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I declare this the LAST WECK thread ever!

G

GeorgeKramer

Guest
Brad shouldn't get any more honor or respect in terms of us radio insiders continuing to write on a thread that HE started.

While some people here think I was a personal friend or fan club president of Brad's, the fact of the matter is, based on who I talked to who observed him in action, I can't stand the way he approached the job as WECK's program director.

I was a fan of WECK for a true alternative to WBEN and WGR. Brad was the main on-air talent when it launched and somehow talked his way into getting the programming job, something I will never understand.

That said, enough about me. Let's try and figure out how bad things must have gone over the last few months to cause Dick Greene to pull the plug and change formats (my one Entercom sales friend said it's going to be all music of some sort, with just a live weekday morning show and the rest all canned voiceover work for whatever music the decide to play.) My thoughts, in no particular order:

- Brad NEVER should have been in charge. Nothing personal, he seems like a great guy to hang out with and have a few drinks with or go to dinner with. He can even host a show somewhere (maybe not in this market anymore) but he should not hve been a guy making important decisions that impact other people's lives.

- Dick's biggest mistake was not letting Tom Donahue take over for Tom Schuh when Tom was shown the door. Tom's a busy guy with the professor gig at the college, but he did program WNUC while teaching classes. He was the guy to go to, not Brad. Huge mistake.

- Weak signal. Their biggest obstacle, it frustrated listeners and scared away advertisers.

- Lack of quality programming. Schuh and Riter both thought it was wise to give Bill O'Loughlin a daily show. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

- Entercom was motivated by the manifesto. Brad will deny it, but he caused the sales staff @ 500 Corporate Parkway to hit the street and the phones a little harder. They were never worried or concerned about WECK doing damage, but Brad's cocky attitude and crazy statements got Reid and Wenger and Roth and other Entercom higher ups angered, so they spoke STRONGLY to their sales guys and gals to TAKE RITER OUT ASAP! May be a small bonus coming in the future for a few people, nothing major, but a nice little pat on the head for getting rid of a small thorn in their side.

Carry on and I promise no more new WECK threads... EVER!
 
I can safely say I never thought you were a personal friend of Brad's.
 
I assume if Brad and Nick want to stay in WNY, their chances of landing jobs in radio are pretty low.

Maybe one of them can wiggle into some part time work at 103.3 FM and/or 97 Rock?

Just a thought. If not, maybe it's collect unemployment and enter a new field of work, or even go back to school.
 
I do hope Brad and Nick and whoever else was let go today at WECK land on their feet somewhere.

On a related note, sounds like a former colleague of mine, Dave Polito, is among the casualities.

I wish Dave well. As a "sales guy" true and true who went through something similiar a few years ago, I know it is scary to be on the other side of 50 years of age looking for work.

Dave is a talented guy who should be able to find a job, although maybe not in the broadcasting industry.

Best of luck to all involved in their job searches.
 
I like Brad, but WECK even before he started wasn't focused enough for anyone to catch on and listen to it on a regular basis. It was a little bit of this-and-that.

Per the Buffalo News article: "They're starting to play music. Talk radio was not cost effective. It was not working financially." Brad Riter

Music, eh? This should be interesting.
 
From what I've heard, Bill O brought in a bunch of business. So, his departure was good for programming, but bad for business. Apparently the revenue stream he supplied was just enough to keep WECK from falling over the edge. Now that he's gone....kerplunk!
 
So, it's going to be called The Breeze and play everything from Frank Sinatra to Coldplay. That's some real good niche marketing there.........Congrats to all of you who were rooting for a an automated soundtrack over real people.
 
bbb said:
So, it's going to be called The Breeze and play everything from Frank Sinatra to Coldplay. That's some real good niche marketing there.........Congrats to all of you who were rooting for a an automated soundtrack over real people.
Click to expand...

Might this just be one of those situations where a station is too far gone to be brought back to life in ANY format? Just what is the potential upside for this frequency? I just don't see any future at all there, no matter what they put on the air.

Short of giving away a million dollars every hour, I don't see them ever cracking a one share again.

I'm not even sure the million-an-hour would do that much!
 
I don't think anybody was rooting for an automated soundtrack over real people. I think that a lot of people were rooting for a better product on WECK.
 
wow what a suprise ;) yeah suprise it lasted this long. read my former posts, i don't know squat about radio but it didn't take a genius to see "riter radio" didn't stand a chance. how would you have liked to been the sales dept there. talk about a "tough sell" . i see why he reminded us every five minutes he was the "PROGRAM DIRECTOR" he new he wasn't gonna be one for long.
 
Interesting last few paragraphs in an online article from tonight:

Former WECK program director Tom Schuh was hired as a consultant, sources confirmed.

Riter has twice lost a radio job in slightly less than four years.

"It doesn't feel good to lose your job, but I'm not worried," Riter said. "The last time this happened to me [in September 2007, when he was fired from WGR-AM 550], I wound up with a better job and a wife."


Give credit to http://www.buffalonews.com
 
I don't think things went badly with Brad in charge, we knew this would eventually happen long before he was made PD. Even in Brad's manifesto, he noted how limited he was with WECK's meager funds. I believe they had the right idea (other than the laughable attack ads), but when the owner can't pay for new talent nor bother to ever make you sound professional, it's a lost cause.

It stinks to lose a possible talk radio alternative, but I suppose this dying market can't support it.

