Billsman
January 9th, 2006, 12:50:10 PM
Buffalo, N.Y.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/current/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001807853
Eileen Davis Hudson
JANUARY 09, 2006 -
The second-largest city in New York State with some 300,000 residents, Buffalo is hoping that fresh political blood and urban renewal will bring real progress in 2006. The western New York city has grappled for years with a budget crisis, to the point where a state control board manages the city's finances; in fact, the board oversees the finances for all of Erie County, of which Buffalo is the county seat.
Situated along the banks of the Niagara River at the junction of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, Buffalo has been actively working to evolve and change its blue-collar, Rust Belt image. New mayor Byron W. Brown, elected in November as the city's first African-American leader, faces the daunting challenge of reconciling the budget deficit while continuing the push for economic revitalization.
In his favor, it appears that the long-debated development of the city's waterfront will get under way this year. More than $100 million in state, local and private capital is expected to go into development along the Great Lakes, with a Bass Pro Shops retail emporium one of several major projects to be included in the massive economic initiative. A leading purveyor of fishing, hunting and outdoor gear, Bass would be well suited to Buffalo, where outdoor pursuits are popular.
Another new draw to the area is the just-opened Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel in nearby Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Such positive developments give local media executives hope that the market will begin its long-awaited turnaround, which would help boost sagging revenue. Nielsen Monitor-Plus estimates that the local spot TV marketplace declined to $66.6 million from $72.8 million in the first nine months of 2005 versus the same period in 2004. Buffalo also dropped from market rank 44 in the country in 2004 to 49 in 2005.
All four of the major network affiliates are available on cable in Canada.
The TV landscape here has undergone a dynamic shift since the market became metered in 2000. Longtime leader WKBW-TV, Granite Broadcasting's ABC affiliate, eventually lost its stronghold, and LIN Television Corp.'s CBS affiliate WIVB-TV has emerged as the local-news leader.
The November sweeps marked the 18th straight ratings period WIVB has prevailed, says Chris Musial, president and gm of WIVB and sister UPN affiliate WNLO. He adds that WNLO has also experienced strong gains in local news and syndicated programming. The station airs a 30-minute daily newscast at 10 p.m. using WIVB's talent.
The LIN duopoly underwent several management changes following the sudden death of former gm Lou Verruto in June 2004. Musial was promoted to gm from news director, and Joe Schlaerth took over as n.d., promoted from executive producer.
Though no longer the market's overall news leader, WKBW is continuing a longstanding tradition of non-news local programming. "We're probably one of the few broadcasters that produces two hours of local [non-news] programming every day," says Bill Ransom, WKBW president/gm. That roster includes AM Buffalo, a 60-minute, information/talk/ news program airing weekdays at 10 a.m., and PM Buffalo, the weekday late-afternoon counterpart, now entering its third year on the air. Ransom says the two programs are the only such shows of their kind in the Buffalo market.
Also on WKBW's programming roster: football. The station is the preseason home of the National Football League's Buffalo Bills.
Meanwhile, over at Gannett Co.'s NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV, news ratings have gotten a boost from coverage of the county budget crisis, according to president and general manager Jim Toellner. He says his station took the lead in covering the crisis beginning last February, and that helped push ratings up.
In other developments at WGRZ, the station last October launched Saturday-morning weekend news. The 9-10:30 a.m. newscast, called Saturday Daybreak, finished No. 1 in November, beating all local and network competition, says Toellner.
Also last year, WGRZ introduced Storm Team 2 Weather Plus, a 24-7 channel available on its digital tier and on Adelphia Communications' digital tier.
Sinclair Broadcast Group owns another duopoly in the market: Fox affiliate WUTV and WB affiliate WNYO. In August 2004, Sinclair's News Central launched on WNYO at 10 p.m. In August 2005, the Monday-to-Sunday hour-long newscast was reduced to a half hour.
Nick Magnini, promoted from general sales manager to gm of the duopoly in March 2005, thinks the political category will factor significantly in 2006 with a number of state races up for grabs. The matchups include a governor's race in which the incumbent (George Pataki) is not running and state Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is running for re-election.
