WECK'S FUTURE: PICK DATE/NEW FORMAT

[Mortimer]

Whatever format WECK switches to, I hope they keep the Yankee games. Also, I'm a fan of Joe Major's show on the station. It'll never happen, but I'd love to see his show replace that gong show that is WGR's morning show. Howard Simon and Jeremy White are absolutely BRUTAL. Either that, or simulcast Mike and Mike from 6-10, and have Joe do 10-12 (Cowherd is atrocious, as well).
I feel bad that WECK's current format isn't working out...competition is a good thing. I actually tuned into a former incarnation of WECK, when they played classic country (love that stuff...Cash, Hag, Waylon, Willie). However, that is an extremely niche market, and is more suited for FM.

 

[bbb]

Nick, your post is hilarious! The one thing I would love to see out of that is Brad and Scott on for an extended period of time. Scott's hardly on anymore, and he kept getting funnier every time I heard him. Him and Brad have great chemistry. (Brad and Jeremy were a great team on GR, and even to a lesser extent, he and Tom were good, and he plays off his producer now, good. So, I think Brad would be good with a lot of people).

I totally agree with Mortimer's first post. The GR morning show is soooo brutal. It almost sounds like they are not trying at all. I can't even listen to it at all anymore. I wish it actually was the Gong Show, so that they could be gonged off in the first five minutes. Cowherd is atrocious, too (I am a fan of S&B in the afternoon, though)...........And, I do think that two of the strongest things that WECK has are the Yanks and Joe Major/Insiders. It really would be an awesome idea to get that show on daily, and to have it compete with Cowherd for two hours would be great. Right now, I never know when the show will be on, so I only accidentally tune it in and then really enjoy it.

 

[ThePickleReport]

Quick thought on a revised lineup that Dick can put together rather quickly and present to Brad when he returns from his trip:

6am-9am Good Morning Buffalo with Tom and Corey... and BRAD!
9am-12pm The Dan Patrick Show
12pm-1pm Corey and WNYMedia.net contributors
1pm-4pm Dennis Miller
4pm-7pm Nick Mendola and a new face (Dan Cave formerly of WGR? Another former WGR staffer?)

Get rid of Dennis Miller. Nothing against him but he sticks out like a sore thumb. Might as well go all-sports, or mostly sports. Define yourself.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Leave Brad in the afternoon unless you've got somebody stronger. He's got a better chance there than he does in the morning. Give Tom & Corey a chance to develop something, with Tom as the lead talent and Corey as the sidekick. No sense in screwing up all of your dayparts.

 

[GeorgeKramer]

But does Brad have a chance to make a difference in the afternoons going against S&R, Schopp & Bulldog and Sandy Beach?

Here's another idea - how about Brad from 9am to noon, OR, Brad from noon to 3 pm?

Discuss...

 

[jas2525]

But does Brad have a chance to make a difference in the afternoons going against S&R, Schopp & Bulldog and Sandy Beach?

Here's another idea - how about Brad from 9am to noon, OR, Brad from noon to 3 pm?

Discuss...

What's that old expression about deck chairs on the Titanic?

 

[SirRoxalot]

What's that old expression about deck chairs on the Titanic?

HEY! Watch out or you'll get a "Thanks for listening, though, and for taking such an active (sic) in a local business' failure." from Nick.

 

[jas2525]

What's that old expression about deck chairs on the Titanic?

HEY! Watch out or you'll get a "Thanks for listening, though, and for taking such an active (sic) in a local business' failure." from Nick.

I actually think Nick and Brad are the bright spots in an otherwise dismal programming lineup. Granted, Nick is fairly inexperienced, but he seems like an intelligent and funny kinda person...Brad even moreso. Still, "uphill battle" doesn't even describe it.

 

[Element9]

What's that old expression about deck chairs on the Titanic?

HEY! Watch out or you'll get a "Thanks for listening, though, and for taking such an active (sic) in a local business' failure." from Nick.

I actually think Nick and Brad are the bright spots in an otherwise dismal programming lineup. Granted, Nick is fairly inexperienced, but he seems like an intelligent and funny kinda person...Brad even moreso. Still, "uphill battle" doesn't even describe it.

Yup. So why is it getting so much ink here? It's embarrassing. We might as well be writing about WJJL, another fool's errand.

Next format for the Cheektowaga AM stand-alone? Seriously? All comedy. Seriously! The format is getting 2 and 3 shares in other markets. The guys (Shredd & Ragan, Norton & Lederman, Beach, Bauerle, S&B) at radio stations that have real ratings (i.e., anything more than a 1 share, Persons 12+), if they read these wacky threads at all, are having a good laugh. So the W**K already is half way there. Go all comedy. Put it on the bird. Make a deal with a local laff club. Have a local open mic night (on delay, with strict ground rules, of course.) It might make a splash and a little money.

If you had to look at the W**K balance sheet every week, would you keep spinning your wheels with this? What's the definition of insanity? It's 2011. Radio is being challenged at every turn. AM radio faces even greater challenges. AM stand-alones? Damn near impossible. When Entercom, Clear Channel and CBS start putting their high power news-talkers on FM, when stations like WYSL and WCJW buy (multiple) FM translators, you know the writing's on the wall. You'd have a hard time convincing me that W**K is breaking even let alone turning a profit.

