For those not familiar with Buffalo beyond a rest stop on the Thruway while ordering a Michigan, here's a snapshot of the station's evolution.
WBUF in the early and mid 60s was the Home of Blended Music (aka as elevator music) and the Empire State FM Network. Who doesn't recall "Uncle" Carl Spavento, WBUF's beloved GM?
In the 70s, Bob Allen became part of the landscape and WBUF went from one extreme to the other, flipping to near free form Progressive Rock with a real parrot as mascot, Big Al, named after WBUF owner, Al Wertheimer.
Years later, WBUF was sold to Michigan's Bob Liggett and became B-93 doing format AOR. B-93 begot Jehoshaphat which begot Jehoram, which... just wanted to see if you were paying attention. AOR B-93 fought the good fight with 97 Rock but lost, which gave way to an early form of Chick Rock as AC Foxy 93, WFXZ. That eventually fizzled. Wertheimer got the station back, as the story goes because he held the note and Liggett couldn't make the payments.
Enter Stan Roberts, legendary WKBW and WGR morning man who is said to be the first established AM morning man to make the transition to FM. George Hamberger actually first blazed the trail, going from FM (WYSL-FM) to AM (WYSL) to FM (WGRQ) to WBEN to CFTR and WKBW.
Back to WBUF where Wertheimer installed a group of talented managers from WVOR, his FM AC success story in Rochester. They turned WBUF into a disciplined, music and personality AC station with a respectable news department. For years, it lead the market in ratings and revenue.
But other stations in the mid 80s (notably Rock/Magic 102 and Classic Hits WHTT) began to take bites from the pie and WBUF transitioned to Hot AC Mix 92.9.
Begin the downward spiral. This is where the sequence gets a little fuzzy. Regis, I may need to use my lifeline.
The WBUF mantra became Howard Stern in the Morning, Classic Rock All Day. Stern booked, WBUF flipped to Smooth Jazz as WSJZ, a format that was highly embraced by upper-income folks and the Buffalo Partnership crowd. It did quite well for a while. After about four years, Smooth Jazz began to waver. Stan Roberts returned to do mornings. It wasn't a great fit for either party.
The station flipped to Alternative as WLCE/Alice which had a good, albeit short run. Alice begot Dancin' Oldies. Being the flavor-of-the-day format that it was, DO ran its course. The WBUF call letters were resurrected (CBS paid a hefty price, I'm told) and Buffalo's Rock Station emerged, again, targeting 97 Rock. 97 Rock won that battle.
Guy Talk with Rochester's Brother Wease ensued, followed by a line-up of unremarkable syndicated talkers which failed.
And then, as now, Jack... playing what we want.
WBUF isn't likely to go anywhere near the AC realm these days. It's carved out a niche as a stone-in-the-shoe competitor to 97 Rock, Star and WHTT. Packaged with WBLK, WJYE and/or WYRK, Jack presents an alternative to other clusters' proposals, even though sales reps from competing clusters say WBUF is frequently "given away" to get in on the buy and "market-leaders like WYRK shouldn't have to drop their pants to get in on the buy."
Adding live personalities to Jack's present format might make it better in morning, middays and afternoon drive. But that's a big "might" and there's no compelling reason for Town Square to do that now, especially if its content to run the station as a low overhead spoiler. Put live jocks WBUF and it becomes a war with... 97 Rock, round four? WHTT? Star? At what price? Don't see this happening any time soon.
As to the cannibalization or fragmentation factor, the audiences attracted to WBLK (Heritage Urban), WJYE (formerly Lite Rock Favorites, now moving to Hot AC) or WYRK (Heritage Country) are distinctly different. Jack's not welcome in their neighborhood and he knows it. He stays out.
Jack could be a contender, but Town Square is content to let him be a pretender.
