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WECK (1230
kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...
) is a commercial AM
radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...
licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...
to
Cheektowaga, New York Cheektowaga (; ) is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town has grown to a population of 89,877. The town is in the north-central part of the county, and is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. The town is ...
and serving the
Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Area The Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan statistical area is a metropolitan area, designated by the United States Census Bureau, encompassing two counties - Erie and Niagara - in the state of New York. It is the second-largest metropolit ...
. The station airs a locally produced and locally hosted
oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...
music
format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...
. The studios, offices and
transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
are located on Genesee Street in suburban Cheektowaga. WECK's programming is
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
on three FM
translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
stations on 100.1, 100.5, and 102.9
MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
. The station is owned by Radio One Buffalo, LLC, headed by William Ostrander, also known as Buddy Shula.


History


Early years

In August 1956, the station first
signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...
as WNIA. The
call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...
referred to nearby
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...
. The station was founded by Gordon P. Brown, who also owned WSAY (now WXXI) in
Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...
.  At both Brown's stations, in Buffalo and Rochester, the on-air personalities were assigned stage names.  Those names stayed the same, although the talent, typically less experienced broadcasters, came and went.  Names like Mike Melody, Tom Thomas and Jerry Jack were used for years on the stations, with different people assuming those names; one of the Mike Melodies, Roger Christian, went on to fame as a songwriter after leaving Buffalo. (The later Roger Christian who achieved more lasting fame in Buffalo radio and currently works at WECK is a different person who uses the Roger Christian name as an alias.) In 1979, the programming shifted to a
Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
/
oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...
hybrid format. Original air personalities included Chuck McCoy, Jeff Reinhardt (Program Director), Mark Phillips, J.R. Russ, Barbra Lynne and part-time announcers Art Zelasko, Mike Brown, Ricky Banks, David J. Miller, Jon Park, Dr. Jim Rose and newscaster Pam Kloc. As a way to connect the station locally, the station aligned with a popular local sandwich consisting of roast beef on a
Kimmelweck A beef on weck is a sandwich found primarily in Western New York State, particularly in the city of Buffalo. It is made with roast beef on a kummelweck roll, a roll that is topped with kosher salt and caraway seeds. The meat on the sandwich is ...
roll or "
Beef on Weck A beef on weck is a sandwich found primarily in Western New York State, particularly in the city of Buffalo. It is made with roast beef on a kummelweck roll, a roll that is topped with kosher salt and caraway seeds. The meat on the sandwich ...
," the station switched its call letters to "WECK," branding itself as "The Roll That Rocks."


Sale to Quid Me Broadcasting

After Brown's death, WNIA was sold to Quid Me Broadcasting, a group headed by local broadcast sales executive Chet Musialowski. Musialowski served as General Manager between (1980–1988).


