WECK

WECK (1230 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Cheektowaga, New York and serving the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The station airs an oldies music format. The studios, offices and transmitter are located on Genesee Street in Buffalo's suburban Cheektowaga, which is WECK's official city of license, however the station is a metro Buffalo station.[1] WECK programming is simulcast on three FM translator stations at 102.9, 100.1 and 100.5 MHz.[2] The station is currently owned by Radio One Buffalo, LLC, a company set up by long–time Buffalo radio DJ, & radio marketing executive, Buddy Shula.

For the sandwich roll of a similar name, see kummelweck. For the sandwich, see beef on weck.
WECK Radio
CityCheektowaga, New York
Broadcast areaBuffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area
Frequency1230 kHz
Branding1230 AM, 100.5 FM, 100.1FM 102.9 FM WECK
SloganBuffalo's Greatest Hits
Programming
FormatOldies
AffiliationsCBS Radio News
Ownership
OwnerBuddy Shula
(Radio One Buffalo, LLC)
History
First air dateAugust 1956 (as WNIA)
Former call signsWNIA (1956–1979)
Call sign meaningKummelWECK (a popular local sandwich bread)
Technical information
Facility ID1914
ClassC
Power1,000 watts AM
220 and 250 watts (FM translators)
Translator(s)100.5 W263DC (Tonawanda)
102.9 W275BB (Cheektowaga)
100.1 W261EB (Lancaster)
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websiteweckbuffalo.com

History

Early years

In August 1956, the station first signed on as WNIA.[3] The call letters referred to the nearby Niagara Falls. The station was founded by Gordon P. Brown, who also owned WSAY (now WXXI) in Rochester, New York. After Brown's 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 (1980–1988).

In 1979, the station switched from urban contemporary/R&B to a Top 40/oldies hybrid format that might today be described as adult hits. Original air personalities included Chuck McCoy, Jeff Reinhardt (P.D.), Mark Phillips, J.R. Russ, Barbra Lynne and part timers Art Zelasko, Mike Brown, Ricky Banks, David J. Miller, Jon Park, Dr. Jim Rose and newscaster Pam Kloc. To tie in with the popular local sandwich of roast beef on a kimmelweck roll or "beef on weck", the station switched its call letters to WECK, branding itself as "The roll that rocks."

Music of Your Life

On April 4, 1981, as listening to contemporary music on AM radio declined, the station again switched formats. WECK began airing Adult Standards using the syndicated "Music of Your Life" service. 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' air name), 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 owned many pop music albums yielding a 2,000-plus library of hit titles. The station continued licensing the "Music of Your Life" name, but it shifted from the tight-rotation "MOYL" tapes to a much larger playlist produced 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.

CBS ownership

The station was sold by Quid Me to CBS Radio in 1988. WECK 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 Buffalo cluster in 2006. In February 2006, WECK abruptly pulled the plug on the standards format. In an attempt to capitalize on the success of sister station WYRK, the group's most successful station, WECK switched to the Jones Radio Network classic country format.[4]

Talk radio era

On November 5, 2007, local resident Dick Greene, owner of WLVL in nearby Lockport, New York, announced that he had purchased WECK for $1.3 million through his company, Culver Communications. On March 12, 2008, Greene launched a new talk radio format, mixed with local and syndicated programming. 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 actress Loraine O'Donnell, who was subsequently fired in June 2011.[5] 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 for the 2008 season. In 2009, the station acquired the Buffalo-area rights to New York Yankees baseball through the 2011 season. WECK lost the rights to the UB Bulls athletics teams to WHLD Niagara Falls in the spring of 2013.

WECK's logo as "Timeless"

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. Channel 2 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, Greene ended the talk format. With former operations manager director Tom Schuh rehired as a consultant, WECK returned to the adult standards music format.[6] For its first two years after returning to the music format, WECK's music blend leaned toward a MOR approach, branded as "The Breeze;" among its personalities was WGRZ weather anchor Kevin O'Connell, who voice-tracked afternoon drive until 2012.

Joshua Gregory, also known as Mark Henry, was also a former talk show host, producer, and reporter at WGR and WBEN before becoming a part of the WECK team. He was the last remaining talk show host on WECK. His paranormal call-in/interview program ran on Sunday evenings from 2010 to 2013 surviving three format changes. His shows can still be heard posthumously in archives on YouTube.[7]".[8]

In 2013, after WHLD (which was carrying a pure adult standards format at the time) shifted to sports talk, WECK rebranded to its current Timeless format and reformulated its playlist to reflect a traditional adult standards approach.

Morning host Tom Donahue and Sunday polka music host Ron Dombrowski (who also hosts shows for WXRL during the week and WBBZ-TV on television) continue to air on WECK, with most other dayparts covered by America's Best Music. In late January 2016, WECK acquired the local broadcast rights to Delilah, the nationally syndicated love-song host who spent the previous two decades on WJYE.[9] The station also broadcasts Canisius College men's basketball.

