WDEL dropped Phillies for Eagles preseason game last night

[MikefromDelaware]

Last week's preseason game for the Eagles wasn't carried by WDEL as they had the Phillies on, I listened on WIP. This week, is a different story. WDEL had the Eagles on and dumpped the Phillies. I wonder if they got a bunch of phone calls asking for the Eagles over the Phillies. For whatever reason, the birds were there on WDEL. I enjoyed listening to the Eagles preseason football on 1150 last night. I did check around the dial, Philly's WPHT did have the Phils and WWTX had the Blue Rocks and WILM had their usual satellite talker. The board op at WDEL did give the updated score to the Phillies game during each spot break.

 

[Chris Carl]

Hi Mike.

We made our Phillies/Eagles plan in July.

We decided not to carry the Eagles first pre-season game, airing the Phillies instead.

The Phillies were on the West Coast on 8/14, so were were able to carry both the Eagles and Phillies on the same night.

We decided to carry the Eagles last Friday instead of the Phillies, with the thinking that the third pre-season game is as close to real game action as you're going to get.

On Thursday, the Phillies will be playing in Chicago, with an 8:05 first pitch. So we will carry the first-half of the Eagles, then switch to the Phillies. With the Eagles kicking off at 6:30, it should time out that we won't miss any of the Phillies; and, yes, it means you won't hear the end of the Eagles, but none of the "regular" Eagles will play the second-half of that game. Heck, they might not play at all.

It's a delicate balance to have both teams. We received no calls.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Thanks Carl for the thinking behind your decision. Maybe when HD radio really catches on (some time in the future), when those situations come up, you could broadcast one on your 93.7 HD-3 signal and the other on WDEL at 1150. Of course, that would mean having a second board op to run the second games local spots, etc (unless you have the ability to automate it).

I'm assuming that you guys aren't allowed to broadcast the games on your internet site, correct? If you were allowed then you could stream both broadcasts simultaniously, but again you'd need the ability to cover your local spots and break away from the network feed of the second game.

Has Delmarva, ever considered the idea of trying to buy 1380 from the state, which would give you a second AM in this market, which would also give more flexiblity too when there's more sports available than your one AM station can handle. Granted you'd also have to come up with a viable format to make that station profitable, that would probably be the hard part. If it weren't, then 1380 today wouldn't be airing out dated traffic info from Deldot. My guess is Delmarva would prefer to have a second FM in this market over having another AM.

 

[Chris Carl]

(Just back from vacation and catching up.)

We would love to provide coverage of the Phillies on one outlet and the Eagles on the other. However, we are only permitted to carry both on 1150AM, not 93.7 FM HD3. And, you're right, we are not permitted to stream either on WDEL.com.

As for purchasing 1380, that's above my pay grade.

 

[jimwalsh2001]

Has Delmarva, ever considered the idea of trying to buy 1380 from the state, which would give you a second AM in this market...

I can't speak for Delmarva, but to buy the 1380 signal and turn it into something viable, would require a serious investment. Given the current economic situation, and the signal's coverage problems, I can't see that happening in the forseeable future.