WECK
Encyclopedia
WECK is a radio station
located in the Buffalo, New York
, area. Founded in 1956 as WNIA, the station currently is owned by Culver Communications. WECK airs a middle-of-the-road (MOR) music format stretching across the modern formats of oldies
, adult standards
, and adult contemporary music
.
From early 2006 until March 11 2008, WECK aired the Jones Radio Network's classic country format. Prior to that, WECK ran an adult standards
format for nearly twenty five years. Talk radio
was heard on WECK from March 12 2008 until July 12 2011.
) in Rochester, NY. After his death, WNIA was sold to Quid Me Broadcasting, a group headed by local broadcast account executive Chet Musialowski. Musialowski was also General Manager of the station during the Quid Me years (1980-88).
In 1979, the station switched from Urban/R&B to a Current Top 40/Oldies hybrid format. Original air personalities included Chuck McCoy, Jeff Reinhardt (P.D.), Mark Phillips, J.R. Russ, Barbra Lynne and Partitimers Art Zelasko, Mike Brown, Ricky Banks, David J. Miller, Jon Park, Dr. Jim Rose and newsperson Pam Kloc. To tie in with the local call letters named after the popular local sandwich of roast beef on a kimmelweck roll or "beef on weck", WECK branded itself as "The roll that rocks".
Just over a year later, in the spring of 1981 following dismal ratings (resulting from "churn" of the previous Urban audience and the era of rapidly declining AM listenership), the station switched formats, to the Adult Standards/Nostalgia based "Music of Your Life" format.
J.R. Russ was elevated to Program Director and the station maintained a live on-air staff including Jim Nowicki in mornings (and earlier, Guy Michaels), Joe Kozma, Aaron Christopher (Russ' alter ego) Tim White, Dave Prescott (radio name of the late Joseph Skurzewski), Lynn Dixon, Ray Rogers, News Director Bruce Allen, Dave Teresa and Sports Director Walt Hankin.
Previous owner Gordon Brown saved everything and a knee-deep basement of albums yielded a 2,000 plus library of hit titles. While licensing the "Music of your Life" name, the station rapidly shifted from the tight-rotation "MOYL" tapes to a much larger playlist produced entirely in-house.
The lack of repetition proved worth the effort and the format was a big hit with of Buffalo's large adult population. WECK grew from a "no show" in the ratings at the time of the format change (on 4/4/81) to an all-time high of #4 in the market in late 1983. The trade publication "Inside Radio" touted the headlines: "WECK..takes town by storm" and "WECK skyrockets into contention". Radio and Records designated WECK as a "Fastest Mover" up the ratings ladder.
The 1,000 watt station garnered a 7.2 share of 12+ all listeners, beating most FM
, and every area AM
station (including 50,000 watt WWKB) except #1 WBEN
. The Radio and Records Directory also listed WECK as #4 in the entire U.S. in Average Quarter Hour listening (AQH) among stations with similar formats.
After the station was sold by Quid Me in 1988, it continued with a nostalgia music format, but became satellite automated, maintaining only a live, local DJ show in morning drive. Portions of the station's programming came from the Music of Your Life
network, although the station switched to Westwood One
's Adult Standards satellite feed for a time.
The station was sold to Regent Communications
along with the rest of the CBS cluster in 2006. In February 2006, WECK abruptly pulled the plug on the standards format and in an attempt to hedge the CBS cluster's most dominant station, Country WYRK
, switched over to a satellite classic country
format.
On Monday, November 5, 2007, local resident Dick Greene, owner of WLVL
in nearby Lockport, NY, announced that he had purchased WECK for $1.3 million through his company, Culver Communications. Greene launched a new talk radio
format, mixed with local and syndicated programming, in the middle of the night on March 12, 2008. WECK immediately made headlines with the hiring of Buffalo radio veterans Harv Moore and Tom Donahue to helm its morning show; however, just six months after the switch, Moore was released and replaced by local actor and TV personality Loraine O'Donnell, who was subsequently fired in June 2011. Brad Riter and Nick Mendola, former personalities at WGR
, were also added to the staff, as was former politician Bill O'Loughlin.
WECK acquired the broadcast radio rights to the University of Buffalo Bulls
football and men's basketball games prior to the 2008 season. Previously these rights were held by WGR
and WWKB. In 2009 the station acquired the Buffalo rights to New York Yankees baseball through the 2011 season.
Early programming during the talk era included a show by WLVL host Scott Leffler, a tradio
service, a news block hosted by Tom Schuh, and a one-hour midday block of local brokered programming
. All of these had been canceled as of May 2011. WGRZ news was simulcast during WECK's talk radio era. Syndicated programming on WECK toward the end of its talk run included The Laura Ingraham Show
, Dennis Miller
, First Light
and Fox Sports Radio
; some of these affiliations continue on WLVL.
On July 12, 2011, all of WECK's full-time staff, except Donahue, were fired, including Brad Riter and Nick Mendola, while former news director Tom Schuh was rehired as a consultant to return WECK to a music format. O'Loughlin, who had quit WECK on May 24 six weeks prior to the mass firing, moved his show to WGRZ. Just prior to the complete elimination of the news/talk format, the station was the only news/talk station in Buffalo with all local talk from 6:00 am to 6:30 pm.
