Buffalo October Book

[SirRoxalot]

The October numbers are out on Nielsen. Here's the Top 10:

Station	Format	AUG	SEP	OCT
WYRK-FM	Country	8.5	9.0	9.2
WBLK-FM	Urban Contemporary	9.7	8.0	9.0
WGRF-FM	Classic Rock	8.4	9.0	8.5
WBEN-AM	News/Talk	7.4	7.8	6.7
WHTT-FM	Classic Hits	6.5	6.8	6.7
WKSE-FM	CHR	5.8	5.5	5.8
WGR-AM	Sports	4.4	4.9	5.2
WTSS-FM	Adult Contemporary	3.3	3.6	4.3
WEDG-FM	Rock	4.7	4.0	4.0
WBFO-FM	News/Talk	3.0	2.5	2.9

WYRK has had a long recovery. Last October they were in the 7s. The September book looks like it had some outliers. WBLK is back up, and 97-Rock is back down. Both are closer to their historic averages.

WECK numbers aren't available. It looks like Buddy made good on his promise to drop Nielsen ratings. Too bad. He had a killer book last month. We'll never know if it was a fluke, or a trend.

You can get all the Buffalo numbers here:

https://ratings.****************/content/arb037

 

[TheBigA]

More news at WYRK: The departure of a morning show co-host:

Kadie Daye Departs WYRK’s Clay & Company

After three years as part of the "Clay & Company" morning show on Townsquare Media Country 106.5 WYRK Buffalo NY,

radioinsight.com

 

[tbolt909]

More news at WYRK: The departure of a morning show co-host:

The story says she was part of "Budget Cuts". Looks like even the #1 rated station in town couldn't afford to pay her minimum wage. Another company (Iheart) has been doing their seasonal "pruning" of bodies in other markets...

 

[davideduardo]

The story says she was part of "Budget Cuts". Looks like even the #1 rated station in town couldn't afford to pay her minimum wage. Another company (Iheart) has been doing their seasonal "pruning" of bodies in other markets...

Again, your unfounded negative comments on everything continue.

Nobody was earing minimum wage at that station. Radio revenues are way off in Q3 and cuts are being made nearly everywhere. Eliminating the third person in a morning show is a logical reduction.

Every broadcaster, from tiny markets like Jamestown and Olean to majors like LA is seeing reductions in talent, office staff and even engineering.

With the political money gone, and everything indicating a weak Christmas and Holiday season (Walmart imports from China are down over 60% based on a number-of-containers count) this is going to be a bad end of the year for most.

 

[radiofan2023]

Why don’t you link the RadioInsight Buffalo/Niagara Falls ratings page, rather than one that gets x’d out?

Buffalo/Niagara Falls

Nielsen Audio Monthly Ratings Buffalo/Niagara Falls (Market #59) Population: 1,011,800 Hispanic Population: 57,100 - Black Population: 133,100 Average Quarter Hour

radioinsight.com

 

[tbolt909]

How will Radio survive if Walmart Imports from China are down 60 percent? Where will people get all their cheap crap? Guess they will keep on ordering from Amazon.

Radio has been downsizing staff for decades. It never mattered if revenue was good or bad. Sure, the body count is higher when things get lean. However, no thriving business can cut their way to prosperity. We've seen numerous bankruptcies, mergers, synergies, and other measures that haven't been effective...

 

[xmtrland]

Walmart is not a big radio advertiser, so they should have little effect on Radio. Amazon sells alot of Chinese products too and also does very little radio advertising.

 

[Radio-Bored-Op]

The October numbers are out on Nielsen. Here's the Top 10:

Station	Format	AUG	SEP	OCT
WYRK-FM	Country	8.5	9.0	9.2
WBLK-FM	Urban Contemporary	9.7	8.0	9.0
WGRF-FM	Classic Rock	8.4	9.0	8.5
WBEN-AM	News/Talk	7.4	7.8	6.7
WHTT-FM	Classic Hits	6.5	6.8	6.7
WKSE-FM	CHR	5.8	5.5	5.8
WGR-AM	Sports	4.4	4.9	5.2
WTSS-FM	Adult Contemporary	3.3	3.6	4.3
WEDG-FM	Rock	4.7	4.0	4.0
WBFO-FM	News/Talk	3.0	2.5	2.9

WYRK has had a long recovery. Last October they were in the 7s. The September book looks like it had some outliers. WBLK is back up, and 97-Rock is back down. Both are closer to their historic averages.

