Alt Buffalo Flips To Country 107.7/104.7 The Wolf

[TheBigA]

It's funny that people are saying if The Wolf can just get to a 2 share, that will be a huge success.

Nobody said "huge success."

 

[Rusty Bridges]

It's funny that people are saying if The Wolf can just get to a 2 share, that will be a huge success. The bar has been lowered considerably. Entercom has also never bothered to change the call letters from WLKK. Those were from The Lake. They have saved a few bucks with 3 format changes since then...

Pulling a 2 share would be a success if all of those two shares came from WYRK, but in all likelihood that won't happen because the Country format (in this market) picks up listeners from Classic Rock, Classic Hits and some AC as well. To be judged a success, the Wolf will need at least a 3 share Persons 12+ and score some AQH Persons in demos that can be packaged with Kiss or Star.

About those WLKK call letters... unless they're part of the station brand, like WYRK, WGR, WBEN or WBFO, they're not important. The Lake only used the calls in the TOH legal ID. In all other breaks the brand was The Lake.

And who knows, the next format down the road could be K107-7 ... or Like107-7 ... only half kidding about that.

 

[tbolt909]

Pulling a 2 share would be a success if all of those two shares came from WYRK, but in all likelihood that won't happen because the Country format (in this market) picks up listeners from Classic Rock, Classic Hits and some AC as well. To be judged a success, the Wolf will need at least a 3 share Persons 12+ and score some AQH Persons in demos that can be packaged with Kiss or Star.

About those WLKK call letters... unless they're part of the station brand, like WYRK, WGR, WBEN or WBFO, they're not important. The Lake only used the calls in the TOH legal ID. In all other breaks the brand was The Lake.

And who knows, the next format down the road could be K107-7 ... or Like107-7 ... only half kidding about that.

Or they could implement RANDOM 107.7.
They could play a Country track followed by ALT, Classic Rock, Classic Hit, AC, etc...
No specific format. Just songs from different genres on random shuffle. Forrest Gump can host mornings. "Never know what you're gonna get"...

 

[MarkW]

It depends. Dallas, Nashville, Indianapolis, and several others were relatively unaffected.

Neither station in Dallas rebranded as "Nash," nor did WFMS. The syndicated evening & overnight shows were cleared in those markets, and that was about it, if I'm not mistaken.

You're spot on regarding KSJO's performance as well as Kicks 101.5.

Getting back to 107.7/104.7, no shame in all with a 2 share if that's what the new format achieves. For that set of signals, a 2 share is respectable.

 

[AceBiscuits]

Are you talking about The Lake or ALT? They are not the same thing.

I forgot a line break so it was unclear. The former part was about the Lake, the latter part was Alt Buffalo. My apologies.

The music mix obviously played a part in the Alt format's demise, but anything that made it special prior to that, such as the local airstaff and the station events had all unceremoniously gone away. It was a shell of what it was.

It's funny that people are saying if The Wolf can just get to a 2 share, that will be a huge success. The bar has been lowered considerably.

I have no doubt Audacy is keenly aware of the fact that going toe to toe with WYRK and the various country stations between Rochester and Buffalo isn't going to be easy, and so a 2 share is enough success for them; the success doesn't have to be huge, either. Whether that's lowering the bar or not, it's better billing than Alt and that's all they care about.

Entercom has also never bothered to change the call letters from WLKK. Those were from The Lake. They have saved a few bucks with 3 format changes since then...

Many radio stations still wear the callsigns of old formats. The few that come to mind are WVKL in Norfolk (from its Oldies format), KBIG Los Angeles, WOCL Orlando (from its days as Cool 105.9), and just down the 90, WDVI in Rochester (from the variety The Drive format). Audacy not bothering to change WLKK's callsign means about nothing.

 

[CTListener]

I forgot a line break so it was unclear. The former part was about the Lake, the latter part was Alt Buffalo. My apologies.

The music mix obviously played a part in the Alt format's demise, but anything that made it special prior to that, such as the local airstaff and the station events had all unceremoniously gone away. It was a shell of what it was.


