WHLD rumored to flip?

[dustintv]

Rumor has it that WHLD will be flipping to a news/talk radio station again, at least according to "this source":

IT seems that WHLD will flip to become a talk radio station to compete against WBEN and WECK. Unlike WECK and WLVL WHLD has a better signal and will take on more successful shows. The flip will come in January. I'll secretly share the schedule here:

Interesting if this is true, though I'm wondering how the almost bankrupt Citadel can hire local talent if there's truth to the rumored schedule. This would be what WHLD's second or third time trying out as a news/talk station.

EDIT: It seems R-I won't allow to link to the other RI so I'll just repost what poster buffalobill there had posted:

IT seems that WHLD will flip to become a talk radio station to compete against WBEN and WECK. Unlike WECK and WLVL WHLD has a better signal and will take on more successful shows. The flip will come in January. I'll secretly share the schedule here:

5AM-6AM: Wall Street Journal This Morning
6AM-9AM: Buffalo This Morning; hosts TBA
9AM-12PM: Glenn Beck
12PM-2PM: Fred Thompson
2PM-4PM: Joe Scarborough show from WABC
4PM-6PM: Buffalo This Afternoon; hosts TBA
6PM-9PM: Mark Levin
9PM-12AM: Michael Savage
12AM-3AM: Curtis Sliwa
3AM-5AM: Roy Masters

Weekends will feature a special editions of our new afternoon show along with brokered programming and local home&garden shows including a two hour show sponsored by Wegmans Food Markets airing Saturday mornings from 9-11AM. Stay tuned for more!

 

[Element9]

Anything can happen as Citadel circles the drain, especially in the strange universe known as Farid's World. But WHLD going news-talk? Citadel operates two brokered stations in Buffalo: 1kw non-DA 1120 WBBF (it must annoy the Rochester radio geeks to see those call letters assigned to an AM daytimer in Buffalo) and 5 kw DA-1 1270 WHLD. Both stations are brokered and said to bring in more than enough money to pay their electric bills. However, if the WHLD broker is writing checks that bounce better than a Wilson basketball, it's more likely Citadel will move the Hispanic programming from 1120 to 1270 than go news-talk on 1270. It's not like there's a dearth of conservative talk radio in Buffalo. What would WHLD gain? Likely, not a whole lot. Seems this has been tried before with very little success.

 

[TheBigA]

I hate to point this out, but more people read these message boards than listen to WHLD. Anything they put there, from syndicated talk to cows farting will be an improvement. (I vote for cow farts) This station is an afterthought, and there's nothing they can do that will change that. They can hire a full local staff for a half million dollars and MAYBE get a .4, or run national syndication and get a .4. What's the difference?

 

[SirRoxalot]

The only way any of this happens is if somebody else ponies up the $$$ for the live segments, or LMAs the station. Citadel ain't got the cash to pursue this themselves.

 

[TheBigA]

LMA a 5K daytimer? Those days are over. Anyone who has that kind of money could just buy the station.

Is Imus on in Buffalo? That 6-9AM "Buffalo This Morning" slot smells like Imus with news inserts.

 

[Bob1370]

"Anything they put there (on WHLD), from syndicated talk to cows farting will be an improvement. (I vote for cow farts"

Given the current available menu of syndicated talk, can you hear (or smell) the difference?

Seriously, if they're going to try to depend on political retreads like Fred Thompson or maniacs like Beck and Michael Savage (who are drawing aging demos and proving tough to sell) they are not going to bring in the money to justify whatever local programming investment they make--the national acts are likely to stamp the station with a negative image and make them look too much like a mini-WBEN without the news commitment that sets 'BEN apart from the crowd.

the WHLD signal (5 kW-D, 1 kW-N, DA-2) is good enough to cover the heart of the market day and night including Buffalo, the inner-ring and northern burbs (Lackawanna, Cheektowaga, Amherst, the Tonawandas, etc.), and western Niagara County including the Falls and Lewiston. That's enough to make an investment in an alternative local talk format profitable IF you build your schedule around the right roster of young talent and include a couple of local news people in the mix to give you morning and afternoon drive newscasts on weekdays and midday news on weekends. Dick Green is on the right track with WECK but doesn't have the signal to get it done. Making Citadel an offer to swap signals with WHLD would give him the coverage to get it done, and the extra revenue potential to add some local shows in other dayparts that could make him competitive in the core of the market with WBEN (which is clearly relying on its aging core instead of renewing itself like it did 30 years ago), Better to go younger and go local, both in the short and long runs, than depend on national acts whose appeal is outweighed by the controversy and enmity they generate.