Music of Your Life

In 1981, as listening to contemporary music on AM radio declined, WECK began airing Adult Standards using the syndicated "
Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and Ca ...
" format, created by record executive and jingle writer
Al Ham Albert W. Ham (February 6, 1925 in Malden, Massachusetts — October 4, 2001 in Spring Hill, Florida) was an American composer and jingle writer. He was notable as the composer of the '' Move Closer to Your World'' music package used since the ...
.  Ham had created the format in 1978 and it came to air on 200 stations across the United States. The station was given a regular adult standards formula to implement.  Ham's strategy worked well. More stations joined the network during the 1980s.  Another strategy developed by Ham in the early 1980s for his national format was having recorded messages by the very stars being played, such as, "This is
Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...
, and I'd like to thank you for making us all a part of the Music of Your Life." In the meantime, J.R. Russ was put in charge of the local implementation of Ham's format 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. After some initial success, Russ soon determined that Ham's small music library repeated songs too often and enlisted the staff to wade through piles of record albums collected by previous owner Gordon Brown, literally knee-deep, in the station's Cheektowaga basement to expand the playlist to over 2,000 songs with a "power rotation" of the biggest and most familiar hits. The station continued licensing the "Music of Your Life" name but, programmed the format in-house and songs were considered for air if they met 2 of 3 criteria: Familiar song, Familiar Artist and Fits the "texture or sound" of the station as Jazz selections might fit a Jazz station's sound. In 1981 the trade publications like "Inside Radio" touted headlines of: "WECK takes town by storm" and "WECK skyrockets into contention."
Radio and Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
designated WECK as a "Fastest Mover" up the ratings ladder. The station was a big hit with of Buffalo's large adult population as WECK grew from a 23rd place "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 the Spring 1983 ratings. The 1,000-watt AM station garnered a 7.2 share of all 12+ listeners, beating most FM, and every area AM station (including 50,000-watt WWKB) except #1 WBEN. The
Radio and Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
Directory also listed WECK as #4 in the entire U.S. in Average Quarter Hour listening (AQH) among stations with similar formats. Russ went on to the Major Markets of Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia but returned to the Buffalo airwaves on 1440 WEBR with a Saturday and Sunday night airing of his Movie Ticket Radio(TM) "movie hits" format until the 2023 departure of Program Director Dave Gillen.


CBS ownership

Quid Me Broadcasting sold the station to CBS Radio in 1988. WECK continued with a nostalgia music format, but became satellite
automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...
, maintaining only a live, local show in
morning drive Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...
. Portions of the station's programming came from the
Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and Ca ...
network, although the station switched to
Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...
's Adult Standards satellite feed for a time. The station was sold to
Regent Communications Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...
along with the rest of the CBS Buffalo radio cluster in 2006. In February 2006, WECK abruptly dropped the standards format. In an attempt to capitalize on the success of
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
WYRK WYRK (106.5 FM) is a commercial radio station in Buffalo, New York, and serving Western New York. It is owned by Townsquare Media and it broadcasts a country music radio format. The studios and offices are on Lafayette Square in Buffalo in the ...
and "own" country formats in the market, WECK switched to the
Jones Radio Network Jones Radio Networks & Jones Media Group were branches of Jones International before being sold to Triton Media Group. JRN and JMN provide local radio stations with satellite-delivered formats. They also offer other services to local radio suc ...
classic country format. From 2005 to 2008, the station aired
Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...
baseball games, with the Bisons buying air time from the station for their broadcast.


Culver Communications era

On November 5, 2007, Dick Greene, owner of
WLVL WLVL (1340 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Lockport (city), New York, Lockport, New York, United States, the station serves the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area. The station is owned by ...
in nearby
Lockport, New York Lockport is both a city and the town that surrounds it in Niagara County, New York, United States. The city is the Niagara county seat, with a population of 21,165 according to 2010 census figures, and an estimated population of 20,305 as of 20 ...
, 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 Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...
format, mixed with local and syndicated programming. WECK made headlines with the hiring of Buffalo radio veterans Harv Moore and Tom Donahue to host its morning show. However, just six months after the switch, Moore was released and replaced by local actress Loraine O'Donnell, who was subsequently terminated in June 2011. WECK acquired the broadcast radio rights to the University of
Buffalo Bulls The Buffalo Bulls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University at Buffalo (UB) in Buffalo, New York. The Bulls compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of Mid-Ame ...
football and men's basketball games for the 2008 season. In 2009, the station acquired the Buffalo-area rights to
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
baseball through the 2011 season. WECK dropped the rights to the UB Bulls athletics teams and they were picked up by
WHLD WUSW (1270 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Niagara Falls, New York, and serving the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media, with a sale to Buddy S ...
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...
in the spring of 2013.
WGRZ WGRZ (channel 2) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill Ro ...
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 Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American political commentator, stand-up comedian, talk show host, writer, actor and former sportscaster. Miller was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' fro ...
, ''First Light'' and
Fox Sports Radio Fox Sports Radio is an Radio in the United States, American Sports radio, sports radio network. Based in Los Angeles, California, the network is operated and managed by Premiere Networks in a content partnership with Fox Corporation's Fox Sports ...
. 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. In 2013, after
WHLD WUSW (1270 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Niagara Falls, New York, and serving the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area. It is owned by Cumulus Media, with a sale to Buddy S ...
(which was carrying a pure adult standards format at the time) shifted to sports talk, WECK rebranded to its then-current "Timeless" format and reformulated its playlist to reflect an adult standards approach. Morning host Tom Donahue and Sunday
polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...
music host Ron Dombrowski (who also hosts shows for
WXRL WXRL (1300 AM) is a commercial radio station in Lancaster, New York, serving the Buffalo metropolitan area. It broadcasts a classic country radio format. WXRL is owned and operated by the family of Ramblin' Lou Schriver, a local country musi ...
during the week and
WBBZ-TV WBBZ-TV (channel 67) is a television station licensed to Springville, New York, United States, serving the Buffalo, New York, Buffalo area. It has a primary affiliation with MeTV, but is otherwise programmed as an independent station. WBBZ-TV i ...
on television) continued on WECK, with most other hours covered by the syndicated 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. The station also aired Canisius College men's basketball.


