• 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

WHLD: Feb. 13th is the day

T

ThePickleReport

I had a chance to view a press release this afternoon. AAR/Democracy Now will be on WHLD beginning Feb. 13th under the station slogan "The Voice of Reason". (Boy,I hope I have that right, I only read it once.) If I read between the lines the organization that has funded Democracy Now on WHLD will actually LMA the station (a phrase something like "entered into an agreement with Citadel" made me believe that). Veteran Buffalo broadcaster Ray Marks is also involved and is the contact listed on the press release. The press release made it sound like Mr. Marks might be a part of a local morning show as well.


That's all, have at it.
 
We now pause for the sound of Earl Hull spinning in his grave.
 
According to the Buffalo News.......

Liberal talk is coming to Buffalo radio in 10 days, and it's bringing along Al Franken.
A group of investors and radio veterans is launching a new radio station billed as the progressive alternative to the conservative talkers who dominate local airwaves.

Niagara Independent Media takes over the operation of WHLD-AM 1270 at 6 a.m. Feb. 13 and plans to offer a mix of Buffalo-based talk and news as well as national programming.

"We're excited and anxious to get going. Finally, another voice in local talk radio," said Ray Marks, a former news director at WBEN-AM and WGR-AM. Marks is a partner in this venture and will serve as station general manager and on-air host.

The investors say this station will be the first locally owned, commercial radio station in the country to offer talk from a liberal point of view. There are other such stations that are not supported by commercial advertising.

"We're not going to be a fringe-left station. We're going to be a station that I think reflects the values of Western New York," said Brian Brown-Cashdollar, Niagara Independent Media's president and a former official with the Western New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health.

The station will operate out of WHLD's studio at Delaware Avenue and Chippewa Street for about six weeks before moving into a new, 3,500-square-foot studio under construction at the Tri-Main Center on Main Street.

Niagara Independent Media has entered into a license management agreement with Citadel Broadcasting Company to operate WHLD. The new WHLD plans to hire 15 employees by the end of its first year, and the entire operation represents an investment of $600,000, said Brown-Cashdollar.

The station will broadcast around the clock, hosting local call-in shows, a fledgling news operation and programs from the liberal Air America Radio Network and Pacifica Radio. Franken, the former "Saturday Night Live" writer and author, has a show on Air America.

Brown-Cashdollar and his fellow investors say the station will fill a void in local talk radio, which is dominated by WBEN-AM 930, an Entercom station whose hosts have a solid conservative bent.

The investors in Niagara Independent Media include Michael I. Niman, a Buffalo State College assistant professor and frequent contributor to Artvoice magazine, and Richard Lipsitz Sr., a labor attorney.

Marks and Alex Blair, who has been executive director of the labor-backed radio program "Prospering in America," will be among the first local hosts on the station. WHLD will be hiring other on-air talent whose identities Marks was not ready to reveal Thursday.
 
Change the Call Letters!

How about something a little more memorable....WEBR perhaps? I hate to see heritage call letters go away but this station has an identity problem.....it has none! Also, perhaps the new management should think about striking a deal with one of the television stations to help with news. Whether the television station provides simultcasts, hourly news updates or just sound bites/actualities...it would bolster 1270's efforts.
 
A Sense of History

How about "WINY" for Iney Wallens, Niagara Falls Broadcasting Legend.

Oh, wait, maybe "Whiney Radio" might not go over so well...
 
Saints Preserve Us!

> According to the Buffalo News.......
>
> Liberal talk is coming to Buffalo radio in 10 days, and it's
> bringing along Al Franken.

At least we've been forewarned. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery during this show.

> A group of investors and radio veterans is launching a new
> radio station billed as the progressive alternative to the
> conservative talkers who dominate local airwaves.

Actually, I thought about this and what dominates the airwaves in Buffalo is MUSIC! Country, Classic Rock, Active Rock, AC and Urban.
>
> Niagara Independent Media takes over the operation of
> WHLD-AM 1270 at 6 a.m. Feb. 13 and plans to offer a mix of
> Buffalo-based talk and news as well as national programming.

I'll be listening, if nothing more than for the historical perspective.


> "We're excited and anxious to get going. Finally, another
> voice in local talk radio," said Ray Marks, a former news
> director at WBEN-AM and WGR-AM. Marks is a partner in this
> venture and will serve as station general manager and on-air
> host.

Smart move. A radio vet.

> The investors say this station will be the first locally
> owned, commercial radio station in the country to offer talk
> from a liberal point of view. There are other such stations
> that are not supported by commercial advertising.

Hmmmm. Except they DON'T own the station. They LEASE it. It's an LMA.

