Thanks. Like beavers, we can now put little dams (sans the "n") on the tributaries to this speculation. It's now all about trying to guess why management did (or didn't) act on the wealth of information regarding a pending historic storm.
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WBFO Has Imploded
- Thread starter Tower590
- Start date
Overseeing a news-talk radio station is just one of Calderone's overall responsibilities at WNYPB. There's an experienced news director who is more directly connected to the function of the newsroom, and there are multiple layers of management at WNYPB, no doubt pointing fingers. Based on insider reports over the years, their hands are well exercised in the fine art.
A number of radio station personnel read these boards. With few exceptions (e.g., the owner-in-exile), they don't get involved with the constant cross-fire here, but occasionally step in to defend and assert their perspectives. It would be helpful, arguably admirable, to have one or both WNYPB or WBFO management types honestly comment here, but that's unlikely. It would only subject them to ridicule and continue to pick at an already sore wound.
The station could be better served to come clean with an honest self-appraisal on its own platforms, "could" being the operative word. A bawdy self-assessment would contain the classic line from the movie Animal House, "Hey, you f**ked up, you trusted us."
A number of radio station personnel read these boards. With few exceptions (e.g., the owner-in-exile), they don't get involved with the constant cross-fire here, but occasionally step in to defend and assert their perspectives. It would be helpful, arguably admirable, to have one or both WNYPB or WBFO management types honestly comment here, but that's unlikely. It would only subject them to ridicule and continue to pick at an already sore wound.
The station could be better served to come clean with an honest self-appraisal on its own platforms, "could" being the operative word. A bawdy self-assessment would contain the classic line from the movie Animal House, "Hey, you f**ked up, you trusted us."
The bottom line is that WBEN did the job during the storm and WBFO didn't. It's a missed opportunity for WBFO, especially since a lot of people lost their cable TV and weren't prepared to watch OTA. WBEN attracted a lot of ears during the storm, and WBFO attracted a lot of disappointment. People stuck without an FM radio really had no radio option during the storm. By Tuesday, WBEN was spouting its usual rhetoric, and people were tuning back to WBFO. It's too bad. WBFO lost some donors.
How do you know they've lost donors? How many ears did WBEN gain? That's just more speculation. People who were literally struggling for survival wouldn't be trying to find a Radio. The ones who lost power at home probably don't have battery powered Radios.
Again, why wasn't the Bills game taken off the air for storm coverage? That's over 3 hours during the zenith of the Blizzard. While folks froze to death, others watched football...
Once you are confined to you home by any kind of disaster... a storm, a flood, a hurricane... there is nothing to do.
In Puerto Rico, the standing joke was that a Hurricane Preparedness Kit was a case of beer and a bunch of bags of chips. I've bought my share of those kits. I went through a considerable number of large hurricanes there, and those not needed at stations were told to shelter at home or at the home of someone not living near a river, gully or other hazardous locations.
After a certain point, there is nothing an individual can do but wait it out. If one or two stations in a market area do storm / flood / hurricane / disaster coverage, most people will welcome entertainment while they wait for things to pass.
Not sure if you are aware, Rusty, but WBFO no longer has a news director. Dave Debo is now a senior reporter/host. A program director was hired this fall, Tom Berich, who arrived at WBFO from Montana Public Radio. Brigid Jaipaul-Valenza is the highest ranking journalist in the newsroom, holding the title of managing editor.
It’s not clear how much autonomy any of these folks have. As you note, Rusty, there are many layers of management in the organization. The decision to scale back local newscasts last year was made at the highest levels. Management acknowledged there would be less emphasis on breaking news so that reporters could focus on in-depth stories that are important to public radio listeners. Management is very much all in when it comes to “Buffalo What’s Next.” I’m sure this change in philosophy, combined with the blizzard occurring on a holiday weekend, were major factors in the decision not to cover the storm.
Click on the staff page on the WBFO website, and you’ll see how many of their experienced reporters are gone. Since 2019, the departed include Eileen Buckley, Omar Fetouh, Chris Caya and Michael Mroziak. That’s a lot of talent! On top of that, such talented young reporters as Avery Schneider, Kyle Mackie, Tom Dinki and Nick Lippa have left for other opportunities. Some left voluntarily. Others were let go. So, the department is a shell of itself, compared to just a few short years ago. Kudos to Dave Debo, who certainly needs to be on the air given his strong interviewing skills, and Jay Moran, who is the hardest working staffer as local host of Morning Edition and co-host of ”Buffalo What’s Next.”
Finally, today is a prime example of WBFO just not being there when others are. Since today is the observed New Year’s holiday, the station is totally automated with no local content. I had to turn to WBEN for my local news. And I checked out two other public stations I follow. Beth Adams was hosting Morning Edition on Rochester’s WXXI and Michigan Radio had its usual local hosts and plenty of content for its listeners on this holiday morning. This needs to change. Up until a few years ago, both WBFO and WNED-AM were always staffed on holidays.
The title of this thread is misleading then. WBFO did not implode. Management has chosen a different path for the station. All of the hand wringing by some posters here is unnecessary. The Blizzard was not a surprise event like an earthquake. Everyone knew it was coming. The severity of the event didn't stop people from watching a football game. Maybe NPR listeners preferred the regular content over "Blizzard coverage" that doesn't provide anything substantial...
