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Joe Chille now WECK VP/Programming

That's according to his Facebook profile...so did they kick Glenn to the curb or did he just get a new boss?

WECK has 2 VPs of all programming Glen Topolski and Joe Chille. Two incredible radio talents.
 
In an age where you'll have one VP of programming overseeing maybe 6 major market stations, it's interesting to see two VP's handling WECK.

4 share. Bank on it. I’ve seen the summer trends
 
"Hominna, hominna, hommina....Alice! My ship is about to come in!"

WECK sure is trending well going into the Summer book. Get the gangplank ready for that ship.
 


WECK sure is trending well going into the Summer book. Get the gangplank ready for that ship.

I have not heard the term Gangplank in a while! That's great. But you are right Dave. August trends are market game changer, but the people looking to root against local radio will always be haters.
 
I have not heard the term Gangplank in a while! That's great. But you are right Dave. August trends are market game changer, but the people looking to root against local radio will always be haters.

"August trends are a game changer"?? Sounds like hot air for a sales pitch. Summer Ratings are typically the least important book(which WECK supposedly doesn't buy anyway).

Looking at the WECK playlist online, it is very limited and repetitive. The two VPs of Programming were likely given titles in lieu of pay or decision making. Buddy runs this circus sideshow...
 
"August trends are a game changer"?? Sounds like hot air for a sales pitch. Summer Ratings are typically the least important book(which WECK supposedly doesn't buy anyway).

Looking at the WECK playlist online, it is very limited and repetitive. The two VPs of Programming were likely given titles in lieu of pay or decision making. Buddy runs this circus sideshow...

You are a very xxx person “ summer ratings are typically the least important “ REALLY?.. says who. Plus, yes WECK does buy the summer ratings, idiot. The WECK playlist is limited. 2000 songs. Limited??? Our 2 vps of programming are not getting paid well?!!
(Edited an ad hominem)
 
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"August trends are a game changer"?? Sounds like hot air for a sales pitch. Summer Ratings are typically the least important book(which WECK supposedly doesn't buy anyway).

If summer ratings were not of some importance, Nielsen would not do summer books in diary markets and wouldn't be spending for the maintenance of the panel from June to September for PPM.

Since agencies use multi-book averages, those months of the summer all play into the buying decision. Maybe fewer buys are made off the summer results, but that is more due to when the most activity comes out of agencies. And since we see lots more short buys and far fewer long term buys, we know agencies are looking at the most recent data they have at hand.

You don't think Christmas and Thanksgiving buys are made off the Spring book entirely, do you?

And if a station has a considerable uptick in one of the trend releases (which are, after all, the same sample size as a book... just without the final weighting), you can't think that the information is meaningless
 
Gee, David, on another thread you essentially stated that "a considerable uptick in one of the trend releases" was essentially meaningless. Let me quote you:

"I went back and plugged in the Buffalo population data, the diary sample size and those ratings numbers. It would appear that the 2.6, the 2.5 and the 2.3 are all the same number. In fact, anything from about a 1.8 to a 3.2 are the same number. And considering the fairly narrow older demo targeting of the station, the range may be greater.

And then, the 1.4 looks like sampling error as the number is an outlier.

The same explanation applies for the 1 to 2 point wobbles with the leading stations: sample error sometimes, and statistical range other times. There is probably a better probability that a station will go up or down due to statistical sampling's margin of error on that sample size than due to programming changes."


So, in essence, the sample size is so miniscule that the accuracy is in doubt. A station may get kissed by the sampling in one book, and slapped by the sampling in another. That's another good reason that buyers look at multi-book trends to determine where to spend their money.

I wish Buddy well. I don't expect him to blow any of the corporates out of the water, but he can make a nice living in his own little corner of the radio world. He's also provided some old pros with an opportunity to be heard in the market, and keep doing something they obviously love.

His foray into ownership is at least providing a topic that sparks some discussion on this board. If nothing else it get "tbolt" to rant on about something other than "The Lake."
 
Gee, David, on another thread you essentially stated that "a considerable uptick in one of the trend releases" was essentially meaningless. Let me quote you:

"I went back and plugged in the Buffalo population data, the diary sample size and those ratings numbers. It would appear that the 2.6, the 2.5 and the 2.3 are all the same number. In fact, anything from about a 1.8 to a 3.2 are the same number. And considering the fairly narrow older demo targeting of the station, the range may be greater.

And then, the 1.4 looks like sampling error as the number is an outlier.

The same explanation applies for the 1 to 2 point wobbles with the leading stations: sample error sometimes, and statistical range other times. There is probably a better probability that a station will go up or down due to statistical sampling's margin of error on that sample size than due to programming changes."


So, in essence, the sample size is so miniscule that the accuracy is in doubt. A station may get kissed by the sampling in one book, and slapped by the sampling in another. That's another good reason that buyers look at multi-book trends to determine where to spend their money.

