July 7, 1972: CBS-FM Becomes the 1st "Oldies" Station

July 7, 1972: WCBS-FM, a New York radio station at 101.1 on the FM dial, joins the 1950s nostalgia wave by switching to an all-"oldies" format.

Unable to compete with local rock stations WPLJ (95.5) and WNEW-FM (102.7), they switched to early rock and roll, and doo-wop. Johnny Michaels, formerly of WMCA (570 AM), played the first record, "Runaround Sue" by Dion, a Number 1 hit in 1961. 

Over the next few years, CBS-FM (the W was usually dropped) hired several famed New York disc jockeys. From WMCA's "Good Guys," there was Jack Spector, Dandy Dan Daniel and Gary Stevens. From the "All-Americans" at WABC (770), there was "Cousin" Brucie Morrow, Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy and Chuck Leonard. In 1980, they hired Harry Harrison, "The Morning Mayor of New York," who had been at both stations.

Every year, they would poll their listeners for their favorite songs, and would play their Top 500 Songs starting on the night before Thanksgiving, counting down all through the weekend. Every time, the Number 1 song turned out to be "In the Still of the Night," the 1956 doo-wop classic by The Five Satins.

As the legendary DJs got older, and replaced with younger ones who grew up listening to the music rather than playing it professionally, they began playing "classic rock" hits: The cutoff date was no longer 1964, when The Beatles arrived, but 1970, when they broke up. Joe McCoy, one of the original 1972 DJs, became the program director in 1981, and hired younger jocks like Bill Brown, Bob Shannon, Bobby Jay, Marc Sommers and Gary Clark.

The station did Thursday Night Sixties, Friday Night Fifties, "Cousin Brucie's Saturday Night Dance Party," and, on Sunday nights, "The Doo Wop Shop with Don K. Reed." There would also be themed "Hall of Fame" nights: Love songs on Valentine's Day, Italian singers on Columbus Day, and so on. And themed weekends: Elvis songs, Beatle songs, Motown songs, doo-wop songs, and so on.

Every year, there would be a New York Music Weekend, featuring only performers from the City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, North Jersey (extending as far as Freehold for Bruce Springsteen once they started playing 1970s songs) and Connecticut (not many, but there were the aforementioned Five Satins and Gene Pitney).

I grew up in the 1970s and '80s, and didn't like the music of my youth: Disco, power ballads, synth-pop, "hair metal." In 1987, as a senior in high school, hearing New York's top station playing what used to be known as "Top 40," WHTZ, 100.3 on the FM dial, a.k.a. "Z100" or "The Zoo," play Madonna's "Open Your Heart" for about the 165th time, I spun the dial, and landed on 101.1. I heard this amazing voice. It was Roy Orbison. It just so happened to be the night of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Orbison was being inducted, and he was being interviewed by Bob Shannon, who was also playing his hits.

I had always preferred the music of my parents' generation, but now, I was hooked more than ever. It reached the point where, if a current act "covered" an oldie well, I loved it; but if the cover was bad, I took it personally.

For 33 years, CBS-FM played "New York's favorite oldies"; for the last 18 of those years, I was a faithful listener. But the decision was made to move to a DJ-less "Jack FM" format. On June 3, 2005. Bill Brown played the last song, with these words: "CBS-FM, one-oh-one-point-one. Did you ever get the urge to scream, "Rescue me!" Well, I am beginning to feel that way right now. Here's Fontella Bass."

The new format was despised. On July 12, 2007, the old format was brought back. By this point, fans of 1960s music were getting to be old, fans of 1950s music were getting to be elderly, and a 1980s nostalgia wave was underway. So the new format became pretty much Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. As of June 7, 2022, the station is still playing what it calls "oldies." Which now includes what 1990s kids called "R&B," but those of us who know what rhythm & blues actually is, we know better. It might be good, but it ain't R&B. The era's "boy bands" sure ain't. They're square. I just don't dig them at all.

Of the CBS-FM DJs who played those oldies when I listened in the late 1980s and early 1990s: Ron Lundy in 2010, Bill Brown in 2011, Harry Harrison in 2020. As of July 7, 2022, Cousin Brucie, Bob Shannon, Bobby Jay, Max Kinkel, Don K. Reed, Norm N. Nite, Marc Sommers and Joe McCoy are still alive.

UPDATE: Reed died a few days later. Shannon died in 2023.

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July 7, 1972 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost the the Minnesota Twins, 5-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew hit his 517th career home run. Rod Carew went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Bobby Murcer went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1 at Shea Stadium. Don Sutton outpitched Jon Matlack. Wes Parker hit a home run. Chris Cannizzaro, a survivor of not just the 1962 Mets but also another horrible expansion team, the 1969 San Diego Padres, went went 3-for-4 with a walk. Willie Mays, who hit his 600th career home run against those '69 Padres, was on the Mets' roster, but did not play in the game.

* The Montreal Expos beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-2 at Jarry Park in Montreal.

* A doubleheader was split at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Phillies won the opener, 4-2. Steve Carlton was the winning pitcher, and Greg Luzinski hit a home run. The San Diego Padres won the nightcap, 6-1.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Ranger starter Dick Bosman had to leave after 4 innings, but, the rest of the way, Jim Panther outpitched Jim Palmer. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs.

* A doubleheader was split at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). The Pittsburgh Pirates won the 1st game, 10-2. The Atlanta Braves won the 2nd game, 3-2. Hank Aaron went 1-for-2 with a walk before leaving the 1st game with an injury, and did not appear in the 2nd game. Roberto Clemente only appeared in the 2nd game, as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-2 with 2 walks. Johnny Bench went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Al Kaline went 3-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 3-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Bob Gibson outpitched Dave Roberts. (Not the later Red Sox base stealer and Dodger manager.)

* The Boston Red Sox beat the California Angels, 5-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Ben Oglivie won it with a home run in the top of the 10th inning. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* And the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Oakland Athletics, 9-4 at the Oakland Coliseum. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-5 with an RBI.