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Alt Buffalo Flips To Country 107.7/104.7 The Wolf
- Thread starter bobgoodbob
- Start date
They were very generous with the Alternative format. They gave it 7 years. It never hit a 2 share and averaged 1.3. If they actually generated any NTR from concerts, they would have stuck with it. Concerts will be coming back at some point.
The switch from Alternative to Country is a lateral move. It will accomplish nothing. I doubt Audacy did any research. The new format was on with the flip of a switch from out of market...
But you don't actually know, do you?
It's not a lateral move; it is one to find where a bad signal can be monetized.
I'll bet that management met with the sellers and discussed the options for different formats. I'll also bet they asked how hard it was to sell alternative. In the end, it was about "follow the money".
Re: Boston's WBWL....
I think WBWL provides a much better signal to its market (Boston) than WLKK provides to its market (Buffalo).
101.7 provides a 70 dBu or better signal to the majority of the population of the Greater Boston area and accomplishes that with one signal.
You are technically right, but the Nash rebrand - in many cases - resulted in lower ratings than the incumbent branding.
Some stations were new converts to country. KSJO in San Jose was a new flip to Country and performed miserably. Ditto 92.3 in New Orleans. The Blair Garner-led show also earned abysmal ratings in Detroit (another new flip); Ty, Kelly & Chuck did fare better there.
I think WBWL provides a much better signal to its market (Boston) than WLKK provides to its market (Buffalo).
101.7 provides a 70 dBu or better signal to the majority of the population of the Greater Boston area and accomplishes that with one signal.
You are technically right, but the Nash rebrand - in many cases - resulted in lower ratings than the incumbent branding.
Some stations were new converts to country. KSJO in San Jose was a new flip to Country and performed miserably. Ditto 92.3 in New Orleans. The Blair Garner-led show also earned abysmal ratings in Detroit (another new flip); Ty, Kelly & Chuck did fare better there.
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The difference being that WLKK has a translator that sits right over the city.
It depends. Dallas, Nashville, Indianapolis, and several others were relatively unaffected.
On the other hand, Atlanta stayed with the Kicks name, never carried the syndicated morning show, and still got killed by The Bull.
The San Jose station attempted to be a San Francisco station, and failed in both markets.
It's a cop out to constantly blame the signal.
The Lake used it with decent success. If nobody wants the current product, the "sellers" will be whining to corporate management in 6 months. People here have stated that Alternative was great for NTR. I guess that was Bull****...
It was before the pandemic. The company is now hiring a huge events staff in other markets to organize and run NTR.
If only they would bring back WBMW.
Is the [/sarcasm] tag really necessary?
Is the [/sarcasm] tag really necessary?
WLKK has more geographical coverage then WKSE or WGRF. The signal is not the problem
The "geographical coverage" is where there are more cows than people. It's not in the area where ratings are made. It doesn't cover either the Buffalo MSA or Rochester MSA very well. Audiocy did get a translator for Buffalo that helps the coverage there for people who are aware of it.
One thing it may have going for it in a challenge to WCJW is that it covers their territory well on a single FM frequency. That may appeal to some of the folks there but it won't move the needle in either the Buffalo or Rochester markets. BTW, the money isn't made in Warsaw. They're hoping to make the money in the Buffalo market and ding a competitor to make the ratings on their other stations more competitive in ad buys.
The Alt format was a flanker for their big FMs to prevent the competition from trying to siphon off numbers. As an Alt station it did make some money in NTR, but it was likely a break-even at best, and Covid put an end to that for over a year. The Country format is an attempt make some money with it that will cost Audiocy little or nothing. At worst, they clear a bunch of national spots from their syndicated shows. At best, they also add some local revenue and find that WYRK is vulnerable to losing - or not regaining - a couple of shares worth of disaffected listeners.
The signal IS the problem. It is not a great option for covering 3 out of the 4 markets it has signal in. In only one does it approach reaching a significant part of the market, and even then it is partial.
WLKK covers only part of one county in the Buffalo metro (as defined by Nielsen) and only parts of two relatively lightly populated counties in the Rochester market (that only represent about 8% of that market's population). It covers a tiny piece of Elmira/Corning and also of the Olean mini-market.
While there may be a few businesses that are somewhere in the center of their coverage area each market is viewed as a different radio market, and no advertiser will "waste time" buying fractional coverage when they can more efficiently buy each market's leading stations. WLKK only comes close to serving a significant part of the Buffalo MSA. And for any of the other three markets, the coverage is so limited that buying WLKK for those can't be more efficient than buying leading stations in each one individually.
I wonder if it'll lead Townsquare to flip WBUF to CHR to hurt Kiss.
I'll stipulate to everything you said... 'cuz, well, I haven't the interest in slicing & dicing. Here's my take... WYRK has a disproportionate about of so-called "southtowns" advertisers. I'd have to speculate that those folks are customers because that's where there's heavy WYRK listenership. I live in the so-called "northtowns." Far more rare that I'll hear a relatively local-to-me ad on WYRK. I've been listening to the "new" station. I like it... and I've experienced no signal coverage issues in norther Erie County... into Niagara County... etc. Wouldn't - or might - it be logical for this station to get a foothold in this area. For those that seem obsessed by it... yeah, there's lots of rural, agricultural, farm, suburban agricultural space in the northtowns. And there's a reasonably strong country music fanbase.
They currently have an exclusive format with around a 4 share in 25-54. Why would they fragment a station that has a 6 share and is relatively established?
Remember, the cost of a format switch is the 6 months to a year (if ever) it takes to even get back to the prior billing levels. Agencies and transactional buyers don't buy just off one book... they look at last 3, 4, 6 months.
And how many local, "that area only" advertisers are there that don't also want the rest of the metro area to hear their ads.
The signal is concentrated in the SE part of the market, with Niagara County getting really no "primary" signal. Yeah, it will be OK in better car radios in the SE part of that county, but that is not where the population is.
Someone here (perhaps Buddy) said the reason they didn't go country 7 years ago was to protect Kiss from competition.
And how many local, "that area only" advertisers are there that don't also want the rest of the metro area to hear their ads.
The signal is concentrated in the SE part of the market, with Niagara County getting really no "primary" signal. Yeah, it will be OK in better car radios in the SE part of that county, but that is not where the population is.
Keep in mind that the alternative format used the "2-minute promise." No such promise for the country format.
Paralysis through analysis as usual. Just a simple application of the Acid Test shows how bad it's going to fail. Good luck getting a 1 share.
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