I tuned in this morning to WWKB, and I heard a new format stating BET 1520. It sounds like sports betting is on the air! What does everyone think?
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What's up with WWKB?
- Thread starter Bill Yuhnke
- Start date
Wikipedia says the sports betting affiliation started in September. I've never been anywhere near Buffalo, but I used to DX WKBW back in the day. The state of AM radio today is sad indeed...
Audacy is pushing its sports betting programming heavily. I hear ads for it on WGR. Interestingly, the ads push listeners to the Audacy app, not 1520. Just yesterday, Schopp and the Bulldog hosted one of the Bet hosts for an interview on topics ranging from baseball to the Masters. So, there’s plenty of cross promotion. With New York having legalized sports betting, there may be more interest in such programming. But Audacy seems more interested in pushing potential listeners to its app rather than the AM stations running the betting format. WWKB remains mired at the bottom of the local ratings.
One day it will disappear from the air, few will remember what a great station it was...or care.
It's a powerful signal. I bet it would be great as a multicultural station of some sort...but I know nothing about Buffalo/Niagara demand for such a station. Multicultural fits more with the Toronto Ontario market...I'm guessing.
As for betting, I like to see what I am betting on, myself...
Oh no, I wish you hadn't said that! I can already see posts saying nobody listens to skywave signals. It happens every time. Yet that's the very reason Greater Media bought WBT. They were well aware of the Charlotte station because they listened to it in Philadelphia.
I don't think that the skywave signal, most of which goes twards the northeast, southwest and mostly east over the ocean, had anything to do with the purchase. Nearly all radio revenue in the last several decades comes from 6 AM to 7 PM (except for some live sports) and WBT did not show up in any ratings outside of the Charlotte and immediate adjacent markets.
Even the late-night truckers now listen to Sirius/CM, not noisy, fading low-fidelity AM.
And, per Nielsen, statistically "nobody" listens to skywave AM stations at night except for a few die-hard baseball fans who want to follow their home team from a greater distance.
Maybe just all the people who have never filled out a rating book or PPM.....I haven't ! 😁
Your chances, if you are in a rated market, are being contacted to participate about once every 60 to 70 years if you don't move or change your last name or...
A good example of that kind of probability... when I was involved with the programming of KLVE in Los Angeles we had a cume of around 1.3 million. We tested our music twice a year, with 90 to 100 people each time. The station was #1 in the market.
Funny. I get contacted every two years. I don't respond.
It "disappeared" when the Top 40 format changed, for reasons that were more obvious at the time.
I often hear people say AM radio would get more listeners if the programming was better. There was a time when there was great programming on AM, and listeners abandoned it for FM.
It was $2 when I was contacted back in the '90s. I accepted and filled out the diary for a week -- unfortunately, it was a vacation week, and about half the stations in it were Albany/Glens Falls area stations and most of the rest were Boston stations. I was only in my home market (Hartford) for part of one day that week, for less than eight hours. I guess Arbitron (as it was known at the time) wasted their two bucks on me!
So why not make it worse and chase the rest of the listeners away huh?
Ancient history. In 1981 they thought they were making it better. When they flipped to country, they thought it would help.
It was 40 years ago.
I got $5 in the mail with a recruitment letter for the Palm Springs TV survey. I called and said I had radio and TV media affiliation and told them I'd buy an In-and-Out burger with fries with the fiver. They thanked me and said, "I wish we had In-and-Out in Florida".
Those diaries are tabulated, of course, and they show advertisers what the residents of a market "listen" to, even if they are out of town or in the hospital not listening at all.
I think the best shot to revive KB was back when they went to oldies around 2002. As I recall they got up into the 2.x rating range 12+ the best in 25+ years. The success of WECK shows the demand for the format was there but Entercom/Audacy didn't execute it correctly and/or have the fortitude to stick with it to let it grow.
Two interesting stories of influence I've had over KB. Back in the early to mid 1990's, a part time Buffalo radio personality came into the electronics store I was working at in Niagara Falls. The voice was familiar then the name on the credit card led me to strike up a conversation with him. I learned his full time gig was as an engineer and KB was one of the stations he worked on. KB had long been in stereo but it had been off for some period of time. I mentioned it and he said he would look into it. I think this was during the time KB was carrying Howard Stern followed by Shane trying a hot talk format or it may have been during the country music period. Anyway, shortly after that chance meeting it was back in Cquam and that lasted into the oldies revival. I'll admit it wasn't apparent during the oldies revival that the audio had much/any stereo separation so just the pilot may have been on by that point.
