• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WECK bringin local back

X

x13thfloorrand

Courtesy of the Buffalo News:
http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/story/287808.html

The morning show will be anchored by Western New York radio veterans Harv Moore and Tom Donohue, Greene said. Moore was most recently on the air at WHTT 104.1 FM. Donohue, whose real name is Tom McCray, is a Buffalo State College professor and longtime radio newsman most recently with WLKK 107.7 FM.

Thoughts on this lineup and potential success?
 
I'm anxious to hear the new format. I do think it would be unfair to speculate too much until we hear it. But here are my thoughts, based on the very incomplete details of the newspaper article (oh, how we need a qualified successor to Anthony Violanti as the News).

Harv Moore has always been a music host, so it will be interesting to find out how he fares in an all-talk context. Will "Tradio" be simulcast on both stations or will WECK have its own host? It already runs from 9:15 to 10am on WLVL. More importantly, will this small market radio concept translate well in Buffalo? Will Scott Leffler be one hour? Or will his two hour show on WLVL from 11 to 1 be simulcast on both stations, giving him a three hour presence on WECK? As you can see, there are a lot of questions here that the article didn't answer. I'm also wondering if Doug Young, who is now doing news on WLVL, will have a presence on WECK.

Whatever the case, it appears that much of the broadcast day will consist of syndicated fare. I have doubts that O'Reilly, Miller, Bortz and Fox Sports will attract a sizeable audience. It'll be good to hear Jim Bohannon again. I used to enjoy his show when WBEN carried it. But I don't see much more than a one share for this kind of syndicated programming.

I'll also be interested in hearing the "local" news presentation. Tom Donohue won't have the resources of the WBEN newsroom like he did when he did local news on KB and the Lake. Will the station have a street reporter? Will Donohue and Tom Schuh do phoners to obtain sound for the newscast? Or will it simply be rewrites from the Buffalo News and TV station websites. If it's the latter, WECK will pose no threat to WBEN. If they are more aggressive in covering local news, especially if one of the nine hires is a street reporter, then things could get interesting. But again, we don't have answers to these questions, so it's hard to speculate until we hear the programming.

I have great respect for Tom Schuh. So, I wish him well with this new endeavor. We'll just have to listen to how it sounds once the format is launched!
 
Early Returns...

Can it do worse than "Classic Country"?

It will be interesting to see how the chemistry works between Harv Moore and Tom Donohue. I'm not sure if either one has done a show before that didn't feature at least some music. If they're doing 6-10AM, that will be a long day for them, depending on what other features are interspersed with their segments. It will take considerable preparation to keep it moving and topical. I expect that there will be more humor than hard news.

I think that Tradio could actually work, and Leffler does it well. His subtle - and sometimes not-so-subtle - jabs at callers keep it fresh and keep it from getting stale.

Will Limbaugh, Beach, & Dobson beat O'Reilly, Miller, and Boortz? Depends on what brand of gas you prefer - local or national. I suspect that it may depend on who's talking about what each day. If WECK manages to nick WBEN's numbers, they'll probably be satisfied.

We know nothing about the promotions budget, or what it's really going to sound like, or how those 9 bodies are allocated, so it's hard to make a prediction. I'll be interested to hear the morning show, but I doubt that I'll change my afternoon listening habits - which means that neither WBEN nor WECK will get many quarter-hours out of me.
 
Here's one vote for Harv to bring in his old pal "The King Of Fa", it's at least as entertaining as 3 hours with Zach & Rose.
 
alw said:
Here's one vote for Harv to bring in his old pal "The King Of Fa", it's at least as entertaining as 3 hours with Zach & Rose.
Click to expand...

And, at least we'll know that his questions are supposed to be funny...
 
How very sad, if true. (Consider the source, though. At the best of times, 'The Buffalo Snooze' is a dubious one!).

I, for one, expected much more than 'fun radio'! But then nobody asked me, but that's OK!

Somewhere on this board in another thread, someone suggested that the new WECK might become
the next WHLD. I defended Dick and Tom. I still think they are a great pair but with syndicated hosts
like 'Bill O’Reilly, Dennis Miller and Neal Boortz. Fox Sports and Jim Bohannon', it seems to be heading
that way already and it's not even on the air.

