Anyone I know who has been there recently, talks of how decimated the newsroom is and how bare-bones everything else is.
Much closer to 2013 than you are apparently aware.
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Bellavia's New Show on WBEN
- Thread starter benson8620
- Start date
Anyone I know who has been there recently, talks of how decimated the newsroom is and how bare-bones everything else is.
Much closer to 2013 than you are apparently aware.
Compared to everyone else, they have full local staffs. They carry minimal syndication, and just dropped a syndicated show to hire Bellavia. Now they're replacing him with repeats, not syndication. So no, I'm not kidding.
If they carried nothing but Bauerle reruns all day long instead of any syndication, would that still count as "full staff"?
They're live and local 11 hours a day M-F. "TheBigA" considers that overstaffed for the old line one-in-a-market news/talk station station in Buffalo.
No. That's not what they do. They run less syndication on WBEN than any other similar-sized AM.
I don't think I said it was "overstaffed." This is not just in Buffalo. This is how Entercom works around the country. With revenues down 4%, can they keep operating this way?
The implication of saying "they run less syndication" is that they instead run live and local in it's place, which is not true.
You might want to check to see how Buffalo is doing revenue-wise compared to other Entercom markets. They happen to be one of Entercom's most lucrative markets. I know that TheBigA doesn't believe that there's any relationship between quality, local hosts, and revenue, but...
I understand that. That's why I asked if running local repeats at 10 is preferable to live syndication. Which would you prefer, recognizing that live & local is impractical at 10PM?
But something has changed. Entercom's overall revenues are now down 4%. We don't know the specifics in Buffalo. How do they respond? Can't continue status quo when revenues drop. And what we've seen in radio is that revenues have dropped regardless of quality and local staffing. What do you do when that happens?
I do know specifics about Buffalo. Perhaps they need to look at why Buffalo is more successful than some other markets, and see they should be emulating what they're doing in Buffalo in some other markets.
You always talk about how Buffalo is unique, and if that's true, that may not be possible.
And you're always saying Buffalo's not unique, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to try.
What do you do? You invest more in HD and the website.
HD Radio is a waste, and everyone knows it. Most other major owners have invested more in other digital than Entercom. So they're leaving some money on the table.
But how would YOU solve the problem?
How do you know they haven't?
One thing I know is that Entercom has a pretty consistent policy around the country for live and local staffing. They're very different from Cumulus and Clear Channel. And apparently it hasn't helped their revenues.
You mean the radio-is-dead-or-dying-in-the-eyes-of-young-people problem?
That problem is now unsolvable.
There was always a continuum in radio listening from generation to generation. New technology and radio's inability to adapt to what younger people want, has put both music and talk radio into an irreversible death spiral. It's slow, but steady.
The time to act was 15 years ago.
What are you talking about? Re-read what I said before you put words in my mouth.
Don't drink the Entercom Buffalo "is so much better" Kool-Aid. CEO extraordinaire Field always calls out the over performing markets during his earnings calls. The last two have not mentioned Buffalo. There is a world outside of Buffalo guys...not everything is the best here. Try traveling some time.
Easy peasy, superweezy.
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