Updated Further: WCBS-FM A to Z - not quite

Someone at WCBS-FM radio (101.1 FM in New York City or wcbsfm.com), we don't know who, had a great idea: Play every song in the WCBS-FM library, from A to Z.

Great idea, as listeners finally get to hear more than just the small subset of songs the station keeps otherwise playing. Sadly, however, a lot of songs are missing.

Here is just a very small sampling of some songs that were and were not played:

Played	Not Played
Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley	Love Me - Elvis Presley
	Loving You - Elvis Presley
Stay - Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs	Stay - 4 Seasons
	Stay - Jackson Browne
Little Darlin' - Diamonds	Little Darlin' - Gladiolas (Maurice Williams)
Silhouettes - Herman's Hermits	Silhouettes - Rays
Sukiyaki - A Taste of Honey	Sukiyaki - Kyu Sakamoto
	Soon - 4 Seasons
Alone - Heart	Alone - 4 Seaons
	Bye Bye Baby - 4 Seasons
Could It Be Magic - Barry Manilow	Could This Be Magic - Dubs
Leader of the Pack - Shangri-Las	Leader of the Laundromat - Detergents
Gloria - Shadows of Night	Gloria - Cadillacs
Gloria - Them	Gloria - The Passions
Gloria - Laura Branigan
Crying in the Chapel - Elvis Presley	Cry - Johnny Ray
Do You Wanna Dance? - Beach Boys	Do You Wanna Dance? - Bobby Freeman
Do You Want to Dance? - Bette Midler
	Daddy's Home - Shep & The Limelites
Ain't That A Shame - Fats Domino	Ain't That A Shame - 4 Seasons
	Ain't That A Shame - Pat Boone
Baby Blue - Badfinger	Baby Blue - Echoes
	Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime - Dean Martin
Go Away Little Girl - Happenings	Go Away Little Girl - Steve Lawrence
Go Away Little Girl - Donny Osmond
	I Feel Fine - Beatles
	Chances Are - Johnny Mathis
	It's Not For Me To Say - Johnny Mathis
Love Potion Number Nine - Searchers	Love Potion Number Nine - Clovers
Surfer Girl - Beach Boys	Surf City - Jan & Dean
Surfin' Bird - Trashmen
Surfin' U.S.A. - Beach Boys
In The Still of the Night - Five Satins	Tonite Tonite - Mello-Kings

(Just added the last item above - They played "In the Still of the Night" but not "Tonite Tonite", and the latter was glaringly missing while Norm N. Nite was on the air broadcasting from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! Why didn't he say something or just make sure it got played?)

The order of a number of songs is totally illogical. Sometimes a song beginning with "The" fell into the letter of the next word, and others fell into the "The" section of the survey. Same for song titles beginning with "A" or "I". Very strange and confusing.

Although lots of other great songs from the 50's through the 80's were played, many great songs are missing. Instead, some never heard of before (and hopefully never to be heard again) songs got airplay. I can't even tell you the names of the really bad non-hit songs that got played, because I never heard them before and no one ever said what was played. (Perhaps the DJs were just too embarrassed to tell us.)

So while this was a great idea, the claim by the station that they are playing everything in their library is clearly not quite accurate, because the real WCBS-FM would have played the songs listed above and the many, many, more that have been skipped along the way. It is hard to figure out the logic of the choices, as many singles were excluded, but a number of album-only songs got played. I hope they do this again -- and next time really play ALL the music from A-Z from the 1950's through the 1980's.

As I've pointed out in previous articles, there would be no rock & roll of the 60's, 70's or 80's without the rock & roll of the 50's.

Richard Kuper
The Op Ed Page
http://TheOpEdPage.com

Second Impression: WCBS-FM

A week ago I posted my first impressions of the return of WCBS-FM. It appears what I wrote was read by the management of WCBS-FM because they appear to have addressed the issues I raised:

• That obnoxious jingle telling us where "Jack" went (no one cares and it was ticking everyone off) is gone (or at least it wasn't played during any time I tuned in this past week).

• They seem to have discovered that there are more songs over a 30+ year spread than can be played within 48 hours, and although there still are some repeats, each time I've tuned in over the past week I heard songs I had not heard played since the relaunch.

• And most importantly, WCBS-FM is playing songs from the 1950's and early (pre-1964) sixties. As I stated in the previous article, "there would be no Rock & Roll of the 1960's, the 1970's or beyond without the Rock & Roll of the 1950's."

Richard Kuper
The Op Ed Page
http://TheOpEdPage.com

First Impressions: The Return of WCBS-FM

First Impressions: The Return of WCBS-FM

Here in NYC, WCBS-FM has been an institution since the early 1970's, playing the greatest hits of the 1950's and the 1960's. Then, several years ago, they started fiddling with the format and isolated the 1950's to a once-a-week show, and the rest of the time played songs from the 1960's and 1970's. Then, one day, after more than 30 years of being the favorite station of most New Yorkers who listened to music on the radio, playing the music "we" wanted to hear, WCBS-FM ceased to be. All the DJs were let go and replaced by a voice claiming to be some guy named "Jack" who was going to play what "he" wanted to hear instead of what "we" wanted to hear. Not quite sure why anyone thought that was a good idea.

Well as you can imagine, that caused a major uproar, and the new format failed miserably. It took two years before the management decided to drop the new format and go back, sort-of, to what they had abandoned - the music "we" wanted to hear. But it's not quite the same. Gone are the 1950's all together. Gone are most of the DJs that were the on-air personalities that helped make the station what it was. Instead what is back is music of the 1960's and 1970's, supplemented with songs from the 1980's, plus a few of the DJs that were let go, and some new (to WCBS-FM) DJs.

WCBS-FM came back on the air on Thursday July 12, 2007 at 1:01PM. I listened at different times of the day for the first 48 hours. By day two I was already hearing repeats of songs that had been played. Why are they already repeating songs? Surely they could not have run out of 30 years' worth of music after only one day. And I have yet to hear any song from earlier than 1964. The 1960's start in 1960 after all.

Another thing: They should immediately stop playing that obnoxious promo that includes telling folks where the old and failed "Jack" and the songs "he" wanted to hear could still be heard. We don't care -- and any mention on air of "Jack" just makes us want to hit the button and change channels. They should vow never to mention "Jack" again. He's hit the road and should not come back. In fact, Ray Charles singing "Hit The Road Jack" is what should have been the first song played. I didn't hear it played during the time I listened before writing this article.

And finally, there would be no Rock & Roll of the 1960's, the 1970's or beyond without the Rock & Roll of the 1950's. So to live up to the motto, "The Greatest Hits", the station needs to include the music that started it all.

Richard Kuper
The Op Ed Page
http://TheOpEdPage.com