There’s some kind of rebranding effort happening at Buffalo Toronto Public Media. They’re really trying to push that name and essentially do away with the familiar call letters WBFO and WNED on the TV side. I recently noticed they changed their social media handles from @wbfo and @wned to @btpmnpr and @btpmpbs. Now I’m hearing Jay Moran identify the station as “Buffalo Toronto Public Media NPR” instead of WBFO during Morning Edition. I imagine other hosts and reporters will be told to do the same. It sounds awkward and clunky. The marketing people over there who are pushing this change are making a mistake IMO. People like their familiar brands. No one is going to start calling those stations by those names.
-
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 BTPM is trying to erase its familiar brands
- Thread starter Newsradioguy
- Start date
Gee, it's almost like they're trying to disassociate the stations with the US by de-emphasizing the American call letters and emphasizing their Toronto service. Since Numeris has decided not to publish even top-line ratings for Canada we don't really know how BTPM does with their Canadian audiences. Really, ratings don't matter, cash coming in from north of the border does. They're certainly including Canadian content in both radio and TV programming and soliciting dollars from the GTA and the Golden Horseshoe. My guess is that they're trying to disassociate themselves from certain political elements in the US, including those trying to cut any public funding for public broadcasting.
Rebranding is a part of public broadcasting (and obviously for commercial radio too) as technology continues to evolve. Michigan’s public radio system used to be known as “Michigan Radio.” Now it’s known as “Michigan Public.” I thought that moniker was clunky at first. But after a couple of years, it’s accepted. The same will happen here in Buffalo.
Because of TV, what had been known as Western New York Public Broadcasting rebranded as Buffalo Toronto Public Media while I was still working there in the late teens. There are more members of the TV station from Ontario than the US. The organization has an office in Toronto. The new branding represents that reality.
That said, one can question whether the two radio stations have an impact in Southern Ontario. Both signals extend into Canada. At one time 35 years ago, I was able to pick up WBFO outside of Toronto. Since then, new radio stations at the lower end of the FM dial in Canada have blocked WBFO’s signal. On my last trip to Canada, WBFO’s signal began fading past St. Catharines. The coverage map for WNED-FM appears to be similar. Strong near the border, but fringe as you go further north. Of course, listeners to the stations’ mobile apps in Toronto have no issues “picking up the signal.”
One of the issues for those of us working at WBFO was how much Canadian news to include in our newscasts. Since the vast majority of the station’s listeners live in the US, airing too much Canadian news would be a turn off. Who really cares what Ontario’s government is doing? Yet, WBFO’s Toronto correspondent Dan Karpenchuk usually airs stories that even American listeners find interesting.
I’m less certain about WNED-FM’s Canadian listenership. CBC Music at 94.1FM has drastically scaled back its classical offerings, perhaps opening the door for WNED to capture that audience.
Now, to get back to the main topic of this thread. Both WBFO and WNED are legendary call letters in this market. It’s sad to see them de-emphasized. Still, listeners are likely to refer to those stations by the call letters. There are TV viewers who still refer to “Channel 17,” even though it’s been 20 years if not more since that was part of the TV logo.
I was glad to hear Jay Moran say the words “Buffalo Toronto Public Media” this morning. That needs to be ingrained in the listeners. Referring to WBFO as “BTPM NPR” at this time is alphabet soup. Meaningless! It’ll take some time for listeners to associate those letters with the actual corporate name.
Ironically, the only time WBFO shied away from its call letters was in the early 1980s when the station was branded as “FM88.” I say ironically because the GM who made that change, Bob Sikorski, died on Saturday. He was GM from 1980 to 1986. Bob’s tenure was transformative. The station’s power was increased. The transmitter and antenna were moved from UB’s Main Street campus to the North Campus. Bob streamlined the format, transitioning WBFO from an educational station with hourly block programs to the early days of the NPR station we know today. Plus, Bob hired me! After Bob left in 1986, the WBFO call letters returned. Bob went on to found and run the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service. A stellar career! May he rest in peace.
Because of TV, what had been known as Western New York Public Broadcasting rebranded as Buffalo Toronto Public Media while I was still working there in the late teens. There are more members of the TV station from Ontario than the US. The organization has an office in Toronto. The new branding represents that reality.
