From radio intern to station owner

Buddy Shula brings WECK to number one

BY MICHAEL J. BILLONI

Growing up in Lancaster, William Ostrander was a huge local radio fan who interned at the former WPHD-FM station when he was a fifteen-year-old Lancaster Central High School student. It wasn’t long before he was behind the microphone.

When an overnight disc jockey called in sick, the young intern was asked to fill in but told he needed a radio name. He quickly responded “Buddy Shula”—Buddy is what he’d been called growing up and, as a football fan, he admired Miami Dolphins Coach Don Shula. During that time, Shula also interned for J.P., a legendary on-air radio personality for the past fortyseven years.

In 1956, when Shula was growing up, WECK was a newcomer to Buffalo’s strong AM. Shula recalls being intrigued when his family would drive past the top-forty station’s Genesee Studio, housed in a building that looked like a farmhouse.

“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to buy a radio station and the one I really wanted was WECK,” recalls Shula, who saw his dream become reality in 2017 when he purchased the station from Dick Greene for $550,000, using his own funds, bank loans, and a low interest loan through the Erie County Industrial Development Agency.

The Canisius graduate became a radio station owner after twenty-two years with Entercom Radio, where he was an on-air talent and its number one direct salesperson. “WECK has good longevity and was very popular in its day,” Shula says. “It’s a thousand-watt station but with its antenna on our roof, that thousand watts may as well be 50,000 watts because it covers the entire Erie County area.”

That translates to a million-person reach and, with his strong radio sales skills, experience, knowledge of the local market, and marketing abilities, Shula knew he could make this a successful deal.

Shula doesn’t believe young people listen to the radio and knows the fiftyfive-plus audience has the disposable income to patronize the station’s advertisers. Under his leadership, WECK has been format specific to serve the older population in the Buffalo market.

“That is what I will continue to do. The ratings are through the roof, and we are now one of the top stations in Buffalo,” he says, adding that Neilson Ratings recently notified him that WECK is the number one rated Oldies station in the United States. “That is pretty cool.”

The WECK playlist comprises music from the later 1950s to the mid-1970s. Shula has always had trusted Buffalo names on the air and, today, WECK’s lineup includes Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Famers Tom Donohue, Roger Christian, and Joe Chille. In an industry buzz move, Shula hired J.P.—the radio personality he interned for long ago J.P.—who left 97 Rock after twenty-eight years.; he’s midday and Breakfast with the Beatles host and his audience is growing.

“When I heard Cumulus, a corporate Wall Street company, would not let J.P. work from home because he takes care of his ninety-three-yearold parents, I could not believe it,” Shula says. “J.P. is one of the most caring individuals you could meet. He is also a great radio talent with a strong following. We allow him to do his show from home.”

Donny Tomasulo, another Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Famer and Shula’s former Entercom boss, is the station’s General Manager and General Sales Manager. “Buddy is an amazing visionary,” says Tomasulo. “WECK has never been more successful in its entire history than it is right now. Buddy understands marketing and we get results for our clients, many of whom have been with Buddy for years.”

WECK is at 1230 AM, translators 100.1, 100.5 and 102.9, its free app, or live streamed at bigweck.com. FY

Michael J. Billoni is a storyteller and publisher.