Buffalo Live and Local

[Rusty Bridges]

On the subject of rate, people wonder how The Wolf stays in business in a market with WYRK. The answer is because The Wolf can sell its spots for less. Advertisers who want to reach the country audience can do so for less on The Wolf. This also can drive down the spot price at WYRK. An advertiser will tell WYRK that he's taking his money to Audacy because it's cheaper, and the salesman cuts the price to keep the client. That means they have to make up for the loss somewhere else. More spots.

What's more efficient for an advertiser in Cheektowaga: ten (10) listener impressions in Tonawanda in Erie County for $100 on WYRK, or three (3) listener impressions in Springville in Erie County for $50 on The Wolf?

On its face, $50/spot may be more attractive to a client than $100/spot, but the return on investment is critical, especially taking into consideration the client, his or her product/service, and the location of the client's business and the listener.

The Wolf rep tells the client, "Your $1,000 buys twice as many spots on The Wolf than WYRK." The WYRK rep says, "Your ten commercials will reach more listeners on WYRK and those listeners are closer to your store."

 

[tbolt909]

On the subject of rate, people wonder how The Wolf stays in business in a market with WYRK. The answer is because The Wolf can sell its spots for less. Advertisers who want to reach the country audience can do so for less on The Wolf. This also can drive down the spot price at WYRK. An advertiser will tell WYRK that he's taking his money to Audacy because it's cheaper, and the salesman cuts the price to keep the client. That means they have to make up for the loss somewhere else. More spots.

The Wolf's ratings are abysmal. They're not reaching many Country listeners. WYRK (in spite of their recent ratings slide) has an established audience. Any advertiser with brains won't be fooled by the "cheaper rate ruse".

The only reason that Audacy keeps The Wolf around is apathy. They've given up on the cluster...

 

[TheBigA]

The Wolf rep tells the client, "Your $1,000 buys twice as many spots on The Wolf than WYRK." The WYRK rep says, "Your ten commercials will reach more listeners on WYRK and those listeners are closer to your store."

It's up to the advertiser. The next question is how many "unique" listeners will they reach? If you hit the same listener with the same spot it's not as effective as hitting more unique listeners, which you can do with a scatter buy.

Keep in mind I was responding to this:

If I pay 98.9 The River $3 a spot, why should I pay 97.5 The Hound $12 a spot?

What's your answer? Its all just spots 'n' dots.

 

[Kelly A]

I have lived and worked in bigger places than this and thats what i was speaking of.

and Yes i have done some sales in the last 5 years

Clearly then you weren't very successful at it. Otherwise you'd still be selling and could claim success.

 

[Kelly A]

What's your answer? Its all just spots 'n' dots.

Ugh Gawd, spots n' dots. There come some bad flashbacks.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Clearly then you weren't very successful at it. Otherwise you'd still be selling and could claim success.

Im actually better at it than Id thought Id be. I sold several accounts because id formed a relationship with those businesses and could passionately speak about their product and our station

Have you programmed and sold small town radio in the last 5 years?>

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

It's up to the advertiser. The next question is how many "unique" listeners will they reach? If you hit the same listener with the same spot it's not as effective as hitting more unique listeners, which you can do with a scatter buy.

Keep in mind I was responding to this:


What's your answer? Its all just spots 'n' dots.

We have more listeners, for one. Bigger signal.

The River kinda missed half the immediate market. It covered st marys ok, but didnt do welll at all signal wise in ridgway, which are its two biggest areas to serve .

the Hound hit ridgway and saint marys fine and dubois too.. thats like a regional shopping cooriror/trade area.. it also hit warren and olean fine.

Despite the big signal, we had alot of smaller businesses advertising with us.

and many for years

So, let me ask you experts..

How much do you think the 50kw country (WDDH), 25kw Hot AC (WKBI) and 1kw am/250watt translator (WKBI)doing standards bill?

I know what they were doing 5 years ago, di ton know what they did during covid, knowing that market like i do... theyd probably back to close to whgat they were pre covid.. not quite, but close.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

What's your answer? Its all just spots 'n' dots.