I hope the released people get back on their feet quickly, especially Nick. From what I gather, Nick and Brad (obviously) aren't interested in going back to WGR, so I guess that's it for them doing radio in this area. :(
 
leelee said:
I don't think things went badly with Brad in charge, we knew this would eventually happen long before he was made PD. Even in Brad's manifesto, he noted how limited he was with WECK's meager funds. I believe they had the right idea (other than the laughable attack ads), but when the owner can't pay for new talent nor bother to ever make you sound professional, it's a lost cause.

It stinks to lose a possible talk radio alternative, but I suppose this dying market can't support it.

I hope the released people get back on their feet quickly, especially Nick. From what I gather, Nick and Brad (obviously) aren't interested in going back to WGR, so I guess that's it for them doing radio in this area. :(
Click to expand...

It seems to me there wasn't even enough time to judge whether Brad's efforts as PD were going to pay off.

This is kind of like the Sabres - was it Darcy's fault before Pegula or were his hands tied. I wonder if Brad sealed his fate last week when I heard him saying how horrible the Laura Ingraham show is, but he can't even get rid of it because the owner likes it. So, his hands were obviously tied, too, but maybe not a great idea to call the owner on it over the air.........He did the same type of thing at GR, calling out Andy over the air there.

It's part of the reason I like him. He seems to say what he wants, even when it might get him trouble. But, that said, I'd rather he didn't and still have his job (if that's what did it).

It totally stinks, like you said. I hope they can do something with podcasting, but I'm not sure if they'd be able to get the same guests.
 
It took a while, but Dick Greene finally came to the realization that trying to knock off WBEN was fool hardy at best. His first big mistake (in my humble opinion) was to allow Riter and Mendola do "their own thing." This less than dynamic duo turned WECK into a clone of a amateur third tier college radio station. The only professional in the joint, Tom Donohue, must be delighted to relinquish his role as house mother for these two.

WECK has an opportunity to right itself and make a go of it. They have Donohue, a forty five year radio veteran, who understands programming and can make it work. The talent pool of ex radio guys still floating around this market is still there. Get these pro's out of retirement and put together an on the air team and a music format that the listeners will want to listen to.
 
What's the status of the contracts for the New York Yankees and UB football/basketball?

In addition, what about the speciality programming on weekday afternoons and on the weekends?

Morning show sounded basically the same today. In fact, didn't even hear Tom and Lorraine's replacement talk about the format change.
 
VoiceGuyJack said:
It took a while, but Dick Greene finally came to the realization that trying to knock off WBEN was fool hardy at best. His first big mistake (in my humble opinion) was to allow Riter and Mendola do "their own thing." This less than dynamic duo turned WECK into a clone of a amateur third tier college radio station. The only professional in the joint, Tom Donohue, must be delighted to relinquish his role as house mother for these two.

WECK has an opportunity to right itself and make a go of it. They have Donohue, a forty five year radio veteran, who understands programming and can make it work. The talent pool of ex radio guys still floating around this market is still there. Get these pro's out of retirement and put together an on the air team and a music format that the listeners will want to listen to.
Click to expand...

WECK's challenge to attract an audience with music is much more difficult now than it would have been had Dick Greene inaugurated a music format when he bought the station in 2008. He now has competition from Swing 1270. Add to that AM 740 and WJJL, and you have four stations in the market that are targeting older listeners who are still willing to listen to music on an AM radio station. Three years ago, WECK might have had a two to three share. Today, such a share is unrealistic. Still, WECK might clear the 1.0 hurdle for the first time since the sale. That number won't set the world on fire. But it's obviously better than the .5 and .6 share range that WECK has been wallowing in.

I think Jack nails it here. The only chance for success is for Greene to invest in the available radio "talent pool" and add some personalities to the mix. A simple music juke box after 9am will not attract a sizeable audience. I'll admit that reading the format would consist of artists ranging from Sinatra to Coldplay leaves me skeptical. But I'll wait to hear it before saying anything more. The fact that Tom Schuh is reportedly involved is significant. He knows what he's doing when it comes to music. But again, there needs to be a live announcer presence.

One more thing. I hope the Buffalo News will continue to cover local radio, especially the impending changes that may evolve from the Citadel-Cumulus sale, with the same tenacity we saw in its coverage of WECK. You'd think WECK was a player in this market, given the number of stories we've seen in recent months. I hope the News realizes there are about two dozen more listened-to stations in this market that are deserving of coverage, too.
 
"It took a while, but Dick Greene finally came to the realization that trying to knock off WBEN was fool hardy at best. His first big mistake (in my humble opinion) was to allow Riter and Mendola do "their own thing." This less than dynamic duo turned WECK into a clone of a amateur third tier college radio station. The only professional in the joint, Tom Donohue, must be delighted to relinquish his role as house mother for these two.

WECK has an opportunity to right itself and make a go of it. They have Donohue, a forty five year radio veteran, who understands programming and can make it work. The talent pool of ex radio guys still floating around this market is still there. Get these pro's out of retirement and put together an on the air team and a music format that the listeners will want to listen to."


well said. i'm sure the owner came to his senses when he tried to sell ads with that idiot running the show. who would advertise with such an arrogant dope as your spokesman. having opinions i fine, but really think it out a little before spitting out some of those silly positions. i used to love when they tried to tell you small property tax increases didn't really matter. forget the fact that erie countys property taxes are already one the highest in th whole damn country.
as stated there is sometalent over there and it could provide a nice alternative to gr and ben.
 
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