WEBR's M-F playlist is very limited on the weekends. The rest is a mix of unique music (Great American Songbook, Oldies with background info, Italian, Polish), and talk shows, not to mention the unique, and entertaining story-teller, who's beloved by all WNYers, not matter the municipality, Barry Lillis.
"Kurt", you can listen to reruns of Tom Darro, anytime, at View Point - WEBR Radio
"We're Talking Pets." Despite knowing that pets are a big deal to many many people, I just had to laugh at this niche show. I'll bet it's relatively popular and is undoubtedly a perfect fit for WLVL. SMH. LOL. [My apologies to all the folks that refer to the animal(s) they own as "their children" or "their fur babies"... who surely make this 'must listen' radio.]
Rusty, a clarification. Is 300 a typo? Perhaps you mean a weekly cume of 3,000 listeners? Even that is pretty low. When I used to peruse Arbitron books back in the day, stations between a one and two share usually had a weekly cume of 20,000 to 30,000.
Thanks for paying attention to detail, Mark. I wrote 300 intentionally. If somebody like Dave Eduardo or a proxy of the "banned broadcaster" posts factual stats that prove my projections wrong, I'll accede to the facts.
Something for everyone
WEBR, formally WJJL, has been irrelevant in the Buffalo market for the past 25 years. So nothing new here.But Andy, everyone is not listening. Their 12+ rating of 0.2 or 0.4 after 3 full years on the air is fairly significant proof of that. How many more times will the powers that be at this radio station shoot themselves in the foot?
Maybe in this case it doesn't matter to "the powers that be" that no one is listening. Bill Yuhnke put out a press release where he proclaimed himself a "Radio Maestro", so it seems that the only listener he really cares about and is aiming at is himself. It's his money, and if he can afford it, and wants to program it this way, then that's his prerogative. I've certainly known hundreds of owners in my 40+ years in the business who program what they want to hear, and would tell everyone who questioned them that they knew best. Heck, the GM of my local station growing up used to play Don Ho and Hawaiian music on his morning show as filler between news stories and farm reports. Block programmed it and aired 'Lum and Abner' at the same time for 34 years! Nobody listened to it outside of him, but the owner said as long as the station made money, he didn't care what the GM played. It's the Golden Rule of Broadcasting: He who has the gold makes the rules.But Andy, everyone is not listening. Their 12+ rating of 0.2 or 0.4 after 3 full years on the air is fairly significant proof of that. How many more times will the powers that be at this radio station shoot themselves in the foot?
Well - like many station operators, you're supposed to discover the station by accident. Those operators have tried to get businesses to do something that the operators don't seem to want to do -- advertise. Whether a 25-30 year old would listen to WLVL or WEBR is a moot point if he doesn't know it exists. Tell me what you got -I'll tell you if I like it.
Just noticed this post. I co-produce and engineer that show - The History of Rock 'n' Roll - which was just picked up for syndication by United Stations which got it away from G-Networks. I didn't realize we were the only national show on WEBR. That's rather an honor!
Realistically, how can many of these AM stations with few listeners stay in business? Just covering the cost of running the transmitter and maintaining the facility and staff has to eat up any profit they may generate. What kind of revenue can a station below a .5 actually expect?
You talk like making enough to pay the bills and pay the staff is a bad thing. Maybe Bill Yuhnke isn't in it for big profits. I still think he would be better off targeting Niagara County and super-serving that audience, but determining that audience would require research and investment.
Maybe I should've been more clear about what I was getting at: Given how low the listenership is on these fringe stations, I wonder how many can even pay their bills. What is the overhead and likely revenue for a station like this?
Many small market AM stations rely on paid/brokered programming, whether it's national Colon Blow or ED shows, or local Dog & Pet Shows, Ask the Plumber, or Polka Extravaganza, to turn the corner. Six hours of brokered programming on Saturday or Sunday can make the difference between a (small market AM) station being in the red or making payroll and keeping the lights on. Not so many years ago, at least three FM stations in Buffalo ran the Colon Blow show, albeit early on Saturday or Sunday morning. Many of these types of shows run PI (Per Inquiry) and stations get paid accordingly.
You got a laugh reaction from me solely by bringing up that individual Brother Stair. I recall Stair and David J. Smith haranguing listeners on 1520 AM during the late 90s. Always enjoyed Smith forecasting the Y2K event as the end, yet still trying to get me to subscribe for a year to 'Newswatch Magazine' as close as 2 months before the event. 🤔🤨
