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WJJL to become WEBR

Format A or Format B?

But is the format "Oldies of the 50s and 60s" or "The Great American Songbook"? Diana Krall, for example, has recorded many things from the Great American Songbook but very few of her recordings were hits in the 50s because she wasn't recording in the 50s. The Stones had a lot of hits ("Oldies") in the 60s but not many were in a style of the G.A.S.
 
bookface said:
But is the format "Oldies of the 50s and 60s" or "The Great American Songbook"?
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Have you been listening? For the most part, they're playing original MOR hits of the 50s and 60s. They also have a specialty show called "What Was Old Is New Again," where they play songs of the era, re-done by more recent artists. So this is more along the lines of what you'd hear on an MOR station of that era, not a pop station. Krall and Buble aren't authentic to the era, but that's why they have the specialty show.
 
Definition of terms?

TheBigA said:
Have you been listening? For the most part, they're playing original MOR hits of the 50s and 60s. They also have a specialty show called "What Was Old Is New Again," where they play songs of the era, re-done by more recent artists. So this is more along the lines of what you'd hear on an MOR station of that era, not a pop station. Krall and Buble aren't authentic to the era, but that's why they have the specialty show.
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It's pretty tough to get any group of people to define the various radio formats. Is "pop" the same as "Top 40"? Depends who you ask.

Thus, you can't say Krall and Buble aren't authentic to the era until we define the era. It's easier to define the G.A.S. Or at least I'll try: It's any music that any person can sing, hum, whistle or snap his/her fingers to (final prepositions be damned). It is the many songs of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, all those famous songwriters of Tin Pan Alley, back in the 20s up to today. We can include modern artists like Stevie Wonder (Sir Duke but not Living in the City) and Marvin Gaye (you'll know it when you hear it), Joe Williams (everything), Basie & Ellington (lest you think it gotta be slow), Peggy Lee, Perry Como (but not the smarmy stuff), the list goes on and on. All this separates it from lots of rock, most grunge, all headbanging, and Morrissey.

It doesn't have to be old, but it can be. It can be new, but it isn't necessarily. You don't have to be Mitch Miller, but if you can, or like to, sing along with it, you got it. Whether Krall and Buble are "authentic to the era" depends on the song they're singing, not the date of the recording.
 
Re: Krall and Buble (and others, such as Rod Stewart) singing the Great American Songbook --- the geezerellos who listen to this format want to hear the originals. Back in the day, they didn't even want to hear Frank Sinatra Junior cover the old man's songs. They wanted Ol' Blue Eyes. It'd be like some cover group doing Zeppelin or Doors tunes for (aging) baby boomers. Totally unacceptable.

BTW, need more Mario Lanza.
 
I've been away from this board for years but just started reading again. One thing that bothers me about WEBR are the jingles. If not illegal, it's certainly bordering on it. The COL is Niagara Falls, not Buffalo. I heard the WEBR, Buffalo jingle at 9:56 the other evening and no legal ID going into the news at 10. I'd call that a problem. The jingles play often.

-aL
 
average_listener said:
One thing that bothers me about WEBR are the jingles. If not illegal, it's certainly bordering on it.
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The top of the hour ID is all that needs to be correct. If they use a classic jingle near TOH, it should be augmented by a spoken legal ID.

But any other time, the classic jingles should be fine.
 
TheBigA said:
The top of the hour ID is all that needs to be correct. If they use a classic jingle near TOH, it should be augmented by a spoken legal ID.

But any other time, the classic jingles should be fine.
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The Legal ID only needs to air once an hour. It does not have to be at Top Of Hour. Historically, that's when most stations aired it. It could air at 937pm.

I doubt that anyone is monitoring this one lung signal for violations. The Battle For The Geezer Demo is underway in Buffalo...
 
tbolt909 said:
The Legal ID only needs to air once an hour. It does not have to be at Top Of Hour. Historically, that's when most stations aired it. It could air at 937pm.
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Not exactly. The legal ID has to be as close to the top of the hour as possible without interrupting programming.

Even back when the ID had to be within +/- two minutes on the hour and half hour, there were allowances for things like classical music pieces.

But in most other formats, the enforcement was very strict. Back around 1971 the station I managed, WUNO, was cited for being off of the two minute margin by just one minute. Only by explaining that in the summer, WWV did not come in consistently well in the Caribbean and that we were going to buy one of those newfangled atomic clocks (at over $600) to make sure we had the correct time did we get out of a fine!

Today, stations stretch the meaning of "interrupting" to mean they don't have to ID in a music sweep. The FCC has not objected, as I think that most folks there see the ID as an anachronism. But it's pretty widely accepted that the ID had better be in the stopset just before or just after a music sweep.