On the local cable scene, Adelphia is the leading service provider. Its ad sales arm, Adelphia Media Services, serves as the local interconnect to more than 347,000 cable TV households in the market. About 70.5 percent of the market is connected to cable, according to Nielsen (68 percent according to Scarborough).
In local newspapers, The Buffalo News, wholly owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, dominates. Although it has remained profitable despite a sagging local economy, the News has experienced circulation declines. In the Audit Bureau of Circulation's Sept. 30 FAS-FAX report, its daily circulation averaged 185,799, reflecting a 5.1 percent decline. Its Sunday circ fell 4.1 percent to 270,917.
The News has been printing both morning and evening editions since 1982, most recently on two KBA German-made presses purchased for $40 million in 2004 to replace equipment dating back to the 1950s, says Margaret Sullivan, editor and vp. Following the purchase of the new presses, the paper launched an extensive redesign that included both new and retooled sections. Among the changes, the former Travel section was renamed Escapes & Getaways and revamped to offer "more regionally oriented" content, Sullivan says; the launch of a new Monday section called The Link, focusing on personal technology; and the reintroduction of The Picture Page, devoted entirely to photos, something the News used to do years ago and that once again has proved popular with readers, says Sullivan.
In 2005, the paper completed a yearlong series called "Why Not Buffalo?", which attempted to take a hard look at the economic issues facing Buffalo and come up with solutions, says Sullivan, who grew up in Buffalo. The ongoing series featured at least one article the first Sunday of each month, along with additional stories as issues arose. Besides smaller daily and weekly papers, other local publications include Business First of Buffalo, a weekly business journal published by the American City Business Journals chain, and weekly alternative newspaper Artvoice.
The local radio market, which Arbitron classifies as Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., ranks 52nd in the country by size. But, according to BIA Financial Network, the market ranks 43rd in terms of revenue. The Buffalo-Niagara Falls radio market generated $69.2 million in 2005, versus the $67.5 million the market captured in 2004, according to BIA estimates. BIA projects the market will grow 3.5 percent in 2006 to $71.6 million.
The main radio players in the market are Entercom, CBS Radio and Citadel Broadcasting, whose Classic Rocker WGRF-FM is the top biller, taking in $8.5 million in 2004, BIA estimates.
CBS Radio's Country WYRK-FM was No. 1 in the summer Arbitron survey with an 11.7 share of listeners 12-plus. And the company is seeing success with its latest flip of WBUF-FM. After shaking up the market when it flipped the formerly Rock/Talk station (the local Howard Stern affiliate) to Talk in November 2004, CBS Radio switched it again six months later to 92.9 Jack FM, the Variety Hits format. The station's average quarter-hour share jumped from 2.5 in the spring survey to a 4.2 in the summer book.
CBS Radio's heritage Urban Adult Contemporary WBLK-FM features the top-rated morning program, nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show. WBLK competes with CKEY-FM, a Rhythmic Top 40 station owned by CJRN 710 and based in Niagara Falls, Ontario. (Several Canadian stations can be heard in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls market.)
Targeting an older demo is Entercom's "Solid Gold Soul" WWWS-AM, which airs the syndicated Doug Banks Show in morning drive. The Urban Oldies station plays R&B hits from the '60s, '70s and '80s.
All three of the stations target the area's African-American population, reported as 11.7 percent of the population in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls MSA (metropolitan statistical area), in the U.S. Census 2000. The same census put the city of Buffalo's African-American population at 37.2 percent.
Among personality changes, 50-year veteran radio DJ Tom Shannon retired March 31, 2005, from his afternoon-drive post at Citadel's Oldies WHTT-FM. Shannon began his radio career in Buffalo in 1955 and worked at a number of stations in Buffalo, Canada, Denver and Detroit over the years.
