Ocean CIty-Salisbury Market... Great Market?

[joshzz]

I like this area but would like to know what are your opinions of the area and in general what format(s) are not being well represented in the area. Any other insight would be appreciated. josh

 

[Porky Hooton]

It's a great place to shop and live, with lower property taxes for homeowners, and tax free shopping in Delaware. They also have nice beaches, with no beach tag fees. In the summer, traffic is horrid all along Delmarva, and the area is still in the midst of a terrbile recession, and unemplyment is at an all time high. Along with South Jersey, it is one of the worst places in the country to own and make any money operating a radio station. You don't have any bankruptcies yet, like with Atlantic fiasco in Pleasnatville, but Scott might be close. Ms. Scott just passed away, and she and her late husband were the glue that kept that group together. One of their stations just went dark, so that group doesn't show much promise. The other stations are owned by Clear Channel's Aloha Trust, and are for sale. Two of their ten were just sold to a Christian Radio Group. Delmarav Broadcasting and WGMD FM 92 Talk, are the only stations that aren't operating in red ink. So unless you are independently wealthy or radio is your hobby, I would not invest any money at any radio station on either side of the bay. In general though, if I were going to live and retire ,at one, or the other, I would say the quality of life is much better on the Delmarva side. Oh, one note on local nomenclature. People from Philly, PA, and Jersey say that they are going "down the shore." In Wilmington, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., folks say they are "going to the beach." Do good, be well and happy.

 

[amfmxm]

Used to be a great radio market until the infamous Docket 80-90 flooded Delmarva with FM sticks and people from the "Western Shore" started over-paying for every square inch of land they could call "waterfront."

If you can still find an OC oldtimer who can still afford to live there, ask them about 99.9/KHI in their glory days in the late seventies & early eighties. Great radio station--that made shitloads of money every summer!

 

[DaveWilliams]

Going back, who can remember when WETT-1590 was the station for Ocean City, but never made it up to Fenwick Island even in the daytime? The big gun then was WMID-1340. Even Ch 16 was all three networks. Now that area is way over radioed, just to many signals regardless.

 

[Slinky]

You don't have any bankruptcies yet, like with Atlantic fiasco in Pleasnatville, but Scott might be close. Ms. Scott just passed away, and she and her late husband were the glue that kept that group together. One of their stations just went dark, so that group doesn't show much promise.

Wow, this is a group with 3 of the top stations in the market (Beach, OC 104, and Big), and one that seemingly hasn't gone on any station-buying sprees lately. If they do end up going bankrupt, that certainly tells you something about the state of small-market radio today. Do they have debt problems from overpaying for their stations, or is the market just that terrible?

To be fair, the station that went dark really was a waste of electricity to begin with. 106.1 is very much in the middle of nowhere and only 4 kW. It rimshots Salisbury, but doesn't really cover any other populated portion of the market. Don't remember how well it was doing when it was a standalone format, but I'd be surprised if it broke a 0.5 share. With 95.3 simulcasting the Old School R&B format and adequately covering Salisbury, there was really no point to 106.1 anymore, and Great Scott had nothing else to put on it.

Anyhow, to reply to the original poster, OC/Salisbury is a strange market. It's geographically spread out with a bunch of distantly located small population centers instead of one big one with surrounding suburbs. It bears some resemblance to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in this regard (minus the mountainous terrain), and also bears some resemblance to the Atlantic City market (also somewhat spread out and also a resort area). Like both Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Atlantic City, OC/Salisbury is over-radioed and most stations are not doing well because there is so much competition.

To be successful a station needs one of the following: a gigantic signal (e.g. 104.7, 99.9), a simulcast (e.g. 97.5/105.9, 98.5/103.5), a well-placed signal (e.g. 103.9), or a format that is expressly tailored to the coverage area (e.g. 92.7 for the white, conservative retirees in Southern DE; 95.3 and 98.9 for the African Americans near Salisbury).

Another strange thing about this market is that it's named after the Maryland cities of Ocean City and Salisbury, but the most populated and fastest-growing portion of the market is Sussex County in Southern Delaware.

The most obvious format holes appear to be CHR and Oldies, both formats that were doing decently but are going away when K-Love takes over 92.1 and 105.5. CHR would have little competition as Rhythmic OC 104 leans Urban and Hot AC B101.7 was still playing lots of 80's music last time I checked. Oldies has competition in the northern part of the market (Cool 101.3 and 107.1 The Duck), but after 92.1 is gone, there will be no Oldies in the southern part of the market.

There also might be room for an older-leaning AC in the market, given the population of retirees and the fact that Q105 is sounding fairly Hot AC these days.

 

[ka3kza]

The problem with 106.1 is Great Scott doesn't want to follow the main studio rule (Must be within 25 miles of the city of license with full time management present. As for programming, they could run anything on it, the electric isn't that much. I heard the tower rent went way up, and that was the reason for going dark. Their Maryland stations come up for license renewal in 2011, this would be a time to challenge their renewal for being dark twice, for nearly two of the past seven or eight years! I have questions about the "main studio" of their other two Maryland stations, WOCQ might be within 25 miles of Georgetown, I haven't checked, but their is now way their Georgetown studio is within 25 miles of Fruitland. Now if the FCC would actually come over and check these things out, but the inspectors can't get the money to get out of Columbia!