verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message wcbs fm city new york new york broadcast area new york city area branding 101.1 cbs fm slogan new york s greatest hits frequency 101.1 mhz also on hd radio 101.1 2 fm wcbs am 880 simulcast 101.1 3 fm cbs sports radio hd radio first air date december 1 1941 format classic hits erp 6 700 watts stereo haat 408 meters class b facility id 9611 callsign meaning w columbia broadcasting system former legal name of cbs former callsigns w67ny 1941 1943 wabc fm 1943 1947 former frequencies 46.7 mc . 1941 1943 96.9 mc . 1943 1947 owner cbs radio cbs radio east inc. sister stations wbmp wcbs wcbs tv wfan wfan fm wins wlny tv wnew fm webcast listen live website wcbsfm.com wcbs fm 101.1 fm is a cbs owned radio station in new york city offering a classic hits format . the station s studios are in the combined cbs radio facility in the hudson square neighborhood of manhattan and its transmitter is located on the empire state building . the station is the home of the scott shannon in the morning show . wcbs fm was one of the first notable oldies stations in the country with the format dating back to july 7 1972 . between june 3 2005 and july 12 2007 the station aired the automated adult hits format jack fm . the new programming was unsuccessful and wcbs fm switched back to a personality driven classic hits format . the station is continually ranked one of the highest rated stations in the new york market as well as one of the highest rated classic hits stations in the united states . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 original oldies years and greatest hits 1.3 101.1 jack fm playing what we want 1.4 classic hits format 2 notable personalities 2.1 current 2.2 former 3 signal strength 4 hd radio operations 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit early years edit in 1940 during the early days of fm broadcasting what is now wcbs fm was allocated an fm frequency and callsign w67ny becoming cbs s first fm station . the original transmitter site was atop the building at 500 fifth avenue . 1 the allocated dial position changed several times before the station finally went on the air at 46.7 megacycles on december 1 1941 . 2 on november 1 1943 the callsign was changed to wabc fm 3 for atlantic broadcasting company the former owner of cbs s am station no relation to the present day wabc . with the reallocation of the fm band wabc fm s new frequency became 96.9 mc. ; finally in september 1947 the station became wcbs fm and the frequency moved to the current 101.1 . 4 this allowed the station to reflect its corporate ownership by the columbia broadcasting system or cbs . the transmitter was moved to the empire state building in the early 1950s . for many years wcbs fm simulcast its programming with its am sister station . from the 1940s until the late 1950s both stations aired a typical network dominated general entertainment format with comedies dramas news and information sports talk shows and some music . as these types of radio shows either moved to television or were canceled outright wcbs and wcbs fm evolved toward a personality oriented format featuring news and information popular music and sports . as rock and roll became popular the stations played only softer songs of the genre . each of the stations began broadcasting its own programming in 1966 . the am station retained its personality oriented middle of the road format until august 27 1967 . wcbs fm initially programmed a younger leaning easy listening format known as the young sound playing soft instrumental versions of current pop music songs . this automated format was syndicated to cbs stations across the country and to afr american forces radio . 5 on august 27 1967 the am station had to launch its news format which was not full time until 1972 on wcbs fm because a small airplane had crashed into the am transmitter a few hours earlier . in 1969 wcbs fm launched a freeform rock format which was becoming increasingly popular and all other cbs owned fm stations followed suit . for the first time wcbs fm would have an airstaff . bill brown began his long tenure with the station and don k. reed began his late in 1971 ; both remained there until 2005 . radio personalities such as bobby wizzard wayne tom tyler ed williams steve clark roby yonge k.o. bayley bob elliott from wor fm les turpin bob bob a lew lewis also briefly joined the wcbs fm freeform format . besides bill brown and don k. reed wizzard wayne and ed williams also stayed into the early part of the oldies format . original oldies years and greatest hits edit wcbs fm was never successful with their rock format competing with stations such as wplj the other former wabc fm and wnew fm had most of the rock audience . as a result wcbs fm switched to oldies on july 7 1972 becoming one of the first full time stations in the country to use that format . 