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Buffalo & Rochester June books

C

ckg279

As always, 12+ only. Due credit to AllAccess.com and **************** .

Top 5 in each market only to start, further observations when I get to them....or when others do.

That said...

BUFFALO

1. WYRK/106.5 9.2(down .4)
2. WBLK/93.7 7.9(up .4)
3. WGRF/96.9 7.8(up .3)
4. WBEN/930 6.7(down 1.0)
5. WHTT/104.1 6.0(up .7)

ROCHESTER

1. WHAM/1180 7.8(down .3)
2. WBEE/92.5 7.2(up 1.1)
3. WDKX/103.9 6.3(down .4)
4. WCMF/96.5 4.9(down .3)
5. WPXY/97.9 4.2(up .4)
 
You can get the full Buffalo 12+ here:

https://ratings.****************/content/arb037

The full Rochester 12+ is here:

https://ratings.****************/content/arb079

Minor Buffalo changes of note:

WGR-AM is down 2 full shares since March. The opening of Bills training camp can't come soon enough for them.

WLKK's country format is up a full share since March to a 2.3. That's the best number they've seen in a long time.

WBFO-HD2 "The Bridge" is steady at a 0.1. I'd guess that the majority of that is from streaming.
 
IF WLKK stays with Country they just might do something but they will have to be in it for the long haul and promote aggressively to let people know they are there.

Nice to see WEBR make the list. Look at the station that's dead last with a .1. I wonder if that betting network pays the station to carry it?
 
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I remember the great Jackson Armstrong, during one of his breaks decades ago, encouraging other stations to save money and turn off the power to their transmitters because everyone was listening to KB. Now Audacy should heed that advice when it comes to KB. What a terrible waste of a powerful signal! A pox on Audacy for refusing to sell the frequency to someone who could actually do something with it, just to protect their other more profitable outlets from any further competition. When promoting “The Bet,” Audacy doesn’t even mention KB. The promos push potential listeners to listen to sports betting content on the Audacy app. Just so sad!
 
TheBigA said:
They have a group deal with Audacy. It's not a single station deal.
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No doubt since it's also running on legacy stations WJZ Baltimore, WJFK Washington and WXYT Detroit.

At one time the FCC did not look favorably on stations that encouraged any type of gambling. I read that in the history of WDAE Tampa where there was a station in the market that was not considered for a TV station license based on the fact they routinely gave sports tips. Now I guess the FCC doesn't care. By the way WXYT has a .2 and WJZ-AM doesn't show. So probably not a big success.

Do something with KB or sell it to someone who will. It is a waste of a good signal.
 
TheBigA said:
That was before a number of states legalized it. This station is serving a good purpose for its owners, and keeping the lights on to satisfy the FCC. No need to sell. If someone bought it, they would likely compete against WBEN, which would not be good for Entercom.
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You mean Audacy. The history of 1520 AM is meaningless. The signal is now worthless. No reason to sell it because nobody would pay much for it. Entercom dropped their Oldies format over a decade ago because it was taking away some old demos from WBEN. They no longer need to worry about another AM competitor. Those days are over and WBEN will continue to fade anyway...
 
TheBigA said:
That was before a number of states legalized it. This station is serving a good purpose for its owners, and keeping the lights on to satisfy the FCC. No need to sell. If someone bought it, they would likely compete against WBEN, which would not be good for Entercom.
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This type of thinking doesn't serve the public. In a few years AM will be gone anyway. The AM side of my car radio sounds like crap. One day car makers will stop including AM in their radios. Will anyone under 70 notice?
 
There's already talk of no AM/FM in cars. Why? There's an app for that. Broadcasters would love do away with towers and transmitters. Many have already sold the towers and the land attached to big tower companies who want the sites for distribution of cellular services. The push for ubiquitous 5G with minimal delay, which is required for autonomous cars to work correctly, is being funded by billions from the government and billions more in tax breaks for the big telecoms.

Will radio as we know it survive? It depends on if you're a soulless jukebox or if you actually have content that adds value to listeners lives. We already see what iHeart, Audacy, and to a somewhat lesser extent Cumulus are doing. Townsquare has a different approach because they're mostly in smaller markets and they are often the only media in town. With regional news departments and shared sales forces they're becoming local aggregators online and OTA in areas where cell coverage stinks.

Smart speakers already impact listening in 24% of US homes. If they're able to successfully reassure people that they're not collecting data all the time that percentage will grow. It's likely to grow anyway because a lot of Gen-X, Gen-Y, and Gen-Z people don't care about privacy. Their lives are lived online anyway.
 
TheBigA said:
The "soulless jukebox" may be exactly what some people want. In Buffalo, Jack got better ratings than a station with live hosts. So just giving people "value" doesn't mean they will listen.
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"Soulless Jukeboxes" is what some people want. I listen to country music on Sirius, because I want to hear nothing but songs. The DJ's actually ruin my experience if it happens to be a day that I only want music.

However, radio does need to do something to stand out. If they become "souless" they will not be able to compete with other music platforms.

