If the right artist covered this song today, I'd bet it could be a hit again.
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Buffalo 92.9 WBUF Question
- Thread starter Radio-Bored-Op
- Start date
Wrong.
Programming did not fit a certain box defined by each station. If there was a "box" it is defined by listener groups themselves, not by a bunch of people in the conference room.
The music had to appeal to a certain group, what we call the target audience. The programming and song selection is based by finding out what that audience wants and giving it to them.
The style has not changed, and the song still gets airplay. The person who did the 90's cover is the second biggest artist to come out of Colombia after Ms. Mebarak and is still filling 60,000 seat arenas.
Where this thread started was with WBUF and it's playlist. The criticism is it's too broad, thus the bad ratings. So is that a station problem or an audience problem? Who is stuck in a box? Not the station. They're playing everything that rocks. From Queen and Led Zep in the 70s to the more modern stuff from the 2000s. Just like WCHI in Chicago. It's getting passable numbers in Chicago, but not in Buffalo. Beasley faced the same problem with WBOS in Boston. The music was all over the place, and was getting killed by a more focused classic rock station. Just this week, the station gave up on rock and LMA'd the station to Bloomberg for business news. That could be the future of rock radio if the audience only wants a narrow list of songs. For now, Townsquare can afford to have one dog in the cluster. But that may not last.
Whatever research they used to establish the WBUF playlist has failed. Listeners don't want it. Probably because they used data from 25 years ago. "Playing everything that Rocks" is just a trite slogan.
WBUF and WLKK have failed to impact the established stations in any way. There's no demand for more of the same stuff that's been done to death...
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Indeed! I remember a mutual friend brought me to Don Berns’ house in the summer of 1974 between his KB and WPHD gigs. He was testing music segues on his home stereo system in preparation for his debut on WPHD. That inspired me to concentrate on good segues when I returned to my college station that Fall.
1) That's a good, descriptive, well-written analogy. Yet there are those who can appreciate one but not the other and continue to categorize art and artists. Nonetheless, your point is understood. I'm not at all a fan of KISS, yet thought Rock and Roll All Night was an AOR (now Classic Rock) anthem, and thought the uncharacteristic Beth was a good AC fit in its time.
2) My rudimentary high school/college Spanish is weak at best. I understood maybe ten words of the song, but enjoyed it and the video. It's easy to understand how and why the song tested well even in a sedate AC format and remains an identifiable hit. The joyful "call and response" of the song is dynamic. C+R has long been a hook for audiences in songs on the radio and especially in concert.
You said that radio music formats are rigid:
But when presented with a much broader rock format, the audiences don't accept it. My point is: Who is rigid? Who is stuck in a box? Radio or rock audiences. It's obvious it's the latter to the detriment of the music. Because in other genres, the audience prefers a wider musical presentation.
If you look back to the history of the rock format, at one time, they played it all: They played the hair bands, the punk bands, arena rock, power pop like Nick Lowe, and heritage rock like the Rolling Stones all on the same station. All of the artists Tripi listed in his post were, at one time, played on the same station. But now, that melting pot approach is bad, because the audience wants narrow playlists built around their favorite bands. The same thing is happening in Dallas with KEGL. The audience is killing the rock format.
So people are just supposed to like the WBUF playlist because you say it's not rigid? Quite frankly, I think the playlist is wretched. The ratings are terrible, so it's not working. There have been many great records in the past 20 years from newer and heritage Rock artists that NEVER got any Radio airplay.
One size does not fit all. You're trying to defend a format that is not compelling or new in any way. It's just recycling the same titles...
What I'm saying is the rock audience has changed to the point where radio really can't serve them anymore. They used to like a wide range of music, and now they don't. They just want their favorites. So you end up with a safe station like 97Rock that has a heritage morning show, and nothing else matters. The music that made rock radio what it is wasn't the narrow playlist on 97Rock, but that's what the audience wants.
Radio formats aren't personal playlists. I've told you this before. They never have been personal playlists. By definition, a format is about one size fitting all. If that is unacceptable, then the music has no future on the radio. That's what happened in Boston, and sooner or later, that's what will happen in Buffalo. But it's not being caused by radio. It's being driven by the audience. At some point, rock audiences will lose this station, and it's because they didn't listen.
The loss of the current WBUF format won't be a tragedy for anyone. The people that like 97 Rock do not represent everyone. Sure, some folks want hot dogs and hamburgers every day. You're ignoring the fact that many people stopped using Radio because it no longer offers anything THEY want anymore...
That's what they used to say in Boston about WBOS. Then one day they wake up and it's Bloomberg News. Or WAAF, and one day they wake up and it's EMF. So now there are NO rock stations in Boston except the iHeart classic rock station that plays all the old war horses over and over. It's one of the most listened to stations in town, and it drove out all the competition.
I think the smartest thing Townsquare could do is flip WBUF to classic 90s country. Use it as a flanker to WYRK. Hello Bob Barnett! Do what Cumulus is doing in Dallas, Nashville, and Des Moines.
People stopped using radio a long time ago, when their interests changed, and wanted their favorite music without commercials. So that's what they get. The result has been the total stagnation of rock music, because the record labels don't invest in the music, and radio stopped playing it. The labels just throw it out there, and hope people will find it. So you end up with a lot of small bands, driving around in vans, playing music to small audiences five days a week. But that's what the people want. The people get the radio they deserve.
Yes, Yes and Yes!
