THE WNY LISTENING POST
Western New York's only scanner-fed tabloid
Friday, May 1, 2026 — A.M. Edition Window 18:46 → 06:46 Vol. I · No. 121
"Eyes on the wires. Ears to the radio. Twelve hours, fully reported."
A QUIET NIGHT IN THE NIAGARA FRONTIER No Tier Alpha hits. No watchlist properties touched. Twenty-nine segments, mostly utility chatter and aviation handoffs.
Regional Blotter
Developing
BUFFALO FIRE ROLLS DOWNTOWN ON DELAWARE AVENUE CALL
BFD Ch1 dispatcher routes a company to 414 Delaware just past midnight; engine 2 sidelined, B4-4 picks up the slack.

At 00:16, Buffalo Fire dispatch on Channel 1 sent companies "flying" to 414 Delaware Avenue, with the dispatcher noting that Engine 2 was unavailable and Battalion 4-4 was being put close to the address.[1] The transcript is brief and partially garbled — no fire-type language ("working fire," "structure fire") was captured — so this appears to be a routine response rather than a confirmed working incident. No follow-up traffic was logged in the window.

00:16 · Erie County / BFD Ch1 Disp
Overheard: The Wires
What the…?!
"PIA, OR JOE?"
Amherst PD opens the new day at the stroke of midnight with a question only the night shift could love.

The bell tolls twelve and the Amherst-Clarence trunk crackles awake with: "Are you taking care of that, Pia, or Joe?"[2] No context. No incident. Just two first names floated into the dark like a Magic 8-Ball question. Whoever was supposed to answer either took the call or quietly hoped the other one would. The radio moved on without telling us.

00:00 · Amherst-Clarence / Amherst PD
"TWIN CITY FROM MAPLE, ON AIR"
An Amherst Fire Dispatch handoff that reads like the opening line of a country song.

At 00:33 a voice on Amherst Fire Dispatch announces a Twin City Ambulance unit going on-air from Maple Road.[3] Routine ambulance check-in — but the cadence ("Twin City from Maple, on air") has the unaccountable poetry that overnight radio specializes in.

00:33 · Amherst-Clarence / Amherst Fire Dis
"FORT CLEAVERS, CLEARED FOR 23"
Buffalo approach hands off a phonetically dubious aircraft to Niagara Falls tower.

A Buffalo Arrival/Departure controller cleared "Fort Cleavers" to approach runway 23, instructing the pilot to switch to tower at 20.5.[4] Whisper almost certainly mangled the callsign — there is no "Fort Cleavers" in any aviation registry — but it stands as the night's most evocative phantom aircraft.

00:04 · NF Intl Airport / Buff Arr-Dep V
SHUTTLE DRIVER PUTS DISPATCH ON HOLD — TWICE
A TPS shuttle at Buffalo-Niagara International briefly opts for diplomacy over dispatch.

"Thank you, I'll hold on. I'll hold on for a second." That was the entire transmission from a Tops Parking / TPS BNIA shuttle at 00:27.[5] A driver buying themselves five seconds of cognitive room in the universal language of customer service. We salute the technique.

00:27 · Businesses / TPS BNIA Shuttle
NYSTA RADIOS A LICENSE PLATE INTO THE VOID
Eleven digits, no narration. The Thruway's overnight koan.

At 00:00 NYSTA Channel 4 broadcasts the digit string "3 7 4 1 9 3 5 0 3 8 6" — no preface, no follow-up traffic captured.[6] Almost certainly a plate or unit number being read for a routine stop. Without context, it scans like the opening of a numbers station.

00:00 · NYSTA / Ch 4
CSX FREIGHT CRAWLS THROUGH AT 25 ON TRACK TWO
A single calm sentence, the most informative line of the night.

CSXT46 Baldwin reported a 25 mph track-two restriction at 00:46.[7] Standard slow order — possibly track work, possibly a mainline restriction. The freight kept moving; the radio went quiet.

00:46 · CSX / CSXT46 Baldw
ORCHARD PARK FD BAILS ON A MUTUAL AID
"All refusals of the M.A. — we're back to service."

At 01:00 OPFD Dispatch announced that all units assigned to a mutual-aid run had refused the call and were returning to service.[8] Translation: whoever requested the favor was politely told to handle it themselves. No further drama logged.

01:00 · Municipalities / OPFD 1 Disp
NATIONAL GRID CREW: "STANDING CLEAR … OF HERE."
Three sequential mic-keys at 23:48 that read like a haiku of leaving work.

National Grid utility radio captured three brief utterances in seven seconds: "3-8-0," "standing clear," "of here."[9] Standard safe-clear protocol from a line crew wrapping up a late job — but stripped down like that, it doubles as the universal sound of a shift ending.

23:48 · National Grid

Sources — Audio Files Cited

  1. [00:16] Erie County / BFD Ch1 Disp — E:\ProScan Recordings\05-01-26\Erie County\05-01-26 00-16-32 - Erie County - BFD Ch1 Disp TO 00-29-04.mp3
  2. [00:00] Amherst-Clarence / Amherst PD — E:\ProScan Recordings\05-01-26\Amherst-Clarence\05-01-26 00-00-03 - Amherst-Clarence - Amherst PD TO 00-34-19.mp3
  3. [00:33] Amherst-Clarence / Amherst Fire Dis — E:\ProScan Recordings\05-01-26\Amherst-Clarence\05-01-26 00-33-40 - Amherst-Clarence - Amherst Fire Dis TO 00-36-38.mp3
  4. [00:04] NF Intl Airport / Buff Arr-Dep V — E:\ProScan Recordings\05-01-26\NF Intl Airport\05-01-26 00-04-39 - NF Intl Airport - Buff Arr-Dep V TO 00-11-30.mp3
  5. [00:27] Businesses / TPS BNIA Shuttle — E:\ProScan Recordings\05-01-26\Businesses\05-01-26 00-27-30 - Businesses - TPS BNIA Shuttle TO 00-33-37.mp3
  6. [00:00] NYSTA / NYSTA Ch 4 — E:\ProScan Recordings\05-01-26\NYSTA\05-01-26 00-00-41 - NYSTA - NYSTA Ch 4 TO 00-21-03.mp3
  7. [00:46] CSX / CSXT46 Baldw — E:\ProScan Recordings\05-01-26\CSX\05-01-26 00-46-47 - CSX - CSXT46 Baldw TO 00-46-55.mp3
  8. [01:00] Municipalities / OPFD 1 Disp — E:\ProScan Recordings\05-01-26\Municipalities\05-01-26 01-00-11 - Municipalities - OPFD 1 Disp TO 01-00-25.mp3
  9. [23:48] National Grid / NationalGrid — E:\ProScan Recordings\04-30-26\National Grid\04-30-26 23-48-13 - National Grid - NationalGrid TO 23-48-17.mp3
  10. [21:51] Businesses / Larking Bldg — E:\ProScan Recordings\04-30-26\Businesses\04-30-26 21-51-11 - Businesses - Larking Bldg TO 21-51-25.mp3
  11. [00:39] Businesses / M-T Bank Sec — E:\ProScan Recordings\05-01-26\Businesses\05-01-26 00-39-42 - Businesses - M-T Bank Sec TO 00-40-01.mp3
  12. [22:20] Simulcast / NYS Park PD — E:\ProScan Recordings\04-30-26\Simulcast\04-30-26 22-20-04 - Simulcast - NYS Park PD TO 22-20-10.mp3