That's a respectable proposal which summarizes some of the points already made by previous posters. You have to wonder if Dan Neaverth would even be interested in getting up at 4 a.m. every day to play the hits. For what? The man has done it all and, save for the recent KB-to-Oldies mess, done it well. He could have gone out on top after leaving Oldies 104, but he chose to make a comeback at KB. You have to think that experience might have soured him on doing radio. And if he does accept a job, you can bet he'll insist that it be done his way, oh... and at his price. I doubt we'll hear him back on the air at WECK. As successful as Dan was at Oldies 104, he was in his prime when he was doing morning drive with Jim McLaughlin through the 70's and later with the late Rob Stoddard in the last days of WKBW.
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WECK hangs out "Help Wanted" sign
- Thread starter VoiceGuyJack
- Start date
I wonder if selling local-direct would give a station enough money? I know it used to be done all the time.
Call it good or call it bad but when KB was playing Oldies they had more fans than the station does today. If they had gone on with zero promotion/excitement in 1958 I don't think KB would have been as successful as it was.
I would have put Danny in mornings, another major name in afternoons. Mid-days, nights, and overnights would be some hungry kids who know the music and want the freedom to do crazy unpredictable real radio. Willing to work inside and outside the station to create the buzz. People who want to be entertainers! News also played a big part in the old KB. Playing second fiddle to WBEN hurt KB.
All this has about as much chance as a snowball in Miami. Video didn't kill the radio star, the drone of the computer automation did.
Call it good or call it bad but when KB was playing Oldies they had more fans than the station does today. If they had gone on with zero promotion/excitement in 1958 I don't think KB would have been as successful as it was.
I would have put Danny in mornings, another major name in afternoons. Mid-days, nights, and overnights would be some hungry kids who know the music and want the freedom to do crazy unpredictable real radio. Willing to work inside and outside the station to create the buzz. People who want to be entertainers! News also played a big part in the old KB. Playing second fiddle to WBEN hurt KB.
All this has about as much chance as a snowball in Miami. Video didn't kill the radio star, the drone of the computer automation did.
Sigh. Sound of deep breath. Remorse at having to type this. Again.
KB as oldies sucked. Bad radio. Poor choice for PD. Except for Danny & Jack, weak line-up. Even a ton of TV wouldn't have helped. There was no "there" there. It was radio for radio goofs like us who post on message boards when we really should be doing something worthwhile. Danny and Jack were interesting for a month, then the novelty faded. Mike, nice thoughts, but young kids don't want to get creative playing 50 year old songs and 62 year olds who remember living in a better world when they had hair, were 50 pounds lighter and driving 55 Chevy's with three on the column don't want to listen to 22 year olds mangle Phil & Don. Let the kids play today's music on WBNY and leave the Oldies to people who are old. 1957 was 50 years ago. That's a lifetime for some people. WECK should be Oldies, but it won't. In the end nobody will really care except us radio goofs. So let Tradio, Swap Shop, Ask The Pro and Colon Blow take their course on WECK. It will be what it will be. Radio's free. John and Jane Doe don't care, just as long as they're hearing Ten In A Row, Led Zeppelin or Phil Collins and there's plenty of chances to win Purses and Free Trips to the Super Bowl.
Gahhh!
-9-
KB as oldies sucked. Bad radio. Poor choice for PD. Except for Danny & Jack, weak line-up. Even a ton of TV wouldn't have helped. There was no "there" there. It was radio for radio goofs like us who post on message boards when we really should be doing something worthwhile. Danny and Jack were interesting for a month, then the novelty faded. Mike, nice thoughts, but young kids don't want to get creative playing 50 year old songs and 62 year olds who remember living in a better world when they had hair, were 50 pounds lighter and driving 55 Chevy's with three on the column don't want to listen to 22 year olds mangle Phil & Don. Let the kids play today's music on WBNY and leave the Oldies to people who are old. 1957 was 50 years ago. That's a lifetime for some people. WECK should be Oldies, but it won't. In the end nobody will really care except us radio goofs. So let Tradio, Swap Shop, Ask The Pro and Colon Blow take their course on WECK. It will be what it will be. Radio's free. John and Jane Doe don't care, just as long as they're hearing Ten In A Row, Led Zeppelin or Phil Collins and there's plenty of chances to win Purses and Free Trips to the Super Bowl.