Sale to Radio One Buffalo

Buddy Shula, an account executive, and air-personality with Entercom, filed with the FCC and announced his intent to purchase WECK and translator 102.9 FM on March 10, 2017. The sale closed May 3, 2017, at a purchase price of $550,000. Among the station's first moves was to hire Dan Neaverth, the longtime market fixture and former morning host at WKBW and
WHTT-FM WHTT-FM (104.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Buffalo, New York, serving Western New York. It is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts a classic hits format, simply calling itself "Classic Hits 104.1". The studios and offices are o ...
, for a Friday afternoon on-air position. Neaverth remained with the station until 2020. 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. Zach left the station in February 2018. Steve Cichon filled the position for several months until he departed to focus on his teaching position and was succeeded by Tony Magoo, whose position was eliminated before the end of the year. Other additions included former
WYRK WYRK (106.5 FM) is a commercial radio station in Buffalo, New York, and serving Western New York. It is owned by Townsquare Media and it broadcasts a country music radio format. The studios and offices are on Lafayette Square in Buffalo in the ...
and WHTT-FM morning host Gail Ann Huber as morning co-host, longtime
WKBW-TV WKBW-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo and a transmitter on Center Stree ...
voice-over artist and air personality, Jon Summers for late mornings, and former WJYE morning host and Program Director Joe Chille for afternoon
drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...
. In the summer 2018 ratings, WECK climbed to a top ten in Buffalo ratings. In late April 2018, the FCC granted the station another translator, W263DC (100.5 FM), as a second Metro signal for WECK. The 100.5 translator is licensed to Tonawanda, to enhance coverage in northern suburbs of Buffalo. Roger Christian, who had spent 43 years at the station on FM 102.5 from 1976 to 2019), was hired shortly after his departure from that station; Christian was hired as a weekend and fill-in personality. Christian was named morning host in October 2019, later moving to middays after Summers, Moore and Neaverth were removed in coronavirus-related cost reduction measures that eventually were made permanent. In early March 2020, the FCC granted the purchase of translator W262CM from
Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...
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 translator changed frequencies from 100.3 to 100.1 MHz and adopted the call-sign W261EB. Donahue announced his retirement from broadcasting in September 2023. Also in late 2023, WECK launched "Big WECK 2," a companion
Internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...
service, initially carrying a Halloween music format, then a
Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...
format (with an interruption to cover Beatles A to Z on Black Friday), the companion station shifted to a progressive format of lesser-known oldies programmed by John Piccillo after the holidays. Piccillo had joined WECK in April, following 28 years at WGRF. Big WECK 2 disappeared around April 1, 2024, with Piccillo leaving WECK in July.


References


External links


Official website
* * {{Oldies Radio Stations in New York ECK Oldies radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1956 1956 establishments in New York (state)