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Gaffney resigns from WGMD

ka3kza said:
WRDE-LD My RTV 31
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It really has little to do with this, but WRDE's antenna is on WGMD's tower.

I also think this story is going to get even more interesting before it ends. Can't wait to see who ends up on the new station and who is on WGMD when it's all said and done.
 
I would not be surprised to see some sales personnel moving over. I suspect the studio will be at Delmarva's Milford site, since that is 105.9's "main studio" anyway (within 25 miles of Lewes). This time next year i think WGMD will be running a different format. I heard one story that one of the principals in the company told a host "They were not a personality station", really!
 
ProducerGuy said:
...this story is going to get even more interesting before it ends. Can't wait to see who ends up on the new station and who is on WGMD when it's all said and done.
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Or what format!
 
I could see 105.9 simulcasting WDEL's AM drive news block with Peter and Melanie (maybe they'll add some down state stories to the mix with down state traffic as WILM/WDOV now do in their AM drive show). Maybe using Dan Gaffney on 105.9 from 9am - noon (Al is on WDEL during that time period), then going back to simulcasting WDEL's noontime show and Jensen and PM drive. As Sussex is far more conservative than NC County, Al's show probably wouldn't do as well there and Dan would give 105.9 its live and local voice they already know who is one of them. Jensen would do fine, because he's as conservative as most of the listeners are.

Yes, I agree that 105.9 would also be a great fit to carry the Phillies and yes the Eagles games too, as WDEL's signal is not as great in Sussex and 105.9 could probably use the cash cow that both the Phillies and the Eagles would create.
 
DToTheJ said:
Or what format!
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I don't see WGMD ever being anything other than talk (and conservative talk in particular) with the current ownership. Dan leaving will hurt the billing, but they can still do well. The core sponsors are very loyal because they get results. That won't change much. I bet some of them even advertise on both stations, even though the signals are almost identical.
 
There is no way that Gaffney isn't going to be in the AM drive spot. Probably the same exact time he was on at GMD (5:30-9am). They are going after GMD 100 percent. They aren't going to beat GMD without a LOCAL morning show on in the morning and afternoon. Gaffney will be in the morning, but who will be in the afternoon? Will Jared Morris (a big supporter of Gaffney) join Dan at the new station? Will DBC try to bring over Bill Colley too? If they go will GMD become more syndicated?
 
ocradiofreak said:
There is no way that Gaffney isn't going to be in the AM drive spot. Probably the same exact time he was on at GMD (5:30-9am).
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That's part of the announcement. Dan will be morning drive.

They are going after GMD 100 percent. They aren't going to beat GMD without a LOCAL morning show on in the morning and afternoon. Gaffney will be in the morning, but who will be in the afternoon? Will Jared Morris (a big supporter of Gaffney) join Dan at the new station? Will DBC try to bring over Bill Colley too? If they go will GMD become more syndicated?
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Stay tuned! We're all wondering the same things.
 
I'm wondering if 105.9 will let him continue the "sign-on song" bit that he had been doing at WGMD... ::)
 
The man who is on there now is quite interesting, frankly; I checked it out. Given the conversation on this thread, it kind of reminds me of a carney rumor circuit, talking about all the people who are going to show, which rarely pans out quite so grand at all, while the barkers pitch their tents.
 
Talked to a sales guy today. The details on the new station are still fuzzy. There will be no national talkers. They want to have all local Delaware talkers. Gaffney will be doing the morning commute 5:30-10:00 a.m. His show will be bascially the same show he had on WMGD.

From the conversation I had with sales, the management is giving Gaffney the freedom to do everything with the new station that he wanted to do with WGMD but wasn't allowed to. He mentioned there might even be some religious broadcasting on Sunday Mornings.

