How competitive is WBFO in the market? What kind of numbers/demos do they get? Are they any real threat to the once-proud and once-respectable WBEN?
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WBFO
- Thread starter flybynight
- Start date
It's not relevant. They occupy separate universes. WBFO is member supported, an NPR affiliate, and delivers fact based content for individuals who can think and reason.
Based on what is going in society, the numbers for WBFO are very good. Maybe Mankind still has a ray of hope...
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Buddy Shula
Guest
WBFO is a 50,000 watt station.
I would love to have 50,000 watts. WBEN is not so much a news station, as it is a talk/opinion station. WBEN is not known for breaking news. It is often way behind. WBFO is much better for news. They focus more on it. They are in the horse race of ratings, and would not surprise me if they do better during this news year. Their signal alone should put them higher in the ratings, although they have some very loyal listeners who are sick of corporate radio.
If your wondering how they are doing financially, just walk into their studios and building. Pretty much says it all.
The average audience age on WBFO is younger than WBEN. They really don’t market themselves, but have a good reputation, especially with middle aged.
WBFO is a player. Just not a commercial one.
I would love to have 50,000 watts. WBEN is not so much a news station, as it is a talk/opinion station. WBEN is not known for breaking news. It is often way behind. WBFO is much better for news. They focus more on it. They are in the horse race of ratings, and would not surprise me if they do better during this news year. Their signal alone should put them higher in the ratings, although they have some very loyal listeners who are sick of corporate radio.
If your wondering how they are doing financially, just walk into their studios and building. Pretty much says it all.
The average audience age on WBFO is younger than WBEN. They really don’t market themselves, but have a good reputation, especially with middle aged.
WBFO is a player. Just not a commercial one.
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Buddy Shula
Guest
Your link says updated 1. 8 . 2020. It’s only 1.6.2020 today.
Doesn’t that seem a bit strange?.
It says NEXT Update: 1-8-2020
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Buddy Shula
Guest
Above it says 2020 trends. Just confusing. That’s all
Let me add a bit to Buddy's message earlier: Keep in mind that WBFO has quite a few vets from WBEN on staff(news director Dave Debo, as well as reporters Michael Mroziak and Chris Kaya).
I'm one of those who have WBFO on their car radio as one of their presets. And I've mentioned in the past that if there's breaking news, the LAST place I'll go is WBEN. I'll go to 680 News in Toronto, the CBC or WBFO. (And, for the record, I'd count myself as middle-aged.)
I'm one of those who have WBFO on their car radio as one of their presets. And I've mentioned in the past that if there's breaking news, the LAST place I'll go is WBEN. I'll go to 680 News in Toronto, the CBC or WBFO. (And, for the record, I'd count myself as middle-aged.)
Relative to so-called "breaking news", be it WBFO, WBEN, or any other station... what does radio bring to the table over, say, the gazillions of internet sources (many of which are relatively legitimate/reliable)? Is it simply that radio is access-passive?
As I recall, one of the big radio news awesomeness pitches used to be that radios structure allowed it to be first. Clearly, that isn't so any longer.
As I recall, one of the big radio news awesomeness pitches used to be that radios structure allowed it to be first. Clearly, that isn't so any longer.
Especially on holidays, the WBFO newsroom appears to be crickets with NPR filler music occupying the local news window. In this day and age when a 2 minute local news capsule can be packaged from a home studio, sent to an FTP site or placed directly in automation, filler music is unacceptable. Radio may be first in some instances where a segment of the populace doesn't have access to Twitter as a news vehicle, social media or a number of legitimate objective-journalism applications and websites. The Buffalo News has become the go-to source for breaking local news and in-depth coverage.
I think it's more about trusted sources. Everyone has access to a platform. No one can be everywhere. You can never have paid staff reporters in every location ready to report every story. But you can collate all the sources into a useful story that contains all the elements. I think that's the goal now.
Ironically, considering it's the most "antiquated" of all the news sources, the newspaper (Buffalo News) online or on paper, is BY FAR the most dependable and in depth coverage of anything local.
I always laughed at the stupid WBEN promos that described the BN as "yesterday's news", ignoring that A) their regularly updated online presence is better than any other local media source, especially WBEN's, and B) WBEN itself often used the BN for it's own news gathering!
WBEN's website is a token offering. It's as shallow as their on-air reporting.
WBFO posted a 3.7 share (up from a 3) in the December report. WBEN moves down to a 6.9 (from a 7.4).
The Angry Old Male demographic that props up WBEN is dwindling. The older Buffalo population (and no PPM ratings) has kept it afloat longer than its format counterparts in more vibrant markets...
The Angry Old Male demographic that props up WBEN is dwindling. The older Buffalo population (and no PPM ratings) has kept it afloat longer than its format counterparts in more vibrant markets...
There are quite a few news/talk stations in PPM markets that do quite well... ones like WSB as an example.
And the variations of both stations you mention are within the margin of error of the survey in a market like Buffalo.
WBEN was once consistently Top 5 in Adults 25-54. Where are they now?
WSB is an FM Station. WBEN was given an FM simulcast and saw its ratings decline...
WSB is an AM FM simulcast. It is on a full market FM, not the rimshot that WBEN offered.
Of course many, if not most legendary newstalkers are a shell of their former selves ratings-wise in many markets, especially the majors.
You can certainly chalk that up to more audio choices, but never underestimate the damage caused by it's evolution over the last 20 years into a far-rightwing format.
Keep in mind that only the paper platform is antiquated. The online version of America's newspapers is very modern, very up to date. Most websites feature sophisticated video players, and their reporters offer video reports. I think the NPR website, and the national content that's made available via WBFO's website is equally detailed and well sourced. I think that we've seen newspapers define themselves as news organizations in these last few years. To the point where they're quoted in Congressional hearings and the various trials taking place. Today Senator Rand Paul said he learned more in the newspaper than he heard in a secret military briefing. So that says a lot about the state of news today.
As someone who's listened to WBFO(a LOT), during holidays they let the entire top of hour NPR newscast air instead of cutting it off at :04.
As the live body who was behind the news mic on Christmas morning (and again on New Year's morning) this year down the road at WXXI, I was surprised to hear that our colleagues at WBFO apparently weren't staffed at all that day.
But I also know we're insanely lucky at WXXI to have the resources we do. There are more people in our newsroom than ever before in the station's history, and that's not even counting the resources we can now draw on upstairs at CITY Newspaper since it became part of the WXXI family.
I know, this is starting to sound like a pledge drive pitch (454-6300! 800-295-9994!), but I mean it - to be in a growing newsroom in 2020 is a rare thing indeed. I'm very happy to be a small part of it, for going on 16 years now.
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