Two Translators in New Castle

[DaveWilliams]

Its interesting to note that a translator is on 97.7 in New Castle, any one hearing this monster (about 20 watts)? Temple also has an application for 103.3 on record. Lets keep jamming up the band!

 

[MikefromDelaware]

I live near New Castle and don't get anything on 97.7, just bleed over from 97.5. Temple already has a working translator located in Marshallton at 107.7 for WRTI which is a God sent, as far as I'm concerned. I now can get a city grade signal for Classical music during the day at work and at night for Jazz at night. 90.1 isn't a great signal in my area. Sorry I disagree with your point of view. Underserved markets like Wilmington (with 2 FM's) and Dover (2 FM's one in Dover and one in Smyrna) benefit by having translators in their markets. It doesn't hurt another market as they are low powered signals and gives the underserved market more variety, with a city grade signal, which in today's radio world where there is little opportunity to hear the less popular formates is really appreciated. That 103.3 translator might be for the Middletown area as I believe WXHL now has a signal there, again Middletown is an area that is growing, but is underserved (in this case you can't pick up any Christian CCM station from anywhere in Middletown) so WXHL's translator brings that format to that area.

 

[QzarDE]

WXHL is on 106.3 in Dover, and has 89.1 in Wilmington..I'm not the
best when it comes to signal coverage, but I seem to recall being able to pick up
WXHL in Middletown. The coverage map at radio-locator seems to say the
same, although it's in the fringe of their map.

Haven't been to Middletown in a while, so who knows.

Does WXHL and their voice-tracked, generic presentation really deserve a 16th translator?

 

[MikefromDelaware]

My guess is, if you look at each market in each state where WXHL put a translator, there is no other CCM station serving that market, meaning that there is a potential need and as they are listener supported someone in those towns must be turning in and sending Do-Re-Mi during the begathons. The customers are paying the freight, so to speak, meaning there is a market for what they broadcast (voice tracked, generic, or not) and that is capitalism at work. Create a need or desire and sell it.

From a ministry point of view, WHXL is a Christian Music Station, and their ministry is to bring the Word of God, through music and spoken word to the world, and this they are doing. I don't particularly care for the type of music they play (they are targeting teens and young adults). I have no connection with their station or church, I just don't have a problem with what they are doing and applaud their success.

 

[WTUX]

I do have a problem with what they are doing. They are stealing an available frequency away from a community, which could use it for something in the community, not just to make money for the owner of WXHL. Just like the R&B song by Paul Kelley back in 1970: "Stealing In The Name of the Lord".

 

[DaveWilliams]

Unless there was a modification made to WXHL signal, the pattern of the station had a pretty good null toward Middletown, it even had areas in Bear where it had coverage problems. It would have been nice, though, to see WAMS on the translators in Middletown and New Castle, though, and offer the area some true local service rather then an out of town church from Marlton, NJ in New Castle.

 

[WTUX]

Dave, that is a good thought. Let stand alone AM's use the translators in areas where their signal is nulled. Instead of allowing so-called not-for-profit FM's (which actually do sell ads, such as WXHL) to take all available frequencies while providing no community service, that would be a good use of remaining allocations.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

It's all in the matter of ear of the beholder. Do you have a problem with WRTI's extensive use of low powered FM frequencies and translators as well? They also do not provide any local service, but just as a WXHL, WRTI is providing a type of music (Classical and Jazz in WRTI's case) to underserved areas that do not have either format available. This is what WXHL is also doing. No doubt, that both non-comm's (WRTI and WXHL) benefit financially from the additional donations they are pulling in with the translators and low powered FM transmitters. However, from a listener point of view, they are delighted to get those added choices with a city grade signal on their radio.

I have friends, who do live in Middletown, who have complained for years that once Salem's 101.7 WNNN-FM was sold and became an Urban station (tower still in Canton/Salem and studios moved to Wilmington), they no longer had access to any sort of CCM station as 89.1 WXHL didn't come close to reaching Middletown so their Middletown translator brings their town CCM again.

