AM Buffalo

AM Buffalo, known on weekends as Buffalo Weekend, is an American television talk show based in Buffalo, New York. The program has aired on WKBW-TV since its founding in 1978 and is hosted by Linda Pellegrino. Jon Summers serves as a reporter and announcer for the program; on days that Pellegrino or Summers is not available, WKBW program director John DiScullo fills in.

Previous hosts include Brian Kahle, Cindy Abbott and Helen Tederous; the hourlong program has aired weekdays on WKBW at 10:00 AM since its inception and on Saturday mornings at 9:00 AM (in half-hour format) since 2008.

The show, which dates back to 1978 after the cancellation of the local version of "Dialing for Dollars", features two types of segments: "talk segments," similar to talk radio shows where viewers call in and discuss the issues of the day with Pellegrino, and paid segments, with paid sponsors as "guests." Cooking segments and local musicians are also occasionally featured, and there are some celebrity interviews (via satellite) conducted in coordination with advertising promotions, often involving call-in contests where listeners can win prizes.

One of AM Buffalo's most novel contests was a contest known as Who Wants to be a Trivianaire, a local version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? complete with Millionaire music and graphics. Usually played during the summer, contestants called in and answered one multiple-choice question for a prize package. When "Millionaire" left ABC, Trivianaire was cancelled.

In 2008 AM Buffalo will celebrate 30 years on the air. Likewise the station as a whole will be celebrating 50 years on the air. However, as of March 2008, the show no longer airs on a regular basis, because severe financial problems have prompted WKBW to replace the shows with infomercials at random times.

Origins of other versions

Buffalo Weekend was created after a shuffling of Saturday morning programming, moving two Saturday morning cartoons to the less-watched 7:00 a.m. time slot (just barely within the allowed E/I window) and opening the 9:00 a.m. slot for general interest programs.

An afternoon version of the show, called PM Buffalo, aired from 2004 until August 29, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. PM Buffalo was preceded in its time slot by a program called "WNY Live!". Hosted by Linda White and later by Grace Polanski, "WNY Live!" had news updates at the top and bottom of each hour and several long form news features. WKBW's budget was cut in 2004 and "WNY Live!" was replaced by a PM version of the "AM Buffalo" program. In its last years, further budget cuts and a loss of advertisers reduced PM Buffalo largely to repeats of AM Buffalo's paid segments, and the program was no longer aired live. Because of this, WKBW ended PM Buffalo on August 29, 2008 and replaced it with the syndicated medical talk show "The Doctors", which the station has promoted aggressively.

Frequent guests

Most guest segments are sponsored. The most frequent guests include:

*Herschel Gelber, personal injury attorney, legal consultant
*Jeff Nixon, former member of the Buffalo Bills
*Joseph Sgroi, financial consultant and guest
*Darin Hughes, of Hughesco Inc., discusses home energy
*Father Paul Seil, of "Our Daily Bread," cooking segments
*Amy Beth Taublieb, health and wellness

External links

* [http://www.wkbw.com/programming/ambuffalo AM Buffalo] at wkbw.com
* [http://www.wkbw.com/programming/pmbuffalo PM Buffalo] at wkbw.com