I agree with your first sentence, the radio station did not implode. However, if blizzard coverage that doesn’t provide anything “substantial” but had reminded one listener how dangerous it was to venture outside, even to walk to a convenience store down the block maybe there would have been one less death.
Travel bans and major road closures didn't prevent some folks from trying to drive in a Blizzard. People ultimately have to take responsibility for their own decisions. Some won't no matter how many warnings are repeated. Did any Radio station activate the EAS? That's another system that is largely ignored(if it even works)...
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Radio Stations do not activate the EAS. They receive activations automatically from the authorized government entities when an emergency merits warning or notification.
EAS FAQ Accessibility
Millions of Americans – with and without disabilities – rely on emergency alerts over their televisions and radios to receive important and potentially life-saving information. What is the Emergency Alert System (EAS)? EAS is a national public warning system. Various communications service...
Stations can be "inserted" into a system alert automatically, even if the station is automated with nobody present at the studio.
The EAS system works. However, it is somewhat old technology and the FCC and related entities are working on updates, both technical and operational. They are even changing the alert/ warning texts to make them better understandable.
Like any system that involves nearly 20,000 radio stations and translators and LPFMs as well as several thousand TV stations and systems like cellular devices, there can never be a system that works at 100% of the outlets 100% of the time. That is why they do tests for each region and each station as well as national tests.
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All stations must have EAS equipment and both receive market-based tests and originate their own.
There was no EAS alert for 9/11. I have never heard one for a hurricane in all my years in FL and PR, including some monster storms. There was none for the Northridge or Ridgecrest Earthquakes, either. That's not what the system is designed for.
It's intended to alert people to pending enemy attacks as its primary intent. It can be used for alerts to immediate things not already known, like a chemical spill, a spreading forest fire, a tornado warning. But it's not particularly useful to advise of a storm coming in two or three days, and when the storm is closer, it is of no real use to tell people the obvious.
I'm sure that some Buffalo or NY state radio folks can name other cases where the EAS system has been used and tell us how it was done.
The EAS system can be used for Amber Alerts, also. That is an add-on system and is the kind of thing local authorities can activate. But again, stations can't initiate such an alert on their own.
Wow. You talk about speculation? People do buy batteries along with bread, milk, eggs, and beer when they know a storm's coming. They also have cell phones with radio station apps. Considering that a significant number of people lost cable service in the City of Buffalo, it's quite possible that a number of them turned to radio for storm coverage.
As far as the Bills game is concerned, how many stations need to be all-in on 24/7 storm coverage? TV stations don't take live phone calls on the air like radio station do. There are also plenty of listeners and viewers who are hunkered down for the storm and prefer diversion to endless repetition of closings and weather reports. There are far more Bills fans in WNY than people like you.
The people most likely to be "literally struggling for survival" would most likely be in a car stuck in the storm. They were the people in much more danger than people stuck in their houses. Radio could be their only link to information, and there are a fair number of cars out there without FM radios these days.
It sounds like WNYPB management quietly made some decisions in 2022 that changed their ability and/or dedication to covering breaking news. Perhaps their Board of Directors will have some questions for the leadership of the stations under their umbrella.
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EAS can also be activated by the National Weather Service and is activated for tornado warnings in many areas of the country. It's likely that the Buffalo Office considered several days worth of warnings on a variety of broadcast stations leading up to the blizzard considered that sufficient. If a tornado cropped up during the blizzard they likely would have activated EAS.
If I were trying to survive a Blizzard, my focus would be finding the nearest shelter. Sitting in my car listening to callers talk about the storm doesn't help. The conditions were so bad, that first responders could not go out. Unless your car was fully stocked with survival gear, sitting inside waiting was not a good option...
R
Roch989
Guest
True, except for the 40 souls lost, many of whom were marginalized and also weren’t stuck at home watching Christmas movies. The sad irony.
R
Roch989
Guest
They have the system in place for all three BTPM transmitters. I know it, or I wouldn’t have stated it
They have the ability to do this at their three transmitter sites, so my comments are not immaterial, nor would I have made them if I didn’t know this firsthand.
You obviously aren't in WNY and weren't in the teeth of this blizzard. Leaving your car would likely be fatal. Wind chills were in the -30 range, winds were gusting near 80 MPH, and it was snowing hard enough that you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you with snow goggles on. 17 of the people who died were found outside. 4 people who died were found in their cars, at least two likely because they didn't clear their tailpipe. If you were in a building, you weren't leaving. If you were in your car, leaving it and trying to go any significant distance would likely be fatal unless you were well equipped with the right clothes and boots. Even then, it was very difficult to get through several feet of snow that was densely packed by wouldn't support your weight. Having some kind of link to the outside world that could tell you how long you might be stranded and if help was coming could really change your planning. Many of the people trapped were losing cell phone access because they didn't have a charger in their car. Unfortunately, the only information available was on AM, and not all cars have AM now. Somebody needed to pick up the ball. Even Audacy could have simulcast on FM. It would have provided a valuable service.
The fine folks of WNY knew this was coming. Nobody should have put them themselves in that situation. Radio can't help those people...
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