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Nash In Buffalo

E

Element9

To the point: WYRK consistently scores top three if not #1 in all the money demos in Buffalo. From what I've been told by my friends in the sales pen, Buffalo's only FM Country station also bills top three in the market. So how long before Cumulus flips one of its three FMs to Lew Dickey's favorite flavor, Nash-FM? Would it surprise anybody if WHTT someday gets the call.

Although Classic Hits has been a success, the demographics are once again aging and (not surprisingly) mostly 50+ with a concentration in the 55-64 cell. Essentially, WHTT is Oldies 104 with a fresh coat of paint and mostly 70s and some 80s songs in rotation with a splash of 60s as Classic Hits 104.1. Cumulus wants to take more revenue out of the Buffalo market. Nash FM on a strong signal like 104.1 might put a dent in the leader's armor, enough of a dent to move 97 Rock and the Edge up a few notches in the 25-54 and 18-49 rankings. Country is a younger format. It's not a prediction, not a hand grenade, simply an observation: A switch to Country on 104.1 in the coming year wouldn't be a surprise.
 
I believe Cumulus is getting some of its syndicated NASH programming cleared on WYRK already. So they get access to the audience without blowing up one of their own stations. They've actually done that strategically in several other markets.

But I really think they have bigger fish to fry, bigger markets with bigger problems.
 
WHTT operates on the cheap, and is pulling pretty good numbers without much investment. 97-Rock is due for an update, and Norton & Company are not the long term answer there. Half of the Edge playlist is ripe for inclusion into an updated 97-Rock, so why not just move Shredd & Ragan over to mornings on 97-Rock, skew the music into the 25-54 demo, and put country on 103.3?

WYRK has been quietly diluting its content and cutting costs. Since there's no other viable country option, they've been getting away with it. I don't think that they have the audience loyalty that they once had simply because they haven't been as loyal to the audience as they once were. Another strong signal could take a run at them and likely do some business. Would they get half? I doubt it, but they might get a third. That brings WYRK back to the musical pack, and leaves the newcomer with about the same 12+ numbers that WEDG has. If they target it right, the demos could get very interesting.

But, as "TheBigA" says, Cumuless has much bigger fish to fry, and blowing up both WEDG and 97-Rock would not be a painless transition. I think that they'll get some more mileage out of the current line-up before that happens. And, yes, I understand the irony of agreeing with "TheBigA".
 
SirRoxalot said:
WYRK has been quietly diluting its content and cutting costs. Since there's no other viable country option, they've been getting away with it. I don't think that they have the audience loyalty that they once had simply because they haven't been as loyal to the audience as they once were.
Click to expand...

Well it depends. They may be "diluting" on-air content, but expanding content on other platforms. They recently held a Taste of Country Festival with co-owned WGNA in Albany, and it was a success. http://tasteofcountryfestival.com/

Today, engaging with your listeners means meeting them in person, and interacting with them via social media. That takes time and money, but pays off in listener loyalty. WYRK's owner has a strong commitment to new media, far stronger than Cumulus, and it seems to be working.
 
It's harder to "engage with your audience" when you've cut long-time successful air personalities and added more VT & syndication. WYRK has done "Taste of Country" and other NTR events for a long time. Town Square hasn't done them any favors lately.
 
It would be worse under Cumulus. I know that's not saying much, but someone has to pick up the bill. If YRK was still owned by CBS, evenings would be VT or hostless.

It's a trade-off. Radio has to move into the 21st century. That means leaving behind some of the elements of the 20th. So they run a syndicated night show, which gives them more local budget for things in Buffalo. BTW this was the first year for the TOC festival, so I don't know what you mean by "long time." That's why they called it "inaugural."
 
You're right. You don't have a clue about their past local events, and there have been many.
 
SirRoxalot said:
You're right. You don't have a clue about their past local events, and there have been many.
Click to expand...

I'm sure...a typical country station will hold a local event of some sort every couple weeks.

But this was the first year for something called the Taste of Country Festival.
 
Taste of Country is a heritage WYRK summer event in Buffalo, and has for years been one of the biggest promotions in the market. TS simply adapted it for other markets, such as Smallbany. As to TS using Cumulus programming product, "citation required." Perhaps a weekend countdown show at best, if at all. TS appears to be quite adept at developing its own product and in no hurry to put money in a competitor's bank account.
 
There are so many "Taste of" festivals in WNY that it's meaningless here. The Taste of Buffalo is the largest two-day food festival in the nation. Add Taste of Williamsville, Taste of Amherst, Taste of (name your favorite suburb) and a host of similar events, and Taste of Country doesn't exactly stand out here. But, once again, you wouldn't know that, would you? WYRK does a bunch of "festivals". Buffalo summers are CHOCK FULL of "festivals" and more free/cheap concerts than you can shake a stick at.

