[Mb-hair] OT: WCBS FM GETS "JACKED" (Harry Harrison, Says Goodbye)

[Jim Burns]

I'm just a little too young to have grown up with the original Good
Guys, on WMCA, but I  certainly grew up listening to Harry Harrison, and
what even as a kid, I considered classic rock...   "Jack" is a new, bad
media idea...

Best, Jim

*************************************
The Times They Are A Changing
A Good Guy Signs Off
THE BERGEN RECORD, June 10, 2005

By Harry Harrison


The day the music died—again. That could be what CBS-FM Radio
listeners thought of when the station, after 33 years, abruptly changed
formats on June 3. It was a move that shocked their audience, the radio
community and all of us who worked there.

"101.1" was their station, with pleasant, friendly air personalities.
Management apparently didn't want the listeners who grew up with the
WMCA Good Guys and the WABC All-Americans. They wanted "Jack,", the name
of a new format with no deejays, no news, no weather, no sports. It's an
iPod-like mix of music that they feel will appeal to a younger audience.

However, Motown, Elvis, Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys and all the other
great artists who were heard on 101.1 were loved an appreciated by all
our loyal listeners, including young people.

And what about today's kids? There certainly are enough stations playing
modern and recent hits. But if teenagers today must live in a radio
universe where there is no longer a place where they can discover the
harmonies and rhythms of The Beatles, Dion and the Belmonts, The
Temptations, The Shirelles, it will be a sadder and lonelier place. And
they will be missing a world of music that has not only touched so many
of us for so many years but that is timeless as well.

I'm proud to say that I was a "Good Guy" on WMCA and an All-American on
WABC during those great Sixties and Seventies music years. Then I was
the CBS "Morning Mayor" for 23 more years. I left in 2003 when I was
told changes were on the way. I came back late last year for a Saturday
morning show.

The music we played at CBS was very personal to our listeners. They
often describe it as the music of their lives. I don't think that
Infinity, which owns CBS, realized the gem it had – or the backlash
the switch would create. Stories in newspapers, on the radio,
television, and the Internet are reporting the change and controversy.
It's not going away soon.

It's sad to think that the New York City-Northern Bergen County region
doesn't have a single oldies station with popular personalities where
you can always "Come and get those memories" as Martha and the Vandellas
sang on their first hit in 1963.

I thank all our listeners whom I call my friends, for keeping me on the
air so long and allowing us to be a part of their lives for so many
years. I always appreciated you.

Remember, every brand new day should be unwrapped like a precious gift.

This is Harry Harrison, wishing you all the very best, because that's
exactly what you deserve.


© Copyright 2005 The Bergen Record