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WECK

  • Thread starter NeedsMoreCowbell
  • Start date

"Jeff Silver, general manager of Regent Broadcasting’s Buffalo stations, said the deal was part of a corporate strategy of selling “nonstrategic assets.”"

??? Before or after it went Classic Country? :)

I know CBS made the switch, not Regent, but...
 
Right Section, Wrong Seat

I filed this post earlier in the wrong thread. Doh! Well, at least I got the right board... Next time, I'll use Google Maps.

---

Intrguiging. The published sale price for WECK is $1.3 million. Silver's on record as saying the Standards format billed a million a year at the time WECK flipped from Standards to Classic Country. Why wouldn't Regent retain the station, flip it back to Standards and recoup the lost million?

Presumably, the Buffalo Bison's contributed to that million dollars per year at about $500 per game.

The prospective owner is on record saying he'll pursue a format that features local news, talk and high school sports. Seems risky. Let's presume the Bisons will be back on WECK. (As if there's an alternative. WJJL? WBBF? WHLD? WLOF? WDCX?) The Bisons might even decide to invest a few hundred per game and get the games on WLVL as a bonus for Niagara County.

One might think the new owner would put the Standards-Oldies format back on WECK and grab some of that $1 million annual billing.

-9-
 
Re: Right Section, Wrong Seat

Element9 said:
Why wouldn't Regent retain the station, flip it back to Standards and recoup the lost million?

One might think the new owner would put the Standards-Oldies format back on WECK and grab some of that $1 million annual billing.
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I have some theories about both of those issues. I've had some caffeine so here comes some random thoughts.

1) Regent, like most corporate broadcasters of late, don't seem to want to fool with underperforming AM properties. I can't really blame them especially since WECK is only 1000 watts and the heyday of AM is long over. When was the last big-time success story that you saw about an AM being rejuvenated and pulling big numbers? Yeaaaaaaah. If you can show me one I'd be glad to listen.

2) If they did flip it back to standards how much would it cost to truly promote the station or hire a staff (even a small one)? Is standards as we remember it even sellable now as a format? It would take at least a couple of years of ramping up and they would have to do a better job than Entercom did with the KB-oldies experiment or the current liberal talk one. If you have that financial picture in your head---if they could still pull $1 million in billing---what would the net profit be after all of that hard work? Half that perhaps? Less? If it's you or me who owns the station I'd take even $200k in the black after expenses and salaries. That fight probably isn't worth it to CBS or Regent for a demo that doesn't combo well with any of their other properties.

Having said all of that---I'm still bullish on radio and AM. I think it's a viable frequency if some imagination and spit-and-polish gets put into it. I just don't think you can tolerate any costly missteps early on. I wish Dick Greene well and can't wait to watch from the sidelines.

Thoughts?
 
The difference is if you owned it you would be out selling yourself. I was visiting someone at the CBS cluster here in LA last week and while waiting, overheard all the people walking by talking about going to four department head meetings that day, this corporate nonsense, etc., etc. Ah, the freedom of being independent. You're right; for $400 or $500k in profit BEFORE you pay AEs to sell, it's not worth it. Then, the top, most talented sales people (no offense, but if you're REALLY good, you're not in Buffalo to begin with) left are selling the top FMs or maybe WBEN. Some Class C AM with no agency potential isn't going to attract anyone good. Unless you turn it into a brokered hole with a little filler content for laughs, but in a sub-50 market, you'll burn through clients and have no one left in 2 years.
 
KJCB said:
Then, the top, most talented sales people (no offense, but if you're REALLY good, you're not in Buffalo to begin with) left are selling the top FMs or maybe WBEN.
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Whoa, whoa, whoahhhhh!

OK, you said "no offense" and none is taken. I don't work for the Chamber of Commerce. Now here comes the "But."

There are some very good sales people working at each cluster in Buffalo.

Good God, what have I become??? Defending SALES PEOPLE!!!

A person can live pretty well hawking radio time in Buffalo, if, and yes it's a big "IF," you work hard and develop a good list and have a good product to sell. It ain't easy. A mid-five figure sales salary in Buffalo gets a nice house in the burbs with a mortgage around $130 to $150 large. Good neighborhoods, good schools. No earthquakes or hurricanes either. No two hour commutes to the shop and no Bloods 'n Cripps (yet... and if they do come, we are well armed.) Don't be fooled by the winter weather reports either. We smile in the face of blizzards and the snow eventually melts by August.

Several sales professionals make six figures. They probably live in Orchard Park and East Amherst, areas that are a bit more expensive.

On average you can park your car in a driveway in Lancaster, Depew, Cheektowaga and the Abbott Road side of South Buffalo selling radio here. Not a bad life. Nothing is easy, you have to work for it, but the quality of life cannot be beat.

