EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

About two years ago, New York's WCBS-FM (101.1) pulled the plug on its longtime rock 'n' roll oldies format and became Jack FM, playing a DJ-free mix of hits akin to an iPod set on shuffle.

At 1:01 p.m. Thursday (July 12), a freshened-up version of the WCBS oldies format will return to the airwaves, along with veteran CBS air personalities Bob Shannon and Dan Taylor.

"Above all else, it is an honor to bring CBS-FM back to New York," said Jennifer Donohue, the station’s vice president and general manager, in a press release issued today. "Having been a longtime employee and personal fan of the station, I truly understand what an emotional moment it was when New Yorkers had to say goodbye to their favorite radio station."

In the WCBS-FM press release, the word "oldies" is noticeably absent, but the familiar slogan "The Greatest Hits of All Time" is used, and so is the phrase "signature sound." And by that, the station means a mix of music from the 1960s (Beatles, Beach Boys, the Motown sound) through the late 1980s (Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp).

It might be too much to ask for WCBS-FM to bring back the pre-Beatles portion of its programming -- in other words, classics from the likes of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and the other artists who ruled from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s.

But stranger things have happened -- namely, WCBS-FM's stunning switch to Jack FM in 2005, and now the decision to return to the way things were (for the most part).