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WNED Signs Agreement to Acquire WBFO

The Buffalo News article now agrees on the March 1st date. Let's hope that Boswell & Co. don't screw it up too much.
 
I guess we'll know soon if this week's Blues shows are the last in prime time on Saturday and Sunday. Rumor has it that WNED plans to bump the weekend afternoon Blues, and move them to another time slot. I suspect that will create an outburst of outrage from the local populace.
 
Jim Pastrick sounds great doing his reports for WBFO. Atta boy Jim!
 
Jim Pastrick sounds great doing his reports for WBFO. Atta boy Jim!
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JP is a pro...regardless of what he's doing. Give him a mic...and let him go!! BTW- (no offense intended JP ;)) he's part of the heyday that be gone ...but donates blood to keep it alive ;D

HDBG
 
Credit should go to the great staff at WBFO and News Director Eileen Buckley.
 
Eilleen Buckley...a WBUF alumni (among the many from the 80's/ 90's powerhouse)!! (We had a cruise ship full of them...and glad to see many still sea worthy!!)

HDBG

Disclamer : I'm not a listener of BFO...but dropping names in the mix says loads ;D
 
Heh. "The broadcast of JazzWorks over an HD bandwidth will ensure a better quality sound, said Donald K. Boswell, WNED president and chief executive officer." That tells you all you need to know about what DKB knows about radio. He thinks that HD works. Rumor has it that the new ID was supposed to include the words "High Def" in relation to HD - which is patently false. He also thinks that rebroadcasting WBFO on Rogers cable in Toronto will bring in a windfall. All of you who listen to music channels on your HD TV, raise your hands.

Shifting the Blues to weekend evenings is not good news for the audience, and will hurt numbers for the Blues and for the radio station. People are busy and mobile on weekend afternoons. Tuning in the Blues for a few minutes, or a few hours, allows them to drift in and out of listening. Long form programs running an hour or more simply don't fit a mobile audience, let alone a younger audience.
 
It's been my experience that people who want specialized programming like blues will seek it out at whatever time it airs. Especially if they like the program host. Also, the public radio audience is used to the concept of long form programming in afternoons. It happens all the time. The other thing that will become more of a factor, especially for public radio, will be timeshifting of radio programming like Tivo for TV.
 
Weekday afternoons, with people in offices or home offices, are a very different listening environment than weekends, when most people are much more mobile. Long form works when people are sedentary. Not so much when they're mobile, although segmented programming helps.

People will seek out music or special programming that they like, but you now restrict yourself to the existing audience, which is likely to shrink on Saturday and Sunday evenings. The available audience at those times is considerably smaller than Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5. Any idea of growing the Blues audience has just suffered a massive, gaping wound.

What it really sounds like to me is that Blues programming, which is VERY successful, is not in the comfort zone of the programmers at WNED. Their experience with music programming and talent is Classical music on WNED-FM. Moving the Blues is designed to slowly starve it of audience. The idea of "local music" on air during the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday will fade within a year due to "budgetary restrictions" and "lack of response". I can hardly wait to hear who will host those "local music" shows, and what kind of music they'll feature. The last attempt, the "On the Border" series, was amateurish at best.
 
SirRoxalot said:
Long form works when people are sedentary. Not so much when they're mobile, although segmented programming helps.
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Public radio is built around long form programming rather than 24/7 formats. Listeners know what they're getting.

SirRoxalot said:
Any idea of growing the Blues audience has just suffered a massive, gaping wound.
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The choice is between the current airtime, or not at all. Status quo isn't usually an option after a station is sold. So the blues community will do the legwork in "growing the Blues audience." That's how things work in non-commercial radio.

SirRoxalot said:
What it really sounds like to me is that Blues programming, which is VERY successful, is not in the comfort zone of the programmers at WNED.
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I think you're inventing something here. Programmers don't program for themselves, but the audience, and they clearly are comfortable with the support they receive from the blues audience. That's why blues will stay on the main signal, and jazz will go to HD. I've programmed public radio stations with fringe formats like blues, and it's been my experience that they will continue to support their programming regardless of airtime.
 
SirRoxalot said:
The idea of "local music" on air during the afternoons on Saturday and Sunday will fade within a year due to "budgetary restrictions" and "lack of response". I can hardly wait to hear who will host those "local music" shows, and what kind of music they'll feature.
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NPR provides station support for local origination shows like this. And stations use programs like this as benefits for members, and as fundraising opportunities. It's been my experience that it's easier to raise sponsorship dollars for live music programming than capital expenses. At least for now, there is also federal money available from NEA and NEH.

This is the kind of community-based programming that is missing from commercial stations, because they're focused more on format and ratings. That's not the case in the non-commercial world.
 
Well, you obviously haven't listened, and don't have local sources who have been part of the discussions about the Blues shows. Blues is hardly a "fringe" format in Buffalo. And weekend listening patterns are significantly different than weekday patterns. People tune in NPR for long-form talk. Different people tune in WBFO specifically for Blues on the weekend, and I'll bet you dinner at the steakhouse of your choice than the numbers will decline on Saturday. Sunday's tougher because the Blues was up against The Bills - who gave us plenty of things to be blue about.

Once again, you're speaking in generalities without knowing the specifics of the Buffalo market, the programming here, or the people involved. BTW, I'm strictly a listener here. My dog in this fight is likely to benefit from the moves made so far by WBFO.
 
You guys can fight this out at the new Dinosaur Barbeque that will be opening soon in Buffalo. However, I expect the environment will slant the discussion in a certain direction.
 
SirRoxalot said:
Once again, you're speaking in generalities without knowing the specifics of the Buffalo market, the programming here, or the people involved.
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But the people making this decision DO live in Buffalo, know the specifics, the people, and the money. And they have a dog in the fight.

If it's a big issue, the blues community will hold demonstrations outside the station building.

And you can say a lot about me, but I have more experience with public broadcasting than you.
 
The people at WNED have a lot of experience with TV, a classical FM, and a low-rated AM. The people with experience in a highly-rated NPR station have not been invited to the party under the new ownership. You may know more about plugging in NPR programming generally, but I know a LOT more about this market.

Demonstrations at public meetings may be the only reason that the Blues made the transition at all. Demonstrations outside their building are not out of the question, but I'd be willing to bet that the response will be more public, will involve social media, and that a lot of people will vote with their dollars on the changes in programming. Don Boswell as much as spit on what WBFO raised in pledges during the Blues shows, but I'll be he'll be a lot less impressed if his local pledge dollars are cut in half. And I'll bet that Canadian dollars from cable radio won't make up a 10th of that.
 
SirRoxalot said:
I'd be willing to bet that the response will be more public, will involve social media, and that a lot of people will vote with their dollars on the changes in programming.
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If not for what they're getting from WBFO, what other station in the market would cater to their demands?
 
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