Fall Ratings

[NeedsMoreCowbell]

Since All-Access isn't listing the book, here's the rundown from Radio-Online:

#52 Buffalo-Niagara Falls
Fall 2006 Arbitron Quarterly Report (Updated: 01-17-07)
(12+ Population: 979,600) (Surveyed: Continously)

1. WBEN-AM 13.1 Entercom Inc.
2. WYRK-FM 9.0 Regent
3. WGRF-FM 7.1 Citadel
4. WBLK-FM 6.2 Regent
5. WJYE-FM 6.2 Regent
6. WTSS-FM 5.9 Entercom Inc.
7. WKSE-FM 5.2 Entercom Inc.
8. WGR-AM 4.6 Entercom Inc.
9. WHTT-FM 4.5 Citadel
10. WEDG-FM 3.9 Citadel
11. WBUF-FM 3.7 Regent
12. WLKK-FM 2.6 Entercom Inc.
13. CKEY-FM 2.4 Chum Group Radio
14. CHWO-AM 2.0 Freeland Broadcasting Co.
15. WWWS-AM 1.5 Entercom Inc.
16. WECK-AM 1.0 Regent
17. WXRL-AM 1.0 Dome Broadcasting
18. CFNY-FM 0.7 Freeland Broadcasting Co.
19. CHTZ-FM 0.7 Freeland Broadcasting Co.
20. WDCX-FM 0.7 Crawford Broadcasting Co.
21. WLVL-AM 0.7 Culver Communications Inc.
22. WWKB-AM 0.6 Entercom Inc.

 

[SirRoxalot]

R&R has the 12+ numbers posted, for what they're worth.

Everybody's down except WBEN - up over 3! -(October Storm), Star - up 1.7 - (October storm), and 97-Rock - up 1 - (Buffalo Bills).

This book is so tainted by the October storm that it's virtually useless for programmers. It does show the power of having at least one viable news department available when the sh!t hits the fan. Both WBEN and Star had coverage from WBEN's news department. Star also may have gotten a boost from Christmas music, but who can tell, since WJYE got zilch.

Big losers? WBLK and WHTT. Anybody want to buy an emergency generator? Or a news department?

 

[rdcuffpa1]

Since All-Access isn't listing the book, here's the rundown from Radio-Online:


14. CHWO-AM 2.0 Freeland Broadcasting Co.
22. WWKB-AM 0.6 Entercom Inc.

I find it absolutely amazing that CHWO, out of Toronto, with its nostalgia format, does better than a local 50kW station -- egad, no wonder we consider KB to be a wasted 50 kW signal!

Says to me that WECK dumped a perfectly viable format...

Richard in Allentown, PA

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Since All-Access isn't listing the book, here's the rundown from Radio-Online:


14. CHWO-AM 2.0 Freeland Broadcasting Co.
22. WWKB-AM 0.6 Entercom Inc.

I find it absolutely amazing that CHWO, out of Toronto, with its nostalgia format, does better than a local 50kW station -- egad, no wonder we consider KB to be a wasted 50 kW signal!

Says to me that WECK dumped a perfectly viable format...

Richard in Allentown, PA

You have to realize they wouldn't be happy with a 2.0 share for KB, no they'd say the listeners were too old...etc. I guess a .6 is better....yeh that's the ticket! huh?

 

[MikeRadknowski]

You have to realize they wouldn't be happy with a 2.0 share for KB, no they'd say the listeners were too old...etc. I guess a .6 is better....yeh that's the ticket! huh?

Point six. Didya ever think... pathetic.

 

[Debaser]

For obvious reasons, I never wanted to comment on KB during their return-to-music days, but now I have no loyalty issues, so...

I simply cannot understand how a major broadcast company can take a major signal and let it languish like Entercom does with 1520. Even if they are using it for tax write-off purposes, you'd think they could pour in another, say, half-mil to use for PR. It would seem to me that a scenario like that would be a win-win situation since good ratings could actually trigger income.

But I guess Entercom doesn't think like that. Are there any programmers at all in the upper echelons of that company, or are they all accountants, lawyers and sales people like every other big box chain?

