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Buffalo Danny on WKBW 1976
- Thread starter Mike Sheridan
- Start date
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Radiowaves
Guest
Danny Neaverth. The guy who prevented the Beatles from ever playing in Buffalo. Genius.
To be fair, he didn't prevent the Beatles from playing Buffalo. He didn't pony up the money to promote the show, and neither did anybody else.
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Radiowaves
Guest
Even to not pony up the money….great move
It's easy to risk other peoples' money. At the time it was a possibility, The Beatles hadn't been on Ed Sullivan and the date offered was a Monday night in February. The guarantee was $3500 - about $35,000 today. You have to remember that ticket prices for the first Beatles concert at the Washington Coliseum went for $2-4 bucks. The Aud had a capacity of about 15,000 for a concert at that time, and the promoter had to pay the venue rental, staging, sound, hospitality, labor, insurance, and more. WKBW passed on it, and Neaverth and the jocks would have been on the hook for all the upfront money if they took the deal. Hindsight is 20-20. At the time, the Beatles had a #1 record, but a packed Aud wasn't guaranteed, especially on a Monday night in February. Of course, after that Sunday night on the Sullivan show, things looked a little different.
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Radiowaves
Guest
Nice explanation, makes sense, but fact is, he passed in the Beatles. To me, that’s his legacy.
OK, I guess you'll just ignore everything he did after 1964.
The Beatles also toured America in 1965 and 1966.
No Buffalo show was ever scheduled. Dick Rowe of Decca Records decided not to sign The Beatles to the label. That was an even bigger mistake than some Buffalo radio station not booking an early concert. Sounds like someone has an axe to grind...
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Neaverth has address this Beatles thing at least a few times. He (and Reynolds) didn't "prevent" the Beatles from coming to Buffalo. Any other promoter(s) could have rolled the dice. Jerry Nathan, who produced and promoted jazz shows at the time (and later produced and promoted numerous rock shows with his son and daughter under the Festival banner), as well as a few other promoters, could have rolled the dice, but didn't.
It was Neaverth's and Reynolds' money. Not the station's ... and not any other jocks at KB. Neaverth and Reynolds made a business decision. It would have been a Monday night show. School night. Security costs money. Bad weather could have created havoc.
Neaverth has said a number of times that he didn't make "big money" until he moved to morning drive at KB. He was doing record hops and KB Yo-Yos basketball games, as did many of the other K-Big personalities. He picked up extra money doing the noon weather on Channel 7. When he moved from afternoon to morning drive, the biggest concession granted by CapCities was working a five day week for the first time in his career! He may "still have his confirmation money," but he's proven to be quite generous with his time and talent. He's also said that a substantial portion of his earnings/wealth came from Capital Cities stock which was part of the company's retirement and DRIP plans. He noted that the same applied to Irv, Rick and Tom, Buffalo TV's foremost anchor team in the late 60s and 70s.
It was Neaverth's and Reynolds' money. Not the station's ... and not any other jocks at KB. Neaverth and Reynolds made a business decision. It would have been a Monday night show. School night. Security costs money. Bad weather could have created havoc.
Neaverth has said a number of times that he didn't make "big money" until he moved to morning drive at KB. He was doing record hops and KB Yo-Yos basketball games, as did many of the other K-Big personalities. He picked up extra money doing the noon weather on Channel 7. When he moved from afternoon to morning drive, the biggest concession granted by CapCities was working a five day week for the first time in his career! He may "still have his confirmation money," but he's proven to be quite generous with his time and talent. He's also said that a substantial portion of his earnings/wealth came from Capital Cities stock which was part of the company's retirement and DRIP plans. He noted that the same applied to Irv, Rick and Tom, Buffalo TV's foremost anchor team in the late 60s and 70s.
Neaverth's legacy is all about a Beatles show that didn't happen? I never even heard of it until reading this thread.
His legacy to me (born late '60's) is as the weather man on Channel 7, "moving fanny's in the morning" on KB, and then his extended stint on Oldies 104. His later return to KB in the 2000's when they went oldies for a couple years. I was listening live when he cracked the mic the first day interrupting business news and said "enough of that".
The guy had a wife and young kids - can't blame him a bit for not fronting money to put on a concert. If it was such guaranteed money maker WKBW would have put up the money.
His legacy to me (born late '60's) is as the weather man on Channel 7, "moving fanny's in the morning" on KB, and then his extended stint on Oldies 104. His later return to KB in the 2000's when they went oldies for a couple years. I was listening live when he cracked the mic the first day interrupting business news and said "enough of that".
The guy had a wife and young kids - can't blame him a bit for not fronting money to put on a concert. If it was such guaranteed money maker WKBW would have put up the money.
Danny legacy to me were the halarius crossovers he did with Joey Reynolds around 7pm each night. Funny stuff, some of the bits had to be written, they were just that good. It was usually the topic at lunch in school the next day! It's why I decided on a career in radio.
