Update 9/26: WLKK has flipped to Adult Alternative as “Alternative Buffalo 107.7“.

The station is promoting itself for new music discovery and will fill the hole in the market left when Cumulus’ “103.3 The Edge” WEDG segued from Alternative to Active Rock years ago.

The first hour of Alternative Buffalo featured:
Lumineers – Ho Hey
Semisonic – Closing Time
Bastille – Pompeii
MS MR – Hurricane
Jimmy Eat World – The Middle
Of Monsters And Men – Little Talks
Smashing Pumpkins – Tonight, Tonight
Lorde – Royals
Said The Whale – I Love You
Coldplay – Atlas
U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
Kings Of Leon – Supersoaker
Metric – Youth Without Youth
Soundgarden – Burden In My Hand
The Naked and Famous – Young Blood
Foo Fighters – Learn To Fly
AWOLNation – Sail

The Press Release from Entercom follows:

Today at 12 noon, Entercom Buffalo launched the newest member of its family, Alternative Buffalo 107.7 FM. This new station will connect the best of today’s modern alternative music with young, educated, white-collar professionals who are active, mobile, and always online.

“Our station will reflect the best part of today’s Buffalo. From a revitalized downtown and a growing economy, to a strong sense of environmental protection, to a renewed sense of optimism and community, 107.7 is the New Alternative for a New Buffalo,” said Greg Ried, Vice President and General Manager of Entercom Buffalo.

“We are building Alternative Buffalo 107.7 to compete and win. On Day 1 we will stand alone as the exclusive alternative station in Buffalo. With our unique sound, Alternative Buffalo 107.7 will target an audience in the heaviest acquisition years of their lives. Alternative Buffalo 107.7 will deliver modern consumers who need to buy and buy right now,” Ried added.

Entercom has had tremendous success with alternative stations across the country, including The End in Seattle, The Buzz in Kansas City, and KRNK in Portland. It has drawn on that success to design Alternative Buffalo 107.7.

Renowned alternative program director Mark Hamilton, from KNRK Portland, who is advising 107.7FM on its launch commented, “We conducted extensive local research in Buffalo and listeners were clear … they wanted an alternative, and they wanted modern alternative music,” said Mark Hamilton, the renowned alternative program director of KNRK Portland, who is advising 107.7 FM on its launch. Alternative Buffalo 107.7 will play the very best in today’s alternative music from artists including Mumford and Sons, the Lumineers, Muse, and FUN.”

Entercom also announced it has launched a national search for a program director for 107.7.

The launch of Alternative Buffalo 107.7 means that WBEN will no longer be simulcast on FM. Entercom’s research showed, and Arbitron has confirmed, that over 90% of WBEN listening continued to occur at 930 AM. Ried commented on the move, “We are supremely confident that nearly all of our listeners will migrate back to AM over the next few days. Rest assured WBEN remains the premier news-talk-weather station in the market, and we will continue delivering on that promise.”

Original Report 9/24: Entercom News/Talk 930 WBEN Buffalo has announced it will drop its FM simulcast on Thursday, September 26 at 12:00pm.

107.7 WLKK Wethersfield Township has been simulcasting WBEN since April 2011. Its previous Classic Rock “107.7 the Lake” format continues to air on WLKK-HD2 and online.

No word yet on what will replace the WBEN simulcast on 107.7.