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Buffalo Sports Rap Radio?

Define "work," I guess?

Detroit is one of the largest Black radio markets in the country and has a full complement of major league sports, including an NBA team with a huge Black following, plus top-tier college sports boasting a massive fan base. Buffalo's Black population is much smaller (both in raw numbers and proportionally) and it's basically the Bills 24/7 and a little Sabres and not much else. So there's that.

The Detroit station appears to be basically a leased-time deal. Audacy gets more $ from leasing out the afterthought 1270 AM signal than it does clearing its own BetQL programming on it. Would they make a similar deal for 1520? I'm sure they would - but who's ready to take the other end of that deal? In Detroit you have hosts who had a following from other stations and think they can take that to 1270. In Buffalo... who?
 
I think it would be far more effective for one of the moribund FMs to think out of the box and seriously program to 12-34. Statistics say that that demographic samples radio but doesn't hang around unless they're listening to music that was created before they were born.

Here's an interesting article on TSL for different demographics that contrasts with the usual reach claims made by Neilsen.

www.nielsen.com

The Record: U.S. audio listening trends powered by Nielsen and Edison Research | Nielsen

The Record from Nielsen delivers a quarterly look at how U.S. audiences spend their time with ad-supported audio media.
www.nielsen.com www.nielsen.com
 
radiofan2023 said:
Other races could listen to it too
Click to expand...
Stations make money based on the demographics it is targeting for ads. If a station is purposely targeting an audience of black men 25-54 they're not going to do it in a market with a small population percentage. Plus add in that its a brokered AM. How would it make money there?

It's why nobody is doing Spanish language programming in Buffalo either.
 
RadioGuy1864 said:
Just do the math. Detroit radio market Black pop 854,300. Buffalo radio market Black population 135,200. So, no.
Click to expand...
A very good point, but also important not to stop there.
I wish I could tell you that a black person in Buffalo NY has greater income than one in Detroit, but I can't.
So there we have it, your good point, and another strong point that just helps your "So no".

Now, if things were very different, and the Black Population of Buffalo were to have a better income than Detroit, this would have been a very interesting discussion, steering things toward the very idea that it is better to have 50 thousand listeners with good income than to have 500 thousand low income listeners.
 
Niche formats of any kind only work if they appeal to people with sufficient means to attract advertisers. WECK is successful because it appeals to an underserved audience that has significant disposable income and advertisers who want that audience.
 
SirRoxalot said:
Niche formats of any kind only work if they appeal to people with sufficient means to attract advertisers. WECK is successful because it appeals to an underserved audience that has significant disposable income and advertisers who want that audience.
Click to expand...

Hmm. So are you saying that radio programs to rich white people, rather than poor black people? I wasn't aware that the income of the listener was the primary target.
 
What about
Rock n' Sports Radio ?
" it's rocking " its sports...
why can't it be both ??

get a great.... okay decent group of guys,
talkin' proud during the nfl season and touchdown on other sports topics...
Take 97 rock's Playlist, sprinkle in wbuf's / 103.3's ( "new" classics ) which actually are oldies by definition, and structure a set schedule..

mojo talk mornings,
pat mcafee mid day,
maybe some music_ until
the nightly riot radio heist,
or the big fight feel playoff Match up....
and overnights / weekends
anything goes
 
WECK also attributes success to the close ties to this community.
The on air staff is someone that may have memorable personal history with EACH listener versus calling ..
WBLK's listed studio line for example and being prompted to leave a voice mail.

WECK _ will not have the same ten song rep simply because a request is a possibility. . . taking me back to the days of why I listened to the radio when I was 14. The only difference is I would often request a song in the rotation and the magician on the airwaves made me feel that "because of me" the song was played

WECK can pull back the curtain and still bottle that lightning.
 