The vibe I got from sales is they intend to go head to head with WGMD. They are planning a large publicity campaign in the run-up to Sept. 4 and feel confident that a majority of Gaffney's audience will willingly jump to the new station. The sales rep mentioned several big WGMD accounts are in negotiations with the new station to continue the type of sponsorship that they did with WGMD's Gaffney show, and they intend to contact every one of Gaffney's smaller sponors before the Sept Launch.

He also mentioned that Delmarva Broadcasting has been actively working to put together a plan to recruit Gaffney for several months.
 
Gaffney will be doing the morning commute 5:30-10:00 a.m. His show will be bascially the same show he had on [WGMD]...

Just a half-hour longer...

...the management is giving Gaffney the freedom to do everything with the new station that he wanted to do with WGMD but wasn't allowed to...

Can you say, a full half-hour of "sign-on songs" at 5 AM?
 
What wasn't Gaffney allowed to do at GMD?

I'm guessing you will see WDEL-AM simulcasts in the midday and nights. Delmarva would have to hire a bunch of people to do round the clock talk and that would be very expensive.

You have to hand it to Mike Kazala, and the brass up in Wilmington for pulling this off.
 
ocradiofreak said:
What wasn't Gaffney allowed to do at GMD?
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Hire enough help to do things properly? The hosts do everything themselves. Hopefully Delmarva will allow the new hosts a few producers to screen calls and help do prep.
 
Sounds like DBC is spending some serious money, adding a studio with actual staff. It sounds like they are making the Sussex County version of WDEL. Probably a smaller news staff (does DBC already have downstate news folks so maybe no new news folks are needed, just talk hosts and call screeners). 105.9 going live and local during day parts like WDEL, so based on what they said in the article, no simulcasting of WDEL's daypart programming. However, I could envision WDEL's news folks feeding northern Delaware stories to 105.9 and 105.9 feeding down state stories to WDEL also traffic info back and forth so both stations could offer statewide coverage.

When you think about it, this does make sense. Downstaters loath NCC and Wilmington too metropolitan/big city, too Blue politically, etc. So would a news/talk station that simulcasts WDEL's AM news block (that features mostly NCC / Wilmington stories) play well in Milford or Dover? Probably not. Would the liberal Al Missetti's show play well in Milford, probably not. Rick Jensen's show could play well, but would the downstaters accept a North Wilmington talker, even a right wing talker? He'd not be considered local to the locals in Milford, he'd be live, but not local.

I don't listen to Jensen's show, but my guess is, he gets very few 1-800 calls from below the canal (WDEL's signal is solid to Milford during the day). I do listen to Al's show some times and I don't remember ever hearing a down state caller.

I think what may make WILM/WDOV's AM drive news block work is that Bruce Elliot is an ultra conservative and as WILM/WDOV both carry Beck/Rush/Hannity, they both appeal to the same audience. Commuters going from North from Milford to Dover to Wilmington or South back down the state can enjoy Elliot's antics through 2/3'rds of the state via 1410/1450. Plus they do cover traffic for all those areas, whereas WDEL covers NCC/Wilmington/Philly.

Apparently there is enough ad dollars down state to make this expense worth the effort. If the Delaware Talk 105.9 is of a similar quality as WDEL, this would make DBC a statewide source for Delaware News and Information. I assume that 105.9 will stream online and offer similar things that WDEL online does all for free. Thus giving both the Downstate edition of the News Journal and Dover's Del State News some serious competition.

Good luck to 105.9.
 
And the WGMD drama continues...

Jared Morris the 9-12 personality walked out yesterday.

Dan Gaffney posted this on his facebook:
"Jared Morris says on Twitter .....he is sorry, but someone accessed his facebook page at 1:28 pm and shut down his account after changing his password. He reports he will be back up in 24 hours.... he had quit and left the building and was eating pizza at that time. Speculation he may have left his page open...or one other wgmd staffer knew his password too. Nasty trick."
 
So far I see nothing that reflects on WGMD, but on the type of person this new station's corporation prefers to have associated with them, and is seeking out, as demonstrated by the previous post.
 
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