December Ratings

[KurtLockport]

Curious... Can anyone share any insight into what the factors are for the disparity between Rochester and Buffalo relative to the formats at the top of the heap(s)... are the demographics substantially different... or programming?

Sincerely, Proud member of the 1.1 share listener club.

Here's my thought.
WBEN #8 5.2
WHAM #3 6.7
Both are listed as News/Talk and perhaps they both were at one point. WBEN could be at #3 if it wanted but they won't touch the controversial topics anymore, per a former host, so why should I listen? It's all fluff.

WBEN had something WHAM didn't, and that was local news/talk in the afternoon. What good is local if they aren't discussing local issues anymore and instead go with the ex wife psychic as a guest or another ghost show? I can flip to WHAM or WLVL, or even WHLD.

Perhaps WBEN is similar to WAIO #7 3.0 which is just listed as Talk.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

Given two successive blasts of lake effect snow, if WBEN doesn't have a good share in the January monthly, something is very wrong.

 

[tbolt909]

Given two successive blasts of lake effect snow, if WBEN doesn't have a good share in the January monthly, something is very wrong.

People can get weather information on their phone. It's not 1990 anymore. Very few people under 55 will be seeking an AM Radio station (Especially one known as the Rush Limbaugh station) for any reason. For an area that gets Lake Effect snow every year, it's puzzling that people there can be so ignorant. They should KNOW how dangerous and erratic those snow bands can be, yet they insist on trying to drive through them...

 

[TheBigA]

Given two successive blasts of lake effect snow, if WBEN doesn't have a good share in the January monthly, something is very wrong.

Keep in mind that these are trends spread over 3 months. So a one-week snow event will be diluted by that.

On the other hand, the enthusiasm I saw from Bills fans during the game Monday was very powerful. I'd expect to see WGR get a bigger bounce than WBEN.

 

[davideduardo]

For an area that gets Lake Effect snow every year, it's puzzling that people there can be so ignorant. They should KNOW how dangerous and erratic those snow bands can be, yet they insist on trying to drive through them...

Here, every time it rains we get flooding on a group of main roads. Yet people see the water and try to drive through it. Every time, the TV news shows stranded cars deep in the water.

Fortunately, it only rains 5 or 6 times a year.

 

[tbolt909]

Here, every time it rains we get flooding on a group of main roads. Yet people see the water and try to drive through it. Every time, the TV news shows stranded cars deep in the water.

Fortunately, it only rains 5 or 6 times a year.

Stupidity is nationwide. Professional Weather forecasting is actually pretty reliable for the most part. You can give people good information/advice, but many choose to disregard it. Thinning The Herd...

 

[Rusty Bridges]

People can get weather information on their phone. It's not 1990 anymore. Very few people under 55 will be seeking an AM Radio station (Especially one known as the Rush Limbaugh station) for any reason. For an area that gets Lake Effect snow every year, it's puzzling that people there can be so ignorant. They should KNOW how dangerous and erratic those snow bands can be, yet they insist on trying to drive through them...

I don't fully discount your observation here, 'bolt, inasmuch as I often used social media and the smart phone for weather information during these storms. That noted, radio ... talk radio ... remains a communal event, and WBEN is the news-talk radio station that serves a good chunk of listeners 55+, so I would expect it would benefit from the storm.

Keep in mind that these are trends spread over 3 months. So a one-week snow event will be diluted by that. On the other hand, the enthusiasm I saw from Bills fans during the game Monday was very powerful. I'd expect to see WGR get a bigger bounce than WBEN.

Concur here, too. One week spread over three months is a blip. But programmers will be able to break out the monthly which may give them some idea. If Buffalo-Niagara Falls was a PPM market (it isn't and likely never will be), programmers would be able to see in a matter of days how well (or poorly) their format performed. As to getting a bigger bounce ... Bills playoff football usually equals payoff football for the station doing the games and peripheral programming, so WGR may bounce higher than WBEN.

As to the game, Bills Mafia turns out ... even in 7° temps and record snowfall.

