Alt Buffalo Flips To Country 107.7/104.7 The Wolf

[MarkW]

Not sure what that has to do with Boston.

We're talking Buffalo here (you're obsessed with Boston for some unknown reason), and I was to trying to compare similar examples across the country to what Audacy is now attempting in Buffalo with 107.7/104.7.

You also can't generalize on the ratings performances of the Cumulus country stations. Some of them were very successful. The Nash brand was not. Their national morning show was terrible.

I was speaking specifically about the Nash-branded stations and stated as much. The initial national morning show with Blair Garner was indeed awful; no argument here. I was stunned by how terrible that show sounded, frankly.

Ty, Kelly and Chuck weren't horrible, but nowhere nearly good enough to persuade listeners to tune away from local morning shows on competing Country stations.

That's not what the people on the Boston board say.

WBWL will never have a good signal in a place such as Worcester or in the southern reaches of the market where New Bedford, MA-based WCTK pulls in formidable shares.

If the station's transmitter were atop the Prudential Building, and if it were a full Class B, the numbers would certainly be better. However, even with its current setup, the station's performance is on par with or just below several larger signaled stations in the market.

I am hard pressed to think of a different format that would earn better ratings & revenue on that signal.

The station was not a strong performer when it was a rock station, and it's about the same for country.

Compared to the final decade as WFNX, the ratings with Country have been much better. WFNX generally hovered around a 1 share in Ages 12+ (diary) or 6+ (PPM).

 

[bobgoodbob]

I wonder if the Airstaff is going to be announced soon. Probably going to have Audacy's national Country Airstaff with a local morning show.

 

[CTListener]

WBWL will never have a good signal in a place such as Worcester or in the southern reaches of the market where New Bedford, MA-based WCTK pulls in formidable shares.

If the station's transmitter were atop the Prudential Building, and if it were a full Class B, the numbers would certainly be better. However, even with its current setup, the station's performance is on par with or just below several larger signaled stations in the market.

Have you ever been to Boston's suburbs, specifically its southern ones? I have, many times, having grown up there and gone back to visit family regularly until last year. 101.7 loses a lot of its punch on the car radio well before you get into the New Bedford area. Try Norwood. Try Dedham. Try Stoughton and Sharon and Canton. Now imagine all those people hearing a diminished Bull in their cars trying to listen to it at home or in the office.

There's not a whole lot of difference in the music being played on WBWL and WKLB these days. Used to be 'KLB skewed older and The Bull younger, but a quick playlist check this morning shows both stations very much in current mode and both are on pretty much the same current songs, guitar-driven stompers like "Minimum Wage" and acoustic ballads like "Country Again." Even the gold on both looks similar -- heavy on uptempo tracks by George Strait, Alan Jackson and Tim McGraw and maybe a few others, light on ballads. So what could account for the gap in audience being as large as it is besides signal?

I think there's no doubt that Bull would be doing better with the improvements you suggested, but that's beyond iHeart's control. For now, it's just chipping away at 'KLB, in listeners and ad dollars, in the northern suburbs. So long as it does so, as you say, there's really no reason for iHeart to consider putting anything else on the frequency.

 

[TheBigA]

We're talking Buffalo here (you're obsessed with Boston for some unknown reason

Context: I was asked by another poster to give an example where there are two country stations, and one on a less than full signal. Boston came to mind. Please read the context.

Ty, Kelly and Chuck weren't horrible, but nowhere nearly good enough to persuade listeners to tune away from local morning shows on competing Country stations.

Nash was for the most part a rebrand, not a format flip. Two different things. Most of these stations had been country before the rebrand, so listeners weren't being persuaded to tune away.

WBWL will never have a good signal in a place such as Worcester or in the southern reaches of the market where New Bedford, MA-based WCTK pulls in formidable shares.

Yes I know, that's why I compared it to WLKK. You were the one who said it was a "rock solid" signal. It's not.

 

[four4rock]

FWIW, I listened to this new station a moderate amount over the past three days. I realize that they are apparently not into their SOP. But, it did - and I expect will for the foreseeable future - draw me away from WYRK maybe, say, 50% of the time. I found no real faults with signal. And, to my ear, the quality of the audio was marginally better than WYRK. The only negative (to me) was that the audio's EQ seemed a bit low-end heavy... but, yes, I know that's kindof an "in" thing.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

The only negative (to me) was that the audio's EQ seemed a bit low-end heavy... but, yes, I know that's kindof an "in" thing.

Interesting that you mention ↑ this. It also appeared to me that the audio processing is "thicker." Could be the low end that you mentioned. Maybe it's that Country songs are processed and mastered thicker than the Alt product... or it might be the Audacy engineers turned the processing up to "11."

 

[SirRoxalot]

Maybe they'll add some 77-WABC reverb next.

 

[ckg279]

FTR, Star 102.5 is doing some cross-promotion for The Wolf on its station...they're in the same cluster, so it's not a surprise; they've done promos for WGR, Kiss and Alt Buffalo in the past.

 

[tbolt909]

FTR, Star 102.5 is doing some cross-promotion for The Wolf on its station...they're in the same cluster, so it's not a surprise; they've done promos for WGR, Kiss and Alt Buffalo in the past.