I also don't have a problem with the idea of stand alone AM's being able to improve their coverage with translators. I agree, that if the final incarnation of WAMS at 1260 Newark (an Oldies station) was able to have a well placed translator in Wilmington and Middletown that station might have been able to make a go of it as they'd have had a decent sized audience to draw on.

An AM station I'd like to see get a translator here in the Wilmington Metro Area would be 990 WNTP Philly (Salem talk including Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Laura Ingrham). Their signal is very weak here so that I can only get it in my car (not very well), hardly at home and not at all at work.

The same thing in TV is what WHYY did. They simulcast channel 12's programming on Seaford's channel 64 giving lower Delaware the PBS programming and channel 12's Delaware newscast and the other stuff they air that wouldn't be available to Kent and Sussex Counties without channel 64. The Salisbury NPR station (89.5) also simulcasts in Ocean City on 90.7 so it's not only religious stations that are making use of this way of extending their signals, it's a tool of non-comms in general. Frankly I'm surprised that the U of Del station WVUD hasn't added a translator to extend their signal to better cover the entire county.

 

[Keith Thompson]

I also don't have a problem with the idea of stand alone AM's being able to improve their coverage with translators. I agree, that if the final incarnation of WAMS at 1260 Newark (an Oldies station) was able to have a well placed translator in Wilmington and Middletown that station might have been able to make a go of it as they'd have had a decent sized audience to draw on.

As someone who's been working for a stand-alone AM for the past year or so, I wouldn't have a problem with using translators to extend coverage...but I don't think that's the major issue I have with coverage. What I'd like to see happen is a change in the clear channel AM rules to allow the ability for a small AM daytimer to operate at night. I'd love to be able to broadcast our local high school football and basketball games, but as a daytimer, we can't do that (unless we webcast which we're looking at the possibility of doing down the road). I'm not an engineer, so I concede that what I'd like to have happen is likely not technically possible.

As for WAMS...I don't think signal coverage was their issue. I think it was lack of commitment. I know through personal experience that it takes a tremendous amout of commitment from the owner down to the intern to have a small AM stand alone make an impact in the community. There's a lot of going the extra mile for your clients and listeners and a lot of making do with what you have, to make it all work. There also has to be a tremendous amout of effort into being a part of the community whether it's being active in the Chamber of Commerce or having a strong relationship with government, community, business and civic leaders. I know I have to be able to cram about 10 hours of work into a six hour work day (I'm not above doing show prep and editing recorded interviews at home on my laptop). The impression I got from WAMS was an expectation that if you put the programming on the air, then the people will listen. Putting the programming on the air is the easy part; it's the "everything else" that's difficult and I never detected much of the "everything else" with WAMS.

Just my humble $.02.

 

[DaveWilliams]

But now the new AM on FM translator regulations allows daytime only AM'ers the ability to have programming on 24 hours so there may be an davantage to that for WCTR (another one I had done work for years ago)

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Keith you make a good point about WAMS. My guess is, the former owner had cash flow problems. In today's world, most folks don't listen to AM, so even with a good signal, you need to advertise, on billboards, in the newspaper, in magazines, cable TV, etc, to get the word out about your great radio station, especially in a metro area where you have so many choices. The 1260 WAMS experiment did none of this. So the few listeners he got was probably from word of mouth or us radio geeks who scan the dial on both AM and FM, and then with the very limited signal reach, even if someone wanted to tune in more than likely they couldn't. It was a shame as he had great music, but it appeared that he/she lacked the financial resources to make their radio station a success.

On another note, it would be great to see someone make the State of Delaware a deal they couldn't refuse and bring back the real 1380 WAMS. Ok, Ok, I know this will never happen, but DELDOT radio is such a waste of the very limited AM/FM radio stations licensed to the Wilmington market. We've lost two, 1260 WNRK and 1380 WAMS.

