• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Buffalo 94.5 The Source comes to Buffalo

On Wednesday, the station held a State of the Station discussion that covered a lot of the topics in that story. They said that there still are a lot of holes in the schedule, which was why they couldn't release the entire schedule. But basically it sounds like all the local news & information will be on The Source. Calderone talked about high school sports on The Source. The CBC will be on The Source. Here's a link to a YouTube of that discussion:

 
Tom and his staff are pros. I like the name, and I like this direction. Local. I think Canadian listenership will be a big part of this, but I certainly like the content they are talking about. Local sports is a no-brainer. Local news from both sides of the aisle is smart.

I do want to prefence that I had this exact idea for WUSW, but you need a huge staff and resources to do this right. BPTM has a massive state of the art building, they can afford focus groups for everything, they have financial support from many different areas. This is not most broadcast companies could do, correctly, so this would be tough for even publicly traded companies, let alone, independent broadcasters. Plus, it does not hurt to have TV stations, Radio Stations, mammoth signals, etc. So, the money helps! However, it does need someone to tie the whole thing together, and that’s where Tom and his staff come in. It’s a good vision

This is absolutely a threat to WBEN, that is not credible at all. Everything, including ratings are collapsing at WBEN, and the college -like sound is killing its long departed trusted programming. I can’t wait to see this station eat WBEN for lunch, after what they did to me when they found out about The Patriot. I’ll just say , Anti-Trust exists. Of course, I would never say I’ve experienced it, but I will say it exists.

So, the major question in all of this, is what should we do with WUSW 1270AM, 95.1FM, and 93.3FM. Has a Viking music format ever been done?
 
I don't know. This station will need compelling, talented hosts to pull this off or it will sound like community radio. Will Martha of the community garden club have a show on gardening every Thursday at 1pm?

I also don't know about a format that has block programming. Tune in now and get a news show, tune in later and get a talk show, tune in after that and get, what, an Adult Album Alternative show? And unlike most commercial talk stations that rely on some nationally syndicated shows, there's no such offering for this format. They've got to do it all on their own.

What about all the Buffalo and Ontario fans of Fresh Air, 1A, Here & Now and Science Friday, along with the NPR weekend shows? Other than "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered" and "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me," the other public radio programs will be gone. 88.7 WBFO will become full time Classical with only those three NPR shows to interrupt the music.
 
Gregg. said:
What about all the Buffalo and Ontario fans of Fresh Air, 1A, Here & Now and Science Friday
Click to expand...

Science Friday is a WNYC show, and Calderone said it would be on The Source. Along with some other WNYC shows and the CBC.

My take is this will not be a traditional commercial station. I think it will just be a way to give their existing funders more detailed promotion than is currently allowed by the non-com rules. Don't expect them to carry any traditional commercial syndicated talk.
 
TheBigA said:
Science Friday is a WNYC show, and Calderone said it would be on The Source. Along with some other WNYC shows and the CBC.

My take is this will not be a traditional commercial station. I think it will just be a way to give their existing funders more detailed promotion than is currently allowed by the non-com rules. Don't expect them to carry any traditional commercial syndicated talk.
Click to expand...

That's what it appears to be, according to station management. A little more flexibility in advertising, but still a similar approach. In other words, no Top Dog Law ads.

Obviously, there won't be any NPR-distributed programming, since the station has a commercial license. Those shows are remaining on the other (non-com) signal. But there are plenty of shows not distributed through NPR that could work on The Source.
 
TheBigA said:
Science Friday is a WNYC show, and Calderone said it would be on The Source. Along with some other WNYC shows and the CBC.

My take is this will not be a traditional commercial station. I think it will just be a way to give their existing funders more detailed promotion than is currently allowed by the non-com rules. Don't expect them to carry any traditional commercial syndicated talk.
Click to expand...

Also, from an earlier posting (when the changes were originally announced), WBFO/WNED's owners indicated that WBFO's HD2 channel will become an all-news format with most of the NPR programming that was on WBFO-FM migrating there. The big question in my mind, though, is whether WBFO-FM can maintain the same amount of fundraising by going mostly classical. Keep in mind that while some classical stations, particularly in Phoenix, AZ and Los Angeles, CA, have seen some major growth in the ratings over the past few ratings periods, most of the support for public radio has come from its news-based programming.
 
ted chittenden said:
The big question in my mind, though, is whether WBFO-FM can maintain the same amount of fundraising by going mostly classical.
Click to expand...

Some time ago, they combined the memberships so people aren't just part of one station, but the group. In this case, the two FMs are combined with a TV. My understanding is that most of the fundraising comes from the TV. My sense is the reason they kept the classical is because the members wanted it.
 
TheBigA said:
Science Friday is a WNYC show, and Calderone said it would be on The Source. Along with some other WNYC shows and the CBC.

My take is this will not be a traditional commercial station. I think it will just be a way to give their existing funders more detailed promotion than is currently allowed by the non-com rules. Don't expect them to carry any traditional commercial syndicated talk.
Click to expand...
Well then, this has me asking the question, which shows that are popular on NPR-affiliated stations can air on The Source? Has WNED-FM figured out what's in and what's not?

"Science Friday" works because it's not from NPR, it's from WNYC New York? Would "Fresh Air" work because it's from WHYY Philadelphia? "1A" is from WAMU Washington and "Here & Now" is from WBUR Boston. Even though all those stations are NPR members and are non-commercial themselves? Those producers are OK with WNED-FM pluging in actual commercials during the breaks? When you come down to it, only a few shows like "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" are purely NPR offerings. Outside of drive time, most things we hear on our local NPR affiliate are produced by a member station.

