WBS-FM changed format last week, closing down an oldies music format it started in 1972. Although the two hour notice to disc jockeys has become controversial in the media world, local residents raised concern about the lack of an oldies station.
To frequent listeners, hints of change were evident for over year as the station did away with some of its classic programming, such as the weekend Top 20 Countdown that depicted the top rated records from a particular week in the 1950s, 1060s or 1970s.
Management claimed advertisers felt the station needed to reach out to younger listeners. WCBS-FM follows a trend in the New York radio market. Several years ago, WNEW-FM, which had been a mainstay of Classic Rock for several decades, performed a similar last minute change and like WCBS-FM fired many of its staff members in order to change its public image.
Council President Vincent Lo Re and several other local residents have called the station to complain about the change, saying that regular listeners were not considered when the format was changed.
Eddie O’Rourke — who performs an Elvis Presley tribute – called it a loss for all generations.
“We can’t afford to lose touch with older music, no matter what older music that is,” he said. “Music pulls generations together and makes it easier to communicate.”
He said during a recent appearance at one of the local schools, one of the young Kindergarten kids was singing “All Shook Up.”
“I started to sing, too, and the kid asked me how I knew the song as if it belonged to him,” O’Rourke said.
He called the loss of WCBS-FM tantamount to the loss of the Eighth Street train station in Bayonne.
“It’s part of our past. It should have a place in our lives. We should never disregard the old,” he said.