Gahhh!
-9-
J
JohnW
Guest
Right on the money, 9!
Absolutely, 9! I'm 62, loved re-living KB for a bit, and yes - the novelty wore off. I've resorted to listening to non-commercial WBER, bluegrass on the web from Knoxville and WXXI-FM just to hear something that I havent heard THOUSANDS of times. BTW - I did have more hair back in KB's heyday.
Absolutely, 9! I'm 62, loved re-living KB for a bit, and yes - the novelty wore off. I've resorted to listening to non-commercial WBER, bluegrass on the web from Knoxville and WXXI-FM just to hear something that I havent heard THOUSANDS of times. BTW - I did have more hair back in KB's heyday.
B
Bob1370
Guest
I don't agree with what a lot of people have said about the KB revival of a couple of years ago. Imperfect though it was, it actually did a significant number of things right...and gives indication that the overall approach wasn't a totally wrong one, but could be tried again with good results.
Danny continued to perform well in the morning, and Hank Nevins's decisions on music mix and formatics as PD were solid. Hank was miscast as an afternoon drive guy, although he did belong in the daily starting rotation (he should have been doing middays from the beginning, that's where he succeeded in the 70s and fit best today). Afternoons should have been handed to either Jack Mindy or George Hamberger (both of whom have strong track records in the daypart in Buffalo), nights to Armstrong, and someone should have been hired to do live newscasts in middays and afternoons to provide a full service element to the programming.
So why did it miss? In a way it didn't, because it did draw three times as much AQH and cume as any other format on the 1520 frequency since they killed the original personality hot AC/CHR approach in the late 80s. But it could have achieved much more, with additional daily information and service elements in middays and afternoons, and additional promotion and marketing efforts. Suppose you reformat KB again as a classic hits station, emphasizing 1964-79 music with a few later songs by core artists like the Stones and Springsteen whose careers went deep into the 80s and 90s. You'd be filling a niche abandoned prematurely by WHTT, and appealing to listeners 35-64 who still remember how to find the AM band on their radios. The upside potential? Check CHWO's ratings in the market, then increase them by about 75% to 100%. You can make significant money with that approach and also protect the flank of your news/talk and sports/talk franchises as well. The listeners you get, would be grabbed mostly from stations the other guys own.
If I were in the shoes of Mike Doyle, Entercom's regional boss whose jurisdiction covers both the Rochester and Buffalo markets, I'd take a fresh look at KB and try again. Mike is a bright guy with a good strategic mind, so while I have no inside knowledge, it's possible I'm saying something he's been thinking about himself. Entercom's in a budget trimming mode right now, but they shouldn't let that preclude a genuine opportunity to make money at Citadel's and Regent's expense in a market they're committed to operating in long-term.
Danny continued to perform well in the morning, and Hank Nevins's decisions on music mix and formatics as PD were solid. Hank was miscast as an afternoon drive guy, although he did belong in the daily starting rotation (he should have been doing middays from the beginning, that's where he succeeded in the 70s and fit best today). Afternoons should have been handed to either Jack Mindy or George Hamberger (both of whom have strong track records in the daypart in Buffalo), nights to Armstrong, and someone should have been hired to do live newscasts in middays and afternoons to provide a full service element to the programming.
So why did it miss? In a way it didn't, because it did draw three times as much AQH and cume as any other format on the 1520 frequency since they killed the original personality hot AC/CHR approach in the late 80s. But it could have achieved much more, with additional daily information and service elements in middays and afternoons, and additional promotion and marketing efforts. Suppose you reformat KB again as a classic hits station, emphasizing 1964-79 music with a few later songs by core artists like the Stones and Springsteen whose careers went deep into the 80s and 90s. You'd be filling a niche abandoned prematurely by WHTT, and appealing to listeners 35-64 who still remember how to find the AM band on their radios. The upside potential? Check CHWO's ratings in the market, then increase them by about 75% to 100%. You can make significant money with that approach and also protect the flank of your news/talk and sports/talk franchises as well. The listeners you get, would be grabbed mostly from stations the other guys own.