Phew ... that's a big, precarious roll of the dice, no? Giving listeners of WYRK ... today's hot new country ... a big signal option? Yes, it would be money in a different pocket of the same pair of pants, but still ... what if it draws down WYRK's ranking in, say Adults 25-54 or more likely, Adults 35-64? I'm not contesting your point, simply questioning the benefit of the outcome. Additionally, this is what a few noted posters here have advocated for the Wolf.
I gave references. Look at the numbers for KPLX and KSCS in Dallas. They're both Top 10 stations and Top 5 in the core demos.
Of course that's Dallas. And iHeart has a similar experience in Austin. Yes, those are stations in Texas, not upstate NY.
But it's worth considering. We're at a unique point in country music. I think it would do better than what they're doing with WBUF (which isn't hard to do) and if done right, wouldn't hurt WYRK. Or if it does, so what? As you say, all the money goes in the same pocket. There is no better option for that signal.
Audacy won't go this route with the Wolf. They just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars building a studio in Nashville where they own no stations to do radio shows that focus on current hits. They aren't flipping the Wolf to classic country. They need it to clear national shows in Buffalo.
At this point, how about turning over WBUF to a bunch of young turks who have a programming idea aimed at a younger audience? OK, so Townsquare doesn't get to clear Bad Beer and Fake Wings in the morning, but maybe they get to develop a new radio format. That's pretty much what happened several decades ago when FM was just an afterthought, and a bunch of hippies turned it into AOR and a new music delivery vehicle. Are there any young innovators out there looking for an opportunity to move a successful podcast or online station over to the airwaves? Maybe it's time for radio to innovate, not just do more of the same.
There are lots of people --in still sell-able demos--that are not too fond of "today's country" that are are not listening to WYRK. They are looking for an alternative, so it's either streaming or XM for them if there's no OTA choice. Give them the choice, the ad dollars still go to Townsquare even if WYRK takes a small ratings hit.
You're giving Radio a free pass for their own incompetence. AOR splintered into different versions long ago. Classic Rock, Hits, Active Rock, Alternative and other variations were all types of Rock formats. Radio later started gutting the programming department. Seasoned professionals who could put a quality product on the air were shown the door. It's not just on the record labels.
Listeners will accept commercials IF the content is compelling. Most reasonable people understand the business model needs advertisers. You seem to think that people should support WBUF just because it's on the air. Listeners have the right to ignore something if they don't want it...
They gutted programming after the record labels gutted the promotion departments. No need for local programmers if there aren't any regional label reps anymore. The agenda at the labels is just throw music at the wall and hope it sticks. No real marketing strategy. Just make sure the music is received and everyone is credited for payment.
You have said WBUF got better ratings as Jack. When they dropped Jack, I said at the time that this would be a referendum on local talent. Does it matter? You can see the answer. This station could get better ratings by dropping the morning show and just play music non-stop. That experience can be seen at rock stations around the country.
Compelling content means "the station plays my favorite songs." Listeners will accept one or two commercials max, as long as it isn't a pre-roll or interrupts a song. I see the statistics. If given the option on YouTube, most people skip the pre-roll. Nobody ever says they'll accept commercials if the content is compelling. Tell me the names of all the compelling DJs on Pandora or Spotify. There aren't any.
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The decline of the rock format has been foreshadowed for almost two decades. In the couple years prior to the advent of PPM, rock radio was showing a serious drop in numbers, and rock stations were disappearing. PPM, however, showed some unreported listening from the diary era, or what people have described as "phantom listening," and that helped breathe new life into the format. Total listening to rock formats has, obviously, started going down again. This isn't a new problem; it's an old problem that got a temporary reprieve. While I realize radio has made plenty of mistakes when it comes to programming, and not just since the Telecommunications Act of '96, I can't imagine the seasoned professionals who were let go over the last 20 years wouldn't have found jobs in the industry if they were able to find a formula to make the programming work. Radio may not be victimless, but too many good people were unable to resuscitate the format for it to be solely a radio problem. Audience preferences change. Radio has to adapt, and that often means formats change and/or go away entirely. The AOR's of 30 years ago are almost totally gone (and have been for roughly 20 years), and most of the ones remaining either went active or classic and pretended nothing had changed. That happened because the audience no longer had to listen to music it didn't want to hear to hear its favorites. Classic, active, and progressive rock had their own stations, and the audience, by and large, neither wanted nor needed stations that straddled the three of them.
When people are paying for a service that removes the commercials, what incentive do they have to go back? With SiriusXM, only a couple channels covered any genre. So, when a bad song played on one of the satellite channels, the audience was likely to flip back to terrestrial radio, at least for a little while. Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora offer a theoretically unlimited list of commercial free options. I know. Your answer to my question is going to be that compelling content is the incentive to come back. Problem is, compelling content is everywhere. The paid streaming services offer that, too, and it might even be your favorite local radio show. I do agree with you that listeners have the right to ignore something if they don't want it. That's exactly what's happening with 92.9, and it has happened with popular heritage stations throughout history. The real questions are whether people who are currently paying for streaming services will pay indefinitely, whether the free tier can continue without raising the commercial load, and whether building personal playlists will be too tedious or cumbersome for the younger generation as it ages. The answers to those questions will determine AM and FM radio's future viability. Personally, I like radio because it's easy. Listening to music isn't something I'm willing to work at to enjoy. With radio, I hit a button, and it works. If I hear something I don't like, I hit a different button and get entertainment until I'm tired of it. I have an infinite number of buttons to hit now that almost every major radio station is streaming.
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