The point is that Steve Harvey was the low-cost alternative several years ago when they lost their local morning show. Since you have a heritage station virtually alone in its genre listeners have no other alternative. The decision wasn't made because Steve Harvey is necessarily preferred. The decision was made because Steve Harvey is already part of TSQ's format stable. The show adds to their digital push but likely leaves local dollars on the table.
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WBUF
- Thread starter Radio-Bored-Op
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Actually, that's not true. Steve Harvey's show is syndicated by iHeart, not TS. They are giving up valuable local inventory to carry this show because it attracts a huge audience...larger than most other local shows. That's the case in many other cities, including markets where he competes against a local show in the same format. People like Steve because he's entertaining, not because he lives in Buffalo.
They could have easily retained their local avails and their local audience if they had chosen local talent instead of Steve Harvey in the Infinity/CBS/Regent days. But, big corporate did what it does - kill off pesky local talent for syndication. WBLK has a locked in audience. Steve Harvey has a national presence that benefits from his radio syndication and vice-versa. Reality, however, is that the WBLK audience wasn't built by Steve Harvey. Steve Harvey's audience was built by stations like WBLK.
The CBS programmers could see that they were getting killed in Washington DC where their local morning legend on the urban formatted WPGC was being killed by Steve Harvey on WHUR. They could see that people don't listen to talent based on location, but on the quality of that talent. When people have a choice, and they choose Steve, that tells you who is actually talented. That's also the case in other markets. When those same CBS programmers hired Howard Stern, who had previously worked at DC 101, they syndicated him in Washington on WJFK. It wasn't to save money but to make money.
Not every talent is equal. Some are better than others. What technology allows is to focus on the talent that are actually talented and give them a bigger platform. That benefits the talent, the listeners, and the company.
In Buffalo, WBLK has little competition. WBLK's morning numbers wouldn't be much different with local talent if they'd have chosen that option but they'd have more avails. Nobody else in the market would have brought in Steve Harvey. So, it's arguable that syndication is costing them money, not making money for them. But, when you have top-down management that thinks that every market wants big-market talent you get radio that doesn't really connect with local listeners so you see the continued erosion because the content isn't different from what's available online or on satellite.
That really doesn't jive with how Townsquare is run. If you look company-wide, they have lots of local talent.
With any syndicated program I have ever seen, there is no cash payment involved. It's all bartered for spots. If that is the case for Harvey, I would think that the barter spots which are non-preemptable, have to run in some pretty good day-parts, including that show itself.
The syndicators want to be on WBLK as much as WBLK would want them. It's a good size market they were not hitting, and that increases the Harvey brand, and gives a pretty good name to BLK mornings.
My friend Andre, who owns WDKX in Rochester got the show this year and according to him, its a really great addition, albeit, not local.
The syndicators want to be on WBLK as much as WBLK would want them. It's a good size market they were not hitting, and that increases the Harvey brand, and gives a pretty good name to BLK mornings.
My friend Andre, who owns WDKX in Rochester got the show this year and according to him, its a really great addition, albeit, not local.
There's overlap between the most previous iteration, but there are a good number of artists that were not getting airplay on WBUF then vs. now, that even the most casual listener would pick up on the tone shift. But just building it doesn't mean they will come, there needs to be some promotion.
It needs to identify itself as "New Aggressive Rock"
When I listened it went from Weezer to Black Sabbath and within 90 min there was Led Zep...
Commit to New Music and have a 20 yr window and hope for the best
When I listened it went from Weezer to Black Sabbath and within 90 min there was Led Zep...
Commit to New Music and have a 20 yr window and hope for the best
Aggressive? What's that? Why not Meth Head Tweaker Rock? It doesn't matter what they call it. The morning show is repellant and the music has very limited appeal. Whatever audience they are targeting is listening to something else--And it's likely not another Radio station...
Can Steve Harvey talk about things that are going on in Buffalo. When there is a raging snowstorm will he talk about it?
How many radio stations are there in Buffalo? Should they all do the exact same thing?
Steve himself doesn't have to address the local weather. The station has local staff that does live cut-ins. The same way WBFO does local cut-ins during Morning Edition.
Country Aircheck interviewed WYRK's Bob Barnett after the Buffalo shooting, and here's what he said:
BTW Steve himself addressed the Buffalo shooting, and there's a podcast of what he said online.
So there are ways to handle local stories when you have a syndicated morning show. It's not unusual nor difficult.
I intermittently listened to both WBLK and WUFO after the Tops Market murders. As others have noted in a previous thread dedicated to radio's response to the abhorrent tragedy that took the lives of ten African American residents, I must have missed the local reports from "staff members on the scene." WBLK and WUFO were sweeping what sounded like voice-tracked music programming each of the numerous times I spot checked the stations after the shootings were reported on WBEN, WECK, The Buffalo News website, and local TV stations.
Of WBLK and WUFO? No long-form reporting. No local cut-ins.
Both WUFO and WBLK are heritage urban stations. WBLK bills itself as "The People's Station." So it's bleakly ironic that WBEN, the right wing news-talk station which might as well bill itself as "The Suburban White People's Station;" and WECK, the upper-demo-oldies station, far better served the interests of Buffalo's inner-city community than did the urban legacies, WUFO and WBLK.
So, Harvey "talked" about the shooting on the Monday immediately following the weekend. I spot-checked listened and heard only one conversation before the show reverted to form. No fan of WBEN is this poster, but the fact is, the station, even with a depleted news staff, offered more coverage of the Buffalo shootings in newscasts and its local talk shows on the following Monday, and through the ensuing week.
As to WBUF, the original topic of this meandering thread: Keep bailing and make sure the bilge pumps don't fail.
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That's not accurate; the only local daypart is afternoons.
Middays are now voicetracked from Grand Rapids. Evenings run a national program (Lamewire - I mean Loudwire Nights). Overnights are jockless.
One of the weekend voices - Maggie Meadows - is based at Banana 101.5 in Flint, MI.
100% agree regarding Steve Harvey. He is to Urban radio what Rush Limbaugh was to news/talk radio. An absolute giant.
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GTA - Grand theft Auto !!!!
They can spend a half million on local talent, and if the music sucks, it will still be a 1 share station.
I think there's too much emphasis on geography of the talent, and not enough on the TALENT of the talent.
How many people do you think care? Maybe just you?
What's that song? "Everybody's workin' for the weekend." Why? Because they don't work on the weekend.
Flint must be the Radio Mecca for Town Square. WBUF just copies and pastes the playlist that is provided. As Big A stated,
"No one cares". The puny ratings reflect that...
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