 

[TheBigA]

That's enough to make an investment in an alternative local talk format profitable

Three words: Not gonna happen.

No money, no audience, no advertisers, no guarantee it'll get more than a .4, no point.

It's a minimum half million investment in a station that isn't worth that much. They couldn't get a half million for that station if they put it on the market today. They'd make it a satellite for WABC, except Rush and Hannity are already cleared in Buffalo.

If Citadel was really going to make a play for the talk audience in Buffalo, they'd blow up one of their redundant FMs. But that's not going to happen, because they actually make money.

To me, cows farting would be funny. Fred Thompson isn't.

 

[Element9]

That's enough to make an investment in an alternative local talk format profitable

Three words: Not gonna happen...

...To me, cows farting would be funny. Fred Thompson isn't.

BigA: You must have good ears, most folks can't discern the two.

Bob1370: Word is Citadel's AMs make money. News-talk wouldn't. The company has bigger fish to fry, namely keeping their butts OUT of the frier.

BigA: Citadel's FMs aren't redundant aren't redundant arent' redundant.

 

[TheBigA]

BigA: Citadel's FMs aren't redundant aren't redundant arent' redundant.

Classic rock vs classic hits. Basically the same demo. One slightly older and more female than the other. But only slightly.

 

[cee]

You can talk about this forever, but following AM stations are dead(and shall remain that way):
WHLD, WBBF, WWKB, WROC and so many others just like them all over the country. Nothing will get them a sizable audience. Sorry, the party is over.

 

[Element9]

You can talk about this forever, but following AM stations are dead (and shall remain that way):
WHLD, WBBF, WWKB, WROC and so many others just like them all over the country. Nothing will get them a sizable audience. Sorry, the party is over.

WWKB could score some ratings if it had more localism, but Entercom wants it to be dead so the AM mothership doesn't have competition. Regent's WYRK has bested WBEN 12+ and WBLK may overtake WBEN as well, especially if there isn't a major snowstorm or power outage before December 9th. Entercom doesn't need another AM station threatening the queen. A few threads back, we speculated upon the possibility of WBEN one day going to FM. Some posters noted that rather than WBEN, WGR should move to FM to fill in the deep nulls of its night signal that adversely effect areas like Lancaster (ahem, like William Street and Bowen Road!) A good compromise for WGR would involve simulcasting WGR on 1520 at night, especially hockey nights. I concur however, AM's productive days are waning and WHLD is doing better with brokered programming than it might ever do with news-talk.

 

[dustintv]

Poor WWKB 1520....I love Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz, but seriously it needs some local shows on it. And that will never happen, not with the Entercom's monopoly on the best signals in town(550, 930, and 1520). Thanks Telecom Act of 1996!! The chickens like CC and Citadel are coming home to the roost now.

 

[Bob1370]

"Word is Citadel's AMs make money. News-talk wouldn't."

Isn't news-talk exactly what Citadel's AM portfolio is making a lot of whatever money they're still making, with? Seems to me that WABC, WLS, KGO, KSFO, WMAL, WJR and KABC are propping up the whole outfit these days with the positive cash flow they generate, they're the biggest reason the company hasn't already taken the gaspipe. Some of those stations (KGO, WLS, WJR) are better programmed than others, but they all make money with a mix of local and national stuff in varying proportions. Using WHLD to do the same thing they're doing in some other sizable markets seems to me to be a calculated risk worth taking. If they aren't willing to do that, swap it with Dick Greene and let him have a try at it...

 

[ThePickleReport]

The only reason I can see this happening is if Citadel is getting pay-for-play to clear some of these shows.

 

[dustintv]

So with Citadel about to file Chap 11, is there any news of this flip? Has it been scrapped? Was there any truth to it? I went back to radio (insight) and nothing new was posted.

 

[BUFFALOFLYGUY]

I am wondering if WHLD would return to a "brokerage" agreement where they may lease time out to different organizations? Also, would they bring back the sound of the 70's?

One problem I find is I work in the Falls, but when the sun goes down, the reception of WHLD-AM is simply horrible.

 

[aaronread]

WXXI 1370AM seems to be doing a pretty good job bringing in money. WJIB 740AM is the little station that could (and does!), and WEEI is facing serious competition from upstart WBZ-FM but EEI still has the Red Sox and that's the trump card. Plus the major clear-channeled frequency'd AM's are still market leaders in many cases. I wouldn't call AM dead quite yet. It's more that if AM can't find a way to succeed, then it tends to fail miserably; there's getting to be less and less of a middle ground there.