OK, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to apply for a gig at the Chamber. I'm sure once they see this, they'll sweep me away from my workaday life of breathing paint fumes, plaster dust and the "aroma" of my goofy Uncle Oskie's two day old stogies and the sounds of my nutty Aunt Helen (and her sister Sophie) who thinks she's Maria Calas and sings "You Light up My Life" unlike any 76 year old Polish woman you've ever heard.

No, it definitely ain't LA. It's Buffalo. Come visit. You're always welcome.
 
Opportunity Knocking?

All it takes is one or two good salespeople who were dumped by "corporate" because they were "too expensive" and were replaced by an endless string of sales fodder. For experienced salespeople, it will be an opportunity to create their own "list", and target buyers that were taken away from them during one of corporate's "list reshuffles".

It wouldn't surprise me to see a couple of older salespeople who have already made their bones, but been dissed by corporate, land at WECK. The key will be the programming. They need a product that they believe in.

PS - KJCB, you obviously don't know Buffalo. You might be shocked at the talent level of the top performers here. I know that I've been shocked at the lack of talent displayed in some much larger markets.
 
Re: Opportunity Knocking?

SirRoxalot said:
KJCB, you obviously don't know Buffalo. You might be shocked at the talent level of the top performers here. I know that I've been shocked at the lack of talent displayed in some much larger markets.
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But it's amusing to read the drivel from these out-of-market know-it-alls!

Come live here for a couple of years. Shovel out some forty-two-inch snowstorms. Then come back and offer your opinions.
 
Alright, I think my point was taken a bit out of context. I have been to Buffalo and grew up not very far away in a similar environment. However, while I've often wanted to move to a similar area to get a great house for $300k, the reality is not that there aren't talented people in Buffalo but that many of them leave for "greener pastures". Having endured those winters for many years, it's nice to not shovel my way out of the driveway each morning. For many, it's nice to have the cultural elements of a bigger city (yes, this also works in reverse). The colder northeast and midwestern states have been experiencing a "brain drain" of educated people going to school there and then moving to where they can surf and sun.

Certainly many have family in Buffalo, like the four seasons, grew up and don't want to leave, etc., and those are valid reasons for staying. Surely, though, if a top sales person didn't have those reasons to stay, they could move to New York or LA and earn well over $250k with barely above average performance at one of the better stations. My point was not that there aren't talented people in Buffalo, but that many see better lifestyle and economic opportunities elsewhere and leave.
 
So then, to paraphrase what KJCB seems to be saying, Buffalo is nothing more than a place to polish up or to get the start...right?

Or perhaps even home to many that were dumped when mergers came about in larger markets?

I don't know...I'm from some place in Canada.
I do know this though...if the sales teams weren't any good there wouldn't be any big players in the Buffalo market.

It would all be ma and pa shops struggling to survive.

The big guys seem to be happy with the sales teams they have in Buffalo. CBS may be absent today, but Entercom and others are still around.
 
KJCB said:
Alright, I think my point was taken a bit out of context. I have been to Buffalo and grew up not very far away in a similar environment. However, while I've often wanted to move to a similar area to get a great house for $300k, the reality is not that there aren't talented people in Buffalo but that many of them leave for "greener pastures". Having endured those winters for many years, it's nice to not shovel my way out of the driveway each morning. For many, it's nice to have the cultural elements of a bigger city (yes, this also works in reverse). The colder northeast and midwestern states have been experiencing a "brain drain" of educated people going to school there and then moving to where they can surf and sun.

Certainly many have family in Buffalo, like the four seasons, grew up and don't want to leave, etc., and those are valid reasons for staying. Surely, though, if a top sales person didn't have those reasons to stay, they could move to New York or LA and earn well over $250k with barely above average performance at one of the better stations. My point was not that there aren't talented people in Buffalo, but that many see better lifestyle and economic opportunities elsewhere and leave.
Click to expand...

Often they come back for the very same reasons.

I haven't lived in Buffalo for a very long time. Even with the cold winters there is still something about the place that still makes it feel like home. For one thing it's home to some of the nicest people I have met anywhere. Our car broke down while on vacation there and you wouldn't believe how many people stopped to offer their help.

I wouldn't rule out coming back one day especially if I could get a house with a couple of acres out in the country. People who haven't been there have no idea how beautiful the countryside is, in WNY.
 
I agree, Mike... I'm from Ohio, and if I ever had to move (back) to a depressing, downward-spiraling city in the cold midwest, it would be Cleveland. In spite of all the factual indicators, I like the city. So I understand your point.
 
Where's Mary Loundsbury? Dick could go standards and keep the WECK name..or grab back WNIA and all those great house names..call Rhino Records and get a boxfull of oldies, and start printing money! I'd voice track a show on it for barter! All I want is wings! And don't forget to get a nice cratefull of WNIA clocks..

It's 7:02 on the WNIA clock at Your Host Family Restaurant..turn in at the big plastic revolving Bob Wells head, and order up our ho-made pie!
 
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