WNED Signs Agreement to Acquire WBFO

[x13thfloorrand]

consolidation has even bit the proverbial public radio bug....


BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Western New York Public Broadcasting Association and the University at Buffalo are pleased to announce today that WBFO-FM 88.7 will become a part of the WNED family of public radio and television stations.
copyright University of Buffalo website www.buffalo.edu

[Bob1370]

WBFO provides better coverage of the Buffalo/Niagara Falls market, even without its satellite signals in the Southern Tier, than WNED-AM ever will because of how restricted the 970 signal is to the east and west (and to a degree, to the south as well). So you have to think they'll consolidate all the staff and program resources at 88.7.

Having said that--what do they do with 970? Seems to me they have several choices. 1) Make it a pure talk and interview format station, with a mix of local shows and national talk, interview and other long-form spoken word programming, plus top-of-the-hour local news briefs but minus Morning Edition, All Things Considered and the other NPR news and info staples which would stay on FM. They could perhaps start the day with The Takeaway and move from that to talk programming in middays, afternoons and night using some national shows and a local or regional offering. There's plenty of material available, more than any one station can carry. 2) Bring back the jazz and cultural programs the old WEBR used to run as a public station after dark and on weekends, only make that their 24/7 format. 3) Sell it off to another broadcaster--I'd venture a guess that given the saturation of the market with religious material, it'd have to be some form of secular format, maybe a commercial talk alternative to WBEN and WWKB, with a signal that while far from perfect, would give better coverage than WECK was able to offer.   

[theradiokid]

Or, they could go all 50's and 60's oldies, AKA WGVU in Grand Rapids, MI.

[Element9]

Western New York Public Broadcasting Association pays $4 million for WBFO and two repeaters, WOLN Olean and WUBJ Jamestown.  Four million?!!  Somebody call the cops. 

It will be argued that WNYPBA can run WBFO more efficiently.  The University at Buffalo will no longer have the burden of salaries and expenses associated with operating an FM radio station "that nobody listens to anymore because after all, it's 2011 and everybody knows it's all about new media, radio having gone the way of the typewriter."

I suppose there's some objective merit to this sale, as the press release glowingly indicates, but there may come a time when the decision to sell WBFO/WUBJ/WOLN comes back to bite UB in the buttock.  WBFO is an outstanding vehicle for promoting the many assets of a fine public university.  The radio station over the years provided fertile ground for the growth of many talented radio news and music professionals locally and nationally.

Kudos to WBFO General Manager, Mark Vogelzang for guiding WBFO through a major transition, thinning the herd and improving morale.

Feh. 



     

[SirRoxalot]

WBFO certainly has gone through some changes since Mr. Vogelzang came onboard. I suspect the reason he was brought in was to either get WBFO to be revenue-neutral, or to move the station to a new owner. I'm guessing that revenue-neutral was not an option with the existing management  and NY Education Department salary structure.

What will be interesting is to see what talent and programming makes the transition. Several people have already retired, or been released. If they combine the real talent at WBFO with the news department at WNED-AM, they'll have a chance to challenge WBEN. Eileen Buckley is a quality newsperson. Mark Scott has transitioned to "part time", but would be a quality add as well.

WNED will be much more aggressive in marketing the station. In part, they'll likely have an advantage of fewer hoops to jump through than WBFO had as part of a major university. In part, they won't have a budget from the university to prop them up. And, there will be the inevitable cost-cutting.

If you're Bert Gambini, do you give up the state university salary and benefits to make the jump to WNED? Will they pay him well enough? Does he have other options at the university as faculty or staff?

How about the weekend programming? Does WNED retain Blues on the weekend? Does Jim Santella want to put up with the transitional period that's bound to accompany the studio move, etc.? Will Anita West make the move? Especially if they decide to "renegotiate"?

Lots of questions. It's gonna take a while to get some answers.