BTW, have you clicked on your own link? There's another "Taste of Country" festival featuring a different Town Square station. That doesn't make it sound more exclusive, or oriented toward a local audience, does it? Hey, WYRK is doing a concert and BBQ, too. Woo-hoo. You really have no clue as to what's going on around here - and their site is mostly generic pap that doesn't relate to any locale in particular.
 
JustPastBuffalo said:
TS simply adapted it for other markets, such as Smallbany.
Click to expand...

Not exactly. They consolidated it into one major TOC Festival, marketed by the web site and O&O stations. Got bigger stars by pooling their money. TOC is a TS brand, in the way NASH is to Cumulus. Except TS is several years ahead.

JustPastBuffalo said:
As to TS using Cumulus programming product, "citation required." Perhaps a weekend countdown show at best, if at all.
Click to expand...

They carry the Kix Brooks countdown and other associated products including morning show prep. They all require clearing Cumulus inventory.

SirRoxalot said:
WYRK does a bunch of "festivals".
Click to expand...

As I said in the previous post, most country stations do music events every other week. I doubt you actually listen to YRK.
 
And I doubt that you actually have a clue as to what's going on in WNY. Or any real knowledge of the likelihood of Nash coming to Buffalo. But that won't prevent you from pontificating on either subject.
 
Actually, at one point you could go to a place like Casino Niagara and you'd see BOTH WYRK and WBLK working together to share space promoting both stations. Two tables. One for WYRK and one for WBLK.
Being the same company, and most likely billed for the same space regardless of how many stations they fit in that promotion space, I say they were smart!
 
TS probably would be happy to know this poster is a P2 listener. Well, as Bob Lefsetz once commented in a favorable analysis, "Country is just 70's Classic Rock, dressed up for today." That's a rather simplistic view, but he's more right than wrong. Read his commentary about Molly Hatchet, as it applies to Country then and now, here.

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2013/08/06/rhinofy-molly-hatchet/

As to Taste of Country, the point is: It started in Buffalo. Way back when. It was nurtured in Buffalo. Perhaps as long ago as when Stoner owned WYRK as a stand-alone, certainly when CBS owned the cluster and before TS backed by Oak Tree Capital scooped up the cluster (including WBLK, WBUF and WJYE) from the failed Regent, which (over)payed $125 million. IMHO, it's the most potent cluster in the market. TS smartly applied the TOC template, which for years had been a successful Buffalo Country event, to its other properties. And yes, as noted, TS enhanced the scale and created greater leverage. Smart business. As to the Cumulus inventory on WYRK, such ancillary programming features are most often barter-centric and can be pulled or modified on very short notice.
 
JustPastBuffalo said:
As to the Cumulus inventory on WYRK, such ancillary programming features are most often barter-centric and can be pulled or modified on very short notice.
Click to expand...

But the point is that Cumulus is getting its NASH spots cleared on the #1 station in Buffalo without flipping one of its own stations.
 
[...TS backed by Oak Tree Capital scooped up the cluster (including WBLK, WBUF and WJYE) from the failed Regent, which (over)payed $125 million. IMHO, it's the most potent cluster in the market.]

Hmmm... was that the *original* Regent, or "Regent II" which formed after Terry Jacobs and co. sold the original Regent to Jacor? Overpaying seemed to run rampant in the 90s, when Regent was bought out by Jacor... and how about American Radio Systems? I worked for both before they were swallowed by Infinity/CBS.
 
Penrod Rightout said:
[...TS backed by Oak Tree Capital scooped up the cluster (including WBLK, WBUF and WJYE) from the failed Regent, which (over)payed $125 million. IMHO, it's the most potent cluster in the market.]

Hmmm... was that the *original* Regent, or "Regent II" which formed after Terry Jacobs and co. sold the original Regent to Jacor? Overpaying seemed to run rampant in the 90s, when Regent was bought out by Jacor... and how about American Radio Systems? I worked for both before they were swallowed by Infinity/CBS.
Click to expand...
To the best of my recollection, that would be Regent II, as the ownership began with Advercast/Lesniak Family (WADV) > Stoner (WYRK) > ARS > CBS > Regent (II) > Town Square. Along the way, ARS swallowed WJYE (from Ralph Guild's company) and WBUF from Evergreen/Pyramid (which briefly owned WHTT as well) and WBLK from Frank Lorenz. Don't bet on it, but that's the way I recall it.
 
The market where I live had a long dominant FM country station. Another station flipped but it took them many years to overtake the leader. Now they usually flip back and forth for the lead in a very big market for country music.
 
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