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Will Clear Channel put Hannity, Beck and (maybe) Rush, too on FM?

M

MattParker

And what does this mean for WILM-AM?

CBS' "Big Talker" (WPHT 1210) has announced they are dropping Hannity and Beck for a local-live line-up. (Sound familiar). For more, see the Philly Board. But there is some likelihood Clear Channel would flip one of the Philly FMs to talk and run Hannity and Beck on FM. If they do that, they'd probably bring Rush along, too. They have done this in other markets.

WILM-AM carried Rush before, back in the 90s. One factor that led to dropping the show was Rush getting picked up by WWDB-FM, which put a good signal into New Castle County. WILM-AM has areas where reception is poor and in any case FM sounds better than AM. Rush on FM cut deeply into his AM audience in Wilmington (at the same time the company syndicating the show back then asked for more money).

If Premiere Radio's line-up is available on FM (and Clear Channel's Philly FM's also have a good signal in Wilmington), what will happen to WILM-AM (even with a new morning show)? Would it make sense for them to duplicate what's available on FM? Clear Channel could make WILM-AM "live and local" but that's pricey. It could change formats, try to sell or even let the station go silent.

Stay tuned.
 
The problem CC Delaware has is they only have WDSD 94.7 and WRTX at 92.9. 92.9's signal isn't all that great in the Wilmington Metro, so that wouldn't help them much in competing with a Philly FM carrying the same talk lineup. My guess is, WDSD 94.7 which does have a solid signal into Wilmington may be their only station in Delaware that's actually making any money, with possibly a larger audience, and definitely far more spots than WILM (even though they're getting their butts kicked ratings wise by Delmarva's WXCY). So moving Rush to 94.7 may not make financial sense especially if CC Delaware can't sell Rush now on WILM (note all the PSA's during Limbaugh's show on WILM vs WPHT) why make WDSD lose all its spots to air Rush/Hannity. Granted many markets are moving news/talk to FM or simulcasting the AM news/talk on an FM, but the Wilmington market doesn't have many FM's and CC Delaware has no FM's in Wilmington, so their options are more limited than CC in Philly.
 
MFD: Point is Clear Channel's Philly FM stations are received in Wilmington. If they put their syndicated talk shows on FM stations in Philly that can be heard very well in the Wilmington area, what happens to their Wilmington AM talkers? The Wilmington FM's don't factor in here.

You seem up on radio history: Remember when Rush was picked up by WWDB-FM in Philly, it really cut into his audience on WILM-AM. When WWDB-FM lost Rush to 1210AM (which doesn't come in that well) WDEL-AM picked up the show. It's one thing to have a national show carried on AM stations in Philly AND Wilmington. But on FM in Philly and AM in Wilmington? I know you're not a Rush fan but if you were going to listen to the show and it was on FM (from Philly) and AM (from Wilmington), which would you listen to?
 
It would make a lot of sense to flip 947 to WILM FM and put on the "big talkers" there. You could then flip WDOV to sports like the the ticket and run all the sports programming on both stations. Maybe WILM could stay talk and go with liberal views. It would not win in the ratings, but it would be a good combo sell. The real question is what do you do with 929??? Flip it to WDSD or stay with TOM? Country makes money, but TOM has to be cheap to run.
No matter what Bruce Elliott may have come on board just in time. 1/1/11 might see some flipping.
 
FM reception in office/steel buildings isn't always that great for some Philly FM's in NCC. I can get many Philly FM's, some great, others with static, yet WILM/WWTX/WDEL all come in quite well. However, you're correct WPHT doesn't come in either. So even though many would listen to a Philly FM to hear elRushbo over listening to an AM station, many others who can't get the FM station, or as many of elRushbo's listeners are older, pre-Babyboomer, who seem to avoid FM and seem to prefer AM and never scan the FM dial (their music isn't there other than maybe WRTI with Jazz), so they'd never know Rush was available there. So WILM would probably be able to still pull in a major piece of that audience. Granted the FM would steal some of WILM's audience though.
 
@MFD: Makes sense, although I doubt if the Clear Channel sales staff or advertisers care much whether pre-boomers listen or not. Still it does seem the Philly FMs and the Dover FM still leave some geographic gaps in coverage (i.e, Newark, Bear, etc) that advertisers would want to reach. Keeping WILM alive makes sense, but if Rush on FM does cut into the station's audience significantly, ad rates would be cut and ad sales would suffer. Clear Channel could well decide not to sink money into local programming after all. Not necessarily the best call because a strong local morning show could help build an audience for later in the day. It would be interesting to see day part breakdowns to determine whether Watson helps or hurts in the regard. If Watson is a drag and if Beck has stronger appeal to folks who listen to Rush and Hannity, that could drive audience over to FM.
 