I have no doubt Audacy is keenly aware of the fact that going toe to toe with WYRK and the various country stations between Rochester and Buffalo isn't going to be easy, and so a 2 share is enough success for them; the success doesn't have to be huge, either. Whether that's lowering the bar or not, it's better billing than Alt and that's all they care about.


Many radio stations still wear the callsigns of old formats. The few that come to mind are WVKL in Norfolk (from its Oldies format), KBIG Los Angeles, WOCL Orlando (from its days as Cool 105.9), and just down the 90, WDVI in Rochester (from the variety The Drive format). Audacy not bothering to change WLKK's callsign means about nothing.

WPOP Hartford CT hasn't had a music format for more than 40 years!

 

[Buddy Shula]

You exaggerate the potential.

The 65 dbu signal is where in diary markets 95% the at-home and at-work occurs. The station only covers the SE third of the Buffalo market MSA with that signal, and very little of the Rochester market.

It gets a little farther in cars, but in the diary markets in-car is still less than half of the AQH listening.

And where there is a better signal in a format, most listeners will not listen to the one that is hard to get or or pops in and out when driving between buildings or under bridges and the like.

This is where doing a more gold based format makes sense; listening to an inferior signal will only occur if there is no alternative. For contemporary country, there is an alternative in both Rochester and Buffalo.

I am not exaggerating the potential. I was on air and sold this signal for 5 years when it was a new country format. Here are the facts.

* ETM should have done this with this signal many many years ago

* ETM should not be replicatIng YRK. They should have gone live, local, with a Gold based country format. Doing what YRK is doing on an inferior signal does not make sense

* As of today, no one I know out of radio even knows the station went country. Zero promotion

* This move to country will be a far bigger billing station for ETM. Local, direct advertisers will buy it , including advertisers in the outlying counties. There is pot of gold for country in those counties

* This new format will not get huge or even mediocre ratings, but who cares, it’s revenue that counts

* At one time, long ago, this signal had a 7.0 share as The Bear, and billed nearly 1 million a year as WNUC, so there is potential

* Nobody in metro Rochester will give a flying Fu%# about this station

* It’s a far better format choice than alternative based on the signal alone, amongst many other reasons

*It will be cheaply run, nothing local, unless they make some good money with it.

In summary….This format and signal will bring in more local direct dollars, have low ratings, and May shave a few bucks from YRK, and fragment the Yrk audience a bit, but not much. It should have been a gold based country station. Hank Jr, Toby Kieth, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Tim McGraw, Judd’s, Randy Travis, Garth, Brooks and Dunn, Merle Haggard ( my personal fav), George Jones, Johnny Cash. Waylon, Willie. They should of named the station “The Farm” There is nothing more country than farmers, with paid named local jocks like Jenny Light, Bud Weiser, John Deere, etc. huge revenue opportunity! If the station , or any others come to sale, I will buy them. Right now, no stations are selling anything. I know why. They are waiting for bankruptcy, I’ll get em then.

 

[TheBigA]

* As of today, no one I know out of radio even knows the station went country. Zero promotion

That's because they're doing the 5000 songs in a row. Not much word of mouth when a station is just a jukebox.

Here's the thing: There are some big concerts coming to Buffalo in the next few months. Luke Bryan is one of the biggest stars in the format. Eric Church is Entertainer of the Year. Both will be in Buffalo. Whatever The Wolf is going to do, they need to be doing it by then. They need to be ON LOCATION at both of those concerts, giving out swag. That's when you let people know who you are and what you're doing. And you better be ready, because there's no opportunity to make a second impression.

 

[DN14224]

Here's the thing: There are some big concerts coming to Buffalo in the next few months. Luke Bryan is one of the biggest stars in the format. Eric Church is Entertainer of the Year. Both will be in Buffalo. Whatever The Wolf is going to do, they need to be doing it by then. They need to be ON LOCATION at both of those concerts, giving out swag. That's when you let people know who you are and what you're doing. And you better be ready, because there's no opportunity to make a second impression.