I thought I'd sworn off these W**K threads with a compliment to Nick, but c'mon people. Enough. That twelve car freight train comin' atchya? That's reality.

 

[jas2525]

It's 2011. Radio is being challenged at every turn. AM radio faces even greater challenges. AM stand-alones? Damn near impossible.

You left out that part about an inferior signal, no small problem for ANY station, no less one that fits the description above.

JUST FOR FUN...

How much money would have to be spent on promotion JUST to get people to find and/or check this station out? (not even considering how much it would cost to make sure there's a worthwhile product once listeners tune in).

 

[ThePickleReport]

Next format for the Cheektowaga AM stand-alone? Seriously? All comedy. Seriously! The format is getting 2 and 3 shares in other markets.

I liked WBUF's incarnation as a "man talk" station so maybe they should begin to experiment with weekends. That's the part of most talk stations lineups I find the most fault with.

What's next? Social-media controlled radio? http://noise.jelli.com/2011/05/jelli-to-launch-the-first-ever-“social”-radio-stations/

 

[bbb]

WECK has access to another excellent show, and I wish they would find a way to play it nightly. The Tony Bruno Show on Fox Sports. I just heard it tonight for awhile, and it was really good.........I've always been a big fan of Bruno's and I wonder if they can tape delay it, etc. so it gets played in it's entirety every night, after the Yankees (there was no game tonight, so I think the whole show was played).

So, I would go with live or tape delayed Bruno and live Dennis Miller in the morning or afternoon, and have Nick go in the opposite hours.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

I'm from Canada, so forgive me for forgetting why Weck can't just up and go FM.
There's an idea...

 

[Savage]

Just a little problem there; no FM frequencies available. It's a little congested between 92.1 and 107.9 in WECK's neighborhood.....Canada's a major factor in that.

 

[SSSKub]

I forget who made the point of awful ratings. It's true, more people are talking about WECK on this board than listen according to the ratings.

 

[jas2525]

WECK has access to another excellent show, and I wish they would find a way to play it nightly. The Tony Bruno Show on Fox Sports. I just heard it tonight for awhile, and it was really good.........I've always been a big fan of Bruno's and I wonder if they can tape delay it, etc. so it gets played in it's entirety every night, after the Yankees (there was no game tonight, so I think the whole show was played).

So, I would go with live or tape delayed Bruno and live Dennis Miller in the morning or afternoon, and have Nick go in the opposite hours.

The market's VERY established and VERY well known sports station, WGR, struggles to get numbers at least half the year. The other half year they have Sabres games goosing them. WHY oh why would you advocate WECK edging toward a format that, under the best of circumstances, will barely earn them a 1-share, if that? The upside for general talk is significanlty better, albeit still an uphill battle for a small time station.

If this is about saving money rather than building audience, then go brokered and call it a day.

 

[bbb]

Tony Bruno is general talk, just like Brad and Nick are. Bruno's guest last night, and it seems she is a big friend of the show and comes on when she can, was this hot Kris Williams, the host of Ghost Busters or whatever they call it. They talked way more about her obsession with Jim Morrison and The Doors, plus the whole ghost thing, than they talked about sports.

So, really - none of the shows that I mention are straight up sports shows. I love sports, but I can only listen to so much analysis before I want to throw the radio out the window.

 

[Nick Mendola]

Thanks to Element9 for mirroring a lot of my thoughts. You have take chances to make it work and we're trying. Every business is at the mercy of its boss, but I know Dick wants to make good radio. I'm glad we're not rushing into stopgap measures and while I may not know what Brad and Dick are up to, Brad's been right more often than not. WECK is taking on giant stations who've been around forever. Whenever anyone asks me if I'd rather still be at WGR, I understand the question but their lineup is exactly the same. Even if they loved me, is there ANY chance I'd be better off where I was right now? Instead I'm getting daily reps at doing general talk, expanding my rolodex exponentially and doing something that makes me proud. The jokes are fine: I get it. But I also get that the reason the WECK gets brought up so often is because it would be an incredible story if and when it works, and I want to be a part of it. One of the ways they tried to talk me out of taking a better shift, my own show and a raise when I was leaving WGR was by telling me there's only one independent station in the country making it... well I want to make it two. And if I fail, I'm betting there's always a low-paying radio job somewhere.

I really do appreciate the constructive criticism and support, as well as the continued mocking from SirRoxALot, who can't help but comment on every topic that mentions anything about us despite that "no one should be talking about a nothing station."

 

[jas2525]

So what's not to like about Nick?

He comes off as smart, funny and genuine. The format needs more guys like that and less like the egomaniacal out-of-touch blowhard telling tales of Muslim extremists in our midst (and WH) while injecting tidbits of info about birds & flowers. That midday show on the other station needs a trouncing...and perhaps an enema. It wins numbers by default in this corporately manipulated marketplace.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Gee, thanks for the shout-out, Nick. I thought that I've been pretty restrained about WECK lately. Other people have been far more mocking than I have. Good luck with the gig. There's a lot to be said for "getting daily reps at doing general talk, expanding my rolodex exponentially and doing something that makes me proud."