Are oldies the new Jack on NYC radio?

NEW YORK - Everything oldies is new again. WCBS-FM, the nation's No. 1 oldies station for more than three decades until a 2005 switch, is ready to shift from its current "Jack" format and re-embrace the classic sounds of its past, according to online reports.

"If this happens, it will be a fantastic move," said "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, one of the veteran DJs jettisoned when the station swapped formats. "There isn't a day that goes by that people don't come up to me and say, `We miss the station so much.'"

CBS Radio, owner of the station, declined to comment on the much rumored change.

Oldies fans were outraged when WCBS — which began as an oldies station in 1972 — abandoned that music without warning for the jukebox-style "Jack" format June 3, 2005. Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind" faded out and the Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right" announced the drastic changeover.

At the time of the switch, WCBS was eighth in the New York Arbitron ratings. The most recent numbers released, for the January-March period, showed the Jacked-up version of the station sitting in 16th place. The station's revenues had also dropped.

Initial reports about the WCBS format change surfaced Friday in the Radio Business Report online newsletter, and at Crain's New York Business.com. But rumors were floating around earlier in the week.

Morrow said he had no doubt there was a market among New Yorkers for the hits of the '50s, '60s and '70s that once defined the station.

"WCBS-FM was part of the culture of this city," he said. "If people didn't listen every day or every moment, they were happy to know it was there. It was like having an old friend on the radio."

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