6 the change coincided with rival wor fm s decision to drop pre 1964 oldies from its playlist a few months prior as they became wxlo . johnny michaels formerly of wmca played the first record 7 dion s runaround sue . the entire staff from the rock format remained at the station . at first the station focused on rock and roll hits from 1955 to 1964 and mixed in some softer hits of the late 1960s and early 1970s as well as a few then current songs . wcbs fm also played a moderate amount of adult standards from the rock era . the station played two current hits per hour known as future gold . by the late 1970s however the station dropped most of the adult standards with a few exceptions and added rock hits from the late 1960s . wcbs fm s oldies format weathered many trends and corporate moves . by 1979 three fm stations owned by cbs had begun playing disco music . in the course of 1981 all of cbs s fm stations except for wcbs fm and their fm station in san francisco adopted a chr format known as hot hits . the oldies format on wcbs fm continued to be a success . one ongoing favorite feature was a countdown of the top 500 songs of all time as voted by the station s listeners . the countdown always took place on thanksgiving weekend with a new survey taken every other year . on even years up to 1990 the survey from the previous year was played . in the first top 500 the five satins doo wop classic in the still of the night was 1 and earth angel by the penguins was 2 . in the still of the night remained at 1 every year after that . 8 in 1992 cbs fm ran a top 500 countdown based on all their surveys from 1973 to 1991 . they repeated 1993 s top 500 in 1994 conducting their last listener surveys in 1995 and 1996 . after compiling an all time survey based on past surveys in 1997 the station abandoned listener surveys repeating the 1997 all time survey on subsequent thanksgiving weekends . for new years weekend in 1999 2000 the station compiled and played a top 1001 countdown based on original new york radio charts with hey jude by the beatles at number one . this survey would be repeated on thanksgiving weekend in 2002 . in 2003 the station played a top 500 countdown covering the 1960s 1970s 1980s and some 1950s songs and in 2004 played a top 500 countdown with mostly songs from 1964 to 1979 with some pre 1964 songs and 1980s songs . when the station returned to a modified oldies and classic hits format in 2007 the station compiled a new listener voted survey and played the results labor day weekend . this survey featured mostly songs from the 1960s and 1970s with a moderate selection of songs from the 1955 1963 time period . there was also a moderate amount of 1980s music on the survey . joe mccoy took over as program director in 1981 and at that point wcbs fm began to gradually shift its focus to the 1964 1969 era but would also feature a more pre 1964 oldies than most other such stations . the station continued to also feature hits of the 1970s and some hits of the 1980s while cutting future gold selections to one per hour . also in the 1980s after wabc and later wnbc am abandoned music in favor of talk wcbs fm began employing many disc jockeys who were widely known on other new york city stations and sometimes nationally most notably musicradio wabc alumni ron lundy dan ingram bruce cousin brucie morrow chuck leonard and harry harrison as well as former wmca good guys dan daniels and jack spector . bob shannon whose only previous new york city radio experience before coming to wcbs fm was as a fill in dj at wyny became well known himself through his 19 year run as the station s afternoon disk jockey . bill brown who had started with the station in 1969 during their rock days and don k. reed who started at the station 6 months before the switch to oldies remained with the station during their entire first period as an oldies station . in 1989 wcbs fm limited current music to late nights and overnights . while most oldies stations were playing songs from exclusively 1955 to 1973 wcbs fm continued to play a moderate amount of songs from the late 1970s as well as about one 1980s hit per hour . most of the 1980s music came from core oldies artists . the station s ratings increased during the 1990s and were sustained into the 2000s and market research studies showed a small and growing audience in the 35 to 49 year old demographic as a new generation s songs they grew up with moved into the oldies format . the station even hit number one overall in the ratings on at least several occasions during the 1990s . during this period the station s on air jingles were made by jam creative productions in dallas texas . such was the appeal of the packages of jingles that stations around the world wanted that wcbs fm sound for their stations including for example the uk s victory fm . wcbs fm ident used from the summer of 2004 until june 3 2005 . by 2000 as demographics for 1950s and early 1960s oldies started to eclipse the target age groups that many advertisers covet 9 wcbs fm began cutting pre 1964 songs while adding more music from the 1970s and 1980s . in january 2001 they stopped playing currents and 90 s hits on the overnight dropping them altogether . the station also had cut specialty shows such as bobby jay s soul of the city on wednesdays thursday night 60 s friday night s heart & soul of rock & roll monday night 70 s and bobby jay s late night saturday show jukebox saturday night . eventually they began to shorten the regular playlist and moved away from pre 1964 and toward 1970 1989 songs even more . in the summer of 2002 don k. reed s long running sunday night doo wop shop