Lamar Advertising is the dominant out-of-home advertising company in the Buffalo-Niagara metropolitan area. Lamar offers rotary and permanent bulletins and 30-sheet poster panels throughout the region.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/current/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001807853
Eileen Davis Hudson
JANUARY 09, 2006 -
The second-largest city in New York State with some 300,000 residents, Buffalo is hoping that fresh political blood and urban renewal will bring real progress in 2006. The western New York city has grappled for years with a budget crisis, to the point where a state control board manages the city's finances; in fact, the board oversees the finances for all of Erie County, of which Buffalo is the county seat.
Situated along the banks of the Niagara River at the junction of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, Buffalo has been actively working to evolve and change its blue-collar, Rust Belt image. New mayor Byron W. Brown, elected in November as the city's first African-American leader, faces the daunting challenge of reconciling the budget deficit while continuing the push for economic revitalization.
In his favor, it appears that the long-debated development of the city's waterfront will get under way this year. More than $100 million in state, local and private capital is expected to go into development along the Great Lakes, with a Bass Pro Shops retail emporium one of several major projects to be included in the massive economic initiative. A leading purveyor of fishing, hunting and outdoor gear, Bass would be well suited to Buffalo, where outdoor pursuits are popular.
Another new draw to the area is the just-opened Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel in nearby Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Such positive developments give local media executives hope that the market will begin its long-awaited turnaround, which would help boost sagging revenue. Nielsen Monitor-Plus estimates that the local spot TV marketplace declined to $66.6 million from $72.8 million in the first nine months of 2005 versus the same period in 2004. Buffalo also dropped from market rank 44 in the country in 2004 to 49 in 2005.
All four of the major network affiliates are available on cable in Canada.
The TV landscape here has undergone a dynamic shift since the market became metered in 2000. Longtime leader WKBW-TV, Granite Broadcasting's ABC affiliate, eventually lost its stronghold, and LIN Television Corp.'s CBS affiliate WIVB-TV has emerged as the local-news leader.
The November sweeps marked the 18th straight ratings period WIVB has prevailed, says Chris Musial, president and gm of WIVB and sister UPN affiliate WNLO. He adds that WNLO has also experienced strong gains in local news and syndicated programming. The station airs a 30-minute daily newscast at 10 p.m. using WIVB's talent.
The LIN duopoly underwent several management changes following the sudden death of former gm Lou Verruto in June 2004. Musial was promoted to gm from news director, and Joe Schlaerth took over as n.d., promoted from executive producer.
Though no longer the market's overall news leader, WKBW is continuing a longstanding tradition of non-news local programming. "We're probably one of the few broadcasters that produces two hours of local [non-news] programming every day," says Bill Ransom, WKBW president/gm. That roster includes AM Buffalo, a 60-minute, information/talk/ news program airing weekdays at 10 a.m., and PM Buffalo, the weekday late-afternoon counterpart, now entering its third year on the air. Ransom says the two programs are the only such shows of their kind in the Buffalo market.
Also on WKBW's programming roster: football. The station is the preseason home of the National Football League's Buffalo Bills.
Meanwhile, over at Gannett Co.'s NBC affiliate WGRZ-TV, news ratings have gotten a boost from coverage of the county budget crisis, according to president and general manager Jim Toellner. He says his station took the lead in covering the crisis beginning last February, and that helped push ratings up.
In other developments at WGRZ, the station last October launched Saturday-morning weekend news. The 9-10:30 a.m. newscast, called Saturday Daybreak, finished No. 1 in November, beating all local and network competition, says Toellner.
Also last year, WGRZ introduced Storm Team 2 Weather Plus, a 24-7 channel available on its digital tier and on Adelphia Communications' digital tier.
Sinclair Broadcast Group owns another duopoly in the market: Fox affiliate WUTV and WB affiliate WNYO. In August 2004, Sinclair's News Central launched on WNYO at 10 p.m. In August 2005, the Monday-to-Sunday hour-long newscast was reduced to a half hour.
Nick Magnini, promoted from general sales manager to gm of the duopoly in March 2005, thinks the political category will factor significantly in 2006 with a number of state races up for grabs. The matchups include a governor's race in which the incumbent (George Pataki) is not running and state Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is running for re-election.