SirRoxalot said:
Niche formats of any kind only work if they appeal to people with sufficient means to attract advertisers. WECK is successful because it appeals to an underserved audience that has significant disposable income and advertisers who want that audience.
Click to expand...
Not every older person has sufficient means. They may like the music, but that does not guarentee a certain type of qualitative. WECK is one of the owners of the upper demos in Buffalo, and ratings in that demo are great for WECK, but does not mean the advertisers want them. It is still a 25-54 game. While WECK is an absolute big player 55+, it is not a player 25-44.
 
I'd like to hear this format before making a pronouncement. That properly noted, if it's what the press release indicates, the format would seem to be tailored to high density urban markets that have, as Fybush noted earlier in this thread, legacy teams and legacy personalities from those teams. NBA, college hoops, baseball and football. And don't discount hockey. That would be Detroy-it (Canadian hockey pronunciation) ... it would also include LA, Philly, NY and Chicago. But the real question is, what distinguishes this format from the already existing, successful sports stations in those markets?
 
Radiowaves said:
Not every older person has sufficient means. They may like the music, but that does not guarentee a certain type of qualitative. WECK is one of the owners of the upper demos in Buffalo, and ratings in that demo are great for WECK, but does not mean the advertisers want them. It is still a 25-54 game. While WECK is an absolute big player 55+, it is not a player 25-44.
Click to expand...
How Americans make and spend their money by age group indicates that income peaks between 45 and 70, and spending peaks between 45 and 70. Even in retirement at 75+, spending is significant because people aren't trying to save for retirement, they're spending down their income and savings.

Here's an interesting series of charts, but it is missing some major age groups. It doesn't show earning and spending for the 34-44 or 55-74 year old age groups. 55-70 are the peak earning years for many people, and a time of transition when people are downsizing and buying a lot of new goods for their empty or new nest. Overall, 55-74 has more income and is spending more money than 25-44.

 
BTW, I'd be willing to bet that WECK is outbilling WBUF, WLKK, and a bunch of other corporate stations. Better yet, the profits are going back into the local economy, not into debt service.
 
SirRoxalot said:
How Americans make and spend their money by age group indicates that income peaks between 45 and 70, and spending peaks between 45 and 70. Even in retirement at 75+, spending is significant because people aren't trying to save for retirement, they're spending down their income and savings.
Click to expand...

The issue isn't whether or not older people spend more money. That's NEVER been the issue in the hundreds of times this has been brought up. The issue is WHAT do they spend it on, and how do the advertisers choose to reach them.

You can see what they buy by watching cable TV channels aiming at that demo. They buy various drugs and medical devices, insurance, bathroom and kitchen remodels, financial planning, and other major expenses. The advertisers of those products need more time to sell those products than typical :30 spots. That's why when they buy radio, they use infomercials. They also feel they need the visual of TV to sell their products. As one marketing exec said to me, ''They can't buy it if they can't see it.'' Customers in that demographic are a much harder sell. They've heard it all before, and they know what they want. They don't want to be SOLD something. The whole process of selling products is harder when dealing with this demographic.

So it takes more time, and more time costs more money. Radio isn't seen as the most efficient way to sell. They prefer TV, print, and direct sales. The environment for the advertising also is important. When advertisers want to reach this demo, they prefer talk programming. That way they can explain their products better, and do it with the detail required. The drugs usually have long legal disclaimers that would take up all of the selling time of a traditional radio spot. So once again, they prefer infomercials, or appearing as a guest on the talk show, so they aren't limited by selling time.

Radio people know and understand all this. We've heard all of the concerns from the advertisers. This is why you hear infomercials, this is why you hear Buddy Shula hosting these infomercials on his station, because that's what it takes to close those sales for his stations. He has to give them more than traditional :30 spots. It helps that he has access to selling TV spots as well. It helps that he owns his own advertising agency that places those spots. Not everyone wants to go through all the crap Buddy goes through to make a sale. Even then, it's not for as much money as it would be if he was trying to reach women in their 30s. So that's why you hear more radio aiming for that demo than for people over 55.
 
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