Two Translators in New Castle

[Keith Thompson]

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.

I think the same is likely true for FM in another couple of decades. My bet is that when wireless high speed internet becomes truly widespread and mobile, a radio station will simply become a series of webstreams off of its website and they'll eventually turn off their transmitters because people will stop buying radios.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

That's an interesting idea. Of course, the government would want to find a way to "control" that so all the bureaucrats at the FCC wouldn't be out of a job. Also a way to tax it. Wouldn't that mean that anyone could start their own web "radio" station? A dream come true for radio geeks everywhere. That would allow more freedom of choice and possibly a better variety of music as web stations could possibly sell lesser popular formats easier as their expenses might be cheaper than a traditional radio station. Age demos might not matter as much as they do now with over the air radio. Then possibly you'd be able to hear a Big Band station, a real Oldies station and other forms of music, talk, drama, comedy, political commentary from different points of view, etc via the web stations. Also you'd be able to "tune in" to any web station in the world allowing the listener to hear the same news story from different nations getting their point of view. Of course one issue with news would be, who'd be gathering the news if the former broadcast news organizations go the way of the dinosaur? Reporters do cost money. So if the mom & pop web stations were the only news source, then how accurate would it be? Of course one can ask that question today as there seems to be the liberal news media (most print and electronic news gathering) and then Fox News /talk radio for the conservative side. At any rate, what you are proposing could make for a much broader selection of entertainment available via web stations. The news might be a tougher nut to crack.

 

[Keith Thompson]

Theoretically, anyone now can start their own internet station, but the big winners would be the radio stations who have already have their brand on the internet. I'm sure the FCC will be busy overseeing the vast wireless system needed to make this possible.

 

[BlueHen]

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.

A Saturday in June. 95 South heading for Delaware Route 1. Traffic completely stopped in both directions and backed up for 5 miles. Nothing was more frustrating than tuning into WDEL & WILM and hearing syndicated programming. I don't even bother with 1380, thinking it's nothing more than a pre-recorded repeating announcement of construction areas.

Baltimore teams are not a big draw in New Castle County anymore.

I wonder if Joe Flacco will change that.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

That is the drawback to having the local news/talk stations being on the bird on weekends as there's no traffic updates. Unfortunately 1380 DELDOT is a tape loop with old news on it. You'd think that after spending all that money, getting towers in both New Castle and Sussex Counties for Deldot radio, 1380 would at least offer current and useful traffic information.

That's a good point about Joe Flacco. So maybe WWTX will pick up some extra listeners and spot revenue this fall with Ravens football. Of course, WWTX might also need to advertise on billboards and in the newspaper that 1290 will be carrying Baltimore football featuring U of D grad Joe Flacco as practically no one listens to that station so no one would know that they'll be carrying Flacco's games.

Another question along these same lines would be, will there be TV coverage of Baltimore Ravens football available on Comcast Cable in New Castle County? Maybe CN/8 would cover the games as that might be a solid sportscast for their cable system. I'm already assuming that Lower Delaware probably gets Baltimore sports coverage on TV and possibly radio.

 

[WTUX]

I would suspect that MASN will carry the Ravens, like they do the O's and the Nationals. That is on Comcast. Bottom line: few will care that it is on radio. And night games? Forget about it.

That's why I stopped trying to follow the Blue Rocks. Except on Saturday and Sunday, when you hit the 8th inning, you can't hear the station! That is why the abortive try to put the Rocks on 1260 made sense. It gave coverage of the night games to Newark and Elkton. And for a season or two, the old WSER at 1550/Elkton carried the Rocks Saturday and Sunday games. Not getting a night signal into Newark is a real downer for WWTX.

 

[BlueHen]

Traffic reporting for New Castle County can be an issue. With Sirius in the car, I wouldn't know which of their traffic channels would be more likely to cover any problems... there's one channel for Philadelphia/Boston and another for Baltimore/Washington. I have heard them mention 95 at the Maryland state line toll booth on the Baltimore channel, which seems somewhat far away, but not when you consider that they report Jersey shore traffic on the Phila channel.