And really, Dick? "It’s all about fun radio."?
I guess that depends on your view of 'fun'? My view of "a lighter approach' and 'fun radio' does not,
and never did, include "The Fa King'? (Nothing personal Harv, it's just NOT my taste!)

A 'hometown approach to local news talk'? DEFINITELY, yes! I'm certain I'm not the only one who thinks that you could have done MUCH better and I, for one, expected much more. But who cares what I think?

Best of luck!
 
Frankly, I was very pleasantly surprised to hear who Dick hired. I've listened to his Lockport station for 15 years and he had a history of hiring inexpensive, inexperienced, or unknown talent. It's only been in recent times that he has actually opened up his wallet and spent a little money to improve the on air product of WLVL. He's added a few more bodies there, improved the news coverage, and cleaned things up a bit. Nevertheless, for a guy whose reputation for being cheaper than a dollar store greeting card, the hiring of two well-known radio guys with decades of experience is a big deal.

Donahue continues to be one of the most-heard local voice-over guys in the area. He has to have been on at least a half dozen local radio stations. He's done oldies, rock, country, news....Of course Harvey has quite the history too. Yes, he's been a jock for his entire career that's where many many radio talk show hosts were too, beforehand. Donahue and Moore worked at WHTT together so perhaps there might be some chemistry. Hopefully there will be some promotion to help listeners find these familiar voices. It will be interesting to see if they use a call screener for Scott Lefler's show. They don't in Lockport and they don't have a delay either.

I was hoping for local afternoon drive but maybe that will come later if Shane comes back to town....just kidding. Just the fact that there will be something else to listen to has me interested. Even the initial on-air glitches will be fun to hear.
 
Any chance of them raiding any WBEN talent? I would assume contracts are in place to prevent such a move, but never say never.

Could you imagine having actual, real-life newstalk competition in this town once again!
 
Please, don't misunderstand my posting above. Tom Donahue and Harv Moore are both well known and talented local broadcast veterans. The name recognition alone may help WECK gain a few new listeners.

IF however, WECK'S 'light and fun" approach to news/talk includes features like Harv's famous 'The King of Fa' feature or similar 'lightness' ... I doubt that the Buffalo radio audience will accept that as news/talk.

When I said that Dick Greene 'could have done much better' I did not mean with the local talent he hired, but rather with having to rely on syndicated talkers to fill most of the broadcast day. O’Reilly, Miller, Boortz and Bohannon barely even know where Buffalo is! Syndicated talk is cheap (not really that cheap either!) but it's NOT local, hometown radio.
 
Pair o' Ds

If Harv & Tom can turn mornings into a local version of "The Daily Show", they'll have listeners. As I say, at least they'd be intentionally funny. Now we need to find a local "Steven Colbert". Airborne Eddie need not apply.

As far as raiding WBEN is concerned, who would you want? Maybe Dobson, although I can't see him beating either Bauerle or Beach. How about Kevin Hardwick, who's made his Sunday show a must-listen for local political junkies and desperate news people? There's got to be another Political Science professor in town who wants a shot at the limelight, and can be at least as entertaining as Hardwick.

I think that it would be fun to find some people who can puncture the gasbags currently spouting off on various topics from both the extreme left and the extreme right, and bring some semblance of sanity back to news/talk.
 
It's not comedy, but perhaps Tom and Dick should take a listen to The Bill Nojay Show heard each afternoon on Bob Savage's WYSL in Rochester. While it wouldn't be totally "hometown" local -- it's certainly more local than O'Reilly, Miller and that bunch. The focus of the show seems to be the upstate economy, politics, etc. If I'm not mistaken, Podcasts of the Nojay Show are available for audition on the WYSL website.
 
Dick Greene has, undoubtedly, conjured up a formula that he thinks will work well enough to bring in sufficient money to keep body & soul together and pay for 9 employees on top of it.

It's the 9 employees that have me worried. Seems like a big nut to meet for a station such as WECK. From what I can remember WECK has never had 9 people working there at one time....ever. I hope he can pull it off.

