Opinion: WCBS-FM Now Has 'No Style"

So Says Former Music Director

101.1 WCBS-FM has been a ratings juggernaut month after month in the Arbitron PPM survey. There’s no disputing that. The station, since leaving the bad taste from the ill-fated jockless “Jack” format in 2007, has held consistently at number two. Even twice, CBS-FM has reached the top position in the city.
However, what is up for debate is how CBS-FM compares to the original CBS-FM, heard from 1972 to 2005.

Richard Lorenzo (center) was former music director at the Oldies station. FishbowlNY caught up with him recently at the CBS reunion luncheon.

“There’s no style to it anymore,” Lorenzo admits.

CBS-FM had two ingredients that worked for its avid listeners—the music and the jocks. Throughout the years, the DJs showing off their personalities went hand and hand with the format.

“The ones [jocks] then weren’t necessarily more intelligent, but they were more enjoyable because they were into the craft more deeply,” Lorenzo says.

Some of New York’s most legendary Top 40 jocks had stints at CBS-FM, among them former WABC-AM colleagues Harry Harrison, Dan Ingram, and Ron Lundy.

Today, only midday jock Bob Shannon remains a link to the station’s glorious Oldies past. (Dan Taylor was with CBS-FM in the “pre-Jack” era, but primarily as morning show fill-in.)

Lorenzo, while pointing out certain differences between the station then and now, doesn’t consider himself a CBS-FM purist.

“Back in the day of CBS-FM, my day, which is a long time ago, we made sure it was listenable and enjoyable,” Lorenzo says. “And more important than that, we made sure it was topical and sensitive to the times.”

As an example, Lorenzo said this past Sunday the station would have commemorated Frank Sinatra and Connie Francis’ birthdays with a special feature. He says they would “really delve deeply into the subject matter” with the hourly Rock and Rock Hall of Fame.

“Now they only skim the cream,” Lorenzo admits. “And maybe that’s what you need to do when you have 50 radio stations.”

One change at CBS-FM Lorenzo is not critical of—adjusting the playlist as listeners age.

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Tom's Take:  Lorenzo is entitled to his opinion and obviously he offers a uniqure perspective; however, the competitive envinronment has changed from the '80s to today.  The bottomline is the ratings and it is apparent listeners (the customers) believe WCBS-FM has plenty of style.