlainJohn said:

The Beatles,Rolling Stones,others like "Hang on Sloopy" by The McCoys,"Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann,"House of The Rising Sun" by The Animals,"Stop In The Name Of Love"-Supremes and "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones certainly do pass the Longevity test.

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That's an interesting list. Not that this should be taken as research, but I find that when those songs are played at baseball games or at other outdoor activities where music is played, they get a positive response, not because the people recognize them or relate to them, but because they are riff-driven songs that work well in motivational situations. That guitar riff in Hang On Sloopy gets people moving, even if they're 10 years old. Perhaps that's something that today's songwriters have forgotten. A great riff, like You Really Got Me will outlive the audience for the song. A lot of today's songs are missing that element. I've heard some stations string together those riffs, even if they don't play the whole song, just because the riff itself is so cool.

Sad but true. I'm 54 years old, and I do miss hearing some 60s on the radio. (I don't miss the 70s much)

I've seen Big Band give way to 50s and 60s MOR standards over the decades, and now it's my turn. That's how it's always worked. At least internet options are out there.

I grew up in the 70s listening to WABC but could never get into listening to CBS-FM until recently. The 70's DJ auto effects should have been left in the 70s. I however did like the station when it was JACK which seems they are getting closer to now without the imaging. If it was not for the horrible JACK imaging they probably could have stayed with that format.

So since the first time since they were JACK I am listening to them again. Even though I enjoyed the 80s at 8, once the I hear the audio effect on the DJ's voice it really turns me off. I'm 48 not 68.

I really do not get the loyalty people have to this station. Maybe people do not like change and the imaging feels the same to them as it was years ago which gives them some comfort.

Here's the reality: As a radio station, you can't just stand still while the world continues to move around you. It would be wonderful if we never aged, if time stood still, and the past was always the present. But it isn't. In other formats, they're constantly cycling in new releases, and that's what keeps them current. New songs come in, old songs get dropped. That's the normal cycle at any radio station. And it happens to classic hits stations too.

In the last 24 hours, looking at the online playlist for CBS-FM they played 4 songs from the 60s. Looks like Scott Shannon played 4 or 5 during his show but he seems to throw a few in now and then.

ROLLING STONES - LETS SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER
CCR - BAD MOON RISING
ARETHA FRANKLIN - THINK
RASCALS - PEOPLE GOT TO BE FREE

You have to understand that with these commercial operators the listener is NOT the customer -they are the product. That product is sold to advertisers. If the advertiser doesn't want that 'product" (too old, too poor, etc) they simply don't buy time.

You music, your personalities, get kicked-to-the curb when Madison Avenue no-longer considers you worth pitching to.

There are so many options you now have to get your music free, and free of commercials and other irrelevancies, why bother with commercial radio at-all.

Chan/NYC

What's unfortunate (I'm not arguing it's unnecessary, that's another discussion) is that the music on terrestrial radio is selected based on stats, not on taste.

When music is chosen for a movie, there's often no discernible correlation between the songs. When they were written, who performed them, what demo they "resonate with" and all the other stuff that radio programmers pour all over is all over the place. They're GOOD SONGS -- that's the bottom line -- and they fit the mood of the action that's on the screen at the time. That's called "creativity" and it doesn't exist anymore on commercial radio. I'm not sure it exists in the online world of Pandora and Spotify either.

Creativity is prone to failure, but when it succeeds it succeeds big time and moves things forward. Programming by numbers maintains the status quo, but stagnation sets in followed by decline. But it's always safest in the short term.

Like I said at the top, if you want to hear the music from the 50's and 60's music that WCBS-FM usually plays before "Jack", I recommend to the following links:

http://wgny.tunegenie.com/#listenlive
http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/pamal/?callsign=WROWAM
http://www.streamlicensing.com/stations/rewound/listen.asx

These are the three links to listen to those great oldies on the station, and these will bring a lot of listeners from the loss of WCBS-FM, but as of now, WCBS-FM is now a 70's and 80's station with soon-to-be one 90's song an hour. Hopefully you should find some place else on the dial in the future.

L Chanon Gade said:

There are so many options you now have to get your music free, and free of commercials and other irrelevancies, why bother with commercial radio at-all.

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Except that the companies that own the music also want to make money from consumers. They're suing Sirius and Pandora demanding high royalties for all music recorded before 1972. It's possible that if there isn't some compromise, 60s music will also disappear from all digital platforms.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/record-labels-sue-pandora-pre-697327

wadio said:

Programming by numbers maintains the status quo, but stagnation sets in followed by decline. But it's always safest in the short term.

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Actually programming by the numbers results in CHANGE, not status quo. Fans of 60s music want WCBS to retain status quo and not change.

Musicradio77Network said:

Like I said at the top, if you want to hear the music from the 50's and 60's music that WCBS-FM usually plays before "Jack", I recommend to the following links:

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If the lawsuit by the record labels is successful, 50s and 60s music will likely disappear from all digital streams.

Actually programming by the numbers results in CHANGE, not status quo. Fans of 60s music want WCBS to retain status quo and not change.

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By "status quo" I'm referring to programming by the numbers vs. programming according to content without particular regard to demos. You're referring to status quo within the numbers. Different animals.

wadio said:

By "status quo" I'm referring to programming by the numbers vs. programming according to content without particular regard to demos. You're referring to status quo within the numbers. Different animals.

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Maybe, but the audience is constantly in flux. So you can't ignore the demos. Every day, you get older, so you are not status quo. A movie is a different platform, where people are paying to experience fiction. If you were paying for the radio listening experience, that would be comparable.

Sure, but whatever you program is a risk. Generally, the more risk the more potential reward. Radio isn't taking risks, and it's not getting big rewards.

wadio said:

Sure, but whatever you program is a risk. Generally, the more risk the more potential reward. Radio isn't taking risks, and it's not getting big rewards.

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Aren't we talking about WCBS-FM here? They seem to be getting huge rewards from what I can see, beating lots of other stations that are programming more current music. Those stations playing the current music are the ones taking risks with new songs, not WCBS-FM.

I was actually speaking more generally, responding to a post that wasn't strictly about CBS-FM. But you're right. From what I hear CBS-FM has been billing great. With the 60's music. ;-)