Bruce Morrow away from WABC to take over the evening shift. In addition to Imus in the morning, Lund moved Cousin Brucie to middays, hired Bob Vernon ("Vernon with a V") for afternoons, Oogie Pringle for early evenings, and Dick Summer for late nights. Other new DJs included Norm N. Nite, who arrived from WCBS-FM in 1975. Lund departed the following year, while Joe McCoy was hired. Mel Phillips was program director at the time of McCoy's hiring. By 1975, WNBC was playing an Adult Top 40 format, trying to compete with WABC. The station's playlist featured hits from 1964 to then-current music. By this time, artists such as the Eagles, Billy Joel, Steve Miller, Fleetwood Mac, Bee Gees, Donna Summer, and disco acts, among others, were mixed in. Unfortunately, despite or because of the continuous tweaking of WNBC's format, the station remained in the second tier of New York stations. In 1977, Bob Pittman was hired as WNBC's new Program Director, replacing Mel Phillips. His first decision was to lay-off all of the station's personalities, some of which were veterans (including Don Imus, Cousin Brucie, Norm N. Nite and Joe McCoy), replacing them with younger-sounding disc jockeys from Boston and medium markets. He also shifted the format from adult top 40 or hot AC to a more aggressively current-based top 40 format, with occasional nods to FM radio (such as commercial-free hours). As a result of this tweaking, the station was now playing artists such as Andy Gibb, KC and the Sunshine Band, Boston, Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Billy Joel and the Bee Gees, among others. However, listenership actually went down, and while some of the new air personalities would find success (Johnny Dark, Frank Reed, and Allen Beebe would be heard on the station well into the 1980s), others would not (Ellie Dylan, who replaced Imus in morning drive, would be gone within months). By 1979, Pittman would leave WNBC (he would soon become the founder of MTV), John Lund was hired back as program director (from KHOW in Denver), and Imus returned to the morning show. Under program director John Lund, WNBC's playlist was tweaked back to an adult top 40 format, and ratings increased by 50% to surpass WABC by the summer of 1980. "The Next One" In the early 1980s, WNBC continued as an adult-leaning Top 40 radio station. The best days of