Report: WBFO to be LMA'd to WNED

[aaronread]

Current is reporting that, in essence, WBFO is to be LMA'ed to WNED. Deal is supposed to be done by the end of the year.

http://currentpublicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/09/management-deal-likely-outcome-for-wbfo.html

The info comes from a press release by WNED:
http://www.wned.org/pressroom/releases/wned_wbfo.asp

Any thoughts on what the schedules will become?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Makes you wonder whether employees of WBFO would remain state employees, with guaranteed salary and benefit levels, or if they'd have to become WNYPBA employees. Either way, "retiring" staff is unlikely to be replaced, and staffs are likely to be consolidated. It will truly be the end of an era if an LMA comes to pass.

 

[Mark Giardina]

My best wishes goes out to Eileen Brennan and the rest of the staff at WBFO.
When I heard Mark Scott retired I wondered what was going on. Now I know.

Things have changed, and not for the better, when public stations either are downsizing or doing more work with less people.

Technology is wonderful, but it can't replace human beings; especially talented ones.

 

[Element9]

If the merger is consumated, and at this point it appears likely, it seems a critical decision has to be made about how the stations are programmed and operated. WNYPB will operate and fund two news radio stations which often duplicate programming, such as Morning Edition. Will WNED-AM survive as a news station? Longtime WNED-AM staff member and manager Al Wallack was released about a month ago. WNED-AM seems to be the better immediate news station with a larger, more aggressive staff, while WBFO has a reputation for featuring in-depth and news feature reporting. Now, WBFO appears to have hired market news veterans Michael Mroziak from WBEN, Sharon Osario formerly of Channel 7 as well as Ray Marks, who's served at WBEN and WGR. WBFO often credits Channel 7 for news soundbites, while WNED-AM offers similar soundbites that were obtained by members of its own reporting staff that were actually at the news event. This merger is going to be interesting, if not unsettling.

 

[JakeLongwell]

I agree that the merger will be interesting from a programming standpoint.

I wonder if WBFO will become a 100% simulcast of 970, or, if there will be some periods of the broadcast day where AM and FM will be split. For instance, overnight, BBC on AM while jazz runs on FM.

 

[TheBigA]

There is SO MUCH news and talk programming available, not only from established sources such as NPR, but ad hoc independent programmers around the country, especially with regards to health and science programming which is not heard in Buffalo.

Don't know if there's much of a connection between WNYPB and WAMC. The potential of east and west NYS collaborating in programming and sharing resources could be great.

 

[aaronread]

Don't know if there's much of a connection between WNYPB and WAMC. The potential of east and west NYS collaborating in programming and sharing resources could be great.

WNED, WSKG, WRVO, WMHT and WXXI (and, by extension, WRUR, WITH and WEOS) are all partners in the Innovation Trail project. WAMC is not part of it, for whatever reason.

There's a lot of potential options for WBFO and WNED(AM)'s lineups. Technically WNED-FM, too. I'm not hazarding a guess, though...too many variables that I know too little about.

One thing I'll ask about, though: WNED(AM) throws a lot of signal into Canada...specifically into Toronto, right? How much of an impact does their Canadian listenership make on their fiscal bottom line? In a general sense, I mean.