I was thinking that it's a major waste...and that you can't go home again. But hell, you can't go home when there is no home to go to!

 

[Philip_Airtime]

What about WGR's great numbers? The sports format is finally taking off. Both the Spring and Fall 2006 books were phenomenal. The spring numbers were due to the Sabres playoff success. The fall numbers are probably a result of both the Bills and Sabres. I think WGR's numbers are tied to the success of the two teams. Should either the Bills or Sabres stumble, you may see WGR's numbers slide. But for now, the Bills are on an upswing and the Sabres are playoff bound. That's good for WGR, and the numbers show it. Entercom has to be pleased. What other market has two AM signals with such strong numbers. They could have three if they paid any attention at all to KB.

 

[Bob1370]

A few thoughts...

-Looks like WBLK is beginning to pay the price of no longer having a local morning show (its numbers, IIRC, were a lot stronger when they had one).

-KB is for all intents and purposes dead. Entercom might as well either sell it off, or (in a move that would make better strategic sense for Entercom) move it to Rochester as soon as the window for FCC approval of major AM facilities changes opens again later this year, and try competing in that market with something else.

-GR is going to fare as well as the Sabres and Bills do. If the Sabres continue to play well and go deep into the playoffs, they will have a strong winter and spring showing. If the Bills show signs of continued improvement that will help them in the summer and fall books. No station is as much dependent on things outside its control, but that's the way it goes with sports radio--you feast when the local teams win, it's famine when they lose.

-WBEN's true relative strength will show by the end of this year. By then, if a normal or mild winter is followed by a normal spring and summer, emergency coverage won't dominate listening any longer and normal patterns will reassert themselves. It's entirely possible that WBEN picked up SOME added listeners long term as a result of its good performance in covering the October mess...just like WKBW got about a six book boost from the Blizzard of 1977. But that effect will begin to dissipate within a few books unless WBEN does some added tweaking to broaden its appeal beyond its traditional core of listeners, who are now 45-75+.

-If I were programming WHTT I'd do two things; first, broaden the music mix to put more 1965-69 hits into it, and second, let the jocks talk just a little more and be more of a presence in any given hour. Make it a personality station that plays all the stuff today's 25-54s grew up with. They're not far off now, but a little tweaking may help.

-I'll bet the results Edge got from Opie and Anthony were disappointing. If so, might be time to drop that experiment and go back to Shredd and Ragan before they get away.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

Wait...Who owns CKEY?
And Freeland owns what?
Woah! I am soooooo crawling out from under a rock here!

 

[Steven21]

What format, realistically, would you have KB change to so that it both would make money and not hurt the company's other properties?

 

[Yeziknoradio]

What format, realistically, would you have KB change to so that it both would make money and not hurt the company's other properties?

I'd go with an oldies based format very similar to Rochester's Fickle, but with more oldies, and *only* music that was recorded originally in mono, or that has an oldies connection of some sort.

For example, the Beach boys song Kokomo was a hit in 1988.
I'm not sure if it was recorded in mono or not, but it is an example of a song done by a classic group.

 

[Bob1370]

"What format, realistically, would you have KB change to so that it both would make money and not hurt the company's other properties?"

Get a CP during the next major facilities change window to move the city of license to Rochester (building a 50 kW DA-N two-stick transmitter in North Greece and space in the High Falls studios downtown) and make it a full service local news-talker challenging WHAM head-on. I'd rather have a 7 share in Rochester than a 0.6 in Buffalo any day of the week. Rochester's actually a slightly growing market (up from #54 to #53 in the latest rankings), may even pass Buffalo in market ranking within a couple of years, and Entercom's doing some strategically aggressive things across the country right now, so who knows?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Moving KB

Putting two 50KW stations in Rochester, and none in Buffalo, just because Entercom chooses not to make a profit with KB doesn't seem like something that the FCC should even consider. The FCC should consider forcing Entercom to sell KB to a broadcaster who would program it to make a profit, which might mean that they'd take on WBEN head-on.

I deplore the current state of One of America's Too Great Radio Stations, but that doesn't mean I want it to go to Rochester. The directional pattern protecting toward the west would eliminate it from the Buffalo market after the sun goes down.