> "We're not going to be a fringe-left station. We're going to
> be a station that I think reflects the values of Western New
> York," said Brian Brown-Cashdollar, Niagara Independent
> Media's president and a former official with the Western New
> York Council on Occupational Safety and Health.

What are the values of Western New York? Buy one, get one free?

> The station will operate out of WHLD's studio at Delaware
> Avenue and Chippewa Street for about six weeks before moving
> into a new, 3,500-square-foot studio under construction at
> the Tri-Main Center on Main Street.

Spacious! What's that... the size of two Cheektowaga ranch houses?

> Niagara Independent Media has entered into a license
> management agreement with Citadel Broadcasting Company to
> operate WHLD. The new WHLD plans to hire 15 employees by the
> end of its first year, and the entire operation represents
> an investment of $600,000, said Brown-Cashdollar.

See my comment following the "locally owned" 'graph above.

> The station will broadcast around the clock, hosting local
> call-in shows, a fledgling news operation and programs from
> the liberal Air America Radio Network and Pacifica Radio.
> Franken, the former "Saturday Night Live" writer and author,
> has a show on Air America.

"Fledgling?!" Oh noooooo. Never say "fledgling" when WBEN says "biggest and best, most experienced and award-winning." Oyyyy!


> Brown-Cashdollar and his fellow investors say the station
> will fill a void in local talk radio, which is dominated by
> WBEN-AM 930, an Entercom station whose hosts have a solid
> conservative bent.

Except for the unpredictable Ron Dobson, who's live and local 7-10 pm.

> The investors in Niagara Independent Media include Michael
> I. Niman, a Buffalo State College assistant professor and
> frequent contributor to Artvoice magazine, and Richard
> Lipsitz Sr., a labor attorney.

Everybody needs a write off, especially since Republicans seem to be handing out free passes for stuff like this. Nice to see dems taking advantage.

> Marks and Alex Blair, who has been executive director of the
> labor-backed radio program "Prospering in America," will be
> among the first local hosts on the station.

Phew! There's an unenviable task. WBEN has news, sports, traffic and weather... we've got, uhhhh... "fledgling?"

> WHLD will be
> hiring other on-air talent whose identities Marks was not
> ready to reveal Thursday.

A good sign for local talent.
 
$600k for the first year including 15 salaries? Those jobs are the "values of Western New York". That must be an awfully low LMA payment; anyone have the monthly figure?
 
The Revenuers

> $600k for the first year including 15 salaries? Those jobs
> are the "values of Western New York". That must be an
> awfully low LMA payment; anyone have the monthly figure?

Now, c'mon. They're planning to have at least SOME revenue coming from the crack sales department.

Besides, they're founding this radio station for the common good. Volunteers will be flocking to them, unions will be buying time to reach their members, and the Dems will be dropping big advertising dollars leading up to the mid-term elections because they KNOW that the "faithful" will be glued to the message delivered by 1270.

The LMA payment HAS to be bigger than the number generated by brokered programming. Rumor has it that the number is not insignificant.
 
Re: The Revenuers

> The LMA payment HAS to be bigger than the number generated
> by brokered programming. Rumor has it that the number is not
> insignificant.

That's my point; when large operators like in this case do ethnic/brokered time you know they're not running Grande Media CDs for $25 a holler or giving Radio Asia any freebies. $600k/yr would be the LMA payment, not any staff, I would think. But I don't know specific billing numbers, which was what I was inquiring about.
 
> I had a chance to view a press release this afternoon.
> AAR/Democracy Now will be on WHLD beginning Feb. 13th under
> the station slogan "The Voice of Reason". (Boy,I hope I have
> that right, I only read it once.) If I read between the
> lines the organization that has funded Democracy Now on WHLD
> will actually LMA the station (a phrase something like
> "entered into an agreement with Citadel" made me believe
> that). Veteran Buffalo broadcaster Ray Marks is also
> involved and is the contact listed on the press release. The
> press release made it sound like Mr. Marks might be a part
> of a local morning show as well.
>
>
> That's all, have at it.
>

How well does the station come in in Toronto? It looks like with all that water it might give a decent car radio signal.

How they manage these Democracy Now!/AAR things is beyond me. Do they interrupt DN! for ads, do they accept donations? Are they part Non-Profit part For Profit? Maybe one of those in-between "not for Profits"? My guess is that they pay DN! for the show and allow people to make donations to offset those costs.

From the DN! website:

Democracy Now! is funded entirely through contributions from listeners, viewers, and foundations. We do not accept advertisers, donations from corporations, or donations from governments. This allows us to maintain our independence.

http://www.democracynow.org/about.shtml
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom