NYC Radio: Scott Shannon Approaches Two Years At WCBS-FM

Scott Shannon famously took Top40 WHTZ 100.3 FM “Z100” WHTZ New York “from worst to first” in the ‘80s and altered the sound of morning radio with “The Morning Zoo.”

A New York radio icon for three decades, Shannon spent a record-setting 22 years as morning cohost on hot AC WPLJ 95.5 FM. With the second anniversary of his arrival in mornings at CBS Radio classic hits WCBS 101.1 FM approaching, heoffered a progress report, a look back and his advice for aspiring young talent in an interview with InsideRadio.

How has your show evolved in the nearly two years since you joined WCBS-FM?

They had a very good radio station when I arrived. Our goals were to increase the female listenership, do a better job at penetrating the New Jersey market and get the average age down a little bit. And I’m happy to say we’ve succeeded at doing all three.

You’ve said one of the most important attributes of a successful personality is curiosity. What are you most curious about and how do you turn that into entertaining morning radio?

People enjoy looking into someone else’s life. If you can put yourself out there and make it interesting, that’s a big part of a compelling morning show. As many people have said in the past, it’s like “Friends” or “Seinfeld”—you have characters on your show and you try to bring out their personalities and things that would be interesting to other people. Sometimes you might have to magnify their characteristics but that’s called show business. We have a group of people that come from different backgrounds and have different ideas and different opinions. It’s fun to see it all mix together, or clash. It’s almost like “Today” or “Good Morning America” where we talk about the day’s events. We don’t do Phone Taps or a War Of the Roses, we just talk about what’s going on in the world and in New York. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s intriguing and sometimes it’s sad. It’s different every day.

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