Previous Format: Oldies “101.1 CBS-FM”
New Format: Variety Hits “101.1 Jack-FM”
Date & Time Of Change: June 3, 2005 at 5:00pm
More Info: Wikipedia
Related Change: 101.1 WCBS-FM Returns
It was the day many never thought would happen. And when it happened, two of the top three radio markets would simultaneously wonder what had happened. At around 3:50pm WCBS-FM midday jock Bill Brown hinted at something about to go down in his final break. At 4:00 the station played a half-hour of songs with nothing but jingles in between. However, each song hinted ominously at what was to come. Songs like “Hit The Road Jack” and “Movin’ Out” led into Frank Sinatra’s “Summer Wind”. At 4:30, a 5 minute stunt loop led into the introduction of of “101.1 Jack-FM” at 5:00pm while simultaneously Chicago’s 104.3 WJMK would drop Oldies for Jack.
Albert
Hello all at CBS FM 101.1 I’ts about time you got back on the air……..I new all along something so Damn good over the yrs wasn’t going to be hard to stay off the airwaves. I’m a Native New Yorker from up in rockland Co.but now live out in Ohio,,,,what i’m doing here “Don’t ask” anyway i get home often to Ny & when i heard that 101 was off the air from my ex i was Floored, No way in the world would i have thought that it would betaken off the air in all the yrs you have been on….& i’ll tell you how far back it goes….as you all well know it started with Am radio ,,,,but who was big during the 60’s & 70’s that could reach out to upstate to which everyone call’s North of the Bronx, Yonkers Boarder line. It 66 WNBC & 77WABC to which Wolfman Jack, Cousin Brucie, Shannon..& all the rest of the disc Jockeys…many days at Joans Beach, the Shore, on the Hudson river,,,,boating in the Hudson up north of the tappen Zee Bridge, Montalk point, Conie Island & so & so on, & who can’t forget the many long long days ay Rye Beach if you had a chance to get there & fish as well Ride all the ride’s.Those were such wonderful yrs. & we all as a radio listening audieance have all you to Truely thank from the bottom of our hearts that you were there when most of us needed music to help us get through many many things in our lives……..whether it was roamnce, breaking up or just a simple message to say i was sorry or miss you…CBS FM was there..& most of all the most carefree yrs of many many lives to where it wasn’t nesseray to look over your shoulder then as it is now. But anyhow i’m so Elighted that your back in the grove with the needle“` Ha Ha those were the days, (Laser) who would have thought all the way back in the 60’s & 70’s. Keep up the Great work Guy’s & Gal’s May this be passed down to Future Generation’s to know what it was truely like to have so much fun & listen to Music that ment & still means so so much to each & everyone of us. T Y from the bottom of my heart, “Live on & Prosper” what is that Quote from? AL Angerman.
erica graham
JACK was the best station ever! It will be missed.
Is there a chance it wil be back?
Myron Grant
It was a sad day when they took JACK FM of the air. That in my opinion was THE BEST station ever to hit the airwaves.
It broke the mold of the so many “same packaged” radio stations out there that only seem to play what they feel is good music based on what other similiar radio stations are playing.
Jack FM truly did play what they wanted and I thanked Heaven itself when I first heard that radio station playing such a variety of totally awsome songs. I would ONLY listen to that radio station and no other as it was a station that truly made me feel that radio was not dead.
It’s not to say that CBS FM isn’t okay with it’s oldies music but in all trueness it’s NOT a radio station that I would be “hooked” and committed to listening.
I have simply decided to not listen to radio anymore and will be getting SIRIUS for my listening pleasure. I am sorry to say that when they took Jack FM off the air July 12th 2007.. GREAT radio indeed died.
It is my plea that Jack FM is returned to the airwaves somehow in someway… just the way it was.
K.M. Richards
Oh, puh-leeze.
Jack FM got lower numbers than CBS FM did. That, in a nutshell, is why the format was flipped back.
Calling the Jack format “great radio” proves a lack of knowledge of what great radio really is. Turning a radio station into a broadcast iPod is nothing close to great, and I politely suggest that the two commenters who think it is are probably better off with their MP3 player or satellite receiver.
