Live stuff on 1260?

[WTUX]

During one of my five minutes of "unquality" time spent listening to 1260 this week, there was a fast talking female taking phone calls. I figured it was some syndicated show, but I did catch words like "New Castle" and "Delaware Park". So the possibility exists they have someone local on-air and actually have a couple of listeners. The audio is so bad though, even talking is garbled. And the woman talks so fast it is virtually impossible to pick out more than one or two words.

I've heard kids run radio stations out of their bedrooms that sound better than this!

 

[MikefromDelaware]

It difficult for those of us who remember 1260 WNRK and 1380 WAMS when they were great radio stations being reduced to the garbled mess on 1260 and the DELDOT disaster on 1380. Unfortunately, as AM radio's day has passed, it seems we'll only see more of this not less. For now 1150 WDEL, 1290 WWTX, 1410 WDOV, and 1450 WILM still are there, but for how much longer. I guess as long as CC Delaware can make money airing national spots for their national shows those 3 stations will stay on the air as satellite feeds. WDEL is in a more tenuous position as they air primarily local programming. My guess is, eventually WDEL is going to have to try to find other competitive national programming to pull in other listeners than the Rush/Hannity crowd that will stay at either WILM or WPHT.

I realize this is a wild idea that probably wouldn't work, but it might work better than all news/talk. Why not become Wilmington and Suburban Philly's Oldies station. WOGL no longer can call themselves an Oldies station and WVLT doesn't come in very well in the Wilmington area or in Suburban Philly. Sounds like a niche market that a station like WDEL could capitalize on. Even if they only had live jocks during morning and afternoon drive and aired ABC Oldies or something like that during the midday parts. That could be a great station to listen to at work. Have the Allen Loudell News Report at 6pm and then maybe at night go back to satellite talk and local sports including Phillies and the Eagles. That would probably be a far less expensive format and would probably generate solid listenership and possibly solid spot support as well. Both Oldies and News/Talk skew to an older audience anyhow, why try to beat Rush/Hannity when you could pull in a audience that is underserved. Any thoughts?

 

[WTUX]

As long as Rush and Hannity are around, stations like WILM and WDOV have a future. WWTX, WXXY, 1550 in Elkton and their ilk are headed for extinction. WDEL is a troubling situation What they are doing now is not working and I have no clue what would make it better. But music is not the answer.

 

[Keith Thompson]

I realize this is a wild idea that probably wouldn't work, but it might work better than all news/talk. Why not become Wilmington and Suburban Philly's Oldies station. WOGL no longer can call themselves an Oldies station and WVLT doesn't come in very well in the Wilmington area or in Suburban Philly. Sounds like a niche market that a station like WDEL could capitalize on. Even if they only had live jocks during morning and afternoon drive and aired ABC Oldies or something like that during the midday parts. That could be a great station to listen to at work. Have the Allen Loudell News Report at 6pm and then maybe at night go back to satellite talk and local sports including Phillies and the Eagles. That would probably be a far less expensive format and would probably generate solid listenership and possibly solid spot support as well. Both Oldies and News/Talk skew to an older audience anyhow, why try to beat Rush/Hannity when you could pull in a audience that is underserved. Any thoughts?

Mike, what you propose is similar to what we're doing at WCTR in Chestertown, MD. We're a daytime oldies station that is also very community oriented. We're live from sign-on to 10am and we also do a public affairs block from 12:30-1pm after Paul Harvey where we interview community leaders and business people in the two counties we cover. We have a strong local news presence and we also do a round table talk show on Friday afternoons hosted by our owner, Dick Gelfman, a Baltimore area lawyer and TV/radio personality. Otherwise, we use the ABC oldies network.

The key to what we're doing is that we bust our butts to be a part of the community. There are no radio ratings to speak of in Kent & Queen Anne's Counties in Maryland, so what we sell is the relationship we're building in the community as well as the programming we put on the air. We're starting to see the benefits of what we're trying to do, especially since the Kent County Chamber of Commerce named us the Small Business Of The Year. We're fortunate that we have an owner who is committed to making the station a part of the community and the patience and resources to oversee its growth. It's a joy for me to be back doing radio again and doing it without all the corporate B.S.

I don't think WDEL's "problems" are related to what's coming out of the transmitter. Programming wise, I think they do a fine job of programming to the community. I think the problem is that the company is more concerned with the meeting the corporate bottom line than with being a part of the community. That problem is par for the course for the radio biz.

