WBFO Format Changes

[JustPastBuffalo]

WBFO makes a major announcement, revamping its daytime line-up. IMO, the move speaks volumes as WBFO charts a new course for its weekday programming and future, dropping jazz for NPR talk. Those familiar with the recent ratings say the ratings for WBFO's midday jazz show weren't as strong as they once were.

Al Wallack and Mark Scott being longtime friends, I wonder how this move impacts them and their stations. As a member of WBFO, I can't help view On Point moving from WNED-AM to WBFO-FM as sort of a talent grab. On Point has long been one of my favorite shows on WNED-AM (along with Here And Now and The Connection which was discontinued a while ago) and it's likely I'll seek it out now on WBFO.

Could a locally produced and hosted one or two hour daily midday talk show on WNED-AM be an alternative to the loss of On Point? WNED-AM possesses a staff of talented news professionals that could produce such a show.

Either way, it looks like the competition will increase for WBEN. I'll be one of many radio-types interested to see if and how talk radio listeners move to non-partisan talk on the FM band.

 

[Philip_Airtime]

"On Point" will continue on WNED-AM. The two stations will share the first hour. At 11am, WBFO will be going to the NPR interview show, "Tell Me More." WBFO will present the second hour of "On Point" on a delayed basis at 8pm. WNED also presents a rebroadcast of one of the "On Point" hours at that time as well.

 

[alw]

Jim:

My friendship with Mark Scott will not be affected by this reshuffling of the WBFO schedule. That's show biz.

alw
-30-

 

[TheBigA]

From my perspective this is a very sad day. WBFO has been a longtime supporter of the jazz music format in Buffalo. They managed to do it during hard times before. But there is a trend in public radio to move away from music programming towards news, and it's happening everywhere. Arts organizations around the country and in Washington are concerned about this trend. The NEA scolded NPR about this several years ago. But the response is that there are ratings and funding dollars in news that don't exist for music, especially jazz and classical. WGBH Boston moved the classical format to a weaker FM to expand their news footprint, and challenge WBUR.

From a broader picture, the lack of commercial news on FM is what's created this opportunity. There clearly is a market for it, and give credit to NPR stations for moving quicker to make the change. Companies are starting to move their talk from AM to FM in some markets, but not fast enough. The writing is on the wall when such a longtime AM supporter like Savage buys an FM translater for his station. This may move quicker now, and will leave the FCC with a real problem regarding the future of AM.

 

[Bob1370]

"Could a locally produced and hosted one or two hour daily midday talk show on WNED-AM be an alternative to the loss of On Point? WNED-AM possesses a staff of talented news professionals that could produce such a show."

Speaking from 22 years of personal experience in a comparably sized nearby market, it just takes one workaholicwilling to do the legwork and research needed to put such a show together and host it, and one skilled person to set aside a couple hours a day to handle the board-opping and call screening alongside other production work he or she normally handles. There is surely more than enough of an audience interested in such a show to support it, take part in it and make it worthwhile for a station to air it. If it works in NYC, Albany and Rochester, no reason it can't work in Buffalo. WNED has a number of talented people who could do it well.

 

[TheBigA]

Could a locally produced and hosted one or two hour daily midday talk show on WNED-AM be an alternative to the loss of On Point? WNED-AM possesses a staff of talented news professionals that could produce such a show.

Looking at the rest of their program schedule, just about everything else is taken from either NPR or another public radio station.

 

[alw]

"Could a locally produced and hosted one or two hour daily midday talk show on WNED-AM be an alternative to the loss of On Point? WNED-AM possesses a staff of talented news professionals that could produce such a show."


WNED is not losing On Point.....it's staying put just were it is.

A top quality talk show is a very expensive proposition. It's not just a couple of people doing the show when they are not doing their other jobs.
An undermanned, mediocre program is pointless.

 

[aaronread]

I haven't looked at the announcements yet, but no mention of the Diane Rehm show? Kinda odd that both stations would air OnPoint...

Could a locally produced and hosted one or two hour daily midday talk show on WNED-AM be an alternative to the loss of On Point? WNED-AM possesses
a staff of talented news professionals that could produce such a show.