If it's Apples to Apples, the other platforms will win!
* No commercials
*No signal deficiencies
* No interruptions in music
* No waiting for your favorite songs
* No waiting for content YOU prefer

There was a time, you had no choice but radio. You do now!

I was recently looking at diary comments for all stations in Buffalo, and I lost count of how many of them said that they also like Pandora, Sirius, Apple Music. They like them for the exact reasons I just mentioned.

Radio has no other choice than to be local....or it will be the same as these other platforms. That being said, the local content has to be VERY relevant, not just people blabbering. Thank goodness for people like myself and other local owners, whose competition are companies who do not give a damn about local, listeners, ratings, or radio. They simply don't. All they care about is how to increase quarterly net profit for their stockholders. It's complete smoke and mirrors.

Do you really think that people go to Taste of Country because YRK is there? If YRK had zero to do with it, the event itself would still be packed.

Garth Brooks played to 70K people at the stadium. There was no presenting station, there was barely any advertising, if any at all. It had 70K people because the word got around, and the PR was there. Those people could give a flying F*** who presented it. YRK, WOLF, Apple Music, Pandora......it could of been presented from Willy Wonka and still get 70K. The only thing they cared about was Garth. Infact, radio hardly plays Garth music unless it is 80's and 90's centric, which none of the country radio stations are.

So we get back to radio. NO joke here, country music is my biggest love, but I have not turned on a country station in Buffalo for about 10 years. I listen to all the Sirius channels or play my Alexa playlist.

The point I am trying to make is that radio is becoming less and less relevant, especially when it comes to the large companies. Have you looked at Audacy's financials lately? They are operating at a -17% net margin. Which means they are not profiting a penny, they are operating on life support. They are taking money from any LOC they have available. Borrowed money, not earned. The company is not profiting 1 cent. But they will say "Our digital dept is crushing it", which is probably true. THAT is where they make money, otherwise they would be at a -40% net profit margin. Everyone's paycheck is borrowed money. Soon, they will be delisted. Picture yourself being a stockholder and seeing that the company has gone to 66 cents a share. BY the way, I had a ton of Entercom stocked and cashed in at 66 DOLLARS a share 15 years ago. The blocks are starting to fall. Shareholders are bailing so they can at least grab their 66 cents. If you don't believe me, just look up their stock and their financials. It's all right there.

There will be a few stations standing in the market. I can tell you, BIG WECK will be one of them. Not gloating, but we are debt-free and relevant local, plus we have a total metro signal(s)

In conclusion, the "Jukeboxes" will not survive, unless they proudly admit they are "Jukeboxes". There is simply too much competition from other bigger Jukeboxes...like Sirius, Alexa, and on and on.
 
Buddy Shula said:
Do you really think that people go to Taste of Country because YRK is there? If YRK had zero to do with it, the event itself would still be packed.
Click to expand...

The main visitors to Taste of Country (the website) live in places where Townsquare doesn't own stations. So no, I don't think YRK drives large numbers of people to TOC. WYRK promotes TOC with the nightly syndicated show, that also gives that show a major market clear on a station that is a chart reporter, and therefore gets the company access to big stars for whatever they want. One hand washes the other. Brand integration. They try it in other formats, but nothing is as successful as country.

The Taste Of Country concert provides content for the Taste of Country website. Billy Dukes and the other Nashville based writers attend the festival and do backstage video interviews for the website. But WYRK is also there, creating content for their station. This assists them in outreach to their local audience, and assists in promoting their relationships with the big stars. The website and the syndicated night show do ticket giveaways and sponsored hotel travel packages that advertise cross-platform. iHeart does the same thing with its iHeart festivals. These kinds of things give them access to some advertisers who might not normally do business with traditional radio.

Buddy Shula said:
So we get back to radio. NO joke here, country music is my biggest love, but I have not turned on a country station in Buffalo for about 10 years. I listen to all the Sirius channels or play my Alexa playlist.
Click to expand...

A lot of country fans don't have your income. They need something that's free. So for them, the answer is FM radio. If you travel as much as I do, and scan the radio dial, quite often the only live & local stations you'll find are either country or urban. There are very few country jukeboxes. For the most part, they're all filled with personalities. Those personalities compete for ACM & CMA awards. The YRK folks have won several times.
 
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Buddy Shula said:
"Soulless Jukeboxes" is what some people want. I listen to country music on Sirius, because I want to hear nothing but songs. The DJ's actually ruin my experience if it happens to be a day that I only want music.
Click to expand...
I have two of the XM/Sirius country channels as presets. When they have chatty hosts on either, I switch to the other. I'm not there for companionship.