Had to re-kindle that old saw, eh. Made me take notice, at least. Here's the thing. "Buying" stations like The Wolf seems to be like buying stuff at the dollar store. It's cheap, it doesn't last long, and when you compare prices, you're better off buying 'good' stuff at Wegman's, Tops, Kroger, ShopRite, Walmart -insert the big retailer in your zip code here-

You can get a half gallon of bleach for a buck-25 (because nothing is a dollar anymore... the store should be called the Buck-25 Store or Dallar-25 General) at the Dollar Store or Dollar General. Or you can go to Wegman's, Tops, Piggly-Wiggly or Kroger and buy a full gallon of bleach for $2.25. Pay the extra buck, get a full gallon. Sure, I know, Dollar General and the Dollar Store specifically package and price the items to appeal to a certain strata of shoppers. The fact is, the shoppers are getting short-changed on the deal.

 

[TheBigA]

Here's the thing. "Buying" stations like The Wolf seems to be like buying stuff at the dollar store.

Keep in mind that I'm not the one doing the buying. I'm just providing the environment for advertisers. Whatever that is.

Some people like to shop the dollar store. They seem to do a lot of business. Why pay $4 for toilet paper?

 

[tbolt909]

Keep in mind that I'm not the one doing the buying. I'm just providing the environment for advertisers. Whatever that is.

Some people like to shop the dollar store. They seem to do a lot of business. Why pay $4 for toilet paper?

Audacy Stock is significantly cheaper than toilet paper these days. Flush away...

 

[flybynight]

For all the heat radio takes for canned "live" updates, I just saw a 3-minute-long weather forecast on WKBW Ch. 7 that was FOUR days old!

Today is Monday, Nov 27th. This several minute long extended forecast, delivered by Aaron Mentkowski, talked about today (Thanksgiving Day apparently) and black Friday and the weekend ahead. This was not a quick-hit. It was a long forecast. I kept waiting for it to be pulled and corrected, but nope. It just went on and on telling us what the last several days might look like weather-wise.

Pathetic.

 

[tbolt909]

For all the heat radio takes for canned "live" updates, I just saw a 3-minute-long weather forecast on WKBW Ch. 7 that was FOUR days old!

Today is Monday, Nov 27th. This several minute long extended forecast, delivered by Aaron Mentkowski, talked about today (Thanksgiving Day apparently) and black Friday and the weekend ahead. This was not a quick-hit. It was a long forecast. I kept waiting for it to be pulled and corrected, but nope. It just went on and on telling us what the last several days might look like weather-wise.

Pathetic.

I have heard Radio stations run outdated news segments. Probably very few viewers noticed the old forecast and contacted the TV station. Automation errors (actually human errors) are nothing new. Most people likely just use their phone for weather these days. Was it slipshod for the TV station to screw up? Sure, but not uncommon...

 

[Kelly A]

For all the heat radio takes for canned "live" updates, I just saw a 3-minute-long weather forecast on WKBW Ch. 7 that was FOUR days old!

Today is Monday, Nov 27th. This several minute long extended forecast, delivered by Aaron Mentkowski, talked about today (Thanksgiving Day apparently) and black Friday and the weekend ahead. This was not a quick-hit. It was a long forecast. I kept waiting for it to be pulled and corrected, but nope. It just went on and on telling us what the last several days might look like weather-wise.

Pathetic.

Wait, so you're upset because they recorded a ten-day forecast that had some days in the past? When you saw it, aren't there also days in the future included? Modern consumers don't care about something like that, because they get content on their smartphone that was recorded prior. That, and they've probably been airing the Ten-day for years while the talent gets Thanksgiving week off. You're just nit-picking because you feel like complaining that they don't have live weather folks around the station 24/7 like...oh...never.

 

[SirRoxalot]

It seems simple to me. Ratings and cash-strapped Channel 7 skimped on weather coverage. Their primary competition didn't. Forecasts were timely and updated on channels 2 and 4 and their sub-channels.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Unfortunately, its real easy to make mistakes or have errors pop up with automated programming, which sounds like what channel 7 had happen.

