Entercom New York officials have been working for several months to get former longtime WPLJ-FM midday host Race Taylor over to WCBS-FM. Taylor will join WCBS-FM as midday host as of July 22.
Entercom has been busy trying to poach talent from WPLJ, which recently signed off the air after Cumulus sold it to EMF. Entercom not only wants the talent from the station, they obviously want the listeners who followed that talent. Taylor spent nearly 20 years on the air at WPLJ. He’s also the billboard voice for ABC-TV’s prime-time, daytime, and late-night programming. His shift will be 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m on WCBS-FM.
Taylor said, “To say I’m a lucky guy to walk into one of the greatest radio stations ever is an understatement. There are some two million PLJ fans looking for a station to call home and I’d love for them to join me at WCBS-FM. I’m ready to rock. Scott Shannon, I’ve missed you brother.”
Market Manager Susan Larkin said, “We are extremely excited to welcome Race to WCBS-FM and to reunite him with some of our most legendary on-air personalities. We are thrilled to offer former WPLJ fans a new place to call home at our station and to offer Race’s loyal listeners more of the absolute best on-air listening experience for which we are known.”
While the deal to sign Taylor was announced today, his ticker-tape parade down Broadway was somewhat muted by a story in The New York Post that has Entercom executives baffled.
Today, The Post reported that Dan Taylor, who worked the midday shift on WCBS-FM, “abruptly left the company amid a broadening investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James into the legacy brands of the CBS media empire.” The official word from Entercom is that they are not aware of any Attorney General investigation. Company officials also find it odd that there would be an investigation into a company that no longer exists. And they said they were blindsided by The Post story and that it was factually wrong.
The Post story mentions several times that CBS Radio is being investigated. However, CBS Radio is no longer a company after the merger with Entercom.
Dan Taylor was part of the old regime. His listener base was stale and depleted. Bottom line, the career damaging “ME TOO” Movement story broke and Dan Taylor got caught in its web, and probably deservingly so. I mean, what did Dan Taylor ever do for anyone. He ripped off the legendary Dan Ingram’s schtick and sound, to the point that the listeners thought that they were hearing double. in the “70’s, (Taylor sounded just like Ingram, but lacked the humor and innuendo), but Taylor resulted in Ingram losing work for years to come. Dan Taylor would become Dan Ingram’s Nemesis, after Ingram’s ride at 77WABC came to an end. The Taylor conspiracy could have been hatched by Scott Shannon, in order to bring his out of work radio crew over to CBS FM from PLJ, a no brainer.
I had followed (as a listener) Scott Shannon to CBS fm from PLJ in 2007, and I’m hooked. Welcome to Race Taylor as a permanent fixture at CBS fm. There are good (Ex PLJ) DJs who could be absorbed by CBS.
that is the best thing you have ever done. Next to Scott Shannon. I already was coming to CBS. I love Race and cant wait to hear him agai All you need is Todd and that would be great
Thanks CBS haven’t been able to find a place I like since PLJ signed off the air.