Yes and no. As WXXI demonstrates, you CAN have a live, local call-in show on minimal staff - one workaholic host serving as producer and researcher and one board-op/call-screener. Personally I think that's cutting things too close, and I'll explain why:

Most shows like On Point have a host, senior producer, two associate producers (one is a call screener, too) and a board-op. That gives them a lot more man-hours for research and prep, which means they have more flexibility in getting more varied guests and preparing a wider variety of questions. Chris Lydon (former host of The Connection) allegedly would read an entire novel each day as part of his prep for interviewing a guest the next day...if he was gonna talk to an author about their book, he wanted to have read the book. Granted, I think Chris was a talented speed-reader, too...but still, that takes a lot of time! Time that he could afford to give because other staffers were booking the guests, prepping the questions, and writing the scripts.

And a bigger staff just gives a ton more ability to react to the unexpected. When big news happens ten minutes to air, a show like OnPoint can scramble to find a new guest, write new questions and new scripts, and be ready to rock in just ten minutes. A one-man operation usually can't do that.

Granted, for a LOCAL show, the flexibility/ability to deal with the unexpected is usually not as necessary. And when you're a local show the odds are decent that, since you live there, you're more likely to be familiar with whatever the topic of the day is. That's a lot less true when you're a national show. So for a local show the prep needs are much lower.

The flip side here is whether or not you WANT to invest in a local call-in show. The prime call-in talkshow hours for NPR stations is 10am to 12n, period. After 12n, listenership in general (and I'm speaking VERY broadly here) starts to trend downward until 4pm when afternoon drive begins. So if you invest a lot of time and effort into a call-in show, do you want to risk airing it when it might not get as many listeners? Or do you risk blowing out one of the more popular national shows? Another thing to keep in mind, if you're going do a two-hour local call-in show, you can do what WXXI does and effectively have six solid hours of call-in talk shows during the day (10am - 12n, Diane Rehm...12n-2pm, 1370 Connection...2-4pm TOTN). That works for WXXI, but it might not work for everyone. And it can force you to move other quality programs (like Fresh Air or Here & Now) to a much later time that may or may not work for your listeners.

There's just a ton of variables to account for here...

 

[TheBigA]

This is why NPR stations end up using their HD channels. I think that's where you'll find Rehm

The other side is that in a market like Buffalo where you have some duplication in real time, it might make sense to co-ordinate who airs what when. But quite often, the biggest competition an NPR station has is another NPR station, as we see in Boston and DC.

 

[JakeLongwell]

I see they are keeping jazz overnights. While I am a huge jazz fan, I would think it would be in their interest to drop the format completely, and run news and talk 24 hours a day during the week. I see they are keeping their blues shows on weekend afternoons.

While I am sure WNED has exclusive rights to the BBC in the Buffalo market, I'm sure WBFO could find other "filler" programming during those hours.

Another thread recently talked about the impact of Canadian stations in Buffalo. Anyone lamenting the loss of jazz on WBFO can easily hear the format 24/7 from CJRT (91.1) from Toronto. Their signal easily blankets the market, except perhaps for the area around the Buff State campus.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Killing jazz during the day seems like a no-brainer for WBFO. It's amazing to me that it's survived this long. I have to believe that some of Bauerle's numbers on WBEN are by default because WBFO wasn't challenging him after 10AM. It will be interesting to see if WBEN will be affected by the changes.

Jazz overnights won't hurt them, and throws a bone to the few jazz fans that will be disappointed by the daytime change. It also minimizes personnel changes, and maintains a link to a portion of their audience & sponsorship. And, as Jake points out, alternative sources of jazz programming are available.

Overall, it looks like the new sheriff in town took a hard look at the numbers, and decided that a shake-up was required. I think that the revamped line-up will draw more listeners, which should help attract more money. WBFO faces an uncertain financial future, and neither SUNY nor the State Education Department are in a position to make up any gap in funding.

I don't expect any investment in local programming at this time. WBFO needs to increase revenue without increasing costs. These moves appear to be firmly fixed on that target.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't expect any investment in local programming at this time. WBFO needs to increase revenue without increasing costs. These moves appear to be firmly fixed on that target.