[stratace05]

I am an avid listener of WBFO. They really do a quality job with their talent, news coverage and speciality proograms on the weekends like blues/jazz/etc. My worry once this moves into reality is that all the great programming and shows that WBFO has will all go away and it will become a WNED-AM simulcast. Nothing against 970 but I think the programs on 'BFO are geared to a younger demo and seem to be a good niche'. WNED has similar programming but also other speciality shows like A Prairie Home Companion and BBC Newshour...Sounds like Grandpa listening to me...It'll be interesting to see what gets sacrificed. I'm hoping it'll lead to something better but you guys know how these things usually turn out...

[SirRoxalot]

WNY Public Broadcastings is MUCH better at fund raising. Maybe they can find "underwriters" for the old "On the Border" series, and some of the other programming that attracted that younger audience to WBFO. It should also be much easier for WBFO to partner with venues for live shows and to host things like debates and public forums. There are some events that might not rate the cost of TV production that would make excellent radio programming.

Let's face it, WBFO and the other FMs have MUCH better coverage of the market than 970 AM. Since FM is the ONLY radio on a lot of newer devices, it's pretty easy to guess where the bulk of the programming money will be spent. It wouldn't surprise me to see 970 evolve into a more ethnic-based community type station. There's more money to be made there than there is in repeating NPR content.

As Bob Dylan said, "The Times, They Are A-Changin'". There's a reference that even the old line  granola-eating 'BFOers can identify with.

[TheBigA]

WBFO is an outstanding vehicle for promoting the many assets of a fine public university.  The radio station over the years provided fertile ground for the growth of many talented radio news and music professionals locally and nationally.
 

Absolutely.  However, as I wrote here when this sale was first being discussed, universities are no longer interested in things like providing cultural and educational resources for the community at large. In the old days, an educator was an educator 24/7.  Now he's an educator when he's on the clock.  It's a more narrow definition of the role of a university.  Colleges may be in the education business, but it's a business nonethe less.  So the free dissemination of culture via OTA radio doesn't fit with the role of the university.  They can promote "the many assets of a fine university" with a static web page outlining the biographies of its faculty, or the facilities on its campus, hoping that you'll enroll and become a tuition paying student.  That's a whole lot cheaper, and even in the world of education, cheap is good.  I read many comments on these boards from people bemoaning the state of radio today, and how it used to be so much better and so much more about public service.  As I often say: It's not just radio. 

[Mark_Giardina]

I've been out of the ballgame for quite a while so please excuse a dumb question.
What happens to the on-air and other staff now that WNED has acquired WBFO?

The reason for my asking is that while at WXXI I had the pleasure of knowing and working with (at times) some of the staff at both stations and would hate to see anyone get laid off because of consolidation.

[SirRoxalot]

Absolutely.  However, as I wrote here when this sale was first being discussed, universities are no longer interested in things like providing cultural and educational resources for the community at large. In the old days, an educator was an educator 24/7.  Now he's an educator when he's on the clock. 

Just where do you derive such ideas? As a graduate of an institution known as an "education school", I have MANY friends in the academic world, both as administrators and faculty. Universities are no less interested in "things like providing cultural and educational resources for the community at large" now than they ever were. In fact, in the ever more competitive business of education, they're MORE interested in community outreach than ever before. The number of programs that encourage partnering with high schools and community groups to extend credit-bearing courses to their members is greater now than ever before.

The reason that WBFO was sold is simple. It cost the university precious dollars. WBFO wasn't even close to self-supporting, let alone a profit center. The reasons have to do with policies established by the State Education Department, the university, and station management. I've been told by potential underwriters that their corporate funding department was at least inflexible, if not downright inept.

If you don't feel that you're getting your money's worth from educators these days, you might want to look into staffing levels. There are fewer full time faculty now at most institutions than there were 10 years ago. Institutions trying to stretch dollars rely more and more heavily on adjunct faculty who simply don't have the same level of experience or program continuity to offer the same quality of education. Full-time faculty have the added burden of having education management duties thrust on them because the number of administrators has also been reduced. All of this is happening while enrollments continue to increase, and a greater number of programs are offered than ever before.

It not a lack of interest. It's a lack of money. Universities are making hard choices in these days of hiring freezes and funding cuts. Radio stations that operate like it's the 1970s are simply becoming a target at budget time.