There’s perhaps no standalone AM radio station in a top 60 market that is as successful as “WECK Radio.”
With call letters that pay homage to a famed local sandwich, the Class C 1kw facility from 1 transmitter has thrived under the leadership of owner Buddy Shula. It’s thanks to a local approach similar to what WGN-9 in Chicago once employed, and two FM translators covering much of the market.
A third FM translator has just been secured, filling the last hole for WECK on FM in Buffalo.
Buffalo-Niagara Falls, ranked No. 58 by Nielsen Audio, is a market where AM radio continues to thrive.
Two Entercom stations, WGR-AM 550 and WBEN-AM 930, remain dominant with their respective Sports and News/Talk formats.
Then, there is WECK, a once-powerhouse Adult Standards station sold by Chet Musialowski to CBS in 1988, and then to Regent Communications in February 2006. That company then sold WECK in November 2007 to Culver Communications, headed by Dick Green, for $1.3 million.
Fast-forward to November 2016, when a man named William Ostrander acquired WECK — and its first FM translator, W275BB at 102.9 MHz in Cheektowaga, from Culver for $655,000.
Ostrander is the legal name for Shula, who spent 20 years at Entercom, in roles ranging from on-air work to sales and eventually rising to Regional Marketing Manager. He began his career in 1979 at WYSL-AM 1400 (now WWWS), and in the 1980s worked at WYRK following its April 1981 purchase by Stoner Broadcasting, which flipped it to its long-successful Country format.
With WECK, a Tonawanda translator at 100.5 MHz was added. The ratings grew.
Today, WECK professes to be the No. 1 Oldies station in America, by rank. It’s seventh overall, with a 3.7 share, in the latest Buffalo radio ratings. Now, it could grow even higher.
That’s because Shula’s company, Radio One Buffalo, is acquiring FM translator W262CM at 100.3 MHz — presently located just northwest of Walden Galleria.
But, don’t look at that facility, which is dark. Edgewater Broadcasting, the Dennis Clounch-led broadcast ministry shedding all of its broadcast properties, never got the FM translator on the air even after its shift from downtown Buffalo.
And, Shula has a contingent modification application in process that would move the translator’s transmitter and shift from 100.3 MHz to 100.1 MHz.
This would give WECK FM reception in key eastern communities, where many longtime Buffalonians call home. Among the communities this translator would cover are East Amherst, Harris Hill, Clarence, Bowansville and Depew. Importantly, it puts a signal directly over Buffalo-Niagara International Airport and the busy business corridor just north of the facility.
“This will give WECK an opportunity to serve our community with FM coverage in areas that we currently do not reach with FM inside the Buffalo-Niagara Falls DMA,” Shula told RBR+TVBR on Friday. “It will cover an approximate population of 200,000 new persons with FM for WECK.”
Terms of the transaction call for Radio One Buffalo to pay Edgewater $50,000 for the unbuilt translator.
The full amount will be paid at closing.
Serving as the legal counsel in this transaction is Stephen Lovelady of Fletcher Heald & Hildreth.
While Shula does not anticipate any difficulties in acquiring the translator, it notes that a third-party LMA partner — Totally Gospel Network — on Sept. 16 was using the facility for its own programming, without FCC authorization.
An investigation is pending, as Edgewater had terminated an asset purchase agreement with the operator, which included a LMA provision ahead of a closing date.
This resulted in the filing of a lawsuit in July 2019 by TGN parent Fellowshipworld Inc. against Edgewater alleging breach of contract.
Litigation in New York Supreme Court, the point of entry in the Empire State legal system, is ongoing.
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