The good thing about that flexibility is that programming like sports can wait till natural play breaks for the ID, and not interrupt a home run, touchdown or goal.

§73.1201 Station identification.

(a) When regularly required. Broadcast station identification announcements shall be made:

(1) At the beginning and ending of each time of operation, and

(2) Hourly, as close to the hour as feasible, at a natural break in program offerings. Television and Class A television broadcast stations may make these announcements visually or aurally.

(b) Content. (1) Official station identification shall consist of the station's call letters immediately followed by the community or communities specified in its license as the station's location; Provided, That the name of the licensee, the station's frequency, the station's channel number, as stated on the station's license, and/or the station's network affiliation may be inserted between the call letters and station location. DTV stations, or DAB Stations, choosing to include the station's channel number in the station identification must use the station's major channel number and may distinguish multicast program streams. For example, a DTV station with major channel number 26 may use 26.1 to identify an HDTV program service and 26.2 to identify an SDTV program service. A DTV station that is devoting one of its multicast streams to transmit the programming of another television licensee must identify itself and may also identify the licensee that it is transmitting. If a DTV station in this situation chooses to identify the station that is the source of the programming it is transmitting, it must use the following format: Station WYYY-DT, community of license (call sign and community of license of the station whose multicast stream is transmitting the programming), bringing you WXXX, community of license (call sign and community of license of the licensee providing the programming). The transmitting station may insert between its call letters and its community of license the following information: the frequency of the transmitting station, the channel number of the transmitting station, the name of the licensee of the transmitting station and the licensee providing the programming, and/or the name of the network of either station. Where a multicast station is carrying the programming of another station and is identifying that station as the source of the programming, using the format described above, the identification may not include the frequency or channel number of the program source. A radio station operating in DAB hybrid mode or extended hybrid mode shall identify its digital signal, including any free multicast audio programming streams, in a manner that appropriately alerts its audience to the fact that it is listening to a digital audio broadcast. No other insertion between the station's call letters and the community or communities specified in its license is permissible.

Full rule: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-i...=true&node=pt47.4.73&rgn=div5#se47.4.73_11201
 
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average_listener said:
I've been away from this board for years but just started reading again. One thing that bothers me about WEBR are the jingles. If not illegal, it's certainly bordering on it. The COL is Niagara Falls, not Buffalo. I heard the WEBR, Buffalo jingle at 9:56 the other evening and no legal ID going into the news at 10. I'd call that a problem. The jingles play often.

-aL
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running a classic jingle at TOH between songs or from song to news.. is fine.. they could run a legal id in a stop set at 50/52 after and be ok. they could say "webrniagrafalls" sandwiched between two spots and it would be legal
 
After listening to the WEBR morning program for a few minutes I am left with one question: Where is Clint Buehlman when we need him most?
 
CAVEMANager said:
After listening to the WEBR morning program for a few minutes I am left with one question: Where is Clint Buehlman when we need him most?
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Tried listening while in Lockport yesterday. The signal, shall we say, leaves a lot to be desired. I'm not an engineer, but is there anything that can be done that would improve the sound of the station?
 
The station had a bigger, louder, cleaner sound when Phillips owned it. Came in clearly during the day at Transit and Lawson. Can't say that's the case the last month. Amazing that we're now comparing this facility to that era.

Sign the petition! Bring back WJJL, the real Niagara Falls station! [/slight sarcasm]
 
Does Don Angelo have an air shift? He spent a few years here in Erie, PA at then MOR WRIE 1330 AM as Del Manning. When I was 12 or 13, he put me on the air doing a horrible Jimmy Cagney impersonation lol.
 
DN14224 said:
The News' Jeff Simon posted a review of WEBR - and he loves it.
https://buffalonews.com/entertainme...cle_1b2a4e28-cb9b-11ea-bf78-a3a2900b097b.html
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I read that paean to the music.

(I was also perturbed by his dismissal of the owner's paean to traditional values.)

I was born on the fifth day of the Baby Boomer generation. And I did not recognize many of the names cited in the music eulogy. And those that I did recognize were representative of music I neither like nor enjoy and which I identify as that of my parents, not my generation.

Growing up just to the SW of Buffalo, I did not know anyone in my age group who liked that music.

While Buddy is appealing to 45-65 listeners primarily, this station is obviously targeting folks well over 70.

Anyone know how old the reporter is?
 
It’s a hobby for him. That’s it. It’s all over the road plus you can’t get the signal in Buffalo. I give him credit for being able to shell out 60k plus expenses but I could of bought this station and turned it down. Lots of expenses. No revenue. It should be local Niagara Falls talk. That’s it
 
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