That said, one can question whether the two radio stations have an impact in Southern Ontario. Both signals extend into Canada. At one time 35 years ago, I was able to pick up WBFO outside of Toronto. Since then, new radio stations at the lower end of the FM dial in Canada have blocked WBFO’s signal. On my last trip to Canada, WBFO’s signal began fading past St. Catharines. The coverage map for WNED-FM appears to be similar. Strong near the border, but fringe as you go further north. Of course, listeners to the stations’ mobile apps in Toronto have no issues “picking up the signal.”
One of the issues for those of us working at WBFO was how much Canadian news to include in our newscasts. Since the vast majority of the station’s listeners live in the US, airing too much Canadian news would be a turn off. Who really cares what Ontario’s government is doing? Yet, WBFO’s Toronto correspondent Dan Karpenchuk usually airs stories that even American listeners find interesting.
I’m less certain about WNED-FM’s Canadian listenership. CBC Music at 94.1FM has drastically scaled back its classical offerings, perhaps opening the door for WNED to capture that audience.
Now, to get back to the main topic of this thread. Both WBFO and WNED are legendary call letters in this market. It’s sad to see them de-emphasized. Still, listeners are likely to refer to those stations by the call letters. There are TV viewers who still refer to “Channel 17,” even though it’s been 20 years if not more since that was part of the TV logo.
I was glad to hear Jay Moran say the words “Buffalo Toronto Public Media” this morning. That needs to be ingrained in the listeners. Referring to WBFO as “BTPM NPR” at this time is alphabet soup. Meaningless! It’ll take some time for listeners to associate those letters with the actual corporate name.
Ironically, the only time WBFO shied away from its call letters was in the early 1980s when the station was branded as “FM88.” I say ironically because the GM who made that change, Bob Sikorski, died on Saturday. He was GM from 1980 to 1986. Bob’s tenure was transformative. The station’s power was increased. The transmitter and antenna were moved from UB’s Main Street campus to the North Campus. Bob streamlined the format, transitioning WBFO from an educational station with hourly block programs to the early days of the NPR station we know today. Plus, Bob hired me! After Bob left in 1986, the WBFO call letters returned. Bob went on to found and run the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service. A stellar career! May he rest in peace.
I would expect that everyone who listens to WBFO knows that are an NPR affiliate. They also probably understand that BTPM is a regional group with the TV department. At least the company recognizes Canada as a sovereign nation.
It's similar to ABC and ESPN being intertwined. I doubt they will abandon the call letters, so it's only significant to Radio purists. The listeners won't care. The title of this thread is misleading. They aren't erasing familiar brands...
It's similar to ABC and ESPN being intertwined. I doubt they will abandon the call letters, so it's only significant to Radio purists. The listeners won't care. The title of this thread is misleading. They aren't erasing familiar brands...
NBC hasn’t rebranded as Peacock TV. ABC isn’t Disney TV. CBS isn’t Paramount TV. All of Google’s products haven’t been renamed Alphabet. Et cetera. You can have a parent company and still retain the familiar, identifiable, individual brand names people are accustomed to. I do think listeners will care. WBFO has been WBFO for 50+ years. People build attachments to what they’re used to. The new name is a mouthful that just doesn’t roll off the tongue.
It truly doesn’t matter what they call themselves as long as people donate.
The on air content is much more important than the call letters. The people who listen and/or support the station aren't likely to go away over something minor. If they become dissatisfied, it won't be over a name change.
There are probably people in Buffalo who still think JOY is a current name for a defunct format...
Good example. The same thing is happening with WGBH in Boston, dropping the "W" from the call letters and just saying "GBH." In Los Angeles, KPCC has rebranded under the name of their co-owned print/web name of LAist. So I agree that this is a rebranding that is happening to public broadcasting all over the country.
On the commercial side, there's a thread about AM stations that no longer use the AM dial location. WSB Atlanta is one example. WBBM Chicago is another. My take is that with the traditional radio device becoming less available, the branding is more for use either on smart speakers or the internet app. We now have a generation that was raised with the internet, and their media usage is different. This is also affecting TV usage, where people might use web applications on their smart TVs so they can stream channels that way rather than with cable subscriptions.
America is now just a tiny bit less than 50% non-Hispanic White. It was 80% 45 years ago in 1980.
The name "LAist" is very, very white in touch-and-feel. I would be willing to bet that the people who adopted this loved the name of the similarly named entity in the East and are predominantly better educated white people or are culturally totally assimilated into that culture.
- Status