WBFO Comes Up Short

[tbolt909]

Rox, I suspect that gallows humour is in short supply over at WBEN.
Their on air product is the bad joke...

 

[SirRoxalot]

I'm with you on that, 'bolt. Maybe Dand is too young to remember what good radio was like.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm with you on that, 'bolt. Maybe Dand is too young to remember what good radio was like.

Most fans of this format aren't motivated by "good radio." They're motivated by what they believe, and hearing others who believe the same thing. Whether it's good or bad is irrelevant. Bad radio is when you don't agree with what the people on it say.

 

[dand5780]

Most fans of this format aren't motivated by "good radio." They're motivated by what they believe, and hearing others who believe the same thing. Whether it's good or bad is irrelevant. Bad radio is when you don't agree with what the people on it say.

LOL

Bad radio, or rather bad news or no news, is when you don't report the news. I'm not a "radio" person per se. I'm a news person. I can't turn on the TV while I'm driving. I can't read the rag while I'm driving, heck I can't read the rag when I'm not driving.

Good radio to me is when I hear what's going on, especially while it's happening. And that wasn't the case on WBFO.

I was on 88.7 throughout the day, once again today, and they came up a bit short. Maybe they fell asleep from listening. I don't know. But today was once again another major news day and I heard absolutely nothing about it on that station.

And that's fine. I don't hear it on almost any other station, either. But there aren't radio junkies out there telling me that those stations are news stations.

 

[tbolt909]

NPR has programming that offers insightful rational discourse.
Opposing points of view are represented in a civil way.

WBEN and its counterparts in other cities are in a death spiral.
That probably is "bad" for the future viability of those stations...

 

[TheBigA]

Bad radio, or rather bad news or no news, is when you don't report the news.

That's your definition. You like what you like. That's what makes good radio. If they do what you want, it's good. If they don't, it's bad. That's it.

Don't try to make this more complicated than it is.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I guess it all depends on what you call "major news". Lobbing incendiaries at a local high school for backing away from a questionable (at best) nickname isn't really "major news", no matter how much a local host or two rails on it. The discussions on WBFO are generally much more important than the overheated local blather about what are, in the final analysis, insignificant blips on the radar of history. To borrow from a classic movie, "It doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little talk show hosts don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."

 

[Rusty Bridges]

WBFO seemed to do everything right during last weekend's mini-pledge-drive. Well, maybe calling it a mini-pledge-drive wasn't the greatest idea because it seems that's all the station got. Mini-pledges. I heard the station on a half dozen separate occasions and it always seemed to be short of its goal. Maybe they hit their marks when I wasn't listening. It makes me wonder if the aging audience for talk radio, whether it's on AM or FM, NPR or right wing loon talk, is too busy or disinterested to respond. Or has WBFO simply lost the mojo it once had. It could be that the people who listen to news and talk radio are dying off or moving out and the station doesn't attract as many young urban professionals who've moved into the western New York.

 

[TheBigA]

If you knew they met their goal, would that compel you to give? Think of the psychology of giving.

 

[Unregistered]

WBFO doesn't play that game. They accurately report what they take in, just as they reported they didn't reach their pledge drive goal. Unlike the New England Patriots, WBFO doesn't deflate their balls.

 

[dand5780]

They came up a bit short on Friday once again. I tuned in for about a minute at about 6:58. They were thanking three producers for what appears to be a half hour show (maybe 20 minutes after all of the commercials). Then I got the weather, well, the temperature, in not only Buffalo, but Jamestown and Olean as well, which is from what I gather common practice for something that would be an immaterial difference. Then I got, apparently, the current time in Oklahoma of 5:59.

Yes, they came up about an hour short, and then I switched back to AM.

 

[SirRoxalot]

We get it, dand. You don't like WBFO. It's getting old. BTW, there are significant differences in weather and temperatures between Buffalo, Jamestown, and Olean. Since WBFO has translators in the latter two locations, and serves audience there, it makes sense to give those temperatures. And an error in a time check isn't exactly uncommon on radio stations that actually mention the time because they have ACTUAL PEOPLE ON THE AIR instead of automation. And there's no way that they have even half the sponsor time that WBEN posts hourly.

If picking nits is your way of attempting to inspire a little action on the board, fine. Mission accomplished. Otherwise, maybe you should stick to telling us how fabulous your favorite AM hosts are. Your attempt at snark is weak, at best.