The news article linked on the Philly board said that WPHT still has Limbaugh (of course when the current contract ends then CC could pull the show and move it to an FM news/talker. So at least for the winter months (don't know when Rush's contract expires at WPHT) Rush's show won't be as big of a factor as it's already at WPHT. However, it would make sense that CC would put it's two talk stars Beck/Hannity on another CC station in Philly as the network spots rates would surly be affected if Beck/Hannity aren't being heard in market #8. However, that could be a CC Philly AM station, but as the trend in many markets does seem to be moving news/talk to FM, that might be a logical choice. It would depend on which Philly FM CC puts Beck/Hannity as to whether or not the FM talker would adversely affect WILM and WDEL for that matter. Frankly, I find both Beck and Hannity unlistenable. At least Rush can be entertaining and even funny, when he wants to be, however I can only stand him for 15-30 minutes once in awhile.

The other thing that I'd like to know, has Beck's and Hannity's numbers been dropping in Philly? Why drop those national shows if they have good ratings and plenty of spots. WPHT has many more spots than WILM, so at a causal listen to WPHT it would appear that Beck/Hannity and Limbaugh (whom they are not dropping) do well on WPHT, but that may not be the actual truth. Maybe WPHT is dumping Beck/Hannity, because they are flops in Philly.

The other thing I'd like to know is, which Wilmington stations gets better numbers during the time slots that Rush/Hannity are on, WDEL with Al Messitti, Allan Loudell, and Rick Jensen or WILM with Rush/Hannity?

I see the bigger threat to WILM being IF CC Philly ends Rush's time at WPHT and moves his show to a not yet announced FM news/talk station that has a market grade signal into the Wilmington Metro.

What AM and FM stations does CC have in Philly? Then we all might be able to "forecast" (guess) which station CC might move Rush to.
 
Some people on the Philly board are talking about Rush's contract. Lots of stations that used to carry Rush had contracts including "one Wilmington radio station."

CCI has one low power AM (Rumba) and five FMs:
WDAS 105.3 (currently number one in Philly and not a likely candidate for talk)
WIOQ 102.1 (currently in the top 10)
WISX - Mix 106.1
WUSL - Power 99
WRFF - 104.5

Speculation centers on 106.1 and 104.5, both of which have not stayed too long with any one format.

There are a lot of possible factors that led to this other than ratings. Follow the money.
 
I believe that both 106.1 and Power 99 have pretty solid signals into the Wilmington Metro (don't listen to them to know for sure) so if one of those became WPHT-FM Philly's FM talker with Rush/Hannity that COULD possibly hurt WILM assuming CC Philly advertised that fact either on the CC Delaware stations or via CC's billboards in the Wilmington Metro. I don't believe those two stations currently appeal to right wing talk fans so they'd have no reason to tune in so some sort of local advertising would be needed, in my opinion. Besides why would CC Philly want to steal away CC Delaware's listeners? Their target is the Philly market, their advertisers, for the most part don't care if Wilmingtonians listen to their stations or Philly TV news would cover more of Wilmington than they currently do. We are a drop in the ratings bucket for a Philly market station. They're after bigger fish, the Philly/South-Central Jersey market.

WPHT had the advantage of being on AM where Rush is already there on WILM (WILM I believe had Rush before WPHT) and many Wilmingtonians might scan pass 1210 WPHT which is located between 1150 WDEL and 1450 WILM making it easier to realize that 1210 had Rush.

So just because CC Philly pulls Rush from CBS radio's 1210 and moves it to one of those FM's isn't a guarantee that Wilmingtonians will jump ship from WILM to a Philly FM. Also with the new Elliot in the Morning Show which can compete with WDEL's morning newsblock pulling in listeners for Rush which might be why WILM brought in Bruce Elliot from WBAL (they may have already knew what their cousins in Philly were going to do). So my guess is, CC Delaware IS NOT going to make either 92.9 or 94.7 a newstalker any time soon. I could see 92.9 switching to another music format, but not 94.7 as you did say Country sells and WDSD is probably CC Delaware's cash cow.
 
What about this CC Delaware line up?
WILM AM & FM (94.7). The AM covers the Wilmington Metro and 947 expands out to mid-state and below.
The Ticket on 1290 & 1410. You would have Northern and midstate coverage.
WRDX changes to WDSD (again).
Clear Channel likes to operate cheap. This would save on staffing.
 
My only question would be, would the 92.9 WDSD still pull in the local spot load that the 94.7 WDSD does? As WDSD is probably CC Delaware's cash cow, they'd not want to make that switch unless they believed they could keep the cash rolling in with your suggested formats for the CC cluster. Other than that, I think your idea is a good one.
 
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