> I've said it before here. In the late 70s to mid-80s, WGR
> was a better station then KB. Although musically 'GR was
> "wimpier" and more female-oriented, they had more consistent
> personalities and a better balance of music and services.
> Plus they had the Sabres, which they were somehow able to
> integrate seamlessly into the other elements of the station.
Let's remember KB's lineup in the fall of 1977; Danny Neaverth, Jon Summers, George Hamberger, Jay Fredericks, Bev Burke, and weekenders Hank Nevins, Ron Arlen and Chuck McCoy, plus a news department as good as any in the state outside NYC. IIRC it drew a 14.8 in the fall 1977 Arbitrons, vs. WBEN's 13 and WGR's 12. Buffalo spoke, and KB came out the winner.
A year later it was a very different story, of course. By then WBEN had totally remade itself as a younger-skewing full service AC with a fresh infusion of on-air talent, built a 14 share around domination of the 25-49 demo cells, and took over the Arbitron lead, not to relinquish it for almost another 20 years. But fall 1977 and spring 1978 was KB's Indian Summer. The big 1520 enjoyed one final round of market leadership in which the personalities and music came together to take it to the top, before FM competition for all the 12-34 music listeners KB had once commanded, started getting really intense.
WGR was a very good station all during that time from 1976 to the late 1980s when music more or less left the AM band (or at least left the biggest signals in the western NY region). It was a model for a lot of the pioneer AC stations from Syracuse to Cleveland and beyond. But it never was able to take the leadership of the Buffalo market.
When KB fell to FM competition, it was WBEN that took command of the adult listenership in the Buffalo region. Why? Possibly the personality lineup 'BEN built in 1978 and kept intact for almost a decade (Jeff Kaye, Bill Lacy, Kevin O'Connell, Jack Mindy, Stan Barron, and after Stan's untimely passing, John Murphy), combined with arguably the strongest and largest radio news staff upstate NY commercial radio would ever see gathered in one place. Maybe it was WBEN's better 24/7 signal pattern (KB was the only other AM in the market that really gave substantially full market coverage around the clock), or more effective marketing. Maybe it was bright and astute management that knew how to make the most of all its advantages. Most likely it was all of those things. Whatever the combination of factors, WBEN became a habit that a lot of listeners born between about 1930 and 1960 acquired during the late 1970s and 1980s, and have yet to break.