 

[WTUX]

In today's economy, 1380 is being used for about all AM is good for these days. Although Deldot does a poor job with their traffic reporting, so few people listen to AM anymore that "all traffic, all the time" is a good use for the frequency. There is not enough revenue left in the Wilmington metro for another radio station. The 6 stations in NCC are having a difficult time making money. When you then throw in the 2 New Jersey stations that think they are Wilmington and the Havre De Grace country outlet, you just make the issue worse.

Economically, we really do not need 1380 or 1260 anymore.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

The 6 stations in NCC are having a difficult time making money.

If you're counting Newark's 1260, which I'm assuming is still on the air with Hispanic music that would give you your 6 in market stations: AM WDEL, WNWK, WWTX, WILM. FM WSTW and WJBR.

WRDX and WDSD are Dover stations that are like their Havre de Grace (WXCY) and Salem stations (1510 WFAI and 101.7 forget the calls) that are Wilmington wannabes, but as they are targeting Wilmington as their main market and generate a major part of their spot load from Wilmington advertisers they could be considered Wilmington stations giving us 5 AM WDEL, WNWK, WWTX, WILM, WFAI and 5 commerical FM's WSTW, WJBR, WDSD, WRDX, and WXCY, plus non-comms WVUD, WXHL, and WRTI's Wilmington translator at 107.7. Also WHYY-FM has a presence in the Wilmington market and they do generate sizable corporate "underwriting" from many Delaware coprorations. So actually, there is a bigger radio market that is getting ad revenue from the Wilmington market than one would think.

It's not that no one listens to AM in Wilmington,(a sizable chunk listen to WDEL and WILM) but the problem is that people older than 49 are the majority of the AM listenership So if those advertisers didn't limit their targets at 12-49 then there might be a future for Wilmington's AM stations. However, being realistic, the AM's are not long for this world unless they are supported by their sister FM stations (WDEL/WSTW/WXCY)(WILM/WWTX/WDSD/WRDX) (WFAI/101.7). Unfortunately, WNWK is a stand alone AM with a crappy signal, so their future is not as bright as the other AM's in Wilmington. However, as a minority underserved audience station, they may be making ends meet with their minority programming and minority owned businesses that buy spot time on 1260. If not then 1260 won't last long.

WDEL via Delmarva Broadcasting has started finding new ways to keep the programming that's being aired on 1150 by running it on the internet and HD-3 WSTW. This could bring in a younger demo and new ad revenue for their corporation and buy WDEL extra years. Also they are now doing a video newscast for their website. WILM has done less of this, but I could see them eventually doing similar things to keep 1450 afloat for extra years.

One thing for both WILM and WWTX that may keep them afloat for longer than one might think is they may be money makers for CC. My guess is, as they allow numerous national talk shows(Rush/Hannity, etc on WILM) (and Fox Sports Talk on WWTX) to clear in this market allowing the programs to charge more money to air national spots, which CC probably gets a piece or a percentage. So even though those AM's aren't bringing in as much local spot revenue as might be desired, the national spot load makes up for it and my guess is somehow CC is making money from that or they'd have no incentive to keep all their AM stations across the nation on the air as the big money in radio is made with FM not AM. Anyone who knows how this actually works, your insight would be appreciated.

However, to your point about the Wilmington spot dollars being all used up, I'm not so sure. If WDEL, WWTX, and WILM were FM stations with formats that pulled in good numbers with the 12-49 aged group, my guess is the spot dollars would be there to be spent.

 

[WTUX]

Now that CC is in the picture, I can't say the money issues are the same, but I know how it DID work. The smaller market stations PAID for Rush and Hannity. They did not receive money from the national spots, they paid for the rights to air the programs. The thinking was that having the nationally known figures on the station would increase ratings and thus revenue. That is why WILM dropped Rush the first time. They could no longer afford him.

