“The Breeze 1230 will target those age 30 and over, and will offer a huge library of songs,” Jane Kwiatkowski's story in the Buffalo News quotes general manager and president Dick Greene, who bought the station three years ago.
“You will hear Sinatra and you may hear Coldplay, but you’ll also hear Tom Petty, Michael Buble. You’ll hear the Rolling Stones. You won’t hear ‘Gimme Shelter,’ but you will hear ‘Streets of Love.’ We’ll also play songs from groups that are particularly popular in the Buffalo area, for example Blue Rodeo,” he said.
The format switch followed a housecleaning at the station during recent months in which virtually all on-air talent — including Bill O’Loughlin, Loraine O’Donnell, Nick Mendola and Brad Riter — either quit or were fired.
“Every person I let go I liked,” said Greene. “I developed friendships with these people. It ended up being a business decision, and an end to what started out three years ago as a [talk radio] movement. I thought because of the local ownership and local programming and being able to get into local issues more so than the competition would prove to be successful.”
The bottom line was lack of advertising revenue and poor ratings, said Greene.
“The fact that we didn’t get more than a one share in three years amazed me,” said Greene. “I know we had more than that.”
Tom Donahue, one of the remaining on-air talents who helped launch the station, recently celebrated 45 years in Buffalo radio. He said he is looking forward to playing music again.
“It will be a little more full service in the morning,” said Donahue. “To me it’s very exciting. It’s something I did for many of my years on the radio. It’s only been the last 10 to 12 years that I’ve gotten into the news end, but I still love being a disc jockey.”
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