I am reminded, with the CBS FM/Jack fiasco in NYC, of the equally bad move CBS made in Los Angeles two decades previous, when they flipped “mellow rock” KNX-FM (a groundbreaking format, without which the Adult Album Alternative format would never have developed) to “Hitradio” KKHR. Two years later, tails between their corporate legs, KNX-FM was back, albeit too late to save it, because the audience had all dispersed to other stations. I hope the same fate does not befall WCBS-FM.
Moshe Kapora
I grew up listening to KNX-FM, and I still miss it to this day… but, guess what? Currently there’s a Sirius/XM channel – The Bridge – that closely resembles the legacy KNX-FM Mellow Rock format (sans Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond). It’s like the old days all over again!
Nick Noseworthy
JACK was the best radio station ever?? HAH! If you consider putting your I-pod on shuffle, make your own jockless station. Radio is not how it used to be, with big playlists, good vibrant jocks, and actually interesting radio. CBS-FM was always, in my opinion, one of the best run radio stations in the US. It was always a fun station, because even as a younger child living in northen new england and visiting long island more then 5 times a year, i always got excited whenever we came in listening range of New York Citys Big CBS-FM.
Not knowing about the flip, and travelling back to Long Island in Sept of 2005, I was greeted on 101.1 by a song from Smashmouth. I had all I could do to keep from driving into the barrier, and after hearing a “Jack FM” station ID into “TNT” by ACDC, the barrier didnt sound like a bad idea. Keeping the famous, heritage WCBS call letters, and giving them an I-Pod, jockless, and lifeless new format? LABELED JACK?? It was almost as bad as the switch to Mike fm in Boston, no personality, and one less listener. CBS FM had died, it was a very sad day.
On the better side of things, somebody high up at WCBS finally started to feel the strain of people not liking this new Jack format. Ratings were a tell tale sign. So the old, heritage CBS-FM was brought back on July 12th, 2007. I was late for work that day, streaming WCBS from 11:30am, seeing how they were going to ressurect the old CBS and if they were even going to follow through. They made the switchback very nicely at 1:01pm, and its nice to have some of the old personalities back. Adding a little 80’s was not a bad thing either, while still keeping the heritage sound of 60’s and 70’s, and the old ID’s were always some of the best. Great radio is back once again in New York.
And for those JACK fans (few and far between), stream the feed online, or buy a 300$ HD Reciever, or move to Boston and hang out with MIKE FM. CBS FM wont be taken that easily.
C Russell
Jack FM was THE BEST station on the radio in NYC. It’s so frustrating that they took it off without truly explaining it. I’d always rely on Jack FM to hear an awesome variety of tunes that would always lift your spirits. Jack online will always be playing in my home. Long live jack…
Average Joe Listener
If they had radio announcers to go with it and took requests Jack would have had better ratings…not as good as CBS FM respectfully, but still the variety hits format would have survived somewhere on the dial.
Bob1370
“If they had radio announcers to go with it and took requests Jack would have had better ratings”
Then it wouldn’t be Jack anymore it’d be WCBS-FM 101.1, New York’s Greatest Hits. If you haven’t noticed, that’s precisely what it became in the middle of 2007 and what it is today. And you’re right, the ratings have improved with live personalities–from #22, a 1.5 share and dead last among full market coverage stations in the winter of 2007 as Jack, to a 6.5 share and consistent top-3 rankings today and top-5 in 25-54 money demos (spring 2012) as WCBS-FM. In short, from failure to success…
Will
It’s cool to hear them play the long fade at the end of “Rescue Me.” Something tells me Brown got yanked out of his chair the second he flipped off the mic.
Josh Diaz
I loved Jack FM because Howard Cogan (Jack) had a very good sense of humor. He even invited Mayor Bloomberg, who complained, to play what he wanted. But I love CBS-FM better because I love listening to The wonderful Scott Shannon, who moved from 95-5 PLJ, in the morning, Brooklyn’s own Joe Causi in the evening. I would of loved having Cousin Brucie return to CBS-FM because Sirius doesn’t have the same class as AM/FM. CBS-FM, I hope you don’t leave the air again because New York LOVES YOU!!!!!!