Some syndicated shows came for free, as long as you cleared all the spots. But Rush was and still is expensive. Back in the 90's, WDEL carried ESPN radio weekend overnights. It was good programming, including Tony Bruno. But it was expensive and generated no local revenue. The station paid ESPN, not the other way around. They may bribe a major market station to carry shows, but not in Wilmington.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Maybe with CC being a national chain of radio stations, they might be able to work a deal with Rush/Hannity, etc so that no money changes hands so that their show clears on a boatload of top 100 market stations. It seems to me that I heard somewhere that Fox Radio News worked out some sort of deal with CC so that all of CC's news/talk stations carry Fox News. This may have been why after CC took over WILM the station dropped CBS radio and became a Fox radio affiliate. Of course Rush is on CC's Premiere Radio Network, so maybe it's simply "Chinese Dollars" in terms of CC stations paying for his show, oh excuse me, in today's "politically correct world" that should have read "Funny Money", but you get the point.

But getting back to your earlier point, if say WDEL, WILM, and WWTX are not pulling in local spots of their own (WDEL is getting a semi-free ride from WSTW's spots and WILM/WWTX are getting a semi-free ride from WRDX and WDSD's spots) and then on top of it those same AM's have to pay cash on the barrel head for their national programming, that sounds like a losing proposition to me. Why should either Delmarva or CC Delaware keep their AM stations unless they are able to generate some revenue with them? Of course, WDEL does generate plenty of local spots with the Phillies and Eagles broadcasts, and WWTX does generate plenty of local spots with the Blue Rocks and U of D sporting events. Maybe WILM should reconsider and start carrying the Baltimore Ravens this fall and the Orieals next spring.

Another possibly answer as to why radio corporations are keeping their under performing AM stations might be that there is some major tax break they get for that part of their corporation that's losing money? Sort of another form of corporate welfare. I've heard of business people who need a poor performing business to offset their successful business so that they don't have to pay taxes. If that is true, then maybe that's what's keeping many AM stations afloat is that their owners need that financial loss to keep them from having to pay taxes or as much tax, etc, so rather than shutting them down or selling them, they keep their underperforming AM stations on the air for the tax break. Maybe some of you who are a bit more business oriented can clarify this issue for us. So who knows, maybe AM is being kept alive due to America's tax laws.

 

[WTUX]

First to the sports question. Baltimore teams are not a big draw in New Castle County anymore. At one time, WILM carried the O's, without much commerical success. Near the end, WNRK was having great difficulty selling sports in general and the O's in particular. 18 years ago, we were paying $25 per game for the O's. I am sure it is much higher now. We were giving the sponsors a lot of free ads during the week just to get them for the (mostly) night games. As for football, the Ravens are on WWTX. Again, not a big source of revenue. And remember: you are paying for the games.

To carry the games, you also have to buy the jingle pakages. They cost one or two thousand per package! Often, you are required to buy a new package every one or two years. At WNRK, carrying the O's was mostly for cash flow not profit. It made cash available to pay the electric bill and the wages. The 1260WAMS disaster did not even try that (they did try the Blue Rocks but they couldn't afford a board op, so it fell through).

Now the tax issue. Having a tax loss leader in your package is a good deal. But in addition, WILM and WDEL are not at the point where they simply want to shut down. That still makes no sense.

I disagree that WDEL and WILM have a sizeable share of the market. Combined, they do not equal KYW in the Philly market. WWTX is a no-show. And of course, WNWK will never show. I used to see the county Arbitron's for Kent County. WDOV never showed (that was mid-90's). 1600 and whatever calls they were using that month did not show. Delaware, at least from Wilmington through Dover is an FM market.