I can remember when CFRA Ottawa once ran "Car Talk" on Sundays. 580 CFRA is a commercial talk station in Canada's capital city. But that is another country. I don't think Car Talk, from WBUR, ever aired in the U.S. on a commercial station, even though I'm sure it was popular enough to go into commercial syndication.
 
Gregg. said:
"Science Friday" works because it's not from NPR, it's from WNYC New York? Would "Fresh Air" work because it's from WHYY Philadelphia? "1A" is from WAMU Washington and "Here & Now" is from WBUR Boston. Even though all those stations are NPR members and are non-commercial themselves?
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter if it comes from a member station. What matters is who distributes it. If NPR is involved, they don't want their shows on a commercial station. Fresh Air, 1A, and Here & Now are all distributed by NPR. If those shows move to another distributor, perhaps they might be OK. American Public Media and PRX are different distributors. WNYC Studios is its own distributor, not associated with NPR.

Keep in mind this issue exists because the FCC is investigating the funding of public broadcasting. The chairman claims that some of the funding announcements are in fact commercials. So NPR wants to avoid having it's programming involved.
 
Let me add in my two cents:

1. I know of at least one other station in this state(WXXY-FM in Houghton, NY) that airs classical music with the exception of the 3 NPR shows already mentioned.
2. To Buddy's point: Yes, Canadian listeners will probably got for this in a major way, but it should be added that they also have the CBC on 99.1. And yes, WBEN should be absolutely TERRIFIED about going up against a more normal news/talk format.
3. As for a new format for Buddy's other stations: Maybe yacht rock?
 
Gregg. said:
I can remember when CFRA Ottawa once ran "Car Talk" on Sundays. 580 CFRA is a commercial talk station in Canada's capital city. But that is another country. I don't think Car Talk, from WBUR, ever aired in the U.S. on a commercial station, even though I'm sure it was popular enough to go into commercial syndication.
Click to expand...

In the reverse, KSKO airs a commercial car and truck repair show.. "The Car Doctor With Ron ananian" when i was there, i worked a deal with the host, who owns the show, to air it.. i just get the segments via dropbox, strip out the commercials and run it
 
It's a great idea BTPM is informing the public about their plans for the stations/formats. It shows they have respect for their supporters/listeners. Yes WBEN should be very worried for all the reasons others have listed. It's apparent a lot of thought went into this plan.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
It's a great idea BTPM is informing the public about their plans for the stations/formats. It shows they have respect for their supporters/listeners. Yes WBEN should be very worried for all the reasons others have listed. It's apparent a lot of thought went into this plan.
Click to expand...
And it is likely that when it debuts, 94.5 will go on my car radio presets. WBFO is likely to exit.
 
ckg279 said:
And it is likely that when it debuts, 94.5 will go on my car radio presets. WBFO is likely to exit.
Click to expand...
I believe WBFO will carry Morning Edition and All Things Considered. With 105,000 watts from the mountain top does 94.5 have the stronger signal in Buffalo / Toronto? I know that's not always true. When Ilast lived in Buffalo it was an AM only market for the most part = prehistoric times when Rod Roddy was still in town!
 
Mike Sheridan said:
I believe WBFO will carry Morning Edition and All Things Considered. With 105,000 watts from the mountain top does 94.5 have the stronger signal in Buffalo / Toronto? I know that's not always true. When Ilast lived in Buffalo it was an AM only market for the most part = prehistoric times when Rod Roddy was still in town!
Click to expand...
True. And if memory serves, WBFO's HD2 signal will have all of the NPR shows currently on as they'll switch to a news format. (What that does to The Bridge, I don't know...or, for that matter, what happens to the HD3 Radio Bilingue format.)

Also, WNED dropped its power to 90+Kw.
 
brian marchand said:
WBFO 88.7 HD2 will be all-classical not news.

current.org

BTPM unveils dual-format NPR-classical lineup alongside new commercial station

The commercial station will present a primarily news-based format that features some nationally distributed shows but not NPR's newsmagazines.
current.org current.org

"BTPM will still offer a full-time classical format on an HD2 simulcast on 88.7, an online stream and an FM station in Jamestown."
Click to expand...

Assuming this is correct (I keep getting a 503 database error when I try to read the article) and WBFO does not plan to have an HD3 channel, I guess that outside of "Morning Edition,", "All Things Considered," and "Wait Wait, Don't Tell me,", some major news and information programming distributed by NPR will not be heard in the Buffalo area.

One other question I do have. Will the fulltime simulcasters of WBFO in Jamestown and Olean continue to provide the all news service that was provided by WBFO-FM. I ask that question because Jamestown specifically has a second station that was simulcasting WNED but that is now, according to the previous post, going to remain classical full time while WNED goes commercial community news/talk (minus NPR).
 
ted chittenden said:
One other question I do have. Will the fulltime simulcasters of WBFO in Jamestown and Olean continue to provide the all news service that was provided by WBFO-FM.
Click to expand...

From the original reporting in February:

A 24/7 NPR feed will be available on an HD subchannel as well as continue to be heard on 88.1 WUBJ Jamestown and 91.3 WOLN Olean NY. A 24/7 Classical service will continue on HD as well as 89.7 WNJA Jamestown.
Click to expand...
 


Back
Top Bottom