A copycat format, on a non-city-grade signal, run by a company who’s now gutting its CHR stations to cut costs.

They’re ready, alright.

 

[TheBigA]

A copycat format, on a non-city-grade signal, run by a company who’s gutting its CHR stations to cut costs.

It's not really a copycat format. This station will be different, even if it plays some of the same songs and only runs out of town hosts.

As I've pointed out, there are places not much different than Buffalo that have multiple country stations, some on weak signals. The country audience is WAY more loyal to the format than the alternative audience.

 

[davideduardo]

In summary….This format and signal will bring in more local direct dollars, have low ratings, and May shave a few bucks from YRK, and fragment the Yrk audience a bit, but not much.

Exactly.

If they can get good local direct sellers, they can make money. And the station can be packaged better in the cluster than the alternative format could.

A station does not have to be in the top 5 or 10 in the ratings to be profitable. Ratings are a sales tool, just as service, good copywriting and production, and results are.

 

[davideduardo]

A copycat format, on a non-city-grade signal, run by a company who’s now gutting its CHR stations to cut costs.

It's city grade for over a half-million people. It's just that some of that is not in the Buffalo metro.

There are car dealers that advertise on suburban stations, for example, to get more rural buyers to come for "better" prices. There are lots of opportunities for direct sellers.

 

[TheBigA]

There are car dealers that advertise on suburban stations, for example, to get more rural buyers to come for "better" prices. There are lots of opportunities for direct sellers.

And big concert venues. Darien Lake, where Luke Bryan and Zac Brown will be playing, is right the core of the station signal.

 

[CTListener]

In summary….This format and signal will bring in more local direct dollars, have low ratings, and May shave a few bucks from YRK, and fragment the Yrk audience a bit, but not much. It should have been a gold based country station. Hank Jr, Toby Kieth, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Tim McGraw, Judd’s, Randy Travis, Garth, Brooks and Dunn, Merle Haggard ( my personal fav), George Jones, Johnny Cash. Waylon, Willie.

All of the names you mention except for Haggard, Jones, Cash, Nelson and Jennings are played as gold on many contemporary country stations. I assume that if WNUC is attacking WYRK by playing more hot young country, then WYRK is already playing tracks like "Check Yes or No" and "Friends in Low Places" once or twice an hour. That's fine for a country station in 2021. All gold won't work because people in their 40s and 50s were still listening to country radio in the '80s and well into the '90s. Those people are no longer valuable to advertisers, as they're now in the 60s and older. If country music had had significant youth appeal in those years -- especially pre-Garth -- then classic country would be a much more viable format in the 2020s.

 

[TheBigA]

I assume that if WNUC is attacking WYRK by playing more hot young country, then WYRK is already playing tracks like "Check Yes or No" and "Friends in Low Places" once or twice an hour.

Comparing playlists at Mediabase, The Wolf is playing more new country than WYRK. It's a wider range of songs outside of the Top 30. And they're playing new country more often. However, things may change when they get into their regular format.

Audacy does a Sunday morning Gold show from WNSH. I'd post a link so you could sample it, but Audacy has been very bad about promoting its feature programming online. So there is no website for the show and its not even listed on station websites.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

There's a truckload of interesting points in this thread, specifically about billing vs. ratings; new music vs. gold; live 'n local and concert promotion.

Last to first: WYRK is going to own concert promotion. The cluster has a solid reputation for getting the job done, has great adaptive capability and knows how to work street presence on behalf of clients and listeners. That said, The Wolf better have a seasoned street team ready to roll before the concert season shifts into high gear.

Radio people have a tendency to pooh-pooh jukeboxes. I'm not dismissing the posts that criticize jukebox radio, but will note that 107.7 is personalizing it's new music intros with front sells and artist IDs (the usual stuff) and it's produced well. So to that extent, it's not just a station on shuffle or life support.

