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Fri Nov 2 1:54 pm  #1


WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

I used to stream WBEN with the Tune In Radio app. A few months back they flipped over to radio.com and blocked the Tune In and web feeds. The radio.com app was not available in the Google Play store in Canada but I managed to download and install it manually.

But now last week or the week before it started saying "this stream is not available in your area". Ditto if you try to stream it from their website.

I can pick up WBEN fairly well in the car throughout most of Toronto (just not under streetcar overhead), but even the better radios I have around the house have a lot of trouble with it, and forget about anything portable.

I guess foreign demos do not mean much to a station whose bread is buttered by local sponsors, but I will miss those catchy jingles from all those roofing and window contractors, ambulance chasing lawyers and their ridiculous telephone numbers, mattress sellers, and the blue-hair set European river cruises with the ridiculously-monickered morning host Sandy Beach.

 

Fri Nov 2 2:27 pm  #2


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

I stopped listening to Buffalo AM stations many years ago.  In the early 50s at the tale end of radio’s golden age,
WBEN was an NBC affiliate. Around 1953 or 1954 it switched to CBS affiliation.and carried the remaining CBS
comedies and dramas that were slowly disappearing from radio. Even after these programs were gone, I relied on WBEN for news coverage from CBS which was tops for American radio,  for a few years, CBS actually had 10 minute radio newscasts at the top of every hour.  Through the years, the station concentrated mostly on local news and dropped CBS affiliation and became another mouthpiece for Rush and right wing blabbers. What a decline for the station and many others like it.

 

Fri Nov 2 3:17 pm  #3


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

I haven't listened to WBEN in ages, with the exception of Sandy Beach's 50th anniversary show a few months ago. But this kind of thing really drives me crazy. (And as I always say, it's not a very long drive!) 

I sort of get the semi-coherent rationale that over-the-air music stations have to geoblock (sorry Geo!) their signals into Canada over rights agreements. Although I think that's pretty specious logic. 

But locally produced talk shows which don't involve any copyrights? That's just insane. If they wanted to cut off Rush Limbaugh, OK, it's syndicated and he has his own deal. But Sandy Beach's or Tom Bauerle's efforts? The reasons simply confound me.

It was the same thing when Bill Carroll was on KFI in L.A. What, exactly, was the reason to not allow the world to hear his show if someone out of the country was interested? It was a locally originated show. Where are the rights issues? 

Talk about taking the "world" out of the worldwide web... 

 

Fri Nov 2 4:31 pm  #4


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

It is also equally dumb that we are unable to streams shows from the PBS website in the U.S. even though virtually none of the content has been sold to a Canadian broadcaster.  Fortunately, my Hola Better Internet patch allowed me to watch previously aired episodes of the Ken Burns Vietnam War series.  I was also able to watch the two colorized episodes of the old Dick Van Dyke show on the CBS web site a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately, I know of no similar work-around for a radio app.

 

Fri Nov 2 4:42 pm  #5


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

Chuck99 wrote:

It is also equally dumb that we are unable to streams shows from the PBS website in the U.S. even though virtually none of the content has been sold to a Canadian broadcaster.  Fortunately, my Hola Better Internet patch allowed me to watch previously aired episodes of the Ken Burns Vietnam War series.  I was also able to watch the two colorized episodes of the old Dick Van Dyke show on the CBS web site a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately, I know of no similar work-around for a radio app.

Well, what's even more insulting is how much money WNED (and perhaps WTVS in Detroit) gets from Canadian contributors. I feel certain that WNED-TV (which proudly bills itself in its on air IDs as "Buffalo-Toronto") would not exist without GTA residents ponying up money during their infamous begathons. To then shut us out from online viewing is, in my view, unconscionable.

And I find Hola works less and less often these days, which is a shame, because it was wonderful when it did.

 

Fri Nov 2 5:01 pm  #6


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

Ditto for WQLN Erie, Pennsylvania  which, at one time, received a high percentage of its money from viewers in London, Ont.

Last edited by Chuck99 (Fri Nov 2 5:01 pm)

 

Fri Nov 2 7:26 pm  #7


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

Works with VPN with the USA as your location. 

 

Fri Nov 2 8:20 pm  #8


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

You can also get WBEN on 98.5FM HD3.

 

Mon Nov 5 5:12 pm  #9


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

WJPYFM wrote:

You can also get WBEN on 98.5FM HD3.

Good to know. However I am not able to lock a digital signal on 98.5 from where I am in Toronto.

     Thread Starter
 

Mon Nov 5 6:19 pm  #10


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

It's not that simple. 

CC could certainly have made the local KFI shows available... but...  big but... (butt?)  A lot of commercials, promos, bumpers involve union talent, and that talent is only paid for a specific geographical area.  So it's not as simple as just geo-blocking 'some' parts of the show, you pretty much need to re-create the broadcast and edit, switch out etc. on the fly.  This also includes drops, news segments, guests etc.  

I've had Canadian show guests ask me if I can ensure their interview isn't broadcast in the states, and I laugh and when I tell them It's easier to find someone else, 10 times out of 10 they agree it's not a huge deal.  But it doesn't mean they don't try.

With all the copyright shite nowadays nothing is simple.

I agree, it's easier to subscribe to a vpn for $4 a month and not worry about it.

RadioActive wrote:

I haven't listened to WBEN in ages, with the exception of Sandy Beach's 50th anniversary show a few months ago. But this kind of thing really drives me crazy. (And as I always say, it's not a very long drive!) 

I sort of get the semi-coherent rationale that over-the-air music stations have to geoblock (sorry Geo!) their signals into Canada over rights agreements. Although I think that's pretty specious logic. 

But locally produced talk shows which don't involve any copyrights? That's just insane. If they wanted to cut off Rush Limbaugh, OK, it's syndicated and he has his own deal. But Sandy Beach's or Tom Bauerle's efforts? The reasons simply confound me.

It was the same thing when Bill Carroll was on KFI in L.A. What, exactly, was the reason to not allow the world to hear his show if someone out of the country was interested? It was a locally originated show. Where are the rights issues? 

Talk about taking the "world" out of the worldwide web... 

 


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
 

Wed Nov 7 10:10 am  #11


Re: WBEN stream no longer available in Canada

The biggest drag to me is the loss of 107.7 The Lake, an HD2 subchannel of Alternative Buffalo. They used to have DJs and the main channel, now all they have is laid-back imaging and a wider selection of classic rock than 97 or Giant. Just gimme an URL.

 
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