 

[SirRoxalot]

People can get weather information on their phone. It's not 1990 anymore. Very few people under 55 will be seeking an AM Radio station (Especially one known as the Rush Limbaugh station) for any reason. For an area that gets Lake Effect snow every year, it's puzzling that people there can be so ignorant. They should KNOW how dangerous and erratic those snow bands can be, yet they insist on trying to drive through them...

Data is not information. Your phone provides data. Interpreting that data and giving it import provides information. Humans do that. Not only that, but radio provides more than information, at its best it provides companionship and connection. Some people have jobs that require them to try to get to work. Some people are just trying to get home and took a chance that they would be able to get there. Some people are responsible for others and are trying to do what they can to help. Some are thrill-seekers. Some are dumbasses. Some simply aren't constantly connected to media and weren't paying attention. Some of them will tune in their local "news station" to find out what's going on and who's most affected.

It's puzzling that someone who's clearly not in the market can be so ignorant and condescending.

 

[tbolt909]

Data is not information. Your phone provides data. Interpreting that data and giving it import provides information. Humans do that. Not only that, but radio provides more than information, at its best it provides companionship and connection. Some people have jobs that require them to try to get to work. Some people are just trying to get home and took a chance that they would be able to get there. Some people are responsible for others and are trying to do what they can to help. Some are thrill-seekers. Some are dumbasses. Some simply aren't constantly connected to media and weren't paying attention. Some of them will tune in their local "news station" to find out what's going on and who's most affected.

Data or Information IS available on your phone. Ever heard of news and weather websites? Where do you think WBEN is getting their info? It's from other sources.

Some people consider travel bans to be an attack on their Free Dumb. They don't trust local government anymore than at the national level. The county executive had to point out that Tim Hortons is NOT an essential service. That is hardly the same as nursing home and hospital staff (Who are essential and appreciated). The people who cannot seem to make good decisions on their own safety will always blame someone else...

 

[flybynight]

Data is not information. Your phone provides data. Interpreting that data and giving it import provides information. Humans do that. Not only that, but radio provides more than information, at its best it provides companionship and connection. Some people have jobs that require them to try to get to work. Some people are just trying to get home and took a chance that they would be able to get there. Some people are responsible for others and are trying to do what they can to help. Some are thrill-seekers. Some are dumbasses. Some simply aren't constantly connected to media and weren't paying attention. Some of them will tune in their local "news station" to find out what's going on and who's most affected.

It's puzzling that someone who's clearly not in the market can be so ignorant and condescending.

I have to admit, as much as I detest what WBEN has become, for the first time in almost a year, I tuned in to get more of an up-to-the-second narrative of what was going on with the lake effect snow around the metro. The many calls fielded by hosts, including the godawful Joe Beamer, gave a pretty good picture of what was going on where and when, as it was happening. Considering there were several areas around the metro that I had a vested interest in knowing about, this was very helpful.

In this age of having everything at your fingertips on your phone, the live ongoing coverage by WBEN validated their existence---at least for this week.

 

[fybush]

I have to admit, as much as I detest what WBEN has become, for the first time in almost a year, I tuned in to get more of an up-to-the-second narrative of what was going on with the lake effect snow around the metro. The many calls fielded by hosts, including the godawful Joe Beamer, gave a pretty good picture of what was going on where and when, as it was happening. Considering there were several areas around the metro that I had a vested interest in knowing about, this was very helpful.

In this age of having everything at your fingertips on your phone, the live ongoing coverage by WBEN validated their existence---at least for this week.

I have been spending a lot of time in Buffalo the last few weeks getting a family member through surgery and recovery. Discharge was yesterday morning around 10, just as a wave of lake effect was pushing through the city right where we were at Roswell Park.

WBEN was super valuable to me on the drive out of town and back to Rochester - the team there did a very solid job providing up-to-the-moment info on what was open and closed, what was coming and when, and so on. It was exactly what a local radio news station should be.

By the time I was east of Transit and out of the worst of it, they were carrying the full briefings from Poloncarz and Brown, which was valuable too.

Once I crawled my way out of town and back home to Rochester, I kept listening for a while - but it morphed into Bauerle and Bellavia complaining about the decision not to implement a full travel ban, and that was enough for me.

