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Greene Pastures

S

SirRoxalot

Radio got quite the front-page spread in the Buffalo News Sunday Spotlight section. Dick Greene got more promo for WLVL, and his prospective entry into the Buffalo market with WECK, than he could have ever paid for.

Writer Andrew Galarneau quoted Tina Peel, Dan Neaverth, and Chet Musialowski. He did extensive coverage of WXRL with Ramblin' Lou. The gist of the story is that corporate radio has killed localism in favor of voice-tracking and syndication.

I didn't see a single quote from anyone who's currently employed at a corporately owned station in Buffalo. That seems like an odd omission to me. Aren't you supposed to at least attempt to get both sides of the story? I didn't see anything about any local spokespeople for Entercom, Regent, or Citadel declining to respond.

Credit Galarneau with subtly slamming the competition. Perhaps the News should more clearly differentiate between "news" and "opinion" in their feature sections.
 
There was a lot of "white space" in that article, SR, including a big graphic "above the fold" which made the story look like one of those "slow news day" features. It's wonderful to see small market, independent operators getting their day in the sun, especially since those stations don't get big ratings, but big ratings really aren't part of their game plan in the first place. Most people probably didn't bother reading the story, but glossed over it because there was no picture of Shredd & Ragan, Norton, Opie & Anthony, Clay Moden, Howard Stern, Bill Lacy or Janet Snyder.

Running an AM stand-alone can't be easy these days, although WYSL's Bob Savage might retort that it's challenging and rewarding... as well as lucrative. I find small town radio very enjoyable, especially when it doesn't sound small town. After reading the Buffalo News story, I'm not sure if this is the best time to invest $1.3 million on a 1 kW AM stand alone, which WLVL's Dick Greene is set to do any day now. If you're adding another station by building it from scratch like Mr. Savage's CP for 1220 in Lakewood, that could be an easier pill to swallow. That station will be co-located with WYSL Avon, the existing towers will be shared and the audio plant is already in place: Two stations, one TX site; much like WGR-WKBW.

A friend in the business speculates that if the economy gets any softer, Greene might simulcast WLVL and WECK from either Lockport or Cheektowaga. I'm not that well-versed in the particulars, but just looking around, it seems that doing a "two fer" would be more economical and ensure the stations' survival. Hmmm... What about a WLVL-WJJL marriage?
 
Dis-May

It's hard to put live, local, and The Lake in the same sentence. Or paragraph. Or essay. Or novel.

You get the idea.

I also find it interesting that the guy with the shortest tenure - DeMay - is touting that "many of us have been on the air here for 20 years or more". That takes a little chutzpah. It's also a bit misleading to say that
"Star 102.5, Kiss 98.5, WBEN and WGR all have live personalities on seven days a week, including evenings". I guess that syndication counts as live, but to head the next paragraph with "Not only are we live and local" is not quite accurate.

I'm surprised that DeMay was the only local broadcaster to take Galarneau to task. Hello, Citadel? Regent?
 
Well, I think Demay has a point. The News should have attempted to get some comment from one of the honchos at one of the three radio groups. He has a point. I mean, we're not going to WXRL when it's stormy. We're listening to WBEN. And why? Because the station knows how to deliver crucial information during a crisis. The News article also ignored the public stations. If you're going to talk about stations that are focused on their communities, how can you not mention the roles WNED-AM/FM and WBFO play. The News needs a regular media critic in the mold of Anthony Violanti, not a features writer who occasionally delves into media issues.
 
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