Monday to Friday 3:00-6:00 pm: Kevin O'Connell
Sunday 8-11 AM: "Drive Time Polkas", a local recorded music show hosted by Ron Dombrowski who also hosts a similar program Monday to Saturday on WXRL, another locally owned station.
Sunday 9-midnight: "Edge of the Unknown", hosted by Mark Henry, a paranormal show featuring local, regional and national guests.
New York Yankees baseball (spring/summer) or Buffalo Bulls men's basketball (fall/winter)7-10pm (approx.).
The rest of the schedule is occupied by automated music.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
located in the Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, area. Founded in 1956 as WNIA, the station currently is owned by Culver Communications. WECK airs a middle-of-the-road (MOR) music format stretching across the modern formats of oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
, adult standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
, and adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1950s and 1960s vocal music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence, as well as a radio format that plays such music....
.
From early 2006 until March 11 2008, WECK aired the Jones Radio Network's classic country format. Prior to that, WECK ran an adult standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
format for nearly twenty five years. Talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
was heard on WECK from March 12 2008 until July 12 2011.
History
The 1230 AM frequency was known as WNIA under the ownership of Gordon P. Brown, who also owned WSAY (now WXXIWXXI (AM)
WXXI is a National Public Radio member station in Rochester, New York, broadcasting news, talk and informational programming on a 24-hour daily schedule...
) in Rochester, NY. After his death, WNIA was sold to Quid Me Broadcasting, a group headed by local broadcast account executive Chet Musialowski. Musialowski was also General Manager of the station during the Quid Me years (1980-88).
In 1979, the station switched from Urban/R&B to a Current Top 40/Oldies hybrid format. Original air personalities included Chuck McCoy, Jeff Reinhardt (P.D.), Mark Phillips, J.R. Russ, Barbra Lynne and Partitimers Art Zelasko, Mike Brown, Ricky Banks, David J. Miller, Jon Park, Dr. Jim Rose and newsperson Pam Kloc. To tie in with the local call letters named after the popular local sandwich of roast beef on a kimmelweck roll or "beef on weck", WECK branded itself as "The roll that rocks".
Just over a year later, in the spring of 1981 following dismal ratings (resulting from "churn" of the previous Urban audience and the era of rapidly declining AM listenership), the station switched formats, to the Adult Standards/Nostalgia based "Music of Your Life" format.
J.R. Russ was elevated to Program Director and the station maintained a live on-air staff including Jim Nowicki in mornings (and earlier, Guy Michaels), Joe Kozma, Aaron Christopher (Russ' alter ego) Tim White, Dave Prescott (radio name of the late Joseph Skurzewski), Lynn Dixon, Ray Rogers, News Director Bruce Allen, Dave Teresa and Sports Director Walt Hankin.
Previous owner Gordon Brown saved everything and a knee-deep basement of albums yielded a 2,000 plus library of hit titles. While licensing the "Music of your Life" name, the station rapidly shifted from the tight-rotation "MOYL" tapes to a much larger playlist produced entirely in-house.
The lack of repetition proved worth the effort and the format was a big hit with of Buffalo's large adult population. WECK grew from a "no show" in the ratings at the time of the format change (on 4/4/81) to an all-time high of #4 in the market in late 1983. The trade publication "Inside Radio" touted the headlines: "WECK..takes town by storm" and "WECK skyrockets into contention". Radio and Records designated WECK as a "Fastest Mover" up the ratings ladder.
The 1,000 watt station garnered a 7.2 share of 12+ all listeners, beating most FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
, and every area AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
station (including 50,000 watt WWKB) except #1 WBEN
WBEN (AM)
WBEN is an AM and FM radio station serving the Niagara, Buffalo and Western New York area, broadcasting on 930 AM and, as of April 5, 2011, simulcasting on sister station WLKK at 107.7 FM. It previously simulcasted between 1946 and 1960 on 102.5 FM as WBEN-FM. Both stations retained the WBEN...
. The Radio and Records Directory also listed WECK as #4 in the entire U.S. in Average Quarter Hour listening (AQH) among stations with similar formats.
After the station was sold by Quid Me in 1988, it continued with a nostalgia music format, but became satellite automated, maintaining only a live, local DJ show in morning drive. Portions of the station's programming came from the Music of Your Life
Music of Your Life
Music of Your Life is a satellite-delivered radio network featuring the Adult Standards music format. Created by record executive and jingle writer Al Ham, and now under the direction of Marc Angell, Music of Your Life has more than 50 AM, FM and HD-2 radio station affiliates, and has been in...
network, although the station switched to Westwood One
Westwood One
Westwood One was an American radio network and was based in New York City. At one time, it was managed by CBS Radio, the radio arm of CBS Corporation, and Viacom and was later purchased by the private equity firm The Gores Group...
's Adult Standards satellite feed for a time.