I didn't know WWTX carried the Ravens until you mentioned it here. (I haven't listened to that station since they dropped the music format). The old AM 1290 could easily be heard here in South Jersey, so I'm wondering if it would make sense to advertise Joe Flacco up here, too... maybe a billboard or two along 295 since Joe is from Audubon. Back in May I went to a local garden center and the owner noticed my special U of D license plate. She made it a point to mention Joe and knew all about his transfer from Pittsburgh, etc. Before the draft, I even had a comment from a gas station attendant. No doubt about it - Joe Flacco is an exciting story here in South Jersey, too.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Does WILM's signal get into Newark at night? If so, then it would make more sense to air those Ravens games on CC's WILM rather than WWTX. However, as you said, if on local TV then radio will be a far less important issue other than those Ravens fans who work night work and can listen to the radio rather than a TV at work.

Here's a wild thought, would WVUD consider carrying those Ravens games? The Joe Flacco angle as a Uof D star making it big on a local national team (Balt/Philly vs San Franciso, etc) could pull in good revenue with "corporate underwriting" to get their companies "15 second spots". Between WVUD and WWTX the county would be covered pretty well radio wise. I realize that WVUD more than likely isn't interested as Joe is now former news for the UofD and wouldn't help bolster their football game attendance.

I guess that none of the commercial FM's(WJBR, WSTW, WJKS, WDSD, WXCY) would consider carrying Ravens football. Of course chances are CC Delaware has the contract with the Ravens so that only their stations can carry the radio coverage in New Castle County making all of this a moot point, unless WDSD carried the games. So that leaves WWTX and hopefully MASN on Comcast as the only options.

Unfortunately, the only AM station in our market that covers the entire county well at night is WDEL and they've got the Eagles. Sad that WILM, WWTX, DELDOT 1380, and WNWK1260 don't cover the entire county at night. This lack of night time sigmal didn't help Wilmington AM's to survive.

 

[WTUX]

WILM does get into Newark at night, with a fairly decent signal. But I can't see messing up the N/T format with sports.

WVUD? One problem is the network spots. You would have to run them and that is illegal.
Besides, as you point out, it would do nothing for the U of D.

This is not the first U/D quarterback to make it to the pros. Unless you are already a Ravens fan, you are not going to change team loyalty. You might check to see what he is doing on a given Sunday, but unless he becomes another Joe Namath, the interest in him will die quickly. This is Eagles territory.

 

[simontemplar]

The Ravens games used to be on 1290 a few years ago but were not on last season. You had to listen to 1090 or 97.9 from Baltimore or Sirius to hear them. As for watching them, Direct TV is your only option if they aren't the national game. MASN can't carry them because CBS and FOX have exclusive rights to Sunday afternoon games. In Kent and Sussex they get all the CBS games on WBOC TV, the Fox games on Channel 21 and get the radio broadcast on 95.9. Ravens fans in NCC might as well be in Montana.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

So if I understand what Simontemplar is saying, there is an audience in NCC for Ravens football. So maybe IF WWTX am1290 advertises the fact that they are carrying Ravens football this year, they might pull in better numbers than they might normally get, which would help them build a spot base. However, it would appear that CC Delaware might make better money and larger audience by having the Ravens on 1450 WILM as it apparently, from what WTUX says, does get into Newark with a pretty good signal. Frankly, is anyone listening to those syndicated satellite blow hards at night or on a Sunday afternoon on WILM? Is WILM selling any local spots during those shows? Anytime I tune in, I only hear PSA's during the local avails. It seems that Ravens football on WILM might be a better money maker for CC Delaware than it being on WWTX. So big whoop that Mark Levin or Michael Savage gets premempted for a Monday night game. If I were running CC Delaware, the Ravens would be on WILM and the games would be advertised on billboards and in the News Journal, and possibly on cable TV. I'd use the Joe Flacco angle to promote interest, and then try to sell the heck out of it to local advertisers. Delaware Football Star in the big leagues. I think there would be interest which means you can make money for your business in this case CC Delaware. This may be Eagles territory, but Flacco was quite popular and is a great quarterback, who did quite well for the Blue Hens, so there's a career worth following, sort of like some great Blue Rocks player who's now in the Majors. The local angle works well in Delaware as we have few national stars, so it's exciting to watch someone who's been here do well in the big time. I believe this is a money maker for CC Delaware.

WDEL is able to preempt their syndicated talkers so it shouldn't be a big deal for WILM to do either. I remember when I worked weekends at WILM we always had the Blue and Gold game. We also had a boat load of local spots. The station made money with that game. Unfortunately, the Hawkins wouldn't do other sports so they missed out on other cash infusions to a dieing industry, known as AM radio. CC Delaware should tap into the fact that there is a base of Ravens fans here, with a local Delaware quarterback and let radio do its magic. It's the one thing that local AM radio can still do that local FM radio won't for the most part.