But when WBEN was in full news mode, it was as good as I have heard from any station in a medium market these days. They still have the resources that stations like WHAM or WSYR can't match anymore.

 

[Mark1981]

I’ve been on record on this board in saying I had not listened to WBEN since the Rainbow Bridge debacle in November. But I did give in during this storm. I tuned into Alan Harris on Sunday morning. And last night, I listened to Tom Puckett’s 6pm hour-long newscast. I trust both anchors implicitly. They’re top notch! And as Scott mentioned in the previous post, WBEN provided him with valuable information on his way back from Buffalo to Rochester. So, indeed, WBEN is of value during weeks like this. But I continue to boycott Bauerle and Bellavia. They have zero credibility. I’ll either watch TV or follow storm coverage online when they’re on. I refuse to listen to them!

 

[Rusty Bridges]

I have been spending a lot of time in Buffalo the last few weeks getting a family member through surgery and recovery. Discharge was yesterday morning around 10, just as a wave of lake effect was pushing through the city right where we were at Roswell Park. WBEN was super valuable to me on the drive out of town and back to Rochester - the team there did a very solid job providing up-to-the-moment info on what was open and closed, what was coming and when, and so on. It was exactly what a local radio news station should be. By the time I was east of Transit and out of the worst of it, they were carrying the full briefings from Poloncarz and Brown, which was valuable too.

* Once I crawled my way out of town and back home to Rochester, I kept listening for a while - but it morphed into Bauerle and Bellavia complaining about the decision not to implement a full travel ban, and that was enough for me.

But when WBEN was in full news mode, it was as good as I have heard from any station in a medium market these days. They still have the resources that stations like WHAM or WSYR can't match anymore.

* Typical. This is exactly what always ruins the WBEN experience. You'll get a competent newscast or coverage, and even some informative phone reaction from listeners, but it's usually followed by talk show hosts' spinning the situation as something it wasn't or isn't. There's always some kind of political grievance. It would be no surprise if they blamed the lake effect snowfall on Hochul or Polencarz ... or Biden and Obama. It's always something patently absurd.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

The "hard" news coverage on WBEN is second to none on Buffalo radio. It's when they devolve into politics that you may, or may not, be receptive to them.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Some thoughts on this most intriguing book:

First of all, Big A, WECK was not a full-time Christmas station. Its online station, Big WECK 2, played all Christmas music from Halloween through Christmas Day.

DavidEduardo, Buffalo’s all Christmas station, WTSS, the New 96.1, vaulted to a 6.9 share. That was number four in this 12+ book. Not too shabby for a frequency that has languished since the days of WJYE. We’ll see if the station can retain that success with its Hot AC format. But one can conclude the holiday format was a positive, not a negative, for at least one station in Buffalo. Perhaps someone else can confirm this. But I remember reading in a thread that the old Star 102 went all Christmas after Halloween. It registered a .03 in this book on WLKK-HD2. Admittedly, miniscule. But interesting, nonetheless.

A poster in this thread mentioned that WECK is now 1.4 shares away from WBEN. What I find more interesting is that WBFO is within 1.3 shares of WBEN. Buffalo’s two news/talk stations have never been this close. I know I have been critical of my former station for its reduced local news presence. What I can say is, though, I know I’m getting accurate reporting from the station, whether the content is generated by WBFO or NPR.

That’s not the case with WBEN. They failed miserably with the coverage of the Rainbow Bridge incident on the day before Thanksgiving. I haven’t listened to the station since because I lost trust in it. Maybe others have, too. I’m not a ratings expert. But WBEN’s share has fallen from 7.2 in September to 5.2 in December. Is four months enough of a trend to indicate WBEN is in trouble? I’ll defer to more expert opinion. But I think we’re seeing the first evidence that WBEN’s long tenure as a market leader is over.

Don't count out WBEN yet. I have seen other conservative news/blabbers slide down only to bounce back again.

 

[flybynight]

Don't count out WBEN yet. I have seen other conservative news/blabbers slide down only to bounce back again.

That's only if you forget to flush.