WNED FM is 40 years old today

[mrswarts]

WNED 94.5 FM signed on 40 years ago today, April 18th, 1977, in hi-fi mono as Buffalo's "Concert" music station. One of the few classical stations in the country that has been able to play classical music 24-7 for such a long period of time. Today, bringing back memories of voices from the past.

 

[Element9]

Didn't seem that long ago that it was WEBR-FM and WREZ, also in mono.
Forty years of Classical. Quite an achievement.
Good reason to knock Bach a few cold ones and celebrate.

I'm here all week. Make sure you tip the waiters, the owner pays them with Green Stamps... and try the veal. Fit for a king. Here, King.

 

[TheBigA]

One can only speculate what format would be on that frequency today had it not been for WNYPB. Back in the 70s, FMs were not valued as highly as they became in the 90s.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

One can only speculate what format would be on that frequency today had it not been for WNYPB. Back in the 70s, FMs were not valued as highly as they became in the 90s.

Buffalo FMs had a lot more formats than just B/EZ and classical in the '70s. Stations like WPHD, Rock 102 and GRQFM97 were already big successes before Nixon resigned.

 

[TheBigA]

Buffalo FMs had a lot more formats than just B/EZ and classical in the '70s. Stations like WPHD, Rock 102 and GRQFM97 were already big successes before Nixon resigned.

I understand that...my post was about what format would be on it TODAY. Imagine a commercial frequency with that signal available now. I expect the purchase price would be higher than what was paid in 1975.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

The price could be substantially higher. My brother's neighbor Earl is a retired engineer. Neighbors call him The Radio Duke of Earl. He recalls that Capital Cities, which owned WKBW at the time, was interested in purchasing 94.5 on two occasions. He offered a brief history of the station and guessed that CapCities' interest could have occurred between the time the Buffalo Courier Express owned 970 and 94.5, and the time it was sold to WNED-TV. According to Earl's speculation, CapCities passed on a CP in the early 60s and the opportunity to build an FM on 105.7. Young listeners were moving to FM and CapCities knew it would eventually affect WKBW, which generated a lot of revenue for the company. CapCities would have to spin off AM 970 WEBR. At this point, the story becomes hazy because Bill McKibben's group bought AM 970 only. The Courier Express retained 94.5 WEBR-FM, which changed the call letters to WBCE (Buffalo Courier Express). The scenario seems like a perfect fit for CapCities to buy 94.5. So why didn't that happen? It could be that McKibben's group had the right of first refusal to purchase 94.5 within a certain number of years and, knowing that CapCities was sniffing around for an FM, exercised the option. When McKibben's group bought WEBR 970, it established a personality Oldies format featuring high profile DJs like Perry Allen (KB's morning man when that station flipped to Top 40 in the 50's), Loren Owens and Possum Riley. Oldies 970 WEBR also featured a full service news department. Later, when McKibben bought 94.5 WBCE (formerly WEBR-FM), the call letters became WREZ. According to Earl, 94.5 WREZ featured an automated Lite Progressive format. To the best of his knowledge, 94.5 did not broadcast in stereo while it was owned by the Courier or McKibben's group. Amazing! If WKBW had a high power FM around 1972-75, the history of the market would very likely be different. It was a period when young listeners were moving to FM, which featured the original progressive 103.3 WPHD, Top 40 WBEN-FM as Rock 102.5 and Top 40 WGRQ, which became album rock QFM97. There's no guarantee that CapCities would have turned 94.5 into a youth station. It could have adopted an easy listening format, maybe even country, but even so. wow. It's all water under the bridge.

 

[davideduardo]

I understand that...my post was about what format would be on it TODAY. Imagine a commercial frequency with that signal available now. I expect the purchase price would be higher than what was paid in 1975.

Yep. Those 70's prices have to be looked at in terms of 2017 dollars.

I had a signed option for WTFM in New York in 1979 at a price of $8.9 million. In today's money, that is about $60 million. And that is not too far off from what a stick in NYC is worth today.

 

[Nick Seneca]

Very interesting stuff, Rusty Bridges - thanks for posting!

 

[Element9]

There's no guarantee that CapCities would have turned 94.5 into a youth station. It could have adopted an easy listening format, maybe even country, but even so. wow. It's all water under the bridge.

OK, it's pure speculation, just the way it's done when 12+ ratings are released. Let's take a stroll down What If Boulevard. When Taft switched WGR-FM from automated oldies to the Super Q, it aimed to cut into KB's teen audience. WGR-AM picked up some of that oldies slack by adding more oldies to its music rotations. If Cap Cities had purchased 94.5, it might have opted to pick up the Oldies format that Taft dropped, fill the oldies void and thwart WGR-AM. Okay, let's stop at the Wouldabeen Great Grille... Imagine Jeff Kaye programming WKBW and a flame throwing FM.