 

[Bob1370]

"Putting two 50KW stations in Rochester, and none in Buffalo, just because Entercom chooses not to make a profit with KB doesn't seem like something that the FCC should even consider. The FCC should consider forcing Entercom to sell KB to a broadcaster who would program it to make a profit, which might mean that they'd take on WBEN head-on."

The FCC in its current incarnation will not force Entercom to do anything with it. You're right, another owner would probably take it head-to-head with WBEN (like WGR was when Rich owned it) but that's precisely why Entercom will NOT sell it to another operator who would be a potential competitor in the Buffalo market. The only chance for 1520 to become a useful station to anyone again, is frankly to move it out of town, either west to Cleveland (difficult technically) or east to Rochester (doable technically and potentially very lucrative
financially).

"I deplore the current state of One of America's Too Great Radio Stations, but that doesn't mean I want it to go to Rochester. The directional pattern protecting toward the west would eliminate it from the Buffalo market after the sun goes down."

I know how you feel, KB was literally a part of my life for a while when I was a newsroom grunt there almost 30 years ago. I hate to see it slide like it has. But there may be no other choice for it but to leave town or to go dark for good if Entercom won't sell it. Moving it 70 miles to the east means it could be reconfigured as a DA-N station, possibly not even changing patterns until 60 or 90 minutes past local sunset (which is local sundown in Oklahoma City, where the station it protects is located). And the null could be significantly shallower than the current pattern after dark, meaning even at night there might be some signal getting to the Buffalo metro. But since no one in the Buffalo metro's listening anyway and no one would miss it if/when it goes as things now stand, that's really a concern only of us radio geeks and nostalgia-mongers.

I'm not saying this will happen. Maybe Entercom will be satisfied keeping it indefinitely as an underachieving property that soaks up operating expense and adds little or nothing to the overall cluster bottom line, just so no one else can challenge WBEN the way WGR used to 15 years ago. But given their activity in other markets, I can't see David Field and his crew in Bala Cynwyd letting any big blowtorch signal within their portfolio just lie fallow forever, any more than I can see them letting it become a knife pointed at WBEN's heart under someone else's ownership. Moving it east and using it to challenge a complacent and vulnerable station in a competing company's protfolio like WHAM is the kind of thing Entercom's top corporate brass could easily be imagined doing.

 

[rdcuffpa1]

The FCC in its current incarnation will not force Entercom to do anything with it.

Given that Congress has shifted left as of last November, is there a chance that the FCC might someday wake up and reassert its responsibility to manage the, uh, public airwaves?

What precedent is there, if any, over the past several years, for the FCC to hold up a license renewal based on public comments submitted during the renewal application process? Or is the public comment period just a sham nowadays?

Richard in Allentown, PA

 

[Radknowski]

Well boys 'n girls... here we are, writing and reading about KB again. This station is like a bad penny. It just keeps coming back around. I was about to write something profound about KB's heritage in Buffalo, yada-yada-yada, and why it can't go to Rochester... emotional, tug at the heart strings kind of stuff, but then it hit me. Let the station GO to Rochester. Let Entercom spend a mess of money for land on which to put up three, four, five towers at a cost of $100 grand each, with ground system and transmission lines and all the associated costs... hire a staff to go head to head with WHAM, which has a TV station and one of the strongest brands in Rochester. And the results would likely be the same: WHAM 10, Rochester KB 3. Game over. Next format. hey, let's go Oldies.

Just then, another thought occured. It ain't gonna happen. KB's stayin' in Buffalo... gurglin' and chugging along at a point friggin' six to a one share. KB, one of America's two/too great radio stations. Reduced to the status of a 50 thousand Watt garage door opener.

Jeff Kaye once explained in a trade mag profile that the word "too" in that particular slogan was really the number "two." With typical bravado he said, "we don't know what the other station is, but we do know it's NOT in Buffalo or the eastern United States."

Entercom is experimenting with an "on demand" station on 1350 in New Orleans, where it time delays re-broadcasts of WWL, the mother ship. If that experiment is successful, maybe Entercom will try the concept here, re-broadcasting programs heard on WBEN and WGR.