 

[WTUX]

Being part of "the community" works when you are in a relatively small market. There are no ratings, ways to promote the station are limited, so you do what you can. But as I have watched station after station do this, be it WNRK, 1590 in the Chester area and a host of others, long term the benefits fade. The low paid staff burns out. You have to cut costs to the point you are just a shell of a station.

WDEL has worked on that image. But with such a wide reach signal-wise, what community do you become a part of? And the lower your level of focus, the more you are perceived as small-time radio. It works when you really are small-time radio. But when you are 5kw in a medium ranked market, you begin to sound pityfull against your FM compedition. What I did at WNRK, I would never try at WDEL. To be big-time radio, you have to sound big-time, or you lose all respect from the folks you are grovelling to please.

 

[Keith Thompson]

Being part of "the community" works when you are in a relatively small market. There are no ratings, ways to promote the station are limited, so you do what you can. But as I have watched station after station do this, be it WNRK, 1590 in the Chester area and a host of others, long term the benefits fade. The low paid staff burns out. You have to cut costs to the point you are just a shell of a station.

WDEL has worked on that image. But with such a wide reach signal-wise, what community do you become a part of? And the lower your level of focus, the more you are perceived as small-time radio. It works when you really are small-time radio. But when you are 5kw in a medium ranked market, you begin to sound pityfull against your FM compedition. What I did at WNRK, I would never try at WDEL. To be big-time radio, you have to sound big-time, or you lose all respect from the folks you are grovelling to please.

Agreed. What we're doing at WCTR wouldn't necessarily work at WDEL simply because at WCTR, we're the only game in town. However, the biggest contribution I feel I've made at WCTR is upgrading the sound of the station, so that we sound more professional without giving up that small town feel. The biggest adjustment I had to make when I started here was realizing that this is Chestertown and it is O.K, even preferred, to let certain things slide that I wouldn't let slide at a larger station.

The "problems" that exist at WDEL aren't really problems with WDEL per se, but instead are deeper problems within the company, especially given WSTW's recent performance.

 

[BlueHen]

WCTR is a great example of the kind of stations we specifically try to find when traveling; in fact, we always listen to it driving on 301 on our way to the Eastern Shore. Some others down that way are 1460 in Easton and 540 from what I think is Pocomoke (not sure). We can't stand the blandness of the cookie cutter stations on FM, and prefer to hear something that doesn't sound like we haven't left home.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Mike, what you propose is similar to what we're doing at WCTR in Chestertown, MD. We're a daytime oldies station that is also very community oriented. We're live from sign-on to 10am and we also do a public affairs block from 12:30-1pm after Paul Harvey where we interview community leaders and business people in the two counties we cover. We have a strong local news presence and we also do a round table talk show on Friday afternoons hosted by our owner, Dick Gelfman, a Baltimore area lawyer and TV/radio personality. Otherwise, we use the ABC oldies network.

The key to what we're doing is that we bust our butts to be a part of the community. There are no radio ratings to speak of in Kent & Queen Anne's Counties in Maryland, so what we sell is the relationship we're building in the community as well as the programming we put on the air. We're starting to see the benefits of what we're trying to do, especially since the Kent County Chamber of Commerce named us the Small Business Of The Year. We're fortunate that we have an owner who is committed to making the station a part of the community and the patience and resources to oversee its growth. It's a joy for me to be back doing radio again and doing it without all the corporate B.S.

I don't think WDEL's "problems" are related to what's coming out of the transmitter. Programming wise, I think they do a fine job of programming to the community. I think the problem is that the company is more concerned with the meeting the corporate bottom line than with being a part of the community. That problem is par for the course for the radio biz.

Actually, WDEL is doing something like WCTR except using talk rather than Oldies. They are trying to be the hometown station with the local high school sports, Saturday morning Rumage World Show, Sunday morning preachers, etc. I believe their problem is the local talk is pulling from the same audience that prefers Rush/Hannity so WDEL will come up short. I say go after another group of listeners who are underserved in the Wilmington market, Oldies listeners, a similar aged demo who will tune in to AM radio. The Wilmington market is different than Philly or Buffalo. If WDEL marketed their Oldies format (using their numerous billboards throughout the state) and had contests, trivias, etc, plus played great music, my guess is they'd be able to pull in a larger share than what they are getting. I can't prove this obviously, but unless WDEL picks up satellite talkers and become a second tiered station to WILM, I believe their effort at live and local will not succeed. So why be a follower of WILM, so something different that isn't being done.