Reading the posts about WYSL-AM, WYSL-FM and WKBW, it's hard to imagine the once mighty and proud KB being as low rated as it is today. Even 1400 has a higher 12+ rating. So, when did it all begin to fall apart for KB? It seems there are only two AM stations that have any ratings in Buffalo, WGR and WBEN. Does this indicate AM radio in Buffalo is in its waning days?
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AM Questions
- Thread starter SpareChange
- Start date
KB beginning to fall apart. That can be directly traced to the mid-late 1980s, when Price Communications took control of the station after purchasing it from Capitol Cities(who had to divest of some markets, including Buffalo, after buying ABC). Under Price, KB evolved into a live Oldies format(with syndicated talk at night, Talknet?). When they decided to dump Danny & the rest of the live staff for satellite Oldies(anchored by Jim Zippo in the morning), that ushered KB's entrance into a permanent place in the netherworld of the Buffalo arbitrons.
After satellite oldies failed, I believe they went to the always entertaining All Business format. When the always sensational and titillating talk of Dow Jones averages failed to garner blockbuster numbers, I think they then evolved into a potpourri of syndicated talk fare(weren't they were the first station to run Dr. Laura in Buffalo?). I believe mainstream talk did a little better than All Business talk, but not much better....
In the early-mid 90s, while retaining a talk format, they became the first station in Bufalo to run Howard Stern. During this time, they also hired Shane to do a live mid day talk show and brought back JR Gach(late of WGR), to do an afternoon show from some out of town locale, where he apparently had his main gig on a local station there. Even with Howard, they didn't get much of an audience.
After this, I can't remember what happened or who owned them. I do recall them going satellite Classic Country later in the 90s - weren't there some other formats too? They could have been running simulcasts of a police scanner or the National Weather Service and gotten similiar results.
Of course, Entercom made a valiant attempt at reviving KB about 4 years ago, bringing back Danny and others....sadly, even having Danny back on KB didn't do much for the ratings. And that brings us to where they are today.
It is ironic that 1kw 1400AM gets a larger audience than 50kw KB. I supposed that's because they found a niche audience with urban gold. A small syndicated niche audience is the most anyone who's realistic can hope for nowadays.
For the most part, AM is in it's waning days most everywhere, except maybe on this message board
Is more better
With the advent of sattelite radio, HD Radio, even listening online, the red-headed stepchildren of AM have the same challanges affecting FM.
As one who's had a WJJL paycheck or two bounce, its a struggle to compete and be profitable. It's even more a struggle finding quality people. Most AM's programming can be run off a laptop computer hooked to the board. Many have lamented that these changes removed a 'minor league' place for talent to be developed and moulded/nurtured.
A surprise omission is AM 1230-WECK, who had a home run of both legitamite billing numbers and decent, but not amazing ratings. Now they flip the switch to 'Classic Country' and turn in back for Bisons baseball. I sense a return to something else or the For Sale sign put up on that station.
With the advent of sattelite radio, HD Radio, even listening online, the red-headed stepchildren of AM have the same challanges affecting FM.
As one who's had a WJJL paycheck or two bounce, its a struggle to compete and be profitable. It's even more a struggle finding quality people. Most AM's programming can be run off a laptop computer hooked to the board. Many have lamented that these changes removed a 'minor league' place for talent to be developed and moulded/nurtured.
A surprise omission is AM 1230-WECK, who had a home run of both legitamite billing numbers and decent, but not amazing ratings. Now they flip the switch to 'Classic Country' and turn in back for Bisons baseball. I sense a return to something else or the For Sale sign put up on that station.
KB may have begun falling apart as late as 1978. The exact time and date may not be known and it may not be particularly important. What's more important is the cause of the station's long slide into oblivion.
It's been noted in this thread that Price Communications had a lot to do with the grand lady's demise, but I'd offer that competition had more to do with the erosion of WKBW's listeners. Certainly, Dan Neaverth's move to FM and the change of call letters from WKBW to WWKB didn't help matters.
