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Sandy Beach To Retire. David Bellavia to mornings.

WBEN names David Bellavia to mornings.

Entercom has announced the return of former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant and on-air host David Bellavia as morning show host for WBEN-AM, the voice of news in Buffalo. Bellavia will be heard weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ET, beginning August 3.

More at https://menu.****************/content/frontpage
 
I think the interesting part is the quote from Bellavia:

"My goal is to completely reinvent how local talk radio is perceived and make WBEN the place where Buffalo comes together to start their day."

Sounds like he's not planning to follow the wingnut conspiracy bomb-thrower model espoused by others. A voice of reason, perhaps? As a Medal of Honor winner and well-traveled spokesman for the US military he's got more cred than most talk show hosts. He also likely has political aspirations so a more tempered approach would be help that aim.

Of course, he'll be followed by Rush and Bauerle, so the conspiracy theorists will get their fill. Thank goodness there isn't an awkward crossover between the former "partners".
 
https://news.****************/articles/c40882/War-Hero-David-Bellavia-to-Host-Mornings-on-WBEN-Buffalo

This will be an interesting experiment. Bellavia, upon accepting the Medal of Honor, admirably spoke of honoring his fellow soldiers of all political persuasions, ethnicities and gender preferences. He's quoted in the linked article as saying, "My goal is to completely reinvent how local talk radio is perceived and make WBEN the place where Buffalo comes together to start their day." This will be an immense challenge for him and the station. If he succeeds at creating an environment of common ground open to the discussion of ideas that run contrary to far right rhetoric, it may in fact be a turning point for the radio station. Color me skeptical but hopeful.

Talk show hosts tend to get sucked up in the vortex created by listeners who demand the host accommodate the listener's point of view as well as the overall stance of the station. Bellavia has been in tougher battles, so more than likely he'll be up to the challenge. I doubt any listener with half a brain will resort to calling Bellavia a "RINO" if and when Bellavia offers an opinion contrary to the republican playbook. (Then again, it's WBEN, so all bets are off regarding the RINO theory.)

Bellavia might want to rehearse using the phrase, "You're wrong!" (see Chris Wallce) when discussing issues of fact with some of WBEN's legacy right wing callers and guests, especially if those guests include Carl Paladino or the president.
 
SirRoxalot said:

Of course, he'll be followed by Rush and Bauerle, so the conspiracy theorists will get their fill. Thank goodness there isn't an awkward crossover between the former "partners".[/COLOR]
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Of course Limbaugh will be replaced sooner rather than later. Maybe by the end of the year. Who's gonna land there?
 
Rusty Bridges said:
https://news.****************/articles/c40882/War-Hero-David-Bellavia-to-Host-Mornings-on-WBEN-Buffalo

This will be an interesting experiment. Bellavia, upon accepting the Medal of Honor, admirably spoke of honoring his fellow soldiers of all political persuasions, ethnicities and gender preferences. He's quoted in the linked article as saying, "My goal is to completely reinvent how local talk radio is perceived and make WBEN the place where Buffalo comes together to start their day."
Click to expand...

In other words, he's going to try and turn the clock back on the format to 1990!

This will be an immense challenge for him and the station. If he succeeds at creating an environment of common ground open to the discussion of ideas that run contrary to far right rhetoric, it may in fact be a turning point for the radio station. Color me skeptical but hopeful.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately that ship has sailed. WBEN and stations like it, through laziness and pandering, have driven away anybody who isn't a hyper-partisan conservative (faux or not). Normal people used to listen to talkradio. Now it's mostly wingnuts who cannot get enough of the divisiveness and absurd conspiracy theories espoused regularly around the clock. I think Bellavia is a very likable guy and it used to make me cringe to hear him sucked into all the Bauerle nutty theories when they were on together. Talk about shrapnel!

I doubt any listener with half a brain will resort to calling Bellavia a "RINO" if and when Bellavia offers an opinion contrary to the republican playbook. (Then again, it's WBEN, so all bets are off regarding the RINO theory.)
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Yeah, I have no trouble imagining plenty of WBEN's core audience calling out Bellavia if he's too reasonable and not hyper-partisan enough. They would crap all over Reagan if he was still alive and in politics! The irony of that, is the people they usually call RINO's are the ones that adhere to actual conservative republican principles! The real RINO's these days are the one's calling real conservatives RINO's! Trump is a total RINO. He's actually a Democrat at heart!

Bellavia might want to rehearse using the phrase, "You're wrong!" (see Chris Wallce) when discussing issues of fact with some of WBEN's legacy right wing callers and guests, especially if those guests include Carl Paladino or the president.
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The heads of today's talkradio listeners are so full of layer after layer after layer of misinformation and conspiracy nonsense that there is almost no reasoning with them. They've had that BS drilled into their heads for a generation now, thanks to Fox news and all the Limbaugh offshoots.
 
flybynight said:
Of course Limbaugh will be replaced sooner rather than later. Maybe by the end of the year. Who's gonna land there?
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Doesn't really matter. This format is etched in stone. There is no "new" audience to get. WBEN is the Limbaugh station to most people and nothing will change that image.

The swap of Beach for Bellavia saves money. The younger guy will make far less and probably gets military health care. This move is like joining the cast of "Gunsmoke" in Season 20. It's played out...
 
TheBigA said:
Even if he does that doesn't absolve the company of providing health care if he qualifies. Same with his family.
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Exactly: in many companies where employees are over 65, those staff members may take Medicare and then there are formulae that determine who pays what and how much.

Same applies when an employee has an "inherited" coverage such as from military or government service.

Otherwise, private insurers would have an open door to exclude people due to factors like age, risk, preexisting conditions, etc.
 
tbolt909 said:
The swap of Beach for Bellavia saves money. The younger guy will make far less and probably gets military health care. This move is like joining the cast of "Gunsmoke" in Season 20. It's played out...
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Being in a near tie for #1 biller in the market is not "played out".

The station may not have long term good prospects, but as I have said here before: people age exactly one year every 365 days. That's a very slow erosion of the station's salable audience. And in a smaller market like Buffalo where most revenue is not national, selling 35-64 is not the same barrier that it might be in Chicago or LA or Seattle.
 
flybynight said:
Unfortunately that ship has sailed. WBEN and stations like it, through laziness and pandering, have driven away anybody who isn't a hyper-partisan conservative (faux or not). Normal people used to listen to talkradio. Now it's mostly wingnuts who cannot get enough of the divisiveness and absurd conspiracy theories espoused regularly around the clock. I think Bellavia is a very likable guy and it used to make me cringe to hear him sucked into all the Bauerle nutty theories when they were on together. Talk about shrapnel!
Click to expand...

Being tied for top billing in the market and having very strong 35-64 numbers in a market that does not get that much national is a lot more than a "wingnut" format. There is a significant percentage of the over-35 group that does not find what you dismiss as "absurd" as being wrong. The polarization is such today that partisans of one party think everything the other party says is a lie. All that does is further solidify the partisan group for WBEN, particularly when being conservative is so widely vilified.
 
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