Second influence was sometime in the late 90's, early 2000's before the oldies revival. I wrote to Entercom Bufflalo suggesting that for big news events in Buffalo they simulcast WBEN on KB so those of us who were Buffalo expats could hear what was going on back at home. Low and behold the next time there was a big news event in Buffalo (I think it was weather related - what else) they took my suggestion and I heard Larry Hunter on in the evening on WBEN simulcast on KB. I was listening from New England. Now with streaming being mainstream it is a moot point but cool that I may have inspired them to do that.
Maybe these were just coincidences but the timing of both (especially the first) makes me think I had some influence.
As for the future - rather than just holding onto KB to prevent any competition to WGR or WBEN, maybe try something like full HD digital mode with an automated music format? A station local to me - WSRO - is doing that running a classical format and it works pretty well. I have HD reception in my F150. Now if KB goes all digital I'll take the credit for a 3rd influence haha. I know I've been an HD skeptic in some previous posts but since the signal doesn't have much or any audience anyway why not try it. If HD receivers - especially in cars - had become universal by now I would be less skeptical but that's another topic.
Two interesting stories of influence I've had over KB. Back in the early to mid 1990's, a part time Buffalo radio personality came into the electronics store I was working at in Niagara Falls. The voice was familiar then the name on the credit card led me to strike up a conversation with him. I learned his full time gig was as an engineer and KB was one of the stations he worked on. KB had long been in stereo but it had been off for some period of time. I mentioned it and he said he would look into it. I think this was during the time KB was carrying Howard Stern followed by Shane trying a hot talk format or it may have been during the country music period. Anyway, shortly after that chance meeting it was back in Cquam and that lasted into the oldies revival. I'll admit it wasn't apparent during the oldies revival that the audio had much/any stereo separation so just the pilot may have been on by that point.
Second influence was sometime in the late 90's, early 2000's before the oldies revival. I wrote to Entercom Bufflalo suggesting that for big news events in Buffalo they simulcast WBEN on KB so those of us who were Buffalo expats could hear what was going on back at home. Low and behold the next time there was a big news event in Buffalo (I think it was weather related - what else) they took my suggestion and I heard Larry Hunter on in the evening on WBEN simulcast on KB. I was listening from New England. Now with streaming being mainstream it is a moot point but cool that I may have inspired them to do that.
Maybe these were just coincidences but the timing of both (especially the first) makes me think I had some influence.
As for the future - rather than just holding onto KB to prevent any competition to WGR or WBEN, maybe try something like full HD digital mode with an automated music format? A station local to me - WSRO - is doing that running a classical format and it works pretty well. I have HD reception in my F150. Now if KB goes all digital I'll take the credit for a 3rd influence haha. I know I've been an HD skeptic in some previous posts but since the signal doesn't have much or any audience anyway why not try it. If HD receivers - especially in cars - had become universal by now I would be less skeptical but that's another topic.
There was no problem with the execution. With a line-up of Danny Neaverth, Tom Donahue, Sandy Beach, Hank Nevins and Jack Armstrong, the station sounded great, especially with the ’70s era WKBW jungle package. Some quibbled at the time about the music selection. It was largely ’50s and ‘60s based. Armstrong was playing tunes that weren’t a part if his show in the early ‘70s. That said, the numbers were climbing. What happened? Well, WHLD was putting together a locally-based left-of-center format led by Ray Marks. The “brains” at Entercom were actually worried WHDL would hurt WBEN, so they dropped the retro KB format and put on syndicated left-leaning talk shows, hoping to blunt the impact of WHLD. Well, I doubt KB had anything to do with it. WHLD imploded on its own. The left-leaning talk remained on KB for a few more years, generating a small audience. Imagine what could have been if Entercom had stayed with retro KB? Who knows if it would have reached the level of success WECK is no enjoying. As has been said in this thread, it’s just so sad what Entercom/Audacy did to this once great radio station.
C
CAVEMANager
Guest
Since AM radio is worthless including the massive skywave signal, why doesn't Audacy simply get rid of WWKB and save the significant electric bill? Sell it at a bargain price to a local owner such as Bill or Buddy. More than likely the fear is that the station might not be all that worthless and could compete with Audacy.
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