This is an interesting Station which doesn’t seem to get mentioned much. I guess they still don’t get tremendous overall Ratings but Through the Years They have carved a niche for themselves in The NYC Market. They sort of Move to the beat of their own drum. I don’t even think they have traffic reports anymore
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WBBR Bloomberg 1130 AM
- Thread starter Always interested
- Start date
First off – as you posted about an NYC station, this belongs on the New York board.
WBBR has existed for the past 30 years for one sole purpose: to further extend the Bloomberg brand as the preeminent leader in business and financial news, and to serve as a vehicle to sell their services and products such as the Bloomberg Terminal. And they run it on the cheap (most of the programing is repurposed audio from Bloomberg's tv operation), and certainly at a loss–a drop in the proverbial bucket when you take Mike Bloomberg's total wealth into account.
That's it, nothing else. Ratings and audience share don't matter to them. WBBR knows who its audience is. This is no different from the various Christian broadcasters such as EMF and their ilk.
I do believe they once attempted to compete with WCBS and WINS with a broader, general news format, but that effort was short-lived.
WBBR has existed for the past 30 years for one sole purpose: to further extend the Bloomberg brand as the preeminent leader in business and financial news, and to serve as a vehicle to sell their services and products such as the Bloomberg Terminal. And they run it on the cheap (most of the programing is repurposed audio from Bloomberg's tv operation), and certainly at a loss–a drop in the proverbial bucket when you take Mike Bloomberg's total wealth into account.
That's it, nothing else. Ratings and audience share don't matter to them. WBBR knows who its audience is. This is no different from the various Christian broadcasters such as EMF and their ilk.
I do believe they once attempted to compete with WCBS and WINS with a broader, general news format, but that effort was short-lived.
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Thanks for all that info it’s great. Yes they did at one point try to compete with WINS and WCBS. I read at the Time Michael Bloomberg wanted the same ratings as WINS but referred to their product as “ If it bleeds it leads “ I think it was 2009 where they let go 100 employee’s go & that’s when they Righted the Ship & Focused completely on Business. I know they have used the same weather company For along time now. I’m not sure they still do Traffic reports thoughFirst off – as you posted about an NYC station, this belongs on the New York board.
WBBR has existed for the past 30 years for one sole purpose: to further extend the Bloomberg brand as the preeminent leader in business and financial news, and to serve as a vehicle to sell their services and products such as the Bloomberg Terminal. And they run it on the cheap (most of the programing is repurposed audio from Bloomberg's tv operation), and certainly at a loss–a drop in the proverbial bucket when you take Mike Bloomberg's total wealth into account.
That's it, nothing else. Ratings and audience share don't matter to them. WBBR knows who its audience is. This is no different from the various Christian broadcasters such as EMF and their ilk.
I do believe they once attempted to compete with WCBS and WINS with a broader, general news format, but that effort was short-lived.
I’m sorry for posting it on the wrong board I will be more careful in the futureThanks for all that info it’s great. Yes they did at one point try to compete with WINS and WCBS. I read at the Time Michael Bloomberg wanted the same ratings as WINS but referred to their product as “ If it bleeds it leads “ I think it was 2009 where they let go 100 employee’s go & that’s when they Righted the Ship & Focused completely on Business. I know they have used the same weather company For along time now. I’m not sure they still do Traffic reports though
I never knew they Reached Florida thanx for that. They Originally did Traffic on The 2’s and eventually went to the 5’sBack in the 90's, they used to do traffic. I think on the 5's. So at the time for traffic reports, WINS on the 1's, WBBR on the 5's and WCBS on the 8's.
Somewhat off-topic. WBBR has the 2nd best NYC at night in Orlando. WCBS, being the best.
That brief programming shift occurred in the late 1990s, a few years before Mike Bloomberg ran his first campaign for Mayor of NYC.Thanks for all that info it’s great. Yes they did at one point try to compete with WINS and WCBS. I read at the Time Michael Bloomberg wanted the same ratings as WINS but referred to their product as “ If it bleeds it leads “ I think it was 2009 where they let go 100 employee’s go & that’s when they Righted the Ship & Focused completely on Business. I know they have used the same weather company For along time now. I’m not sure they still do Traffic reports though
Interesting. No sign of co-channel KWKH?WBBR has the 2nd best NYC at night in Orlando.
Ohhh okay 👍🏻 thanks 🙏That brief programming shift occurred in the late 1990s, a few years before Mike Bloomberg ran his first campaign for Mayor of NYC.
I have never noticed it.Interesting. No sign of co-channel KWKH?
KWKH signal goes westInteresting. No sign of co-channel KWKH?
Interesting. at night, I've never picked up WBBR in NE Ohio and I usually have decent luck with the other 50,000 watt stations, WCBS, sometimes sounding like a local, and WFAN & WABC comes in but not as good as back in the 70/80s. No co-channels nearby that frequency that would block it out. Going to have to try again.