With WHTT sliding more into the 70s, 80s and 90s, there seems more than ever an opportunity for a solid 60's station. But that won't happen. Once burned, twice shy.

I say people need a good laugh: All Comedy, All The Time. "Think ethnic."

 

[SirRoxalot]

I wonder what would happen if the good folks at Entercom turned KB over to our resident painter/pundit?

Hey, it would have to get better than a .6. The "New KB" logo would turn up on overpasses throughout WNY, stunningly painted in the most tasteful of colors...

 

[anoldguy]

I'd rather have a 7 share in Rochester than a 0.6 in Buffalo any day of the week. Rochester's actually a slightly growing market (up from #54 to #53 in the latest rankings), may even pass Buffalo in market ranking within a couple of years, and Entercom's doing some strategically aggressive things across the country right now, so who knows?

Yes, this has turned into another thread about KB. I see Bob's point about moving 50,000 watt 1520 to Rochester. WROC seems to be more successful running pretty much the same programing with a much weaker signal. Maybe with a stronger signal Entercom could shave some serious points off WHAM and that would help WBEE. Rochester has always been more white collar than Buffalo and that is more of the audience that Stephanie Miller and Ed Shultz appeals to. As long as Entercom owns KB they will protect their other properties in Buffalo. I don't know if the price tag of such a move would be worth it.
As far as the F. C.C. goes, does anyone out there really think they care about where 1520 is located as long as all the big corporations agree on it? That might change with the new congress but for now, the big guys rule.

 

[Radknowski]

I'd rather have a 7 share in Rochester than a 0.6 in Buffalo any day of the week. Rochester's actually a slightly growing market (up from #54 to #53 in the latest rankings), may even pass Buffalo in market ranking within a couple of years, and Entercom's doing some strategically aggressive things across the country right now, so who knows?

Yes, this has turned into another thread about KB. I see Bob's point about moving 50,000 watt 1520 to Rochester. WROC seems to be more successful running pretty much the same programing with a much weaker signal. Maybe with a stronger signal Entercom could shave some serious points off WHAM and that would help WBEE. Rochester has always been more white collar than Buffalo and that is more of the audience that Stephanie Miller and Ed Shultz appeals to. As long as Entercom owns KB they will protect their other properties in Buffalo. I don't know if the price tag of such a move would be worth it.
As far as the F. C.C. goes, does anyone out there really think they care about where 1520 is located as long as all the big corporations agree on it? That might change with the new congress but for now, the big guys rule.

A 7 share in Rochester? AOG, Please. With all due respect for your position, it takes barrels full of money to properly expedite the news-talk format. It's people-talent intensive. WXXI-AM is a solid news station. What does it pull? WHAM has heritage. Grouse as some will about it, 11-80 W-H-A-M is still THE station of record in Rochester. Is it a perfect news-talk station. Hell no. But it's the one station Rochesterians go to "when they need to know." Old habits die very hard. KB in Rochester isn't going to knock off WHAM... ever.

AM radio has about ten good years and then it's o-v-e-r. Sorry. I love it to death, but the facts is the facts.

Besides, Entercom has bigger fish to fry these days... right about now, I'd say the lights are burning in Bala Cynwyd and they're working overtime trying to sort out the debacle in Sacramento.

As to Congress cleaning up the radio mess, let's say this isn't on the top of the priority list... there's a near-civil war in Iraq, saber rattling in Iran, and China blowing satellites out of the sky.

Yet, we here continue to amuse ourselves with debate over a once beloved AM station that has met its demise. We should get together and write the great American (Radio) Novel. ("...it was a dark and lonely night...")

[/no more initials]

 

[Radknowski]

I wonder what would happen if the good folks at Entercom turned KB over to our resident painter/pundit? Hey, it would have to get better than a .6. The "New KB" logo would turn up on overpasses throughout WNY, stunningly painted in the most tasteful of colors...

I'm thinking PMS 280 on shaded background PMS 102, with "AM 1520", tagger style on every overpass on the 33 and 290. Just for starters. Wait til we blitz the 190! And we'll be sure to get TV news crews out there. Willie the tagger (the Norman Rockwell of taggers) from the drywall crew will be in his glory, although we'll have to protect his parole.