The station was sold to Regent Communications
Regent Communications
Townsquare Media is an American radio broadcaster, based in Greenwich, Connecticut., after it acquired sister companies Gap Broadcasting and GapWest Broadcasting, it owned 171 radio stations in 36 radio markets, with concentration in the Northeast, Midwest, Southwest, and Mountain...
along with the rest of the CBS cluster in 2006. In February 2006, WECK abruptly pulled the plug on the standards format and in an attempt to hedge the CBS cluster's most dominant station, Country WYRK
WYRK
WYRK is a country music formatted radio station located in Buffalo, New York. It broadcasts from the top of the Rand Building in Buffalo, where its studios are located on the 12th floor....
, switched over to a satellite classic country
Classic country
Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country hits from past decades.This genre generally follows one of two formats: those specializing in hits from the 1920s through the early 1970s, and focus primarily on innovators and artists from country music's Golden...
format.
On Monday, November 5, 2007, local resident Dick Greene, owner of WLVL
WLVL
WLVL is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Lockport, New York, USA, the station serves the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area. The station is currently owned by Culver Communications Corp., Inc...
in nearby Lockport, NY, announced that he had purchased WECK for $1.3 million through his company, Culver Communications. Greene launched a new talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format, mixed with local and syndicated programming, in the middle of the night on March 12, 2008. WECK immediately made headlines with the hiring of Buffalo radio veterans Harv Moore and Tom Donahue to helm its morning show; however, just six months after the switch, Moore was released and replaced by local actor and TV personality Loraine O'Donnell, who was subsequently fired in June 2011. Brad Riter and Nick Mendola, former personalities at WGR
WGR
WGR, or WGR Sports Radio 550, is an all sports radio station in Buffalo, New York that broadcasts on 550 AM. It is the flagship station of the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bandits, and is currently the only full-time sports talk station in the city of Buffalo. Its studios are located in Amherst,...
, were also added to the staff, as was former politician Bill O'Loughlin.
WECK acquired the broadcast radio rights to the University of Buffalo Bulls
Buffalo Bulls
The Buffalo Bulls are the athletic teams representing the University at Buffalo in intercollegiate athletics. The Bulls currently play in Division I , and are a member of the Mid-American Conference for all sports except women's rowing who is in the Cononial Athletic Assocition . They have been a...
football and men's basketball games prior to the 2008 season. Previously these rights were held by WGR
WGR
WGR, or WGR Sports Radio 550, is an all sports radio station in Buffalo, New York that broadcasts on 550 AM. It is the flagship station of the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bandits, and is currently the only full-time sports talk station in the city of Buffalo. Its studios are located in Amherst,...
and WWKB. In 2009 the station acquired the Buffalo rights to New York Yankees baseball through the 2011 season.
Early programming during the talk era included a show by WLVL host Scott Leffler, a tradio
Tradio
Tradio is the name given to a type of talk radio show format where listeners call in to buy or sell items. The concept of is analogous to classified ads in local newspapers....
service, a news block hosted by Tom Schuh, and a one-hour midday block of local brokered programming
Brokered programming
Brokered programming is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot commercials...
. All of these had been canceled as of May 2011. WGRZ news was simulcast during WECK's talk radio era. Syndicated programming on WECK toward the end of its talk run included The Laura Ingraham Show
The Laura Ingraham Show
The Laura Ingraham Show is a three-hour American radio show hosted by conservative commentator Laura Ingraham on Talk Radio Network. , the show is broadcast live on Channel 2, from 9 a.m...
, Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller is an American stand-up comedian, political commentator, actor, sports commentator, and television and radio personality. He is known for his critical assessments laced with pop culture references...
, First Light
First Light (radio)
First Light is a syndicated talk radio program hosted by Dirk Van. The one-hour live program airs weekdays at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time and is one of a small number of programs airing live in that time slot...
and Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports Radio, abbreviated FSR, is an international radio network consisting of sports talk programming. The network is a service of Premiere Networks...
; some of these affiliations continue on WLVL.
On July 12, 2011, all of WECK's full-time staff, except Donahue, were fired, including Brad Riter and Nick Mendola, while former news director Tom Schuh was rehired as a consultant to return WECK to a music format. O'Loughlin, who had quit WECK on May 24 six weeks prior to the mass firing, moved his show to WGRZ. Just prior to the complete elimination of the news/talk format, the station was the only news/talk station in Buffalo with all local talk from 6:00 am to 6:30 pm.
Programs
Monday to Friday 6:00-9:00 am: Good Morning Buffalo with Tom Donahue.Monday to Friday 3:00-6:00 pm: Kevin O'Connell
Sunday 8-11 AM: "Drive Time Polkas", a local recorded music show hosted by Ron Dombrowski who also hosts a similar program Monday to Saturday on WXRL, another locally owned station.
Sunday 9-midnight: "Edge of the Unknown", hosted by Mark Henry, a paranormal show featuring local, regional and national guests.
New York Yankees baseball (spring/summer) or Buffalo Bulls men's basketball (fall/winter)7-10pm (approx.).
The rest of the schedule is occupied by automated music.