WECK numbers aren't available. It looks like Buddy made good on his promise to drop Nielsen ratings. Too bad. He had a killer book last month. We'll never know if it was a fluke, or a trend.

You can get all the Buffalo numbers here:

https://ratings.****************/content/arb037

WBUF ratings are lower than 2. ?

 

[davideduardo]

How will Radio survive if Walmart Imports from China are down 60 percent? Where will people get all their cheap crap? Guess they will keep on ordering from Amazon.

Walmart is not a big radio advertiser, so they should have little effect on Radio. Amazon sells alot of Chinese products too and also does very little radio advertising.

I used Walmart's data as an example of how the retail economy is very soft. Yes, Walmart does not use local radio but that is not my point; with a bad retail projection for the holiday season, local retailers that do use radio are also cutting back on inventory and plans for promotions.

If radio revenue falls even more, many stations will not be profitable. Some will even turn in their license, others will sell and others will cut expenses.

 

[davideduardo]

Radio has been downsizing staff for decades. It never mattered if revenue was good or bad. Sure, the body count is higher when things get lean. However, no thriving business can cut their way to prosperity. We've seen numerous bankruptcies, mergers, synergies, and other measures that haven't been effective...

Ever since the FCC allowed transmitters to be remote controlled, the industry has cut staff. When music radio surged in the 50's, stations had the jock run his own board. No board ops except in some few union shops. Then technology like cart machines cut production staff needs. Automation in the 60's reduced staff. The change in operator requirements in the 70's cut more staff. Syndicated formats in the 70's cut staff needs. Satellite formats did even more, as did more advanced automation. Satellite distribution and then the Internet allowed stations and networks to distribute programming at a low cost, reducing local staff.

Automated traffic and billing apps appeared in the 70's and gradually reduced the need for "back office" staff. Transmitters can be left with no maintenance for months and months on end. Stations share playlists, most dayparts can be voicetracked. On air automation gets better and better.

So radio has reduced staff because technology has made many positions obsolete. Don't confuse this with the retail economy, which currently is causing even further reductions in station staffs and expenses.

 

[TheBigA]

Ever since the FCC allowed transmitters to be remote controlled, the industry has cut staff.

It goes back way before that. When radio started using DJs playing recorded music, they no longer needed to pay local musicians or the engineering staff or the crowd management staff. Remember that stations like WLW and others had venues where they dealt with live audiences who watched radio shows. Those people all got fired as radio became more oriented around recorded music. When live radio drama went away, that meant another staff of actors, sound effects people, and other residual staff got fired.

 

[SirRoxalot]

WBUF ratings are lower than 2. ?

They went up to get to a 1.9. I don't believe they've cracked a 2.0 share with the current format.

 

[davideduardo]

It goes back way before that. When radio started using DJs playing recorded music, they no longer needed to pay local musicians or the engineering staff or the crowd management staff. Remember that stations like WLW and others had venues where they dealt with live audiences who watched radio shows. Those people all got fired as radio became more oriented around recorded music. When live radio drama went away, that meant another staff of actors, sound effects people, and other residual staff got fired.

You bring up the sidebar issue of the musician's union under Petrillo which required stations in markets as small as Chattanooga to have a "station orchestra" or band in proportion to the amount of recorded music they played. But as Petrillo's influence dwindled (and as people wanted to hear the original versions of hit songs) the door was opened to stations like those of Storz and McLendon that played music all day from records with a single host who ran the board, too.