Buffalo's Very Own: Sale to Buddy Shula and shift to oldies
WECK's logo under Shula ownership; used until 2018

Buddy Shula, a local broadcaster and local business advocate, filed with the FCC and announced his intent to purchase the WECK and translator 102.9 FM on March 10, 2017.[10] The sale closed May 3, 2017, at a purchase price of $550,000; among his first moves was to hire Danny Neaverth, the longtime former morning host at WKBW and WHTT-FM, for an on-air position.[11] John Zach, previously WBEN's morning co-host from 1998 to 2016, joined WECK as news director and morning news anchor in July 2017; along with Zach's hiring, the station's national news updates switched from Fox News to CBS News.[12] Zach abruptly left the station in February 2018.[13] Steve Cichon filled the position for several months until his own departure.[14]

Among other hirings were former WYRK and WHTT-FM morning host Gail Ann Huber as morning co-host, longtime WKBW-TV voice-over artist and DJ Jon Summers for late mornings, and former WJYE morning host and Program Director Joe Chille[15] for afternoon drive time Monday through Thursday; Shula also re-hired Harv Moore as midday host. Shula hired Glenn Topolski away from WYRK to play a dual role at WECK as program and music director. Former WGR and WKBW radio DJ Tom Donahue continued as morning show co-host after Shula took over. Shortly after Shula's purchase of the station, WECK shifted from adult standards to a 1960s-centered oldies format, which also plays oldies of the ‘50s and ‘70s.

In the summer 2018 ratings WECK climbed to a top ten in Buffalo ratings, beating 50,000-watt WBUF and even with 50,000-watt WMSX (which in turn prompted the latter to change back to its previous format and re-hire Chille).[16]

In late April 2018, the FCC granted Shula another translator, W263DC (100.5 FM), as a second metro signal for WECK. Whereas the 102.9 translator is centered on the city of Buffalo, the 100.5 translator is centered in North Tonawanda and is licensed to Tonawanda, with that translator focused mainly on the northern suburbs of Buffalo. Shula purchased another translator, W262CM (the translator of currently silent daytimer WBBF), in November 2019, with intent to move the transmitter to Clarence and its frequency down to 100.1.[17]

In March 2019, WECK released an app that can be downloaded on Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.

In June 2019 WECK added former Buffalo air personality Tony Magoo as morning newsreader.[18] Magoo voicetracks his news reports from Jackson, Mississippi.[19] Also in June 2019, WECK had its highest ever weekly audience for that signal. According to Neilsen, WECK surpassed the 70,000 weekly audience threshold, up 53% in 12 months, far more gain than any other Buffalo radio station. Shula could not find a station that had a higher rating in its home market with an oldies format and thus proclaimed the station the highest-rated oldies station in the nation.[20] Roger Christian, who had spent 43 years at the station now known as WTSS from 1976 to 2019 (and was thus one of Shula's co-workers during his time at that station), was hired shortly after his dismissal from WTSS; Christian will serve as a weekend and fill-in personality.[21] Christian was named morning host in October 2019, displacing Neaverth, Donahue and Huber;[19] the latter two amicably left the station shortly thereafter, with Huber moving to WEBR.[22] Donahue returned to the station in April 2020 after a brief time in Texas. At the same time, Neaverth was fired from the station in part because of a public argument with Shula.[23] Cindy Chan, formerly at WGRF, joined the station for weekend shows in early 2020.[24]

In early March 2020, the FCC granted the purchase of translator W262CM for $50,000. The sale closed March 11, 2020. The FCC also granted this translator to be moved from Buffalo to suburban Lancaster at 250 watts. The frequency change from 100.3 to 100.1 MHz, with a new call sign of W261EB.

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References
  1. Radio-Locator.com/WECK
  2. Rado-Locator/W275BB
  3. Broadcasting Yearbook 1977 page C-140
  4. name="nerw43">Fybush, Scott (2008-03-03). "This Week's Bloodbath: Citadel". NorthEast Radio Watch.
  5. WECK officials assess on-air upheaval. Buffalo News. Retrieved 2011-06-03.
  6. Kwiatkowski, Jane (July 12, 2011). Two more on-air hosts lose jobs as WECK shifts from talk format The Buffalo News. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
  7. [Mark Henry Biography]https://www.theedgeoftheunknown.com/about1
  8. [The Edge of the Unknown YouTube Page]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJf-4Q5ObAU
  9. http://talkintv.buffalonews.com/2016/01/27/ch-7-moving-abcs-this-week-directly-opposite-nbcs-meet-the-press/
  10. http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2017/03/15/very-buffalo-format-coming-to-weck-radio-under-new.html
  11. Fink, James (May 4, 2017). FCC approves WECK sale; Danny Neaverth coming back. Business First. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  12. Pergament, Alan (June 1, 2017). John Zach returning to radio news at WECK. The Buffalo News. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  13. http://buffalonews.com/2018/02/20/weck-names-steve-cichon-to-replace-john-zach-as-news-director/
  14. https://buffalonews.com/2018/09/19/cichon-exits-weck-takes-communications-job-at-timon-st-jude/
  15. http://buffalonews.com/2018/01/08/joe-chille-returning-to-radio-as-afternoon-host-at-weck/
  16. https://buffalonews.com/2019/01/04/after-six-years-joe-chille-returning-as-morning-host-at-96-1/
  17. https://www.fybush.com/nerw-20191125/
  18. "Magoo is latest radio legend to join WECK in a new role – newsreader". The Buffalo News. 2019-06-03. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  19. https://buffalonews.com/2019/10/25/tom-donahue-and-gail-huber-out-roger-christian-in-on-weck-morning-show/
  20. https://buffalonews.com/2019/08/28/supreme-compliment-for-nancy-drew-a-beef-about-weck-praise-for-peterman/
  21. https://buffalonews.com/2019/09/13/radio-personality-roger-christian-joins-weck/
  22. https://buffalonews.com/2019/10/31/the-pigman-returns-but-donahue-and-huber-wont-come-back-to-weck/
  23. https://buffalonews.com/2020/04/20/tom-donahue-is-back-on-mornings-at-weck-neaverth-and-shula-continue-verbal-feud/
  24. https://buffalonews.com/2020/02/04/cindy-chan-returns-to-local-radio-joins-weck-lineup/

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