Free Republic

On June 3, New York City's venerable oldies station WCBS-FM hit “shuffle” and kicked off a firestorm. At 5 p.m. that day, station owner Infinity Broadcasting suddenly fired its on-air staff -- which included former Monkee Mickey Dolenz and radio legend Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow -- and adopted a programming concept that's infiltrating radio markets across the nation. “Jack.” Or Ben. Or Dave. Or Bob. It can get confusing. A Burlington, Vt., station known for years as “Alice,” has since adopted the Jack format. It's radio's answer to the iPod, a shift away from tightly formatted playlists boasting Hot Adult...

It was hit the road, Jack, for oldies fans who listen to WCBS-FM radio after the station yesterday ended 33 years of playing rock classics and abruptly axed legendary DJs Cousin Brucie, Harry Harrison and Bill Brown. WCBS, 101.1-FM on the dial, changed its name to "Jack" and stunned listeners by ditching its tried and true playlist to embrace a new format that features random songs of various styles. "We're going from 400 to 500 songs to well over 1,200 songs, with less repetition," said CBS-FM vice president Chad Brown, who flipped the switch to the new format at 5...