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What's up at WBEN-AM 930?

M

Mr. Furley

Since Cumulus (Westwood One) reduced the Savage Nation to a one hour broadcast and a one hour podcast, WBEN is currently repeating the previous day's broadcast at 11:00 p.m. WABC dropped the show on Monday; WBEN has been deleted on the Savage Nation's station list and is expected to replace the show in February. Unfortunately it seems like Joe Beamer (with his helium voice) will officially have his own show at six with David Bellavia as Bauerle reduces his shift to three hours.

Do people actually pay attention to radio commercials? WBEN up until a week ago was still airing promos "Hear George Noory overnights one til five..." "Micheal Savage weeknights ten til one". WBEN added a new show Beyond Reality Radio a year ago airing midnight to two which preempts the former timeslots of these two shows. Somebody in their promo department doesn't listen.
 
Rob Piotrowski said:
Agreed. They still run weekend news promos that are years-old. Apparently Mr. Wenger doesn't have staff to manage production.
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He can't pull an outdated promo himself? Maybe the "Brand Manager" can launch an investigation. Maybe nobody even knows what's actually on the air anyway...
 
I am thinking the promos are just to fill dead air between actual ADs and programming. Maybe they should run more radio.com promo instead ;)
 
I've heard those promos and wondered who really listens to that kind of radio? Seems it appeals to the hardcore believers.
 
Rusty Bridges said:
I've heard those promos and wondered who really listens to that kind of radio? Seems it appeals to the hardcore believers.
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Indeed. I didn't know any of this was even available around here. But reading the above, I looked at WBEN's website that lists what shows are on. Yikes. Overall, it (IMO) is a wierd station. i get why the actual 'news' part of it would get a lot of listeners... but, the other stuff... wow. It surprises me that that stuff would get relatively high ratings. Funny thing is, I'd be willing to bet that if you listened to one of those shows from, say, a year ago, and then one from today, it'd be virtually the same. Why listen more than occasionally?

Anyjow, more power to them if that's really what lots of people want.
 
And people wonder WHY I have WBFO on my car presets but not WBEN.

If I ran a heritage station into the ground the way Tim Wenger and Greg Ried have with WBEN, I'd have been drop-kicked out the door.

Now, I WOULD say that someone else in the market should crank up a news/talk challenger to 'BEN...but I know what you're going to say before you say it, and I agree with you: it's prohibitively expensive to start up and maintain such a station.
 
ckg279 said:
And people wonder WHY I have WBFO on my car presets but not WBEN.

If I ran a heritage station into the ground the way Tim Wenger and Greg Ried have with WBEN, I'd have been drop-kicked out the door.

Now, I WOULD say that someone else in the market should crank up a news/talk challenger to 'BEN...but I know what you're going to say before you say it, and I agree with you: it's prohibitively expensive to start up and maintain such a station.
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This is a dying format with no formula for rejuvenation. Nobody is going to start a second news talker in the market when there are such poor future prospects. And having two of them means neither would make money.
 
WBEN is perennially #3 in the market and still makes money. They've been living off the reputation created by the old WBEN and the habits of older listeners since Entercom bought it. They continue to cut everywhere they can to fund Beach, Bauerle, and Rush. They give the rest of the staff just enough resources to maintain the shell of the station's legacy. Management will ride the current staff into the ground, then walk off into retirement. Whatever happens after that is not their concern.
 
DavidEduardo said:


This is a dying format with no formula for rejuvenation. Nobody is going to start a second news talker in the market when there are such poor future prospects. And having two of them means neither would make money.
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I agree with that; Darryl Parks has said as much.
 
DavidEduardo said:
This is a dying format with no formula for rejuvenation. Nobody is going to start a second news talker in the market when there are such poor future prospects. And having two of them means neither would make money.
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So true, although Entercom makes a pretty good chunk of change with this "dying format" in Buffalo. Additionally, Roxalot makes a salient observation: Entercom allocates its money on the personalities who continue to generate revenue, but the company and the local management will wring every cent out of the station and format before tossing them like used tissue. The WBEN news department is a remnant of what it was as little as ten years ago, maybe even five. WBEN's most recent News Director walked across the street to join WBFO in the same capacity, almost verifying the handwriting on the wall.
 
SirRoxalot said:
WBEN is perennially #3 in the market and still makes money. They've been living off the reputation created by the old WBEN and the habits of older listeners since Entercom bought it. They continue to cut everywhere they can to fund Beach, Bauerle, and Rush. They give the rest of the staff just enough resources to maintain the shell of the station's legacy. Management will ride the current staff into the ground, then walk off into retirement. Whatever happens after that is not their concern.
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WBEN still has decent ratings, but what are the Demos?
They once were consistently Top 4 in 25-54. Now I bet they rarely crack the Top 10. Their audience is almost entirely Men 60+. The toxic format content is repellent. There's no business model going forward.

Entercom knows the format is ultimately doomed. The failed simulcast on 107.7 made things worse. If top sales reps have been leaving, then revenue must be dwindling. There's a finite amount of local direct sales for this product. It must be close to played out...
 
tbolt909 said:
WBEN still has decent ratings, but what are the Demos?
They once were consistently Top 4 in 25-54. Now I bet they rarely crack the Top 10. Their audience is almost entirely Men 60+. The toxic format content is repellent. There's no business model going forward.

Entercom knows the format is ultimately doomed. The failed simulcast on 107.7 made things worse. If top sales reps have been leaving, then revenue must be dwindling. There's a finite amount of local direct sales for this product. It must be close to played out...
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Just what would you do with it, 'Bolt? You blast 'BEN continually. It's easy to criticize. What would you do with the frequency that would bring in more profit? Notice I said PROFIT, not revenue.
 
SirRoxalot said:


Just what would you do with it, 'Bolt? You blast 'BEN continually. It's easy to criticize. What would you do with the frequency that would bring in more profit? Notice I said PROFIT, not revenue.
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YOU blasted WBEN management in your first post. You implied that they don't care as long as they get to retire comfortably. When it collapses, they'll be lounging on the beach.

Entercom must feel the format is not worth investing in. They made no effort to change the content that MIGHT appeal to a more diverse audience. They are content to ride the Right Wing Crazy Train until it derails...
 
tbolt909 said:
WBEN still has decent ratings, but what are the Demos?
They once were consistently Top 4 in 25-54. Now I bet they rarely crack the Top 10.
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They are 8th in 25-54, and 6th in 35-64. In a predominantly local direct buying market where ratings are not as important, the station appears to have good advertiser appeal as it is #2 in total revenue, and only a tad short of a tie for #1.

Their audience is almost entirely Men 60+.
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Not true.

The toxic format content is repellent. There's no business model going forward.
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But there is no alternative but to profit from what they have for quite a few years to come.

Entercom knows the format is ultimately doomed. The failed simulcast on 107.7 made things worse.
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The simulcast was on a signal that did not provide the needed coverage for people to switch to it from AM. It was a bad idea based on signal, not on programming.

If top sales reps have been leaving, then revenue must be dwindling. There's a finite amount of local direct sales for this product. It must be close to played out...
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WBEN is billing about 15% better now than it did in 2010... it has been flat, with no growth for 5 years but the total market is off by about 6%. So they are doing better than the average.
 
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