I live above my station, our programming is pretty static.. IE: its the same week to week. I check our computer to make sure files are being imported via FTP and our satellite reciever automatically as they should be.

Mistakes still happen from time to time.. the one week i didn't/forgot to check because everything had been fine for 2 months is the week something goes wrong........

 

[flybynight]

Wait, so you're upset because they recorded a ten-day forecast that had some days in the past? When you saw it, aren't there also days in the future included? Modern consumers don't care about something like that, because they get content on their smartphone that was recorded prior. That, and they've probably been airing the Ten-day for years while the talent gets Thanksgiving week off. You're just nit-picking because you feel like complaining that they don't have live weather folks around the station 24/7 like...oh...never.

Whether today's consumers care about TV weather or not is irrelevant. The station is DOING the weather and my comment is based on that context. It was a FIVE-day forecast given on day FOUR, all spoken in the tense of it being Thanksgiving day when it was actually 4 days later. One of the reasons there is so much sloppiness and unprofessionalism in broadcasting these days is because of people like you who are arrogant and strident about your lack of standards. And no, you don't need to have 24/7 weather people on standby to do it right. You just need to pay attention to what you're doing.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Whether today's consumers care about TV weather or not is irrelevant. The station is DOING the weather and my comment is based on that context. It was a FIVE-day forecast given on day FOUR, all spoken in the tense of it being Thanksgiving day when it was actually 4 days later. One of the reasons there is so much sloppiness and unprofessionalism in broadcasting these days is because of people like you who are arrogant and strident about your lack of standards. And no, you don't need to have 24/7 weather people on standby to do it right. You just need to pay attention to what you're doing.

What i find interesting is i see few people bitching about live and local tv content.. i mean it happens, but nowhere near the level of radio. ive often wondered why

 

[Kelly A]

Whether today's consumers care about TV weather or not is irrelevant.

Irrelevant? Since when is considering what your actual audience thinks or cares about irrelevant?

The station is DOING the weather and my comment is based on that context. It was a FIVE-day forecast given on day FOUR, all spoken in the tense of it being Thanksgiving day when it was actually 4 days later.

No, it's curmudgeonly nit-picking. Your opinion about what's important is in the minority.

One of the reasons there is so much sloppiness and unprofessionalism in broadcasting these days is because of people like you who are arrogant and strident about your lack of standards. And no, you don't need to have 24/7 weather people on standby to do it right. You just need to pay attention to what you're doing.

So you're saying that staff aren't allowed to pre-record and take some days off because one person in several thousand somehow expects an updated weather forecast each day during a holiday week?

 

[flybynight]

What i find interesting is i see few people bitching about live and local tv content.. i mean it happens, but nowhere near the level of radio. ive often wondered why

Local TV stations are always much fewer in number than local radio stations and are a substantially greater investment. If there are problems, they can be more costly, and because it's not as passively consumed as radio, far more noticeable.

 

[flybynight]

Irrelevant? Since when is considering what your actual audience thinks or cares about irrelevant?

You said modern consumers don't care about TV weather reports. They get the reports from their phone. You made their opinion irrelevant to the conversation because you said they aren't consumers of TV weather. I am talking about the actual audience for these reports. And if nobody needs them, why are they even airing them? If you're going to do them, just do them correctly. I know that's a tough concept these days. So difficult.

No, it's curmudgeonly nit-picking. Your opinion about what's important is in the minority.

It's not important, but this is a forum where unimportant things are discussed and commented on all the time. Been to the net before?.

So you're saying that staff aren't allowed to pre-record and take some days off because one person in several thousand somehow expects an updated weather forecast each day during a holiday week?

I guess you've never worked in radio or television before, because if you had, you'd know It is actually possible to do a few versions of a report so you can adjust for time and day changes. Might take a few more minutes before you head off to that splendid vacation, but it prevents your station from looking really stupid.

And FYI, running a per-recorded 5-day weather forecast on day 4 of that forecast in an area where weather forecasts can change dramatically in a day or two, is especially idiotic.