The Wolf imaging and station production is aggressive, utilizing a male voice in contrast to WYRK's female station voice. OTOH, WYRK personalities are steeped in Country and are utilizing their localism and awareness to connect and interact with listeners and reinforce the Country connection.

The Wolf has completed it's 5 thousand song introductory promotion and now plays commercials. Both stations are promoting music intensive sets, The Wolf using "60 in a row" (meaning 60 minutes in a row) which is intentionally misleading. (Typical radio mindset, "If we can make 'em think we're playing 60 songs in a row, we'll score big.") Listeners aren't stupid, they know they're not getting 60 songs in a row. WYRK is doing "12 songs in a row" and being straightforward with the positioning statement.

As to music, The Wolf is using the tactic of attacking WYRK's strong point "New Country" position. Much as I personally like Country hits from the 90s, 80s and 70s (anybody for Roy Acuff, Loretta and Moe Bandy?), doing Classic Country would not fit Audacy's immediate strategy as it relates to complementing their cluster's sales positions. And if ... if ... the Wolf fails to connect with New Country, which is exactly what WNUC did back in the day as "New Country 107.7," some sort of re-current/classic country is always an option. But for right now, it's balls out (football axiom), programming new country up against the legacy WYRK.

 

[TheBigA]

Radio people have a tendency to pooh-pooh jukeboxes.

I figured someone would bring that up, and my point was its hard to create word of mouth with just a bunch of songs. Not much to talk about. However, given the amount of unfamiliar music they're playing, it's good they're at least announcing what they're playing. The record labels actually distribute artist liners that do that if the station prefers that approach. But the liners allows the station to pound people with the brand. Same with imaging. Of course Audacy has centralized that as well, so you're probably hearing imaging from NYC.

WYRK is going to own concert promotion. The cluster has a solid reputation for getting the job done, has great adaptive capability and knows how to work street presence on behalf of clients and listeners. That said, The Wolf better have a seasoned street team ready to roll before the concert season shifts into high gear.

It's not in the best interest of record labels or concert promoters to lock out a company like Audacy from a venue. So they will have the opportunity to have a presence. How they use that opportunity is up to them. WYRK may have heritage, but they won't have an exclusive any more. Music is not exclusive to anyone.

 

[tbolt909]

Exactly.

If they can get good local direct sellers, they can make money. And the station can be packaged better in the cluster than the alternative format could.

A station does not have to be in the top 5 or 10 in the ratings to be profitable. Ratings are a sales tool, just as service, good copywriting and production, and results are.

Many people were saying that Alternative was great for NTR and was a better fit with KISS and STAR. They even shared a few song titles.

The Wolf will have little to no impact. WYRK will be the better value for advertisers. Those direct sellers you mention better have a great pitch to sell this fertilizer. The Wolf will do no better than ALT and quite possibly worse...

 

[TheBigA]

Many people were saying that Alternative was great for NTR and was a better fit with KISS and STAR.

Things are great right up until the moment they aren't. You have to be open to change, because radio formats are subject to many changing circumstances, from personal taste to the whim of an advertiser.

I'm sure Mike Kaplan fought against this change, and asked for 6 more months. But the country folks prevailed, and that's why things changed.

 

[Buddy Shula]

Folks, I sold this frequency and format the last time it was country. It was never intended to beat YRK, which I was on air for ten years. Direct billing was the key, and we had a lot of it

‘The Wolf will do ok in billing, if it has enough direct sellers that understand country listeners and advertisers. Audacy has a few veterans who sold YRK. That’s a good start.

this station will do great in outer counties. In some cases, it’s the only station they can get.

Buffalo was not asking for another country station that plays essentially the Yrk playlist with an inferior signal. The mistake with the new format is it is not Gold based. There is no definable difference for listeners.

it’s a revenue play. Those who cannot afford Yrk, will buy this station. Plus, ETM will be able to combo it with other stations.

the 2 top revenue formats on radio are news talk and country. Now ETM has both. Nothing wrong with that. It just took them a long long time to realize such a simple solution