Still, if you look at what was happening in the mid and late 70's, with increasing competition from WJYE's Beautiful Music format, Q-FM-97's album rock format and Top 40 on WYSL-FM (Y-103) and WPHD, it's clear to see where the listeners went. The answer is FM.
As the 80's progressed, WBUF was an AOR, later morphing into female hits WFXZ and eventually shifting to its most successful phase as WBUF, doing gold-based AC. WHLD-FM became Wizard 98 WZIR and WNYS debuted its CHR format. Along the way, WADV, the unique big-band-jazz station was sold to Stoner Broadcasting and became WYRK, changing format to what has become one of the nation's most listened-to country stations.
WWKB wasn't without competition from strong AM outlets, WGR and WBEN, which fought to stave off their own demise. Eventually, the radio pie was cut up among many parties, many of which were FM's that scored a more equal slice of the big chunk once belonging to KB.
By the time Keymarket-River City-Sinclair got its (their) hands on KB, the damage had been done by Price's management team. Does the name Daryl Gooden ring a bell? He's the GM who signed Stern to a six figure multi-year deal, believing Stern would knock off the FM mainstays and anchor a successful AM talk line-up. Unfortunately, most of the clientele on Sterns show consisted of strip joints, pizza shops, bars and adult book stores, not the kinds of businesses that generate long term, increased cashflow. Successful radio stations require broad-based clientele such as car dealers, banks, supermarkets, home furnishing stores and restaurants.
Keymarket's managers made equally questionable decisions regarding KB's format. Kirby Confer appeared to treat KB whimsically, swing from general talk to sports talk to country (though not necessarily in that order.) Keymarket had WBEN and WMJQ and later signed a deal to buy Rich's AM stations, WGR and WWWS.
The younger guys on our work crews don't spend much time listening to AM. They might check WGR for sports news and Sabres game information from time to time, but for the most part, they listen to a big old yellow DeWalt boom box, tuning in 97 Rock, 97.7 Hits FM, The Edge, Q-107 and sometimes WYRK.
We on this board, tend to romanticize AM largely because we're radio people (or in my case, "ex" radio people) who grew up on the AM band, so we have a special place for it in our hearts.
From my observational experience with listeners of all ages, AM radio use is decreasing and despite our protestations here, will likely fade dramatically in as little as the next five years. It can be argued that WBEN and WGR are "go to" stations in times of need of news, weather and sports information respectively. But it's only a matter of time before those services are properly and consistently provided by forward thinking FM stations, such as the very successful and leading cume getters like Star, WYRK and 97 Rock.
This having been said, I'll continue to DX and check out the AM band, if nothing more than to reminisce, but unlike John and Jane Doe, I'm not your typical radio listener. Chances are, neither are you.
It's been noted in this thread that Price Communications had a lot to do with the grand lady's demise, but I'd offer that competition had more to do with the erosion of WKBW's listeners. Certainly, Dan Neaverth's move to FM and the change of call letters from WKBW to WWKB didn't help matters.
Still, if you look at what was happening in the mid and late 70's, with increasing competition from WJYE's Beautiful Music format, Q-FM-97's album rock format and Top 40 on WYSL-FM (Y-103) and WPHD, it's clear to see where the listeners went. The answer is FM.
As the 80's progressed, WBUF was an AOR, later morphing into female hits WFXZ and eventually shifting to its most successful phase as WBUF, doing gold-based AC. WHLD-FM became Wizard 98 WZIR and WNYS debuted its CHR format. Along the way, WADV, the unique big-band-jazz station was sold to Stoner Broadcasting and became WYRK, changing format to what has become one of the nation's most listened-to country stations.
WWKB wasn't without competition from strong AM outlets, WGR and WBEN, which fought to stave off their own demise. Eventually, the radio pie was cut up among many parties, many of which were FM's that scored a more equal slice of the big chunk once belonging to KB.