We're all filled with platitudes about what he should do and how he should it, but Dick's a smart guy and has something in mind. I'm no fan of O'Reilly or Miller or the other national blowhards, but I like Dick and Harv and Tom (both of them) and I for one will be listening and hoping for the best.
 
Re: Pair o' Ds

SirRoxalot said:
As far as raiding WBEN is concerned, who would you want? Maybe Dobson, although I can't see him beating either Bauerle or Beach. How about Kevin Hardwick, who's made his Sunday show a must-listen for local political junkies and desperate news people?
Click to expand...

The B&B boys are pretty entrenched, but I think Dobson would give them a run for their money. Although I would think he'd have a better shot with a younger, less conservative FM crowd.

Hardwick is great in small doses. The political junkies don't make up enough of the audience to guarantee him any degree of sustained success.
 
alw said:
It's the 9 employees that have me worried. Seems like a big nut to meet for a station such as WECK. From what I can remember WECK has never had 9 people working there at one time....ever. I hope he can pull it off.
Click to expand...

I would have to think at least half that number would have to be salespeople. The local on-air staff is at least three as we know it.
 
I hope WECK sets some time aside for at least one local afternoon program. WYSL simulcasts WHEC during evening rush, going up against WHAM-AM's own newscast...I wonder if WECK could do the same with either WGRZ or WIVB.
 
I am of course paying attention with great interest. I welcome your comments on what you've read so far, and what you hear once we launch (which will be soon). There is one more major announcement still to come. Rest assured I will be reading, and I will respond when I'm able. However, I will not participate in flame wars or personal attacks. Fortunately those seem to be rare on our board.

Looking fw to the dialogue,
Schuh
 
Harv and Tom are top talents and both great guys...and I would be thrilled to see them do well...but I'm a little skeptical. If Danny couldn't get decent ratings when he returned to KB(legendary calls and 50kw), why should we expect Harv and Tom to get decent ratings at lkw WECK? I assume Harv will be the lead personality and Tom will be doing News/Sidekick duties? I am interested to see how Tradio works on a large city station. I'm also skeptical that with EBay, Craigslist, etc. they will be a strong demand for this. But it'll be interesting to see.

As for right wing talk. I think WBEN has the market covered there(as WHAM does in Rochester). As for WECK's new con-talk lineup: O'Reilly and Boortz and their "anyone who doesn't think our way is scum" philosophy appeals only to hard core right wingers and I think their shelf life is limited at this point. Blaming The Clintons for everything that's bad, including the War of 1812, is getting a little stale, guys. Dennis Miller(like Al Franken and David Lee Roth), is an example of why entertainers in other fields don't normally make good radio personalities - it's a different art form.

I assume they are targeting WBEN for listeners. Has going after a heritage AM ever worked anywhere? Just wondering. Lee Iacocca said in his autobiography back in the 80s(regarding his development of the Minivan at Chrysler) - that you don't imitate your competition, you out-flank them. I think you need something original.

That said, I've worked with Dick and Tom and they are both nice guys and I wish them the best and if their initial lineup doesn't work out, they eventually find a slice of the Buffalo radio audience.

It's the 9 employees that have me worried. Seems like a big nut to meet for a station such as WECK. From what I can remember WECK has never had 9 people working there at one time....ever. I hope he can pull it off.
Click to expand...

Back in during the early WECK years of Quid Me Broadcasting, they had much more than 9 people. Probably close to 20, including airstaff, business/traffic, sales, part timers and, of course, management. Things changed when they became WJYE's sister station in the late 80s and went satellite. I think they had only a live morning show and that was it. It's cool they'll be broadcasting again from 2900 Genesee Street, Cheektowaga, NY - many of us remember the old WNIA jocks mentioning that famous address during little on air blurbs.
 
topsound said:
I am of course paying attention with great interest. I welcome your comments on what you've read so far, and what you hear once we launch (which will be soon). There is one more major announcement still to come...

Looking fw to the dialogue,
Schuh
Click to expand...

Tom,

Great! You've piqued my interest again! And who would have guessed you were listening in! LOL

Can't wait for the major announcement and the launch. How about a heads up on the date and time of launch, so we can all reset the first selector button on the car radio?

Keith
~
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom