New PD at WYRK

[TheBigA]

It will be an easy commute for Bob Barnett, who moves from WBEE Rochester to WYRK Buffalo:

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This is a big win for Townsquare.

 

[DN14224]

Totally agree that it is a great hire. Will be interesting to see if Audacy makes any changes to the Wolf or hires a PD to program both stations…

 

[TheBigA]

Totally agree that it is a great hire. Will be interesting to see if Audacy makes any changes to the Wolf or hires a PD to program both stations…

My bet is on the latter. Perhaps they wanted Barnett to do that, and he reneged.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

My bet is on the latter. Perhaps they wanted Barnett to do that, and he reneged.

"Declined" might be a better word, if in fact they (Audacy) wanted him to program WBEE and The Wolf. That said, Townsquare just lassoed a very talented and experienced programmer for WYRK and its Buffalo cluster. The Inside Baseball of this move is fascinating. Barnett leaves Audacy's market-leading Country station in Rochester to work for Townsquare's market-leading Country station in Buffalo that's being challenged by Audacy. There appears to be no contractual conflict, which leads one to think he was working without a contract in Rochester.

 

[SirRoxalot]

It's a real peek into the mess that Audacy has become. When upper-level management starts to flee you know you've got serious issues with the current management structure. We've certainly seen defections in Buffalo.

I'm sure that Townsquare made him a heck of an offer, likely close to the salaries of Chris Crowley and half of Joe Chille combined, but he's going to earn it. Since he's not on air he likely won't have to pump out a lot of social media content. He will have to extract it from his "team" in order to keep TSQ happy. It sounds like he's also got some issues to overcome with the WYRK team and public image. "The Breeze" has done better vs. Star lately. TSQ will be expecting further improvement there. No word on any role with WBUF. Last I knew TSQ was also looking for a BM/OM for WBLK and WBUF as well.

It's a move back to his roots here in Buffalo, but after 21 years in Rochester he's likely got some roots there, too. It might be time to downsize a bit anyway as the nest empties. Getting closer to aging parents makes several lives easier. I wish him good luck. I'm assuming he's got a multi-year contract that'll pay for the move and then some.

 

[Buddy Shula]

As I predicted, I received the Ratings Insights before the ratings next week. WOLF is down to a 0.7 AQH. #17 in market
The station is no threat to YRK, hiring Bob is a great move as he is solid.
I can say the preliminary insights did not look great for YRK for the Nov ratings. They went down and so did Wolf.
The Wolf will hire no PD. They will continue to make the mistake they made. They changed format way to late, they play the same music YRK does, and their signal is worse. Wolf will make more money than Alt Buffalo did. It already has.


More stations are losing listeners. Shares of B class stations are all 2.5-4.5. There is a horserace there. There are the A players that are YRK, BEN, BLK, GRF. Then there is everyone else. Attached are the raw quarter hours. Basically the Popular vote VS the Electoral college. The rating this week will come from this, Oct and Sept.

Attached are the quarter hours for Nov. The source is Nielsen .

 

[TheBigA]

I'm amazed at how low WGR is with the Bills doing so well. Over in Boston, the station with the Patriots is #1.

 

[DN14224]

I'm amazed at how low WGR is with the Bills doing so well. Over in Boston, the station with the Patriots is #1.

Bigger market, larger fan base.

 

[Marchant26]

I'm amazed at how low WGR is with the Bills doing so well. Over in Boston, the station with the Patriots is #1.

GR is some of the worst sports radio I've ever heard so I'm not surprised. So stale and boring. How Bulldog is still working in totally amazing. Talk about mailing it in.

 

[davideduardo]

Bigger market, larger fan base.

But shares are a percentage of each market's listeners. There are still only 100 shares in Boston, no matter how big it is.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I agree that WGR is mediocre-to-awful outside of the actual play-by-play. Stat Boy and Doofus in the afternoon spend more time talking about fantasy than football or hockey. In the attempt to be "just another guy talking in a bar" they've dropped any attempt at expertise and have very limited expertise from the regular guests on the show. I remember when Chris Parker was an actual credible sports host back when he was a Pete Weber protege. That was a LONG time ago in a role far different from what he's asked to play here. Then again, a lot of sports broadcasting has become more about the hosts than it is about the sports. Tony Romo's making a lot of money because he's extremely knowledgeable, not because he's a "bro". Maybe someone in the programming world will start to notice that trend.

The mid-day offering of The Instigators and One Bills Live have lost considerable luster over the last six months thanks to the changes in hosting personnel. Adding Steve Tasker was a strong move on OBL. Losing John Murphy was not. The Instigators was better with more input from former players. Yeah, it got out of hand from time to time with Craig Rivet and Andrew Peters but dropping them altogether diminished the show. Perhaps a "voice of reason" moderating would have been a better choice. Both moves seem like a case of saving money and exerting greater control by Pegula Sports Entertainment. Then again, Covid really affected attendance and revenue, as did working remotely instead of face-to-face. There's a big difference in how hosts relate to each other when they're not in the same room.

Oh, and stand by for the monthly rant from Buddy when the raw numbers are weighted to reflect the difference between the number of diaries returned in a particular demographic with the number of listeners in that demographic.

 

[TheBigA]

But shares are a percentage of each market's listeners. There are still only 100 shares in Boston, no matter how big it is.