Sounds familiar.

 

[Bob1370]

"I don't expect any investment in local programming at this time. WBFO needs to increase revenue without increasing costs. These moves appear to be firmly fixed on that target."

It'll be interesting to see how soon that plan changes. Offering an alternative to Bauerle--or Limbaugh--that people can be a part of locally could prove to be a significant advantage, especially in establishing a new lineup against WBEN.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I don't expect any investment in local programming at this time. WBFO needs to increase revenue without increasing costs. These moves appear to be firmly fixed on that target.

Sounds familiar.

I also don't expect any wholesale reduction in costs by cutting staff. And any cuts will be locally determined, and carefully targeted, not done by corporate edict with little regard to the effect locally.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

It isn't as if there hasn't been "an alternative to..." whatever commercial talk radio is out there. NPR talk competes not only with WBEN and WECK, but music formats as well. WNED-AM 970 has offered compelling talk programming for years. One need only to nudge the AM tuner one eighth inch to the right. Will talk programming on FM make an impact? Many radio professionals will be watching closely. We won't be able to compare this maneuver to what was done a few years ago when WBUF did hot talk on FM. It's apples and oranges. I wish WNED-AM and WBFO well. Having played this game before, I know it's going to take a lot of work and promotion. WBEN (as did WGR years ago) plays the talk radio game especially well. It takes more than good programming to succeed. Sometimes it takes a well-placed kick to the groin. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

 

[TheBigA]

I also don't expect any wholesale reduction in costs by cutting staff.

Locally hosted music programs are being replaced by national talk shows. The local hosts may be volunteers, or they may be turned into board ops for the talk shows. But they won't be doing their local music shows any more.

And any cuts will be locally determined, and carefully targeted, not done by corporate edict with little regard to the effect locally.

At the end of the day, that's not important. The end result is that more local programming is being replaced by national syndication. The fact that the decision came locally demonstrates that this is not simply a corporate trend, but one that is affecting ALL radio.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Once again, you're talking without knowing what's really going on. The local host of the 3 hour daily jazz show is not being fired. Jazz will continue overnights, and the current host will be in charge of the show. Some shows and features are moving to the HD2 channel.

The move is being made because ratings show that jazz is not the draw it once was, while NPR programming is drawing better than ever. It's as simple as putting your best stuff on when there are the most listeners available. Would a local talk show draw better? Local talk draws better than national on WBEN, so it's quite possible that it might, but a jazz host is not a talk show host. Economics are such that adding another body at the moment is not an option.

You're not seriously trying to equate WBFO's realignment to the wholesale body slashing by Clear Channel, Citadel, Cumulus, and others, are you? There's no wholesale firing here, while upper management makes millions and stuffs their pockets with bonuses while the enterprise lurches toward bankruptcy.

 

[TheBigA]

There's no wholesale firing here, while upper management makes millions and stuffs their pockets with bonuses while the enterprise lurches toward bankruptcy.

First of all, NPR stations don't have large full-time staffs to begin with. Second of all, I recall a thread last year about the GM at XXI, criticizing his salary, while he is cutting costs. Third, how many listeners does the HD2 channel have?

You're ignoring the central point in my post, which is that local music programming is being replaced by national syndication. It's happening at NPR stations around the country, not just Buffalo.

 

[SirRoxalot]

WXXI? How does THAT fit into this conversation? WBFO is in a different market, with a completely different owner.

The real "central point" is that jazz ain't drawing the audience it once did. THAT'S why the change is being made.

 

[TheBigA]

WXXI? How does THAT fit into this conversation? WBFO is in a different market, with a completely different owner.

It's a public broadcasting station that is faced with the same problems facing BFO. It's not a unique problem. I could also point out the 7-figure salaries of several NPR execs, but you'd argue that too.

The real "central point" is that jazz ain't drawing the audience it once did. THAT'S why the change is being made.

Then why not simply change the music format to something else, but continue to keep the time for local programming, rather than turn it over to the network? No, this is a very simple process of replacing local music programming with cheaper national news programming, just like replacing a local 7-midnight show with syndication or VT. No difference. And it's happening at NPR stations across the country.