WYRK'S TASTE OF COUNTRY

[GeorgeKramer]

Is there a bigger or more successful annual concert event promoted by a local FM station than this?

I'm not a huge country fan but I listen to WYRK from time to time. I know that thousands (maybe over 10,000?) of people will be flocking to downtown Buffalo tonight not for the Greek Festival but to listen to the national talents gathered at Coca Cola Field for 106.5 FM's big summer party.

Clay Moden and company are treated like celebrities at the "TOC" as they work the crowd. It's quite an affair.

Hats off to everyone at WYRK in the promotions and advertising departments for working with the on-air gang to pull another one off. People go crazy for this concert. Nice weather too, a little bit chilly, but at least it is not raining.

 

[GeorgeKramer]

I heard that disaster "Kathy from Williamsville" this afternoon mock the attendees of yesterday's country concert.

While surprised her board-op uttered the letters "WYRK" on 930 AM, I wasn't surprised to hear her incorrectly state that she saw "hundreds of drunk people laying on the ground" outside of the downtown ballpark.

She then added that she was driving to HSBC Arena with her husband and two children to the Josh Groban concert and that she let the kiddies look out the window and witness what "those type of people do before going to listen to THAT music."

Give me a break! What a pompous and arrogant fool. I can't believe she summarized a group of people like that and essentially mocked and ridiculed anyone from WNY who happens to be a fan of country music.

I didn't go to the show and, while I'm sure there were a few cans of beer consumed, I'm insulted that she tried to paint all country music fans who were there last night as chronic alcoholics.

Bill O was a joke, but what does that make Kathy?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Let me know when either one of them makes a living in broadcasting. Until that happens, the word you're looking for is "amateur".

 

[chas108]

I heard that disaster "Kathy from Williamsville" this afternoon mock the attendees of yesterday's country concert.

While surprised her board-op uttered the letters "WYRK" on 930 AM, I wasn't surprised to hear her incorrectly state that she saw "hundreds of drunk people laying on the ground" outside of the downtown ballpark.

She then added that she was driving to HSBC Arena with her husband and two children to the Josh Groban concert and that she let the kiddies look out the window and witness what "those type of people do before going to listen to THAT music."

Give me a break! What a pompous and arrogant fool. I can't believe she summarized a group of people like that and essentially mocked and ridiculed anyone from WNY who happens to be a fan of country music.

I didn't go to the show and, while I'm sure there were a few cans of beer consumed, I'm insulted that she tried to paint all country music fans who were there last night as chronic alcoholics.

Bill O was a joke, but what does that make Kathy?

Oh, where do I begin?

George, did "Kathy from Williamsville" happen to refer to the music as "Country & Western" at any point in this ridiculous rant you described? That's usually the first sign you're dealing with someone living somewhere outside realityland when it comes to the most popular music in the nation...

When I come across people like this (and I have a few in my own family!) it's tempting to ask: Just Where Have You Been THE LAST TWENTY YEARS?!

One reason (and there are many but this is a biggy) that there will never again be stars the size of Michael Jackson, Elton, Elvis or The Beatles is that today Country Music competes head-to-head with Pop for the public's attention. Lady Antebellum's Need You Now was the best-selling album of 2010...in 2008 and 2009 Taylor Swift had the best-selling album. Shania Twain's Come On Over is the best-selling album by a female artist in any genre.

And there was that guy who sold 100 million albums in 11 years...the one who asked me personally to add "Friends In Low Places" back when we met at Jamboree In The Hills 1990...Wasn't his name Garth something-or-the-other?

I assume there's some dial sharing between 'BEN and 'YRK, since Country is the music format most reflective of the traditional mainstream values espoused by conservsative talk radio. Doesn't 'BEN carry Hannity - an unabashed Country fan? Ol' Kathy may well have insulted a large swath of her listeners. (I assume she espouses similar values to the weekday lineup...actually I'm on the 'BEN website, is it Kathy Weppner you're talking about? If it is, I see several blogs referencing the troops and their families. How does she not know the support Country musicians give to our troops??)

And even an outsider like me knows 'YRK's ratings has been consistently somewhere between "dominant" and "amazing" for many, many years. Although I miss that they're no longer a part of my parent company's family, is there any doubt of Townsquare's commitment to the format? The Taste of Country website is as good if not better than CMT or The Boot...and I can tell you firsthand that it's high-fives all around when my station's content gets syndicated to Taste of Country!

Sometimes a personality has to stir things up...sometimes stirring things up may turn off a few people. If this was Kathy's way of stirring things up, my response is - epic fail.

 

[GeorgeKramer]

Again, I was surprised that she said the call letters of another station while on the air.

She doesn't get "it" when it comes to the radio biz. I am also looking at the WBEN website and her bio mentions formerly working at Channel 7. You would think she'd have some journalistic integrity and understand certain things, but she's basically a listener who once got thru Rush's phone screeners and got on the air and Wenger and company took a chance on her.

It was fun while it lasted, but she's a disaster. Everyone knows it, even Bauerle, who was a big supporter of hers at the beginning.

Give that two hours to Ron Dobson or, better yet, air "Cigar Dave" live instead of later in the evening on tape delay. That program is at least entertaining, even if you don't smoke cigars!

 

[heydaybegone]

Again, I was surprised that she said the call letters of another station while on the air.

I come out of the cobwebs of reading rather than writing...ONLY because of this comment.

As the battle continues...you would think that this "cardinal sin" is NOT what it used to be. I know this "no other calls" concept well...but TIMES HAVE CHANGED. DISCLOSURE. People want disclosure now. TELL THEM WTF you're talking about...

It ain't gonna affect the Cluster F that has become "ratings" (Disclaimer: Arbitron is a copywrited namesake- so I can't use it here)
(re-think some things and pick the important things that will make a difference)

That's all

HDBG

 

[chas108]

Again, I was surprised that she said the call letters of another station while on the air.

I come out of the cobwebs of reading rather than writing...ONLY because of this comment.

As the battle continues...you would think that this "cardinal sin" is NOT what it used to be. I know this "no other calls" concept well...but TIMES HAVE CHANGED. DISCLOSURE. People want disclosure now. TELL THEM WTF you're talking about...

It ain't gonna affect the Cluster F that has become "ratings" (Disclaimer: Arbitron is a copywrited namesake- so I can't use it here)
(re-think some things and pick the important things that will make a difference)

That's all

HDBG

I still think of it as a cardinal sin because the two stations are competitors owned by two different companies. There's really no redeeming reason for an Entercom station to invoke Townsquare...not that the listener knows, that's not the point. For me, the one reason to invoke another station's calls is to promote something happening on a sister station - mentioning it's "our sister station" or a part of our (Company) family. CC has been doing this in various forms - both good and cheesy - over the years. It's the old scratch-each-other's-back paradigm. If I'm on Kiss and a huge news story breaks, I may well state that "our friends down the hall at 'BEN just informed me..."

Heyday, you're correct in that people want disclosure nowadays...I think the larger point is that Kathy should never have brought up the topic to begin with. Why call attention to a competitor? Plus to knock a genre of music known for its support of the military - a hallmark of conservative talk radio - is the height of ignorance. That she did it while mentioning going to a Josh Groban concert and having her kids look out the window to see what "those kind of people do before going to listen to THAT kind of music" adds a blinding arrogance to the mix. I hope this was a fluke from an otherwise solid weekend talent, however judging from other comments in this thread, that's a naive hope.