In a market of similar size, Richmond, their version of WDEL/WSTW is WRVA (1140) and WRVQ (Q-94). Similar formats on both AM and FM. The AM has ratings of WDEL plus WILM proportions and lead their FM. In other markets, WDEL would be pulling around 8%. The billboards are there, the newspaper exposure is there, but the audience is not there.
AM is alive and, while not well, at least on life support is many other markets. It is near death in Delaware.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Thanks for the clarification on how sports work on radio. You've got to sell a number of spots just to pay for the jingle package, much less the actual games. WDEL seems to have a lot of local Wilmington area spots during their Phillies and Eagles games, so my assumption is WDEL is doing OK with their professional sports programming. I wonder how well they do with their high school sports coverage.

Now the tax issue. Having a tax loss leader in your package is a good deal. But in addition, WILM and WDEL are not at the point where they simply want to shut down. That still makes no sense.

I apologize, but I didn't understand what you meant in that statement. Is WDEL and WILM being used as a tax loss leader for Delmarva/CC Delaware, or are you saying that it's so bad that Delmarva/ CC Delaware should shut them down, because your final thought is AM in Delaware is near death.

Or is there another way to say that you are saying, that the WDEL/WILM staffers should keep their resumes up to date.

You're statement that WDEL/WILM's combined share doesn't equal Philly's KYW is true. The only reason I figure KYW does so well is Philly traffic is so messed up giving people a reason to tune in to 1060AM as they seem to air the traffic pretty often, probably more often than their FM counterparts in Philly, which might make a difference in your commute up there. Wilmington's traffic reports are pretty predictible except when an actual accident happens on I 95 / I 295/ I 495, and then instant gridlock occurs throughout New Castle County making any further traffic reports useless. Anyhow WJBR and WSTW both offer traffic reports so it probably isn't the draw for listeners in Wilmington to switch from FM to AM during the AM or PM rush. Maybe a better comparison would be between WDEL/WILM and WPHT as all are news/talkers. Then WDEL/WILM combined had a larger share than WPHT. However, WPHT pulls a larger share than either WDEL or WILM seperately, but then Wilmington listeners have two choices whereas Philly only has WPHT for political talk.

Another thought about your comparison of Wilmington vs Richmond. Richmond is a Southern city in a more conservative "Red" State where Wilmington is in a Northern city that is in a liberal "Blue" state. How does a news/talker like a WDEL or WILM do in a similar sized market that's in a Blue state. Might those numbers be closer to what WDEL and WILM are getting? What I'm saying is basically AM radio is mostly conservative talk, sports talk, religious, or ethnic programming. Liberal "blue" state areas probably have less audience that desires to listen to conservative talk or religious programming so that's a major part of what AM radio does, which might explain why Delaware AM's are near death and Richmond's AM news/talker is pulling in a larger percent of the audience. It's just a thought.

 

[WTUX]

My comment on the tax issue is that WDEL and WILM may be offering some tax relief for their respective owners. But in any case there is no reason to shut them down now. They aren't dead yet and when pigs fly they may return to their glory years.

Red/Blue state comparisons don't work here. In every market except Washington, DC, at least 20% of your possible audience will be Republican. The Rush/Hannity combo does well in NYC even. Richmond proper is just as urban as Philadelphia and Wilmington, yet WRVA is just below 8%. The liberal Spector is the only Republican you can elect in PA, yet WHP is number one in Harrisburg with more listeners than WDEL/WILM/WWTX/WDOV combined. Harrisburg even has two AM music stations. And they aren't Gospel or Hispanic stations either.

Back to our original point of discussion (lol). The Wilmington market "lost" 1380 and 1260 because the market did what market forces do. It weeded out the weaker players, leaving us with the strongest survivors. 1380WAMS could not survive with its very restricted pattern. It could not survive economically as a less than 500 watt non-directional because that low of a power would leave the signal unable to consistantly penetrate office towers/buildings. So it provides a non-commercial service (and a nice bank account for the former owner, the former Democratic state chairman).