In many cases, radio's one-time strength of being a friend has disappeared due to new media. The less one uses Facebook, the less they Tweet, the fewer 60" TicTok skits they watch the more likely it is that they will like a traditional personality station.
Buddy Shula said:
There was a time, you had no choice but radio. You do now!
Click to expand...
Exactly my point. Why would a jock be your "friend on the radio" (there was even a jingle package with that theme) when your real friends are a click away?
Buddy Shula said:
Radio has no other choice than to be local....or it will be the same as these other platforms.
Click to expand...
Or uniquely entertaining. If you are Bobby Bones, Charlemagne, Seacrest or others like them, your content brings listeners. And then they don't have to be local... but they have to have unique or exclusive content.
Buddy Shula said:
That being said, the local content has to be VERY relevant, not just people blabbering. Thank goodness for people like myself and other local owners, whose competition are companies who do not give a damn about local, listeners, ratings, or radio. They simply don't. All they care about is how to increase quarterly net profit for their stockholders. It's complete smoke and mirrors.
Click to expand...
And boring.
Buddy Shula said:
...it could of been presented from Willy Wonka and still get 70K.
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I love that statement. Radio has to be special or it loses to better content no matter where it is from.
Buddy Shula said:
So we get back to radio. NO joke here, country music is my biggest love, but I have not turned on a country station in Buffalo for about 10 years. I listen to all the Sirius channels or play my Alexa playlist.
Click to expand...
I have two local country stations, neither of which I have heard for years. It is satellite or my own playlist going from "Quittin' Time" to FGL.
Buddy Shula said:
The point I am trying to make is that radio is becoming less and less relevant, especially when it comes to the large companies.
Click to expand...
The biggest objection is huge commercial loads. When we made FM "work" we did it in part by limiting commercials. My first FM did one 20" spot every 10 minutes, with 3-song sets. Two total minutes an hour. In a market with zero FMs when we went on to being #2 in upper income (the only demo that mattered) in three years proved to me that commercial time had to be limited... we went from zero to more homes with FM than homes with TV in that period.

I later never did more than four two-minute breaks an hour and always won. But that was pre-internet and I think that even 8 minutes an hour today is too much. 4 to 6 minutes is the limit for radio to compete with streams that have no ads at all.
Buddy Shula said:
In conclusion, the "Jukeboxes" will not survive, unless they proudly admit they are "Jukeboxes". There is simply too much competition from other bigger Jukeboxes...like Sirius, Alexa, and on and on.
Click to expand...
Only "jukeboxes" that do more than use automatic scheduling with no massaging and sequence optimizing will survive. If my playlists flows and feels better than someone else's computer shuffling I will win. Otherwise, I have no magnet to bring people back.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Or uniquely entertaining. If you are Bobby Bones, Charlemagne, Seacrest or others like them, your content brings listeners. And then they don't have to be local... but they have to have unique or exclusive content.
Click to expand...

Don't forget one of the most popular morning men in Buffalo: Steve Harvey. Uniquely entertaining.
 
The DJ’s you mentioned are all syndicated. That is what you are saying is unique content. I agree.

So does the local thing really matter? The content from what you are saying, certainly does matter. But it is interesting you did not name a major personality that is local.

The same could be said for Stern. He’s one of the reasons I have satellite.

So we get back to the question. Does local content even matter?
 
This is a an interesting thread that has me reflecting on my own radio usage. My fascination with radio started in 1965 when my parents gave me my own transistor radio. I grew up first as a Top 40 listener of KB and WYSL. Then, I found a home with album rock stations like WPHD and 97 Rock. But that was a long time ago. I drifted away from commercial music stations over the past 25 years. That’s not to say I don’t tune in 97 Rock, WHTT or WECK from time to time. But it’s not often. My time spent listening to an actual radio is in the car. My at home listening is almost exclusively through Alexa, Tune In or individual station apps. I tend to listen to NPR for news, top of the hour newscasts from WBEN and sports talk from WGR. For music, I listen to WNED Classical or CBC Music. On weekends, I enjoy listening to Ralph Irene, Wink Martindale and John Farley on WEBR.

A major turning point for me was subscribing to Apple Music. I didn’t put much thought into it. Could have subscribed to Spotify. But the offer of three months of free Apple Music when I upgraded my iPhone was the clincher. Once I found out that any album I want to hear is available through Apple Music, I discarded my CD collection (much to my wife’s approval). I can listen to individual albums or “radio”-like playlists. I’m not sure why anyone would subscribe to Sirius/XM any longer when services such as Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon Music offer more flexibility (unless you’re really into Howard Stern). And as for commercial music stations, I wonder about the long term future. Sure, I enjoy the personalities, especially on WECK. But then I hit a commercial stop set, and I’m gone!

Radio has a challenging future! As SirRox noted, transmitters and antennas are no longer needed to deliver content. For less than $10 a month, I get ALL the music I want to hear without commercial interruption. Sure, strong personalities will draw me to the radio. But the content has to be compelling. Do millennial and Gen Z listeners even care about personalities? There were so many talented announcers when I was growing up, I can’t even begin to name them all. The list starts with Danny, Sandy, Joey and Tommy. Are there any young personalities today doing what these guys did in their prime?

I’m pretty sure radio will outlive me. But I’m thinking my now three-year-old grandson will look back at his grandpa’s career like I remember my grandfather’s time with the Nickel Plate Railroad as a charming relic of the past.
 
Buddy Shula said:
Does local content even matter?
Click to expand...

Maybe. It works for you. But if you personally listen to Sirius, then local doesn't matter.

People have the option to listen to live & local talent in country radio, and lots of them choose The Highway. Why?

The Highway, for the most part, plays the exact same songs as live & local radio. But no commercials.
 
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