By the time Keymarket-River City-Sinclair got its (their) hands on KB, the damage had been done by Price's management team. Does the name Daryl Gooden ring a bell? He's the GM who signed Stern to a six figure multi-year deal, believing Stern would knock off the FM mainstays and anchor a successful AM talk line-up. Unfortunately, most of the clientele on Sterns show consisted of strip joints, pizza shops, bars and adult book stores, not the kinds of businesses that generate long term, increased cashflow. Successful radio stations require broad-based clientele such as car dealers, banks, supermarkets, home furnishing stores and restaurants.
Keymarket's managers made equally questionable decisions regarding KB's format. Kirby Confer appeared to treat KB whimsically, swing from general talk to sports talk to country (though not necessarily in that order.) Keymarket had WBEN and WMJQ and later signed a deal to buy Rich's AM stations, WGR and WWWS.
The younger guys on our work crews don't spend much time listening to AM. They might check WGR for sports news and Sabres game information from time to time, but for the most part, they listen to a big old yellow DeWalt boom box, tuning in 97 Rock, 97.7 Hits FM, The Edge, Q-107 and sometimes WYRK.
We on this board, tend to romanticize AM largely because we're radio people (or in my case, "ex" radio people) who grew up on the AM band, so we have a special place for it in our hearts.
From my observational experience with listeners of all ages, AM radio use is decreasing and despite our protestations here, will likely fade dramatically in as little as the next five years. It can be argued that WBEN and WGR are "go to" stations in times of need of news, weather and sports information respectively. But it's only a matter of time before those services are properly and consistently provided by forward thinking FM stations, such as the very successful and leading cume getters like Star, WYRK and 97 Rock.
This having been said, I'll continue to DX and check out the AM band, if nothing more than to reminisce, but unlike John and Jane Doe, I'm not your typical radio listener. Chances are, neither are you.
Radknowski said:
Interesting summation of radio in the 80's. The only one you forgot was Rock 102 with it's precursor to the Jack format of today. I was involved with KB for a number of years beginning just after it was blown up in 1988 and going through the second coming of Business Talk. Many times we talked at length about what did KB in aside from Price Communications. Rock 102 was one of the stations that just kept coming on while those at KB sat back and let it come on. The attitude at 695 Delaware in the early 80's was "we're KB, they won't beat us with automation." That kind of attitude was the beginning of the end back when it could have been stopped. There were a few lonely voices trying to make some changes but Price threw in the towel just when there was some headway being made. I saw the last decent book KB had from '88 and it didn't have to die when it did.
Nowadays it seems like Entercom takes pride in killing off AM stations. Just look what they did with a successful AM with a great signal (WDAF in Kansas City) that was still playing Country as recently as 2003 and beating it's FM competitor. They moved WDAF to FM (not necessarily a bad move) and flipped the AM to be the second sports station in the market (VERY stupid move). In the last trend both stations were in the tank.
It's not just Buffalo, it's the whole industry. Broadcasters of today just follow the research and don't seem to believe in giving the listener a reason to listen. And slowly but surely they aren't listening.
When you look at other markets KB held on longer than most. FM was a bullet that couldn't be dodged. In Miami WFUN was over by 1975 and WQAM struggled until going changing to country in 1980. FM's Y-100 and WMYQ killed off top 40 on AM years before WQAM changed format.
Add to this the superior signals of most of the FM stations. Even though most are class B I started hearing them around the New York state line on the thruway long before I heard any of the Buffalo AM's.
Add to this the superior signals of most of the FM stations. Even though most are class B I started hearing them around the New York state line on the thruway long before I heard any of the Buffalo AM's.
"Forward thinking?"
Not one of those stations has its own news department. Star gets a pass because it wisely utilizes the services of WBEN, the market's ONLY commercial news station. Seasoned radio pros like Bill Lacy and a few others come close to providing credible information, but as far as I can hear, there's not one credible news person on staff at any of Buffalo commercial FM music boxes. On this 6th anniversary of 9/11 and nearly a year after Buffalo's October surprise snowfall which cut power to thousands of homes and businesses, not one commercial FM station merits a "go to" rating for news and services. That's the cold, hard, factual truth.
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