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Oldies Will be Back In Buffalo

Let me get this straight, we're supposed to take seriously a station like JJL that can't even manage content on its own web site.

Take for example WJJL "blog" which is linked right off the station's main web site and features a post from the station's former morning show host.

Given the news reports regarding that host, how the heck DON'T you update your web site to remove ALL mention of that guy.

If that station can't handle the simple, obvious stuff, programming/sales/operations has got to be waaaay over their heads.

I sure hope they clean that up before license renewal time.
 
A couple points worth noting:
The present WJJL with its current management has zero chance of getting any ratings or serious revenues.
Some future management, with very different ideas and some working capital, could present a whole nother ballgame.

It is true that the reincarnated KB got lousy ratings but there was a world of difference between the KB of two years ago and one one back in the 1960s. The KB of 40 years ago was a highly professional operation that believed in spending money to make money. They got the most professional air talent available, they spent plenty on outside promotion and they even had a respectable news team.

With the exception of Neaverth the reincarnated KB operated on a shoestring. Voice tracks and an afternoon guy who was hundreds of miles away. No news budget either. In fact, the reincarnated KB even told its listeners to tune in WBEN for news. That would have been unthinkable in the sixties. Somewhere it is written that "as you sow so shall you reap". That definitely applies to radio. Put nothing in and you'll get nothing out.

Take an AM station with a good signal and put some effort into it, and it will pay off. A lot of AM's problems result from the attitude that the medium is dead so there's no point in putting anything into it. A defeatist attitude will destroy any enterprise.

If WBEN is presently doing well, it isn't because of anything Clint Buehlman did or coverage of the Blizzard of '77. It's because Entercom is spending some serious money on BEN today.
 
Actually, regarding WJJL, if there's any demand in Buffalo for a format similar to 1220 CHSC in St. Catherines Ontario, that may be a good game plan for them.

Yes, I know, it's an example of another station in another fine mess, but indeed a *possible* example of what to do with an AM that isn't working out.

***CHSC is running programming that has been accused of going against current CRTC regs. Things may be different on the American side...but would there be any demand in Buffalo/Niagara falls for something like this?:

http://www.1220chsc.ca/Programs.htm
 
If WBEN is presently doing well, it isn't because of anything Clint Buehlman did or coverage of the Blizzard of '77. It's because Entercom is spending some serious money on BEN today.
Click to expand...

You make good points regarding news talk, but the final paragraph of your post is the main reason no other AM station, especially a daytimer such as WJJL, is likely to go news-talk. It takes mounds of money.

It's incredibly costly to do the format properly, made more difficult in Buffalo because Entercom has the news-talk arena covered with WGR, WBEN and WWKB (in order of appearance on the AM dial.) A big signal does not guarantee success, as witnessed by the performance of WWKB and progressive talk.

Of course, Entercom isn't going to do anything to jeopardize the well-being of its AM cash-cow, WBEN. But let's not delude ourselves. Stations like WJJL, WLVL, WHLD, WECK and WXRL wouldn't stand a chance against Entercom. Successful news-talk radio thrives on localism: Local news, local talk shows with local hosts who are compelling and opinionated.

I've heard small town local talk shows that are interesting but lack a compelling reason to listen and moreover, participate. This may appear to be heresy, but Buffalo has some of the best talk hosts in the country. Certainly, I don't agree with much of what they say and they can be total g-assbags, but they're good at what they do.
 
Has WJJL Paid the FCC Yet?

Here's a novel thought for WJJL...

Move it back to Niagara Falls, and serve the local community! Maybe Dick Greene at WLVL will contest the license renewal, file for the license, and turn it into half of a "Niagara County Network".
 
I would be willing to bet that there are well over a thousand radio stations in the United States that would move to Niagara Falls in a heartbeat if only they could.

What more could a broadcaster want than to serve the number one tourist attraction in North America? Millions of visitors show up every year with big bucks to spend. And no radio station makes any significant revenue from all those shops that cater to the tourists--not to mention hotels and casinos.

It's ridiculous to let all those ad dollars get spent on print while the station licensed to Niagara Falls is just a computer in West Seneca, and they sell next to nothing anywhere.
 
caveman-97 said:
I would be willing to bet that there are well over a thousand radio stations in the United States that would move to Niagara Falls in a heartbeat if only they could.

What more could a broadcaster want than to serve the number one tourist attraction in North America? Millions of visitors show up every year with big bucks to spend. And no radio station makes any significant revenue from all those shops that cater to the tourists--not to mention hotels and casinos.

It's ridiculous to let all those ad dollars get spent on print while the station licensed to Niagara Falls is just a computer in West Seneca, and they sell next to nothing anywhere.
Click to expand...

Yeah, something wrong there.
 
I would be willing to bet that there are well over a thousand radio stations in the United States that would move to Niagara Falls in a heartbeat if only they could.
Click to expand...

Not so sure about "over a thousand." Maybe a few dozen.

What more could a broadcaster want than to serve the number one tourist attraction in North America? Millions of visitors show up every year with big bucks to spend. And no radio station makes any significant revenue from all those shops that cater to the tourists--not to mention hotels and casinos.
Click to expand...

This won't make the Chamber of Commerce folks very happy, but last time I drove through downtown Niagara Falls USA, it was pretty dismal. And that was on a beautiful early Summer day when the sun was shining. The City of Niagara Falls is a dump. Sorry.

Driving north on the 190, you're greeted with the pungent aroma of who knows what kind of toxic fumes from any number of chemical and refining plants in Tonawanda. You'd think I'd be partial to this, considering my wonderful gig subjects me to the fragrance of naptha, paint thinner, sealer and other noxious chemicals that stimulate my olfactory senses.

Cross Grand Island and get to the top of the north Grand Island bridge, look left and see the glorious panorama of Niagara Falls USA... chemical plants, Mount Trashmore and other trendy tourist atttractions... oh, and there's that Native American patch of land that holds the casino... the gem of Niagara. And what's that in the distance? THAT, behind the mist, would be Niagara Falls, Ontario. Where the real tourists go to spend their money. C-eh?-N-eh?-D-eh?

Downtown Niagara Falls USA gets worse when you consider who's milling around. Then there's the Tony Soprano side of Niagara county that surfaces from time to time. Not a pleasant environment for doing business on the up and up. I don't dispute the point that WJJL should abandon West Seneca, but I'd give them some lattitude... North Tonawanda? Wheatfield, maybe?

It's ridiculous to let all those ad dollars get spent on print while the station licensed to Niagara Falls is just a computer in West Seneca, and they sell next to nothing anywhere.
Click to expand...

Revenue would be better if WJJL served Niagara county and maybe the toney, populated Northtowns of Erie county.

The suggestion that Dick Greene of WLVL buy WJJL and run it as a Niagara county combo makes sense, possibly co-locating both WLVL and WJJL in Pendleton, diplexing 1340 and 1440 on one antenna with a signal that covered Niagara county and the Northtowns.

Take WJJL Standards-Oldies, change the call letters to WNIA ("Niagara") and let WLVL do the local news-talk-sports thing, supplementing WNIA with local newscasts in morning and afternoon drive. Synergy, eh? (Hell, hire Mike Melody and Tom Thomas and let them puke, if for nothing more than image and voice-tracking.)

Both formats would hit 50+, but there's plenty of money to be harvested from those fields, which aren't being cultivated by any Buffalo stations. The current owners of WJJL are either oblivious to the issues or a couple of blokes who suffer from testa dura syndrome.

My buck tree eighty.
 
Just put WJJL inside the Rainbow village mall and add some stores already!
(um...I honestly don't know if I'm serious or not...)
 
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