WCBS-FM Bets On Trey Morgan And Loren Raye But Was Letting Race Taylor Go The Right Call

New York radio has lost another familiar voice from morning drive, and this time the circumstances deserve more than a routine announcement welcoming the replacements. Audacy’s Classic Hits 101.1 WCBS-FM has introduced The Morning Show with Trey & Loren Raye, bringing Trey Morgan back to a market he knows well and pairing him with Loren Raye. It’s an interesting combination, and both personalities deserve an opportunity to establish themselves with the station’s audience. But before the industry gets too caught up in celebrating a new morning show, there’s a question worth asking about the personality who occupied that studio just two weeks ago. After spending more than a quarter-century building relationships with New York listeners, did Race Taylor really need to go?

That isn’t a criticism of Morgan or Raye. Morgan is an accomplished broadcaster with considerable major-market experience, and there is every reason to believe the new pairing could develop into an entertaining morning program. The question is whether the potential upside of a new show outweighs the value of an established personality who had already earned the trust and familiarity that broadcasters spend years trying to create.

To understand why Taylor’s departure deserves closer examination, it’s worth remembering what he represented to New York radio. For nearly two decades, he was a fixture at WPLJ, developing the kind of audience relationship that cannot be purchased with a promotional campaign or created through a few weeks of imaging. When WPLJ signed off in May 2019, Taylor was there for its final moments, helping bring a deeply meaningful chapter of New York broadcasting to a close. Just weeks later, he landed at WCBS-FM, providing a familiar destination for listeners who had spent years hearing him across town.

Audacy clearly understood his value. In July 2024, the company announced a contract extension celebrating his 25 years in New York radio. Less than a year later, management moved him into morning drive, a promotion that was presented as an opportunity to build on the station’s existing momentum. John Foxx, who had been handling mornings, moved to afternoons, while Jesse Addy shifted into middays.

At the time, the company made a point of emphasizing Taylor’s connection to the market and his ability to entertain listeners across generations. That assessment made sense. Taylor was already part of the fabric of New York radio, and WCBS-FM was putting an established personality in one of its most important positions.

Then, on September 25, that chapter ended.

Taylor’s farewell was personal, reflective, and understandably emotional. In the message he shared with listeners, he acknowledged that the end of this particular chapter had arrived before he was entirely ready for it. He also expressed hope that another opportunity would allow him to continue his radio career.

What has not been publicly established is why Audacy decided to make the change. There has been no detailed explanation of the programming considerations, audience research, financial circumstances, or other factors that may have influenced the decision. Without that information, it would be irresponsible to suggest that ratings were poor, that management was unhappy, or that some internal disagreement prompted the departure.

But the absence of an explanation doesn’t mean the decision is beyond examination.

From where we sit at On The Dial, we’re not convinced that removing Race Taylor was the right programming decision. That isn’t a judgment on Trey Morgan or Loren Raye, and it certainly isn’t a claim that Audacy made the change without a reason. It’s an assessment of what Taylor brought to the station and what the company risks losing when it removes a personality whose connection with the market was already well established.

One of the most frustrating contradictions in contemporary radio is the industry’s constant discussion about the importance of local personalities while established local voices continue to disappear. Broadcasters talk about authenticity, community engagement, audience loyalty, and creating something listeners cannot find on a streaming service. Yet those qualities are often embodied by the very personalities who become casualties of programming changes.

Taylor wasn’t an unfamiliar voice being introduced to an audience that needed time to discover him. He had spent more than 25 years talking to New Yorkers, and his arrival at CBS-FM in 2019 was specifically welcomed as an opportunity to bring former WPLJ listeners into the station’s audience. That institutional knowledge and personal familiarity have real value, even if they aren’t always easy to capture in a spreadsheet.

There is an important distinction here. Taylor’s relatively short tenure in mornings doesn’t automatically establish that he was the wrong person for the daypart. Building a morning audience takes time, particularly when listeners have already experienced several changes in the voices accompanying their daily routines.

Scott Shannon’s retirement in 2022 changed the complexion of WCBS-FM mornings. John Foxx subsequently helped maintain continuity before moving to afternoons in June 2025. Taylor then stepped into the position, only to depart approximately fifteen months later. With Morgan and Raye now taking over, listeners are being asked to develop another morning relationship.

That’s a substantial amount of change for a heritage station whose greatest strength has long been its familiarity.

And that raises another question. If a broadcaster has spent decades developing audience loyalty, how much time should that broadcaster be given to establish a new morning show before management decides to move in another direction?

There isn’t one answer that applies to every station. Ratings, revenue, audience composition, talent chemistry, and long-term strategy all matter. But those considerations should be weighed against the possibility of disrupting relationships that took years to develop.

