Roger, I do not mean to offend, but your arguments in Wild's favor are not all that convincing. To address some of them:
1. Wild's morning show is its only strong suit. Kevin and Virginia are excellent at what they do. And they have some Heritage, as their show has been on Wild since 2000.
2. I have been told that Valentine is actually live. I am not so sure about that, as there is no listener interaction/phones/contests/etc. Valentine, I am sure, does extensive voice-tracking in other markets. For example, I know he is on Clear Channel's Key West CHR station.
3. Ryan Seacrest's packaged program, in my opinion, is horrible. No CHR station would have been airing that garbage even 10 years ago.
4. The "Morning Show Replay" is yet another money-saving gambit. What an embarassment for a Heritage CHR station.
5. I will check out the NY station you mentioned. Chris Marino, by the way, was a very good PD at Wild. I am glad to see Chris is doing well. If I am not mistaken, prior to Wild, he worked at a bunch of stations in the Northeast, including Hartford's Kiss and Providence's WPRO-FM.