The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Hot in Buffalo

Radiowiz · July 16, 2023 8:18 pm

Good bye Vibe FM hello Hot 98.9 in Buffalo.
The new format is hit music. https://www.hot989buffalo.com/
I wonder what WKSE thinks of all this??

ckg927 · July 16, 2023 9:05 pm

They likely see it as more of an irritance, IF they think of it at all. Keep in mind that WBBF-A/F is A. a daytime only AM and B. an FM translator that does not put out the best signal over metro Buffalo

That said, it's not a bad move on Cumulus' part. They sense(and rather correctly)that Kiss 98.5 has gone more adult top 40 in the wake of 102.5's sale to EMF and becoming K-Love. It looks like the music is being done locally by people who KNOW what they're doing. There's no idea, as yet, if they're going to bring more of a local presence...although there are a LOT of ex-Kiss air talent who'd fit in perfectly, even if it's voice tracking.

BTW, the switch was done on Friday.

Radiowiz · July 16, 2023 10:06 pm

ckg927 wrote:
They likely see it as more of an irritance, IF they think of it at all. Keep in mind that WBBF-A/F is A. a daytime only AM and B. an FM translator that does not put out the best signal over metro Buffalo

That said, it's not a bad move on Cumulus' part. They sense(and rather correctly)that Kiss 98.5 has gone more adult top 40 in the wake of 102.5's sale to EMF and becoming K-Love. It looks like the music is being done locally by people who KNOW what they're doing. There's no idea, as yet, if they're going to bring more of a local presence...although there are a LOT of ex-Kiss air talent who'd fit in perfectly, even if it's voice tracking.

BTW, the switch was done on Friday.

You make some excellent points indeed.
It looks like at one point Audacy and Cumulus were "friends"...but not anymore? https://www.audacy.com/stations/989thevibe

radiokid · July 17, 2023 11:41 am

I doubt Kiss 98.5 will find this station more than a flea buzzing around them. If anything, they will double down on doing Adult CHR leaving the younger under 18s to this 250 watt station that barely covers the market. It could be more sellable as a CHR for Cumulus over classic hip hop.. The other interesting thing that have happened since K-Love, 96.1 has taken on Star 102.5's old calls (WTSS). It also appears they are trying to keep Star 102.5 alive, and put it on WLKK-FM's HD 2.

Last edited by radiokid (July 17, 2023 11:47 am)

ckg927 · July 17, 2023 1:32 pm

radiokid wrote:
I doubt Kiss 98.5 will find this station more than a flea buzzing around them. If anything, they will double down on doing Adult CHR leaving the younger under 18s to this 250 watt station that barely covers the market. It could be more sellable as a CHR for Cumulus over classic hip hop.. The other interesting thing that have happened since K-Love, 96.1 has taken on Star 102.5's old calls (WTSS). It also appears they are trying to keep Star 102.5 alive, and put it on WLKK-FM's HD 2.

Get a PD and some air talent(ESPECIALLY if it's some former Kiss DJ's(DJ Anthony is still in the area), tweak the transmitter to cover more of the market than it does, and Hot is going to become more than a flea buzzing around Kiss.

Dave The OTA guy · July 17, 2023 10:09 pm

The app isn't available in your country (Canada) So stupid. But I can stream it from their website...if I wanted to listen to them.

ckg927 · July 25, 2023 4:27 pm

I should noted that Hot 98.9 now has a PD....who also happens to multitask. Joe Siragusa was named to the post last week; he adds Hot to his other duties as Cumulus Buffalo's OM AND he PD's WEDG(103.3 the Edge)and WHTT(Classic Hits 104.1).

ckg927 · July 25, 2023 4:28 pm

Dave The OTA guy wrote:
The app isn't available in your country (Canada) So stupid. But I can stream it from their website...if I wanted to listen to them.

Well, to be honest, Radio Player Canada isn't available in the States, either. Nor, for that matter, is Stingray Radio's app.

Radiowiz · July 25, 2023 5:18 pm

ckg927 wrote:
Dave The OTA guy wrote:
The app isn't available in your country (Canada) So stupid. But I can stream it from their website...if I wanted to listen to them.
Well, to be honest, Radio Player Canada isn't available in the States, either. Nor, for that matter, is Stingray Radio's app.

Stingray's app should shut down to save money. They teamed up with another source as an alternative method of tuning into their streams.

RadioAaron · July 25, 2023 6:09 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
ckg927 wrote:
Dave The OTA guy wrote:
The app isn't available in your country (Canada) So stupid. But I can stream it from their website...if I wanted to listen to them.
Well, to be honest, Radio Player Canada isn't available in the States, either. Nor, for that matter, is Stingray Radio's app.
Stingray's app should shut down to save money. They teamed up with another source as an alternative method of tuning into their streams.