1260 was on its last legs, fiscally. A devoted owner and staff, but few advertisers and few listeners. The death of the mom/pop stores that supported local radio in Newark meant the death of 1260 as a viable business. The businesses with money to spend on ads are mostly chain owned. And chained owned businesses generally do not buy AM. The death of WNRK came mainly because of the death of Newark Department Store, Rittenhouse Motors, Newark Lumber, etc. The businesses were now mostly regional or national. And the mind set of the residents is also regional/national now. To most Newarkers for the past 20 years, the Newark radio station is WVUD. They do not know there is a radio station in Newark on 1260 (my wife did not know it until she met me). Only the older Newark generation knew or cared, and they have now mostly passed on.

I cannot judge the music, but WNWK appears to be doing a good job for their niche. The audio is vastly improved. And there is a sizeable Hispanic population in New Castle County now.

New Castle county has three commercial AM stations competing for the general population. Even that may be one more than we have the revenue base for.

 

[Keith Thompson]

...The Wilmington market "lost" 1380 and 1260 because the market did what market forces do. It weeded out the weaker players, leaving us with the strongest survivors. 1380WAMS could not survive with its very restricted pattern. It could not survive economically as a less than 500 watt non-directional because that low of a power would leave the signal unable to consistantly penetrate office towers/buildings. So it provides a non-commercial service (and a nice bank account for the former owner, the former Democratic state chairman).

1260 was on its last legs, fiscally. A devoted owner and staff, but few advertisers and few listeners. The death of the mom/pop stores that supported local radio in Newark meant the death of 1260 as a viable business. The businesses with money to spend on ads are mostly chain owned. And chained owned businesses generally do not buy AM. The death of WNRK came mainly because of the death of Newark Department Store, Rittenhouse Motors, Newark Lumber, etc. The businesses were now mostly regional or national. And the mind set of the residents is also regional/national now. To most Newarkers for the past 20 years, the Newark radio station is WVUD. They do not know there is a radio station in Newark on 1260 (my wife did not know it until she met me). Only the older Newark generation knew or cared, and they have now mostly passed on.

I think your point about AM stations losing advertisers is dead on. Wilmington, as a medium market town (and a weird one because of its proximity to Philly) is one place where AMs, especially stand-alone AMs, will have a nearly impossible task. With several stations in town, the big stations are going to snap up most of the advertising revenue leaving less than scraps for the little AMs. One case where an AM can still be successful are in small towns where they are the only realistic broadcasting advertising option in town. This is especially true in more rural areas of the country. My own situation in Chestertown, MD is a good example. We're an affordable advertising outlet for the small mom/pop businesses who don't have the money and wouldn't be served well to run spots on the Baltimore stations. The key is to have a strong working relationship with the business community, so they know you exist and know you have an audience.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

WTUX, thank you for the excellent analysis. You've made a solid case. Sounds like the Harrisburg market is a unique one for a larger city. So basically, AM is nearing the end, other than possibly in the small town markets like Chestertown where Keith is working or in more isolated small town markets where there isn't a local FM station to compete with for the local mom/pop ad revenue. Even so, from what I've read, many small towns are losing population, especially among the young (who want to move to where the action is), so as the older generation passes on (Boomers and WW2 generation), even those small town stations may face the same problems their big city counter parts now face.

In other words, AM is going the way of the Victrolia. No one today would buy a Victrolia to listen to music. They might buy it as an antique, for historical interest, cash value as an antique, conversation piece to have in their home, etc, but not as a device for listening to music. So it is with AM radio.

AM as a commercial venture has had a good run (1922 - 2008), but it would appear that AM as a commercial entertainment source won't make it to its century mark. But as granny had to get passed listening to her Caruso records on her Victrolia, we'll adapt too (most of us already have) and move on to FM, CD's, DVD's, Satellite Radio XM, Internet, Ipods, etc. Only us radio geeks and history type folks will remember AM radio, just as very few folks today have any interest in hearing a Victrolia or even know what one is.

Just a side note, if you want to actually hear Caruso sing from an original 78rpm recording played on a real Victorlia, visit the Johnson Phonograph museum in Dover Delaware. Music played on a Victrolia makes music played on AM radio sound really good.