WBUD 1260

[Vince2003]

Has anyone out there noticed something different about WBUD 1260 AM?I did listening to the station today.

They apparently have returned to their classic MOR/Nostalgia format that they had from late summer/early fall 1980 till this past February when they switched to Unforgettable Favorites ABC satellite AC 70S AND 80S format.

I noticed the change this morning listening to it at work.And tonight i found something more strange,I logged on to the WBUD AM/unforgettable favorites website and another site showed up called timeless classics.


I also logged on to another radio site that airs the same format as WBUD and they also linked with timeless classics.

Sounds like ABC has pulled the plug on unforgettable favorites and is replacing this format with timeless classics which from what i saw on the site plays similar music that WBUD played for 25 years sometime soon.Or is this satellite for that format down and is BUD just temporarlily using automation?The former is the more likely sinereo is this case since the unforgetable favorites site is gone.

The pulling of the plug of unforgettable favorites and the impending switch to the timeless classics format has left WBUD out in the cold temporarily and forced them to go back to the automation of the old format.But WBUD still aired promos for the morning dj and bumpers for unforgetable favorites as if the site or format is still around

Speaking of the old WBUD AUTOMATION format which from what i heard today sounded better than its previous incarnation.There isnt any cutting off of a song in the middle of it to play another,plus the top of the hour news starts on time(still ABC Direction news which is on a separate satelite)and there isnt any overlapping of songs(an instrumental and a vocal played at the same time before news)anymore so it seems like the WBUD staff apparently have fixed that problem.

one thing they need to fix during this temporarily automation is the top of the hour ABC direction news,after this first segment the weather comes on without the 3 minute newscast being completed.Thats wrong air the news in its entirety then air the weather and then back to music.

When the station aired unforgettable favorites it would air the news then commercials then back to the satellite and at 15 past the weather would air i always thought the weather should air after news.


Sounds like another format change is IN THE WORKS for WBUD.

Also I wonder if BUD is picking up the Princeton football games this fall since WHWH has folded.

 

[Those RRRRs]

I haven't listened to WBUD since May. I turned it on this week for the heck of it and noticed something strange as well.

I figured I would check the Jersey board to see if someone had posted anything on the change and found this post from July, so obviously they have been playing their own WBUD format for a while.

This is definitely their own automation system. If it's not, than someone "stole" it from them only to rebroadcast it via the bird. Also, they are using more of their own liners.

Glad to have them back...(well, sort of.) The "Unforgettable Favorites" racket was unlistenable.

 

[fred flintstone]

Sounds like ABC has pulled the plug on unforgettable favorites and is replacing this format with timeless classics which from what i saw on the site plays similar music that WBUD played for 25 years sometime soon.Or is this satellite for that format down and is BUD just temporarlily using automation?The former is the more likely sinereo is this case since the unforgetable favorites site is gone.

ABC had two Nostalgia satellite delivered-formats and dropped one of them.

 

[Vince2003]

Its been almost 2 months since the abc memories format was dropped and WBUD was forced to go back to the old format.WBUDAM.COM still links you to the timeless classics web site,but I dont think they are going to return to satellite.

Its a darn shame this station has gone down the tubes in less than a year.

At this time a year ago BUD had a great local morning news hour that it simulcasted from nj 1015 at 5am,followed by a 3 hour local news info show that gave you all the info u needed to start the day,following that show a legendary wonderful dj named Mike Landry to take you through the midday hours with great music humor and great trivia followed by another legend Jack Pinto with great sinatra music,plus more.


Now a little less than one year later we have a station that has STOPPED AIRING the news hour at 5am from 1015,local nj news consisting of millenium news updates at the top of the hour during mornings and afternoon rush hours.Recorded traffic updates and automated oldies(although some tweaking has occured).


Thats how far this station has fallen although it has improved its automation no more skipping over songs,but it would improve even more,if it stopped starting a song near the top of the hour only to have it interupted midway through for the station id and abc news.

Its sad to see this once great station in such a sad state but millenium seems to care more about 1015 than bud

 

[fred flintstone]

Its sad to see this once great station in such a sad state but millenium seems to care more about 1015 than bud

What do you expect?
One makes money; the other doesn't.
One has potential; the other doesn't.
The only way to avoid red ink on a small, low-power AM station is to minimize costs.

 

[tommygraser]

then what you do is make it a big am radio station get the power up!! 50 thousand should do it then you thake all the talk off 101.5 and put it on wbud.and put 50's and 60's oldies on 101.5

 

[fred flintstone]

then what you do is make it a big am radio station get the power up!! 50 thousand should do it then you thake all the talk off 101.5 and put it on wbud.and put 50's and 60's oldies on 101.5

Tommy, does Lance know one of his moderators comes over here and posts?
Not that I blame you. It's pretty dead over there.

You are starting to sound like Julius. He thinks 920 ESPN should "get the power up" so he can listen in Philly. I don't know why everybody doesn't just increase their power to 50kw - or 750kw, better yet. Oh, wait! There are those kill-joys in DC at the FCC who set power and frequency requirements.

How about this? Shut down all these Class D flea bite stations that lose money, have no listeners and only cause interference which drives people away from AM band.

 

[eatspaste]

then what you do is make it a big am radio station get the power up!! 50 thousand should do it then you thake all the talk off 101.5 and put it on wbud.and put 50's and 60's oldies on 101.5

Are you serious?! Do you really think it's a good idea to spend $50,000 (that won't do it, BTW) to (a) LOSE the MILLIONS a year that 101.5 brings in and (b) piss away the audience of the most listened-to FM talk station in the country to move it to a AM station that no one cares about? And then you want to put 50s oldies on the FM that'll attract an audience of 65 year olds?

Hate to break the news to you, but AM ain't exactly thriving in this part of the country. Before you respond against me with "what about WABC or KYW?", those are (big) exceptions to the rule. No one in their right mind is throwing tons of money into AM around here and no one in their right mind is doing anything exciting with AM, either. Bonneville is already starting the trend of moving AM news/talkers to FM, yet another nail in AM's mono-coffin. Probably just a matter of time before we see WINS-FM or KYW-FM.

 

[fred flintstone]

Hate to break the news to you, but AM ain't exactly thriving in this part of the country. Before you respond against me with "what about WABC or KYW?", those are (big) exceptions to the rule.

Those are Class A AM (clear channel dominant) stations operating on lower frequencies at 50kw. WBUD is Class D station operating high in the AM band. Those stations (and some others) have retained an audience. A good AM can still keep an audience (although the age of that audience keeps increasing); it is almost impossible for an AM - any AM to build an audience, or get one back.

KYW has had a consistent format since 1965; WABC since 1981. WBUD has gone through various format changes. Like 920 AM, its only chance of survival is as a turnkey operation.

 

[tom]

50 thousand should do it

He meant "watts" Mr. Paste, not dollars. Yeah, 50,000 watts with a couple
of towers is a million dollar project these days.

 

[Vince2003]

WBUD 1260 has pretty much since played the same kind of music(MOR Adult standards(Sinatra/Bennett/Cole/Como etc)since 1980 with some tweaking now and then

first they were similar in format to WPEN then in 1990 went more MOR and less big bands then in the late 1990s added 50's oldies to the crooners tunes and around 2000 went back to the MOR standards mix with the crooners with a few more 70s TUNES added.

Speaking of the station it looks like they have done some tweaking to their format(they have added some 70s tunes lately),I have heard ABBA'S dancing queen and a couple of other Bee Gees 60s and early 70s hits on BUD.So it doesnt appear they are returning to satellite.