On the local cable scene, Adelphia is the leading service provider. Its ad sales arm, Adelphia Media Services, serves as the local interconnect to more than 347,000 cable TV households in the market. About 70.5 percent of the market is connected to cable, according to Nielsen (68 percent according to Scarborough).
In local newspapers, The Buffalo News, wholly owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, dominates. Although it has remained profitable despite a sagging local economy, the News has experienced circulation declines. In the Audit Bureau of Circulation's Sept. 30 FAS-FAX report, its daily circulation averaged 185,799, reflecting a 5.1 percent decline. Its Sunday circ fell 4.1 percent to 270,917.
The News has been printing both morning and evening editions since 1982, most recently on two KBA German-made presses purchased for $40 million in 2004 to replace equipment dating back to the 1950s, says Margaret Sullivan, editor and vp. Following the purchase of the new presses, the paper launched an extensive redesign that included both new and retooled sections. Among the changes, the former Travel section was renamed Escapes & Getaways and revamped to offer "more regionally oriented" content, Sullivan says; the launch of a new Monday section called The Link, focusing on personal technology; and the reintroduction of The Picture Page, devoted entirely to photos, something the News used to do years ago and that once again has proved popular with readers, says Sullivan.
In 2005, the paper completed a yearlong series called "Why Not Buffalo?", which attempted to take a hard look at the economic issues facing Buffalo and come up with solutions, says Sullivan, who grew up in Buffalo. The ongoing series featured at least one article the first Sunday of each month, along with additional stories as issues arose. Besides smaller daily and weekly papers, other local publications include Business First of Buffalo, a weekly business journal published by the American City Business Journals chain, and weekly alternative newspaper Artvoice.
The local radio market, which Arbitron classifies as Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., ranks 52nd in the country by size. But, according to BIA Financial Network, the market ranks 43rd in terms of revenue. The Buffalo-Niagara Falls radio market generated $69.2 million in 2005, versus the $67.5 million the market captured in 2004, according to BIA estimates. BIA projects the market will grow 3.5 percent in 2006 to $71.6 million.
The main radio players in the market are Entercom, CBS Radio and Citadel Broadcasting, whose Classic Rocker WGRF-FM is the top biller, taking in $8.5 million in 2004, BIA estimates.
CBS Radio's Country WYRK-FM was No. 1 in the summer Arbitron survey with an 11.7 share of listeners 12-plus. And the company is seeing success with its latest flip of WBUF-FM. After shaking up the market when it flipped the formerly Rock/Talk station (the local Howard Stern affiliate) to Talk in November 2004, CBS Radio switched it again six months later to 92.9 Jack FM, the Variety Hits format. The station's average quarter-hour share jumped from 2.5 in the spring survey to a 4.2 in the summer book.
CBS Radio's heritage Urban Adult Contemporary WBLK-FM features the top-rated morning program, nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show. WBLK competes with CKEY-FM, a Rhythmic Top 40 station owned by CJRN 710 and based in Niagara Falls, Ontario. (Several Canadian stations can be heard in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls market.)
Targeting an older demo is Entercom's "Solid Gold Soul" WWWS-AM, which airs the syndicated Doug Banks Show in morning drive. The Urban Oldies station plays R&B hits from the '60s, '70s and '80s.
All three of the stations target the area's African-American population, reported as 11.7 percent of the population in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls MSA (metropolitan statistical area), in the U.S. Census 2000. The same census put the city of Buffalo's African-American population at 37.2 percent.
Among personality changes, 50-year veteran radio DJ Tom Shannon retired March 31, 2005, from his afternoon-drive post at Citadel's Oldies WHTT-FM. Shannon began his radio career in Buffalo in 1955 and worked at a number of stations in Buffalo, Canada, Denver and Detroit over the years.
Lamar Advertising is the dominant out-of-home advertising company in the Buffalo-Niagara metropolitan area. Lamar offers rotary and permanent bulletins and 30-sheet poster panels throughout the region.