If I were in the shoes of Mike Doyle, Entercom's regional boss whose jurisdiction covers both the Rochester and Buffalo markets, I'd take a fresh look at KB and try again. Mike is a bright guy with a good strategic mind, so while I have no inside knowledge, it's possible I'm saying something he's been thinking about himself. Entercom's in a budget trimming mode right now, but they shouldn't let that preclude a genuine opportunity to make money at Citadel's and Regent's expense in a market they're committed to operating in long-term.
I agree with Element 9.
The music was terrible on the revived KB! That ruined it. It was a "radio nerdfest!"
Play the hits......
As far as WECK goes.... Neaverth, Hamberger, Mindy, Stan Roberts (I know he's retired and enjoying the sun), Bob Taylor, all could do mornings on WECK..... Heck even Taylor and Moore (just minus the Land of FA--not that the bit wasn't great--just wouldn't fit) would be fantastic!
Wow.... While coming up with this list, I just realized how many good broadcasters that could do this have died, left the market or retired.... Frank Benny, Larry Anderson, Mike Roszman, Jeff Kaye, Tom Shannon, Jerry Reo, etc.
The music was terrible on the revived KB! That ruined it. It was a "radio nerdfest!"
Play the hits......
As far as WECK goes.... Neaverth, Hamberger, Mindy, Stan Roberts (I know he's retired and enjoying the sun), Bob Taylor, all could do mornings on WECK..... Heck even Taylor and Moore (just minus the Land of FA--not that the bit wasn't great--just wouldn't fit) would be fantastic!
Wow.... While coming up with this list, I just realized how many good broadcasters that could do this have died, left the market or retired.... Frank Benny, Larry Anderson, Mike Roszman, Jeff Kaye, Tom Shannon, Jerry Reo, etc.
Buehly said:
I don't think you can re-invent the past. None of those people have anything left they need to prove. Time to turn the reins over to the next generation.
Deepest Apologies
Let me offer my deepest apologies for awakening the Ghost of Radio Past.
You would think that this time of year, the Ghosts of Radio Past, Present, and Future would be busy visiting David, Farid, Bill, Lowry, and many other "leaders" in the broadcast industry.
This thread is about WECK. Let's get back to that discussion. If you feel the need for ANOTHER 'KB thread, please start a new topic. That will make it easier to avoid.
SirRoxalot said:
Let me offer my deepest apologies for awakening the Ghost of Radio Past.
You would think that this time of year, the Ghosts of Radio Past, Present, and Future would be busy visiting David, Farid, Bill, Lowry, and many other "leaders" in the broadcast industry.
This thread is about WECK. Let's get back to that discussion. If you feel the need for ANOTHER 'KB thread, please start a new topic. That will make it easier to avoid.
A
alw
Guest
Re: KB Experiment
The Way We Were was a great song.
Get over it!
The Way We Were was a great song.
Get over it!
SirRoxalot said:
If only some trouble maker hadn't broached the subject in the first place... Oh, and look, Doctor Jazz is using the marquee tags. Nice touch! ;D
A
AndrewLawson
Guest
WECK has the potential to become a good small town, community radio station that offers listeners an alternative to what's heard on WBEN, as long as it doesn't sound small town. Is Tom Schuh officially PD? Topsound?
Bob1370 said:
Ay-yi-yi... talk about damning with faint praise! It's like saying, "The format was bad, but at least it was beating Bruce Williams and whatever's on WJJL, WLVL and WSPQ." That's one helluva compliment!
OK, no more KB stuff.
I think WECK should be leased to Erie Community College, Niagara University, Canisius, Medaille and D'Youville College from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. so the students in the Communications programs at those colleges can have a station to refine their skills and get real world experience under the direction of their professors and WECK management.
BTW, I also thought 92.1 would have made a fine student run facility for students at UB or ECC. Just about anything's better than having it fall victim to "pray for pay." Heck, even "Colon Blow 92 Point 1" (Drake tymp + voice over "Alllll Colon Blow.... Alllll The Time!") would have been better than having smarmy Ernest Angley types selling supplications unto the lord.
Too bad that frequency has essentially been excised from the table.
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