For a long time the only competition WKBW had was little WNIA. WYSL came later but it was still no match for "The Friendly Giant". So with limited competition the KB Personalities had the freedom to do some funny stuff! Buffalo listeners appreciated "personality radio". That is until attention spans grew shorter and FM came along.
When Napster first came out I found a full length aircheck that covered some of Danny's show and a good bit of Joey's show made in February 1964. I find it just as funny now as I did back then. They are my radio heroes.
For a long time the only competition WKBW had was little WNIA. WYSL came later but it was still no match for "The Friendly Giant". So with limited competition the KB Personalities had the freedom to do some funny stuff! Buffalo listeners appreciated "personality radio". That is until attention spans grew shorter and FM came along.
When Napster first came out I found a full length aircheck that covered some of Danny's show and a good bit of Joey's show made in February 1964. I find it just as funny now as I did back then. They are my radio heroes.
The Danny and Joey crossovers were legacies. He's said that they were mostly ad-lib'd rather than scripted. If anything was written, it was only a phrase or sentence and they worked off of that. The crossovers were listened to by DJs in countless markets throughout the northeast. In many cases, jocks "bicycled" them to other jocks around the country. Don Berns recalled that he used to record them on a small Wollensak reel-to-reel tape deck. And then there were Neaverth's characters: The Engaged Woman, Pierre Puck, The Chief, Mister Moto and Danny's sidekick, Artie. It was the golden age of personality Top 40 radio. Over a long time ago.
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Radiowaves
Guest
There is no doubt that Dan was a good entertainment for listeners at that time ..50 years ago. However, this is 50 years later. He would not last a second with any kind of success in a world with so many audio options. He even came back to KB in the early 2000’s and it did not work. Nobody cared. All of these jocks people mention from 50 years ago were great, but there is no way any of them would survive now. People want younger not older. KISS has a weekly cume of 177k young people. That’s enormous, and that is according to Nielsen ratings
I would quibble with your view that KB’s attempt to resurrect its legendary music format didn’t work. The audience grew into the plus two range when Entercom pulled the plug for progressive talk. At the time (2003-06), there were still enough listeners around who remembered Danny and tuned it. Who knows what would have happened if Entercom had stayed with the format, perhaps adding an FM repeater. WECK is proof that a format of Oldies hosted by legendary jocks can achieve a 3 to 4 share.
Indeed, KISS might have an outstanding cume. But radio is no longer developing the outsized personalities like Danny, Joey, Tommy and a host of others. At least some of us are still talking about Danny. When today‘s young demo grows old, they won’t be remembering today’s DJs. KISS’ midday and evening hosts are voice-tracked from other markets. The same appears to be true at the New 96.1. They’ll be long forgotten. As will music on the radio I presume.
The thing people don't want today is a "friend on the radio". That worked when calling the next town over was $0.30 cents a minute and there was no Internet, no cell phones and no social media. Today, I can talk to my daughter in Ecuador for free, text friends in Europe... for free and even have old-fashioned phone calls across the country for free. Radio "friends" filled a void back then; that space is amply and better filled today.
In spite of all the new technology, many studies have shown that people are lonelier and more disconnected than ever. Many no longer use the phone to "Speak" with someone. Text, Email and Chat functions have replaced actual communication. People actually once wrote meaningful letters and mailed them in the days of Yesteryear.
You inadvertently pointed out that Radio is becoming obsolete. Folks may not want a "Friend on the Radio" or anything else. Of Course, many stations still think "Be The 9th Caller" contests are compelling content...😑
Even 30 years ago, almost no listeners cared about on air contests or station bumper stickers...
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Late at night I'd welcome a "Friend on the Radio" since I'm up late. Video didn't kill the radio star, Radio killed the radio star. 🙁
I heard KB was starting to take audience away from cash cow WBEN. Don't know if that's true but KB didn't have a lot of promotion behind it. Nobody said it would go after KISS but the numbers were better than they are today.
If I owned KB I'd sign it off at midnight to save on the power bill or maybe sign off permanently. Maybe they are sticking around for the 100th anniversary of the station....nah nobody cares, they just don't know what to do with it.
Pretty much. Same with the simulcasting AMs on FMs (not translators but full power FM's) - they didn't know what to do with the FM so let's put WINS, WSB or WBBM on it.
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Radiowaves
Guest
KB is a wasteland. Revenue and ratings. I’m sure the electric bill has been turned down quite a bit.
Audacy is nowhere near its once dominance in rev share or ratings in the market. KSE is FAR OFF where it used to be. BEN is still the biggest money maker in the group, just like YRK is the biggest money maker in that group and WGRF is the money maker in that group.
Revenue share of advertising and in listenership is way down in radio. There is zero demand for commercials
Audacy is nowhere near its once dominance in rev share or ratings in the market. KSE is FAR OFF where it used to be. BEN is still the biggest money maker in the group, just like YRK is the biggest money maker in that group and WGRF is the money maker in that group.
Revenue share of advertising and in listenership is way down in radio. There is zero demand for commercials
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