I wish Buddy well. I don't expect him to blow any of the corporates out of the water, but he can make a nice living in his own little corner of the radio world. He's also provided some old pros with an opportunity to be heard in the market, and keep doing something they obviously love.

His foray into ownership is at least providing a topic that sparks some discussion on this board. If nothing else it get "tbolt" to rant on about something other than "The Lake."

There is a difference between "wobble" which is the occasional out of range data, either high or low, that hits stations at times. But trends, where each monthly may have wobble, but on average the station is trending either up or down. In this case, it is upwards. The data I have seen makes it look like WECK is averaging at a higher level than earlier in the year.

I'm guessing that Buddy signed for the full book based on what was revealed about the trending going into summer. Another reason why this may be a real upward movement, not a wobble.

In the end, let's see what the summer book final (and weighted) numbers yield. A lot of folks don't know that when trends are assembled from part of one survey period and part of the next one, there is no complete wieghting done, so the results may be considerably different than an average of three 4-weeks sets of raw results.
 
Rox, WECK will be blowing some corporates out of the water. I have seen the August trends. WECK is in the 4 shares 12 plus, beating WBUF, WMSX, WEDG, WLKK. These are not small stations. I have a 1KW AM!!!!!!!!! These are 50K watt heritage stations I am beating. 12 plus!!!!!!!!! I can tell you right now, that WECK is a top 8 station RIGHT NOW, 12 plus. I do not understand what clearer facts you all need. I have seen August and July! I did not see our demo 50 plus, which is bound to be top 5. What I do not is that several posters said WECK would never get a 4 share....not true. In august it has a 4.2 . We will get a 5 share soon! You folks are simply out of the loop. You will never admit I know how to run a radio company and how to make it win.

When I look at WECK - I think of my AM station. WECK is an AM metro station. The 2 FM's are added value for listeners and advertisers. However, the combination of the three frequencies, voice activated devices, internet streaming, Bluetooth, puts WECK on a more fair playing field. Wait until you see the new tower we have coming!!!

The reason I cant stand these arguments are that most people here are either not in radio any more, or part time, just hanging on. You simply do not know the facts. I do. I am in it. I get the revenue. I get the expenses. Rox, in a prior post you said that "WECK could not or would not get 100.5FM". I knew you were dead wrong because I knew the facts. Here is another fact, I will be purchasing a major Buffalo FM soon. You can say till the cows come home on how that won't happen. I am here to tell you it is GOING to happen. It's not a matter of if.

Dave Eduardo is obviously very experienced as he deals with facts that are correct. That is why he is moderator.

TBOLT has been routing against WECK from the start....saying many times we won't get a 4 share. WECK HAS a 4.2 share in Aug for 12 plus!!!!!!! Number 8 in the entire market. I know this as fact. How can you dispute these things????

WECK is, and is going to continue to be the talk of the market and the talk of radio nationwide. Others will realize that the template I came up with makes total sense.
 
Buddy has stated in the past that he doesn't trust Nielsen Ratings. He has also said he doesn't use them to sell clients. Why the obsession with an August trend?

Buddy resorts to obscene personal attacks whenever someone doesn't lavish him with praise. This type of behaviour has sadly become the norm. One would think that a grizzled sales rep would have thicker skin.

Many formats that attracted older listeners have disappeared all over the country. It's the same argument of listeners vs ad agencies--(Old people use Radio, but advertisers don't want them). Sirius Radio has many channels dedicated to old music, so subscribers do want it. If WECK can serve up Oldies and stay profitable, that's a good thing. Some of the corporate stations COULD put on formats that would attract older listeners (40-60), but they don't want to. AAA, Classic Alternative, First Wave, etc...could create passionate listeners. Of course, that requires ownership that cares about quality product...
 
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Buddy has stated in the past that he doesn't trust Nielsen Ratings. He has also said he doesn't use them to sell clients. Why the obsession with an August trend?

Buddy resorts to obscene personal attacks whenever someone doesn't lavish him with praise. This type of behaviour has sadly become the norm. One would think that a grizzled sales rep would have thicker skin.

Many formats that attracted older listeners have disappeared all over the country. It's the same argument of listeners vs ad agencies--(Old people use Radio, but advertisers don't want them). Sirius Radio has many channels dedicated to old music, so subscribers do want it. If WECK can serve up Oldies and stay profitable, that's a good thing. Some of the corporate stations COULD put on formats that would attract older listeners (40-60), but they don't want to. AAA, Classic Alternative, First Wave, etc...could create passionate listeners. Of course, that requires ownership that cares about quality product...

None of us truly trust Nielsen ratings 100% of the time. Between issues of sample size, sampling technique, potential for distortion and bias and many other factors, we see the ratings as exactly what they are: Estimates. In fact, when there were paper books Arbitron labeled them as "Audience Estimates". Going further back, they used to print a nomograph at the back of the book that could be used to calculate the margin of error for ratings at any particular audience level.

Buddy obviously has found some use for the ratings, or he would not pay for them. And, perhaps, Nielsen has negotiated a nice rate for him that includes the full 4-book package.