The app is just an extension to the much bigger parts of their business - their retail and direct to home music services - and itself would cost very little to maintain.

mace · July 26, 2023 9:08 am

Dave The OTA guy wrote:
The app isn't available in your country (Canada) So stupid. But I can stream it from their website...if I wanted to listen to them.

World radio Map works also.

markow202 · July 26, 2023 1:21 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
ckg927 wrote:
Dave The OTA guy wrote:
The app isn't available in your country (Canada) So stupid. But I can stream it from their website...if I wanted to listen to them.
Well, to be honest, Radio Player Canada isn't available in the States, either. Nor, for that matter, is Stingray Radio's app.
Stingray's app should shut down to save money. They teamed up with another source as an alternative method of tuning into their streams.

Its a very good app however (Stingray) - very well put together and lots of choices.

dmcjeff · September 23, 2023 3:36 pm

Dave The OTA guy wrote:
The app isn't available in your country (Canada) So stupid. But I can stream it from their website...if I wanted to listen to them.

the app is available for download on the apple (iphone) app store here in Barrie and I just downloaded it; furthermore it's streaming live.

dmcjeff · September 23, 2023 3:39 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
Good bye Vibe FM hello Hot 98.9 in Buffalo.
The new format is hit music. https://www.hot989buffalo.com/
I wonder what WKSE thinks of all this??

I listened to WKSE the other day while at the esso service station (HWY 400s near Vaughan) in the evenings and realized that Audacity has really gutted the station of most of it's character. Very few talent on air, nothing really that special anymore. The enthusiasm you could hear during the evenings of the 90's especially with DJ Anthony, Kiss 10 @ 10 was gone. They don't even have their own website anymore; it's just a subdomain of audacity.

Jody Thornton · September 23, 2023 5:33 pm

dmcjeff wrote:
I listened to WKSE the other day while at the esso service station (HWY 400s near Vaughan) in the evenings and realized that Audacity has really gutted the station of most of it's character. Very few talent on air, nothing really that special anymore. The enthusiasm you could hear during the evenings of the 90's especially with DJ Anthony, Kiss 10 @ 10 was gone. They don't even have their own website anymore; it's just a subdomain of audacity.

Nicolas Picolas (sp?) last that I heard was the only live and local voice there from Buffalo. Janet Snyder was beamed in from Boston, and all of the rest of the dayparts utilized voices piped in from other markets. Sad shell of a station.

Then again, MOST STATIONS utilize some method of sounding like people are abound at the station, without paying for them all. After all, isn't that what roundtables on 1010 and now 640 are for?

RadioAaron · September 23, 2023 5:37 pm

Jody Thornton wrote:
dmcjeff wrote:
I listened to WKSE the other day while at the esso service station (HWY 400s near Vaughan) in the evenings and realized that Audacity has really gutted the station of most of it's character. Very few talent on air, nothing really that special anymore. The enthusiasm you could hear during the evenings of the 90's especially with DJ Anthony, Kiss 10 @ 10 was gone. They don't even have their own website anymore; it's just a subdomain of audacity.
Nicolas Picolas (sp?) last that I heard was the only live and local voice there from Buffalo. Janet Snyder was beamed in from Boston, and all of the rest of the dayparts utilized voices piped in from other markets. Sad shell of a station.

Then again, MOST STATIONS utilize some method of sounding like people are abound at the station, without paying for them all. After all, isn't that what roundtables on 1010 and now 640 are for?

Sue O'Neil on drive is L&L, moved over from 102.5 when it was sold.

dmcjeff · September 26, 2023 3:03 pm

So I tuned in to Kiss 98.5 (WKSE) while driving around Vaughan, North York and Richmond hill daytime today from about 10am through about 2pm (daytime 'with Julia') and they are definitely back to full CHR with Top of the hour call signs and slogans like 'The Number One Hit Music station' and 'the Hottest Station in Town' (likely a pun at the 98.9 low power fly buzzing around).

Music and Energy were very CHR with music ranging from Morgan Wallen to Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, David Guetta, Taylor Swift, the Weekend, Latto -Big Energy, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus etc.

I suspect their little foray into Hot A/C was more like a temporary tribute to WTSS at the time and now they've probably decided to hold on to their market of CHR.

markow202 · September 26, 2023 5:13 pm

dmcjeff wrote:
Radiowiz wrote:
Good bye Vibe FM hello Hot 98.9 in Buffalo.
The new format is hit music. https://www.hot989buffalo.com/
I wonder what WKSE thinks of all this??

I listened to WKSE the other day while at the esso service station (HWY 400s near Vaughan) in the evenings and realized that Audacity has really gutted the station of most of it's character. Very few talent on air, nothing really that special anymore. The enthusiasm you could hear during the evenings of the 90's especially with DJ Anthony, Kiss 10 @ 10 was gone. They don't even have their own website anymore; it's just a subdomain of audacity.

Oh I remember those days. Was exciting to listen to the radio and I think this goes for all stations to be honest.