True that KWKH has a gangbuster signal into much of the SW part of the U.S., but the signal pattern also shows a lobe towards Florida, which is why I was curious.KWKH signal goes west
That's odd that WNBC/WFAN used to come in better compared to now. WCBS is on the same tower as WFAN. WABC has had a lot of development around their site so that is understandable.Interesting. at night, I've never picked up WBBR in NE Ohio and I usually have decent luck with the other 50,000 watt stations, WCBS, sometimes sounding like a local, and WFAN & WABC comes in but not as good as back in the 70/80s. No co-channels nearby that frequency that would block it out. Going to have to try again.
In and around New York 660 and 880 seem to be equally good despite 880 higher on the dial. Nights, WCBS really gets out there.
Ohhh okay 👍🏻 thanks 🙏
Your correct. But up until the Massive Layoffs in January 2009. They Still Mixed in local news, Their Traffic had to have local sports in every report. including the 1 minute reports overnight. After that I believe a consultant came into the picture. Overnight Traffic reports were no more & that’s when they really Concentrated on Business All of the time.That brief programming shift occurred in the late 1990s, a few years before Mike Bloomberg ran his first campaign for Mayor of NYC.
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At first, Bloomberg 1130 WBBR tried to compete with WINS and WCBS with a news format aimed a bit higher. Not as much crime and more financial news. But, as said above, WINS and WCBS had the ratings and longevity. Few New Yorkers saw the need to switch.
So WBBR concentrated on its natural audience, people involved in business and finance. WBBR and the Bloomberg Terminal cross-promote each other for the Wall Street crowd. Traffic reports went from every ten minutes to every 15. Most of the time, WBBR 1130 simply carries the Bloomberg network, now also on 106.1 Boston, 99.1 Washington and 960 San Francisco. There are some local news inserts each hour for the four markets. During those inserts, there's some filler for the Bloomberg channel on Sirius XM. A couple of stations in Toronto and Vancouver even carried Bloomberg for a while, but with Canadian news inserts.
Then last year, Bloomberg decided to give up Total Traffic reports in each city, which included weather and sports updates, too. I've heard that iHeart increased the terms for carrying the service and Bloomberg decided it was too high. (Total Traffic also lost the Sirius XM traffic channels and all the Salem news/talk stations, except for a few morning drive reports.)
Now, Bloomberg has no traffic. It gets pre-recorded weather reports from The Weather Channel and I'm not sure who supplies sports reports on weekends.
So WBBR concentrated on its natural audience, people involved in business and finance. WBBR and the Bloomberg Terminal cross-promote each other for the Wall Street crowd. Traffic reports went from every ten minutes to every 15. Most of the time, WBBR 1130 simply carries the Bloomberg network, now also on 106.1 Boston, 99.1 Washington and 960 San Francisco. There are some local news inserts each hour for the four markets. During those inserts, there's some filler for the Bloomberg channel on Sirius XM. A couple of stations in Toronto and Vancouver even carried Bloomberg for a while, but with Canadian news inserts.
Then last year, Bloomberg decided to give up Total Traffic reports in each city, which included weather and sports updates, too. I've heard that iHeart increased the terms for carrying the service and Bloomberg decided it was too high. (Total Traffic also lost the Sirius XM traffic channels and all the Salem news/talk stations, except for a few morning drive reports.)
Now, Bloomberg has no traffic. It gets pre-recorded weather reports from The Weather Channel and I'm not sure who supplies sports reports on weekends.
Thanx so much for the information. It doesn’t seem like total traffic is doing too wellAt first, Bloomberg 1130 WBBR tried to compete with WINS and WCBS with a news format aimed a bit higher. Not as much crime and more financial news. But, as said above, WINS and WCBS had the ratings and longevity. Few New Yorkers saw the need to switch.
So WBBR concentrated on its natural audience, people involved in business and finance. WBBR and the Bloomberg Terminal cross-promote each other for the Wall Street crowd. Traffic reports went from every ten minutes to every 15. Most of the time, WBBR 1130 simply carries the Bloomberg network, now also on 106.1 Boston, 99.1 Washington and 960 San Francisco. There are some local news inserts each hour for the four markets. During those inserts, there's some filler for the Bloomberg channel on Sirius XM. A couple of stations in Toronto and Vancouver even carried Bloomberg for a while, but with Canadian news inserts.
Then last year, Bloomberg decided to give up Total Traffic reports in each city, which included weather and sports updates, too. I've heard that iHeart increased the terms for carrying the service and Bloomberg decided it was too high. (Total Traffic also lost the Sirius XM traffic channels and all the Salem news/talk stations, except for a few morning drive reports.)
Now, Bloomberg has no traffic. It gets pre-recorded weather reports from The Weather Channel and I'm not sure who supplies sports reports on weekends.
I sincerely hope no jobs were lostThanx so much for the information. It doesn’t seem like total traffic is doing too well
All Total Traffic did was not renew unprofitable contracts. I know this to be a fact because my station was one of those that were dropped. No need for alarm.
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