I suspect that one of the reasons Buddy has mentioned the ratings is you, tbolt. You have been a heckler and a naysayer since Buddy began his WECK project, criticizing the station's target audience, the lesser advertiser interest in older listeners and such. When a person takes the risk of buying their own radio station, there is both an element of pride and one of defensiveness on the part of that person; I know because I have been a station owner and I remember how hair-triggered my tongue could get when others in the ad and radio industries criticized my stations.

I return to earlier statement: there are not enough local broadcasters taking risks and trying to provide needed services in their communities and that is why every failed AM or rimshot FM ends up doing a brokered or religious format or something similar. Yes, 55+ is hard to sell. The out of town agencies will be very hard to convince, but the local ones who understand that Buffalo has a very high median age... and local retail accounts... will see the value in addressing the older age group and many will like having a music alternative that does not require use of polarized talk radio to reach.

There are more and more industry efforts to show that 55+ can be monetized. Ed Christian's Saga is one group that has taken a growing group of medium to smaller market translators and put true oldies formats on them to some apparent success. At the TV level, the embattled CBS has had a multi-year effort to convince advertisers (and, thus, their agencies) that 25-64 and not 18-49 should be TV's focus. As more and more of the population can be found over 55... witness the ongoing talk of raising the retirement age of Social Security to 67 or even higher due to longevity... advertisers will have to take seniors into account to a greater extent.

Yes, Buddy reacts strongly to criticism. I think I understand why, and I think that, as long as he does not use abusive language, he has the right to do so. I also think that you fail to give him credit for doing something that the market and the industry definitely need.
 
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Yes, Buddy reacts strongly to criticism. I think I understand why, and I think that, as long as he does not use abusive language, he has the right to do so. I also think that you fail to give him credit for doing something that the market and the industry definitely need.

I think 99.9999% of the people on this board do give Buddy credit, David. But why do YOU think he reacts the way he does?
The way I see it is that it's almost like another very public figure who has to ALWAYS fight back when provoked even if the provoker is an anonymous person.
Maybe a new approach is needed - try ignoring the noise and letting results speak for themselves.
It's certainly more civil.
 
Maybe a new approach is needed - try ignoring the noise and letting results speak for themselves.
It's certainly more civil.

Ignoring or making light of criticism is the best approach, as it shows that we are firm in our belief that we are doing the right thing for the long run.

I recall two personal anecdotal experiences...

The first involves a strong rivalry with another station in Market 15 back many years ago. When one book showed the other station a bit ahead of us, a large wooden phallus was delivered to the parking lot in front of our building. I decided to call one of our staff member's husbands who was a great photographer, and I sent out for hot dogs and fixings. We lit the wooden device on fire and roasted "weenies" on the fire, capturing the moment on film. We sent the pics to the other station and had a big laugh over it. In the next book, we beat them.

But in the other case, at a meeting of the national Broadcasters Association in Ecuador the owner of another station criticized the fact that I had been given about 10 FM licenses all at once and asked what nefarious plan or scheme I had in mind to further destroy the business of other stations. The fact was that nobody else had ever asked for a license for FM and I had to have the rules amended to even get one authorized... and there was, as yet, no money in FM. The two associates who were with me at the general assembly had to literally grab me by the arms to avoid my standing and insulting the ignoramus who made the complaint. My impulse was to say "if you can't see the future, you deserve to be destroyed" but that would have put me at an even less favorable position in the industry so I am glad they put a muzzle on me.
 
It is very simple why I get angry. Because the posters that are answering have no idea what the truth and facts are. I know what they are. I have been on air and in radio sales for 35 years in Buffalo. I know what I am doing. I have the facts. Ever since I talked about wanting to serve the 55 plus audience, I have got flack. That move was the best I ever did. I fact, the national magazine called radio and tv business report will be featuring me and WECK in a huge article later this month on how I took a small AM signal and am having huge success, in spite of huge competition that I am now beating. It is clear that only a few people on here know what broadcasting is about. I have no idea who David is, but it’s obvious he knows a lot. I pleaded with people on this board to hear what I was saying, and I promised to be very open about owning radio stations. I can be an open book, I like it, because I know everyone on here shows a radio passion like I have. But enough with arguing the facts that only I know. I will tell you when things are good and bad. I am happy to report that WECK has exceeded even my highest profit expectations, and we are crusing past 4 share books 12 plus. This summer, it may be in the 3’s. But that is still significant and beating others. I am committed to giving the 55 plus audience a great product. I care very much about my clients, my listeners and my staff.
 
...WECK is a top 8 station RIGHT NOW...

Curious... eight out of how many? 8th of 10 is different than, say, 8th of 110, no?

And while I have maintained all along that I "root" for most any small/local businesses (in this case, a radio station) to succeed, I'm not blind to the reality that I see. Here is a fact that I know... other than a discussion with Dick Bauerle a couple of weeks ago, I have heard/seen zero about WECK in public. Maybe that doesn't matter.
 
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