WDEL off the air?

[jhguthlac]

My morning commute is from roughly 4:30am to 5:10. Generally, I listen to WDEL during that time.

Yesterday and again this morning, there was no WDEL until 5:00. Wonder why?

 

[Chris Carl]

Tower maintenance/Engineers working on our night pattern.

 

[jhguthlac]

I'm in a better mood today, Chris. You were on the air at 4:30 & I got to hear Joshua P. Warren talking about ghosts. Can't survive without that stuff!

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Oh boy, sounds like compelling radio.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Something happened when I went to post this as it only included the first sentence I wrote. Here is the rest of my thought
Oh, boy, sounds like compelling radio.

But as they say, different strokes for different folks.

Chris, I have been listening to Peter McArthur and Mellonie Armstrong most mornings of late, while getting ready for work after 6am as they now do a better job of presenting the weather more often than in the past when I had stopped listening months ago ( it's the one thing I actually am listening for along with traffic, everything else is extra at that time in the morning). I like the Consumer Report vignette WDEL airs around 6:25. They usually present interesting info. I do enjoy the various vignettes as they break up the generally heavy depressing news.

Chris, WDEL has really done a great job in becoming Delaware's radio news source. Adding CBS radio hourly news on the top of the hour was a good move. Basically WDEL has become what WILM had achieved back in the 1970's to around 2006. Congratulations. As your station has plenty of local spots, apparently the local businesses also see value in what WDEL is doing for the Wilmington Metro area.

Al Messitti generally has an interesting talk show ( I'm not in to his ministry of culture thing on Friday's, but hey someone else probably likes those shows) that I listen to quite often (depending on who's topic interests me most Al vs Radio Times on WHYY-FM). Of course Allan Loudell's mid day report is it's own special type of news program and unique to commercial radio (he used to do this at WILM years ago) which I catch quite often. Besides Allan's interviews I do enjoy Dave Rosse's comments, from CBS radio at around 12:56pm.

Depending on what Rick Jensen is talking about, I've even been tuning in to him sometimes. Some day's he has an interesting national topic where he simply isn't in his bash Obama mode, but is being more introspective about the issue, which for my ear, will draw me (if I want to listen to a bash Obama show, I can hear the master of that with Rush on WILM which airs while Rick is on, so why settle for a second fiddle Rush wannabe on WDEL who isn't as entertaining as elRushbo, for my ear). But Rick has had some interesting shows of late so when I stumble across those shows, I do tune in. I do like Rick's Weasel of the Week segment, but don't see any value in listening to the "Thirsty Thursday" segment, but someone else probably likes the segment.

Sometime, it would be fun to have Rick and Al square off on some of the national issues together on the same show sometime, maybe a once a month feature for the last hour of Al's show and the first hour of Rick's show. Could be very compelling radio.

 

[DELifer]

Mike, I know it's not 'radio' in the traditional sense, but at WDEL.com, they have Rick and Al face off on a topic every week on the video page of the Web site. Some fun stuff. Web site changed this week as well.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

I went to WDEL's web site and tried to view Rick and Al going at it, but it wouldn't work. I view all sorts of videos/TV/movies online (Hulu /You Tube, etc) and have no problem. So I'm assuming there's an issue with WDEL's video.

I still think Rick and Al taking the last hour of Al's show and the first hour of Rick's show once a month would make for some compelling radio.

That video thing wasn't that easy to find and then it didn't work once I got there. Not too impressive. The web site is nice looking though. Also, if and when the video works, will you be able to fill the entire screen as you can do on Hulu and You Tube. That makes for a better viewing experience. If you want people to come to your web site for video, then make it work easier and offer full screen view.

 

[DERadio]

I just tried it after reading Mike's post. I guessed as to where I'd find it...Went to the "News" section on the banner and then saw WDEL video. Scrolled down to "Say What," clicked, and it came right up.

Mike, it's certainly possible that WDEL was having issues when you tried it, but as I said, when I tried, it opened right up.

Also, it opens in Media Player. If you double click on the window, it goes full size (not as clear, but it does expand).

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Well I just went to WDEL.com and clicked on WDEL video and again tried Al/Rick's joint video, today's bottle bill, it still didn't work. Just before going to WDEL, just to make sure my computer was working OK, I went to WHYY and watched the on line version of First. No problem, good clear picture, even with the full screen mode, good sound, played fine, no stopping, and it came up within about 15 seconds. With the WDEL video I waited 2 minutes when I clicked off. I'm listening to the Jim Bohannan online show from last night as I'm typing to you now. I watch Hulu and You Tube almost daily, with never a problem. I watch programs from PBS via their web site and WHYY, no problems. I watch various religious programs from the Lutheran Hour web site, no problems, and the Assembly of God website, again, no problems. I do have Windows Media Player. I believe WDEL stopped their video newscasts, maybe that's why it wasn't more successful, because it didn't work very well.

I remember back when WDEL had the video newscast there and it never worked for me then, but now I have high speed internet, whereas back then I had dial up (so then there was an excuse). So if they want me to view, they're going to have to make some changes so that it works better than this, if not, then I'll not be one of their internet viewers. It is what it is. There are plenty of other places to get news and talk on line.

 

[DERadio]

Certainly not doubting you Mike, but I just got the "bottle bill" piece to run. You're not watching on a Mac by any chance, are you? I remember not being able to watch WDEL videos on my Mac because of the format they posted (wmv).

Other than that, I don't have a guess (I know just enough about computers to be a little dangerous).

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Three strikes and they're out. I've spent the evening watching TV online (NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles) no problems. Went again to WDEL.com. tried the video, still nothing, tried to listen to WDEL's listen live, I got the 30 second spot great, but then nothing ( said something about reconnecting in 900 seconds, that's 15 minutes ( I don't think so). I have Windows XP with Comcast High Speed Internet. If I'm having problems, so are others. Like I said earlier, I earlier tonight watched "First" on WHYY's web site, no problems, listened to Jim Bohanan's Westwood One show too. I just tried WILM's listen live, it worked fine, no problem. I listened to a couple of minutes of Mark Levin.

Hey, it's no big deal. I'm 59, so their advertisers don't care if I listen in to WDEL, on the radio, HD radio, the internet, using MP3 or Ipods. So there's not a big incentive for WDEL to make their video and listen live button work better unless the under age 49 crowd can't get it to work, then they might want to give this more attention. I think we'd all agree that the online, MP3, Ipod viewing and listening is the wave of the future and where that prized younger demo resides today, not listening to over the air radio as is more typical of folks my age.