In this case, Audacy may have information that makes the decision perfectly understandable. What the public record establishes, however, is that Taylor had substantial market equity, had recently been promoted, and was gone from the station barely more than a year after assuming mornings.

That makes the decision worth questioning.

None of this diminishes what Trey Morgan brings to WCBS-FM. In fact, his selection suggests Audacy wanted someone who could step into a high-profile assignment with experience across multiple formats and major markets.

Morgan most recently handled afternoons at Audacy’s Big 98.1 WOGL in Philadelphia, departing in March 2025. His previous New York experience includes serving as Assistant Music Director and late-night host at Z100 WHTZ and hosting afternoons at Fresh 102.7 WNEW. Both positions placed him in demanding competitive environments where execution, personality, and audience awareness were essential.

His career also includes co-hosting mornings at Country 99.5 The Wolf KPLX in Dallas, serving as Assistant Program Director, Music Director, and midday personality at Alt 98.7 KYSR in Los Angeles, and working at Kiss 108 in Boston, DC101 in Washington, 98.9 Kiss-FM in Louisville, 95.1 The Beat in Melbourne, and KC101 in New Haven.

That’s the background of a broadcaster who has experienced several different approaches to successful music radio. Morgan understands contemporary music presentation, the demands of personality-driven programming, and the challenge of maintaining a connection with listeners in competitive markets.

Pairing him with Loren Raye also indicates that WCBS-FM is pursuing a different morning sound rather than simply replacing one solo host with another. A two-person show brings the possibility of conversation, contrasting personalities, shared experiences, and a more interactive presentation.

Those are legitimate programming advantages when the chemistry works.

But the success of a morning team depends on considerably more than hiring two capable broadcasters. The relationship between the hosts has to feel natural, the content has to fit the expectations of the audience, and the personalities have to establish a genuine connection with the people listening.

For Morgan and Raye, that work is only beginning.

WCBS-FM has spent decades evolving while maintaining a recognizable connection to New York. Its music has changed, its audience has changed, and the personalities who once defined the station have gradually given way to another generation of broadcasters.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Classic Hits isn’t supposed to be frozen in time, and stations that refuse to evolve eventually face problems of their own. Today’s format embraces musical eras that were once the exclusive territory of contemporary hit radio, and the audience that grew up with those songs has different expectations from the listeners who followed the station in its earliest oldies years.

Morgan’s background in CHR, Hot AC, Alternative, Country, and Classic Hits gives him experience that could translate well to that evolving audience. Loren Raye provides another personality around which the station can build a contemporary morning presentation.

Still, there’s a difference between modernizing a format and repeatedly changing the people who provide its human connection.

Listeners can find the same songs in countless places. What they cannot duplicate quite as easily is the familiarity of somebody who has spent years becoming part of their lives.

That was one of Taylor’s greatest assets, and it’s something the new show will have to develop for itself.

There is no reason to wish anything but success for Trey Morgan and Loren Raye. Both have been given a significant opportunity at a legendary New York station, and their work deserves to be judged on its own merits rather than through the circumstances surrounding Taylor’s departure. If they develop strong chemistry, connect with listeners, and establish an identifiable morning personality for CBS-FM, Audacy’s decision may ultimately prove successful.

But success for the new show would not automatically make the handling of the previous one any less worthy of discussion. Radio should be capable of welcoming talented people into new positions while still asking difficult questions about the departure of those who came before them.

Race Taylor gave New York radio more than a quarter-century of his professional life. He was there when WPLJ went silent, found a new home at WCBS-FM, and eventually earned the opportunity to host mornings at one of America’s great heritage music stations. That career deserves recognition beyond a passing mention in a story about his successors.

As for whether Audacy made the correct decision, time and audience response will provide a clearer picture. Until then, our concern remains that the industry may be too willing to exchange established listener relationships for the promise of something new, without always allowing those relationships sufficient time to grow in a different daypart.

That’s not an argument against change. It’s an argument for remembering what makes radio valuable in the first place.

We wish Trey Morgan and Loren Raye every success as they begin their new morning assignment, and we sincerely hope Race Taylor finds another opportunity worthy of his considerable talent and history in New York broadcasting. The market would be better served by having all three voices contributing to its radio landscape rather than treating the arrival of one show as a reason to forget the personality who preceded it.

The real question isn’t whether WCBS-FM can introduce another morning show. It certainly can, and it has. The more important question is whether listeners will eventually come to believe that the change made their mornings better.

For a station carrying the heritage of WCBS-FM, that’s a question worth taking seriously.

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