I have technical maintenance logs of WOR in New York from years just after WW II. They had over 60 engineers just to run the studios and to operate the big 50 kw directional antenna system. Just doing weekly transmitter maintenance could required four to six engineers!

Many stations, not just the "biggies" like WWVA, WSM and KWKH had "barn dance" shows with a weekly parade of live artists and comedians who were presented in station auditoriums or theaters. Even the two AMs in Shenandoah, Iowa, had live shows and their own facilities that each held nearly 1,000 people.

Some of the staff was needed for those live events, and that need declined as shows like that declined in popularity with the exception of the Opry. But that was a change dictated by listener tastes.

Technology caused the largest reductions in staff sizing, starting with more reliable equipment and the FCC's acceptance of remote control operations of transmitters and the cessation of the requirements for 1st Class Radiotelephone license holders to be on duty. Then, innovations like cart machines, computers, satellite and Internet program distribution and solid state modular transmitters made it possible to run a station with very few employees.

 

[TheBigA]

Technology caused the largest reductions in staff sizing, starting with more reliable equipment and the FCC's acceptance of remote control operations of transmitters and the cessation of the requirements for 1st Class Radiotelephone license holders to be on duty. Then, innovations like cart machines, computers, satellite and Internet program distribution and solid state modular transmitters made it possible to run a station with very few employees.

Stations used to have receptionists who sat in the lobby, answered the phones, and performed other similar tasks. If someone wanted to see the public file, she'd show it to them. Some stations had multiple receptionists and secretaries for their department heads. Just about all are gone.

 

[davideduardo]

Stations used to have receptionists who sat in the lobby, answered the phones, and performed other similar tasks. If someone wanted to see the public file, she'd show it to them. Some stations had multiple receptionists and secretaries for their department heads. Just about all are gone.

Office staff has seen a huge decline. Accounting is very computerized with expenses being registered and paid electronically and revenue no longer the manual job of billing and then getting checks that had to be deposited. Many station groups have centralized A/R and Payables and only need a few people for a dozen stations or more. Some have traffic centralized, too, with sellers putting in orders electronically for the GSM to approve and then logs being generated and fed directly to automation.

Even sales functions like copywriting can be done online and approval from a client obtained instantly. Sales departments don't need "sales assistants" and presentations can be assembled online and sent directly to clients.

Promotions like "remotes" are no longer of interest to clients, so a promotion staff is either not needed or much smaller and often part of a station's online efforts.

 

[tbolt909]

I used Walmart's data as an example of how the retail economy is very soft. Yes, Walmart does not use local radio but that is not my point; with a bad retail projection for the holiday season, local retailers that do use radio are also cutting back on inventory and plans for promotions.

If radio revenue falls even more, many stations will not be profitable. Some will even turn in their license, others will sell and others will cut expenses.

Capitalism. Supply and demand. Restaurants that cannot find customers close. Walmart helped put many local retailers out of business. The Gordon Gekko character said "Greed is Good". How did it all go sour for Radio...?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Capitalism. Supply and demand. Restaurants that cannot find customers close. Walmart helped put many local retailers out of business. The Gordon Gekko character said "Greed is Good". How did it all go sour for Radio...?

Well, most of the big corporations certainly have "McDonaldized" radio. Unfortunately, a lot of listeners are tired of the same old menu with no local flavor. The most successful stations seem to have added their own menu items and spices. Unfortunately, those cooks are being replaced by robots who don't understand nuance or taste.

 

[tbolt909]

Well, most of the big corporations certainly have "McDonaldized" radio. Unfortunately, a lot of listeners are tired of the same old menu with no local flavor. The most successful stations seem to have added their own menu items and spices. Unfortunately, those cooks are being replaced by robots who don't understand nuance or taste.

David and others will tell you people love McDonald's. Every city in America has Walmart, Starbucks, Burger King, etc... They will say the homogenized programming is fine. Just keep playing Free Bird.

People who want unique local offerings have to seek it out depending on the locale. The problem for Radio is that even stations with decent ratings are struggling to find advertisers. That's a separate issue...