And the reverse will be true. The Wolf be used to promote the other stations events. Advertisers will get free spots on 107.7 as "added value". It'll be a 1 share Radio station just like the last time Country was on this signal. That was the late 1990s when there was no Spotify, YouTube, Alexa, etc...

 

[TheBigA]

It'll be a 1 share Radio station just like the last time Country was on this signal.

Actually WNUC was a 2 share station. Buddy says they got over 100K cume.

 

[davideduardo]

...or it might be the Audacy engineers turned the processing up to "11."

Ah, somebody who remembers "Spinal Tap".

 

[Lake Country Radio]

It would appear to me that some of the bloggers who are predicting the success of this new format may be insiders at Audacy trying to do some PR work.
If applying the Acid Test to this scenario, there is no historical or empirical evidence to support this new format being a success. It sounds like the premise is just because there is a McDonald's doesn't mean a Burger King next door won't work. There isn't any proof to substantiate such a claim other then just making predictions that shoot from the hip. Similar to the analogy of because I bet $500 on Black in a game of Roulette doesn't mean it's going to hit. WBEN had over a 9 share when it simulcasted on WLKK.... still couldn't produce a 1 share. Since we live in a world that invokes countless conspiracy theories... let's here some real firsthand knowledge how anybody knows it will produce greater than or equal to a two share...

Your thoughts...

 

[TheBigA]

If applying the Acid Test to this scenario, there is no historical or empirical evidence to support this new format being a success.

The best way to find out is put it on the air and let the audience react. That's what's happening. You want "empirical evidence?" No problem. Wait a year we'll talk then.

To be a success, all they have to do is beat what they have now. I think they can do that without spending more money. That's my opinion.

But we have historical evidence presented by a man who worked at WNUC when it was country. He says it was a success then, and thinks it can be a success again.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Historically Country has had a 10+ share in the Buffalo market. Country has evolved over time into a mature format that has multiple sub-genres, similar to what has happened in the rock world. We have a bunch of rock stations in town that make pretty good money by serving different genres. We have one country station in town that makes very good money. The theory is that a second country station can carve out a chunk of audience and make more money than another rock station serving some small subset of the rock audience. Since 107.7 has a translator that WNUC didn't, and since country is more fragmented as a format than it was in the '90s, it seems reasonable that 107.7 might do better than WNUC did a couple of decades ago.

Audacy is apparently betting on it. Or maybe they have other reasons to jump on the country format. The old Lake and the Alt format certainly weren't making them any money as a radio format.

 

[Lake Country Radio]

The small and independently owned suburban country stations in Wyoming, Allegany and Cattaraugus already have the geographical stronghold of country music listeners. They're not going to deviate to listen to the same format on a different signal. Forget about everything outside of Erie and Niagara Co. where the signal is much weaker compared to WYRK anyways. Besides this forum, there has been ZERO enthusiasm about this station from people I've talked to.

 

[TheBigA]

Besides this forum, there has been ZERO enthusiasm about this station from people I've talked to.

You come here demanding empirical evidence, and then you deliver anecdotal information? Wow. Who cares?

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Maybe, but it's getting great ratings at WYRK.



What would you suggest?

Face it, if I were dumb enough to mention a format, you'd certainly shoot it down and you might even be justified. I don't live there, even though I do know the area it's been a long time. My idea would be to research the station's coverage area, see what is missing and find out what people are looking for. Go to local businesses and see what kind of a station they would support. After all if you're building from the ground up forget national agency buys right? Sell local, I know it won't be easy.

I'm not saying Country was a bad choice, but it's been done. Given it's in a more rural area a more classic country might work better after all we don't want the cows to get too upset do we? We are talking about the famous "Milk for Health on the Niagara Frontier".

 

[Mike Sheridan]

The small and independently owned suburban country stations in Wyoming, Allegany and Cattaraugus already have the geographical stronghold of country music listeners. They're not going to deviate to listen to the same format on a different signal. Forget about everything outside of Erie and Niagara Co. where the signal is much weaker compared to WYRK anyways. Besides this forum, there has been ZERO enthusiasm about this station from people I've talked to.

Yes, I would agree most will stick with their local community station with the same format. I'd bet some never move the tuning knob! The only station my uncle ever listened to was WBTA Batavia.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm not saying Country was a bad choice, but it's been done.

So for that reason, you want to ignore history? When 107.7 wasn't owned by a big company, when it wasn't part of a cluster, when it was owned by John Casciani, what format did he choose? Even at a time when there were four other country stations in the area. If Buddy Shula was able to buy the station from Audacy, with his own personal money, what format did he say he would put on it?

Dropping alternative was not an easy decision. I bet there were arguments about it. People in other cities are wondering if this is a weakening of Audacy's support of the alternative format. So in order to make this choice, someone had to do some market research. Otherwise they would have stuck with alternative.

 

[AceBiscuits]

Besides this forum, there has been ZERO enthusiasm about this station from people I've talked to.

I can't imagine that most people would be enthusiastic about a station that's been around for less than a week, and has no airstaff or anything to differentiate it from WYRK, CJ Country, etc.

Rather than let your own bias get in the way, give it a few months to see how things shake out rather than call it an abject failure from the gate.