What catches my eye is that WBZ has almost twice the share of the audience than WGR. That's a huge difference. Some of it can be attributed to being on AM. Chicago and LA have similarly low-rated AM sports stations. But in San Francisco, KNBR was getting bigger shares even when it was AM-only. WGR is underperforming given its heritage and the status of its football team.

 

[tbolt909]

What catches my eye is that WBZ has almost twice the share of the audience than WGR. That's a huge difference. Some of it can be attributed to being on AM. Chicago and LA have similarly low-rated AM sports stations. But in San Francisco, KNBR was getting bigger shares even when it was AM-only. WGR is underperforming given its heritage and the status of its football team.

Maybe WGR is under performing because the hosts suck. Afternoon drive has one guy that sounds like Sylvester The Cat-- "Suffering Succotash". They have another guy named Sal "Something" that sounds like a rank amateur out of high school. Does he have any previous broadcasting experience? His voice is dreadful and he's a total homer. You would think the Bills have won 15 Super Bowls by his toady praise of the franchise.

Buffalo is medium market, but they sound small time. They also have a serious inferiority complex about their history of losing. The Bills get New England and then Tom Brady's Buccaneers next. The NFL schedule maker really is testing their fragile psyche...

 

[davideduardo]

What catches my eye is that WBZ has almost twice the share of the audience than WGR. That's a huge difference. Some of it can be attributed to being on AM. Chicago and LA have similarly low-rated AM sports stations. But in San Francisco, KNBR was getting bigger shares even when it was AM-only. WGR is underperforming given its heritage and the status of its football team.

Remember, the station that made all-sports a "thing" was WFAN in NYC which struck a balance between guy talk (Imus and some of the content the rest of the day) and pure sports. The difference between an over-performing sports station and a poor performer has to do with the entertainment factor.

 

[davideduardo]

Maybe WGR is under performing because the hosts suck.

And that is where a sports station loses TSL. You listen for the scores and stats, then leave.

Buffalo is medium market, but they sound small time. They also have a serious inferiority complex about their history of losing. The Bills get New England and then Tom Brady's Buccaneers next. The NFL schedule maker really is testing their fragile psyche...

There are other markets with perpetually losing teams, but the fan base is motivated and listens. Cubs come to mind, but are not the only ones.

 

[tbolt909]

And that is where a sports station loses TSL. You listen for the scores and stats, then leave.

There are other markets with perpetually losing teams, but the fan base is motivated and listens. Cubs come to mind, but are not the only ones.

Boston has 4 teams in the Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, and Red Sox. All have won multiple championships. The Red Sox and Patriots had long dry spells before turning things around. The Cubs had a lot of losing before finally winning a World Series a few years back. Both are big sports towns.

I doubt that people are listening for the "scores". They get that on their phone. It's not 1985 where you have to wait for updates. Sports Talk is now about fantasy leagues, betting lines, the draft, etc..

People in Buffalo may like the Bills, but not the WGR hosts...

 

[davideduardo]

I doubt that people are listening for the "scores". They get that on their phone. It's not 1985 where you have to wait for updates. Sports Talk is now about fantasy leagues, betting lines, the draft, etc..

My point in mentioning "the scores" is that discussion of plays, statistics, scores, averages and the like only go so far. There has to be something more human and entertaining or those shows are about as fun as my high school algebra class.

 

[Rusty Bridges]

My point in mentioning "the scores" is that discussion of plays, statistics, scores, averages and the like only go so far. There has to be something more human and entertaining or those shows are about as fun as my high school algebra class.

What... you got problems with quadratic equations?

But seriously, looking at those QHs and Share of QHs Hours is revealing. After the top five, look at the fall off. That said, the number of QHs that WECK puts up is impressive especially for a 1 kW AM with 3 translators. That's a compliment, Buddy. Don't go all "SIUYA Big A crazy."

Now here's the hypothetical: WHTT doing Classic Hits nearly doubles WECK's aggregate QH and doubles WECK's share. Is there a format that walks the fine line between 80s and 90s-based Classic Hits and Oldies... and would a faltering laggard like WBUF, especially with a new Ops Mgr who's known for his ability to parse and produce, develop and execute that format? And would it attract listeners from both WECK and WHTT?

One more: Look at the top performer and consider this question, formatically: Will there come a time when a station (outside the Townsquare cluster) adopt and Urban AC format that crosses current rhythmic, lyrical with AC. A point can be made that Hot AC is already in that realm, but not to the extent that are successful Rhythmic ACs in say ... Atlanta or Chicago. Yes, those are significantly larger markets, but the point is not market size, but the share of audience that a properly programmed and targeted Rhythmic AC can amass.. and subsequently, the number of shares that might be subtracted from market leading WBLK.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Will there come a time when a station (outside the Townsquare cluster) adopt and Urban AC format that crosses current rhythmic, lyrical with AC. A point can be made that Hot AC is already in that realm, but not to the extent that are successful Rhythmic ACs in say ... Atlanta or Chicago. Yes, those are significantly larger markets, but the point is not market size, but the share of audience that a properly programmed and targeted Rhythmic AC can amass.. and subsequently, the number of shares that might be subtracted from market leading WBLK.

What, you missed "The Vibe"?