WILM becomes WWTX last Sunday afternoon

[MikefromDelaware]

I was on my way home from church and tuned into 1450 WILM to hear Fox News Sunday and to my surprise heard the Westwood One coverage of the Saints / Ravens game. That was great as it's been years since WILM carried any sports and thought this was a good idea and a way to help WILM pay some bills.

When the spot breaks came the prerecorded liner said, you're listening to Ravens Football on 1290 the Ticket WWTX. I looked at my digital AM dial and yep, it said 1450, I punched in 1290 and Fox Sports radio was on. I was a bit confused, but was delighted to get to hear the Ravens game and glad to hear it's available on Wilmington radio. At 1pm the answer to the puzzle became more clear, I believe. 1290 the Ticket aired U of D Basketball starting at 1pm, so I guess rather than not air the Ravens they bumped it over to WILM. So I'm assuming that the Ravens normally air on 1290 the Ticket and the folks at CC were a bit too lazy to make a new pre-recorded liner that would say 1450 WILM rather than 1290 the Ticket.

I'm not sure if WILM gave the correct legal ID on the hour or not as I was in traffic and missed it, but it makes you wonder.

I also tune in to WDEL to hear Face the Nation from CBS radio, but lately their computer has gone nuts and all you hear for that hour is dead air. I tried calling the station one week left a message as I could not get anyone to answer the phone, so if its on I'll go back and forth between WDEL and WILM as they both air Fox News Sunday and Face the Nation at the same time. Just goes to show, that having a live person there may cost more, but eliminates this sort of problem. However, as these probably are dead times for radio in general, there's no great incentive to pay someone to "babysit" the station, so "Lex Tronic" your friendly computer board op does the job for free. As the ole expression goes, you get what you pay for.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Re: WILM becomes WWTX last Sunday afternoon correction

I need to make one correction, it was not the Westwood One coverage, but the Ravens radio network coverage. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[MattParker]

It does sound like the computer ran the wrong ID. WWTX is a Ravens affiliate.

But this raises an interesting possibility. Many markets (some smaller than Wilmington) have two (or more) sports talk stations. Philly now has three. Although Clear Channel distributes Fox Sports network, they also own stations which carry ESPN Radio. What if Clear Channel put ESPN on 1450? It would be cheaper. Might even bill better (the bar is pretty low). It certainly would get better demos (sports is the only format to get money demo males to listen to AM). This would be an interesting irony, too: Brewers love to buy time in sports and sports talk; The Hawkins' made their fortune selling beer.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

You make an interesting point, but WWTX rarely if ever shows in the 12+ numbers, maybe they show in the actual book other than 12+, but they, like WILM don't have many local spots other than Blue Rocks, U of D sports, etc. Of course that is far more than WILM is airing, so you may be making a good point that WILM as an ESPN affiliate with maybe a AM Drive time live local sports talk show with a entertaining host (maybe Bruce Elliot and Allan Krackoul (sp) are talented enough to pull off a sports talk show as a co-host team) could make some do-re-mi for CC, plus would give CC another outlet to carry more sports as there isn't a Wilmington station airing the Flyers or 76ers games. You may be on to something.

The only drawback I can see is WILM would be competing with Philly's 97.5 ESPN. AM usually loses to FM when both are airing the same programming, but on the other hand, WDEL seems to be holding its own against WYSP-FM covering the Eagles games. So it might be possible.

 

[MattParker]

Wilmington is still a diary panel (not PPM) and they only do two books a year, so for the next month or so all that's available is way out of date. That said, in the most recent book WILM's average quarter hour share is just over half that of WDEL (and tied with WPHT which puts a "bad signal" into Wilmington).

WIP was the top sports station (with a decent signal) with a 3:1 advantage in AQH share over The Ticket. People filling out diaries apparently hadn't noticed either WPEN AM or FM.

Clear Channel is not likely to make any changes that will result in Rush losing a market. But if Clear Channel puts its syndicated talk line up on a Philly FM with a good signal into Wilmington, all bets are off.

The advantage of sports is even without good numbers, sports is an easy sell. Local businesses love to buy local sports. Not just minor league baseball and local colleges but even high school football and basketball. Some of those games may have more people attending than listening on the radio but local businesses still buy. Often these stations are programmed more to draw advertisers than listeners, but run syndicated sports talk weekdays, add local games and even NASCAR and throw in some paid church services on Sunday and you can see black ink even on Class C and D AMs.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

As of now, only WDEL offers local church services Sunday morning (WNRK used to also air local church services prior to the sell off and the WAMS incarnations there), so that probably is an under served segment of the local audience and potential for additional revenue for a WILM or WWTX. I don't believe any of the Wilmington FM's air any sort of local church programming.

As today's 1260 WNWK formerly WNRK now serves the Hispanic community with a format that is billed as Regional Mexican, they might be airing Spanish speaking church services on Sunday.

If it wouldn't be a 1st Amendment issue, even DELDOT 1380 WTMC could make some additional money for the state and actually serve a useful purpose by selling air time to local churches on Sunday morning, but of course that won't happen due to the 1st Amendment issue. Wow, what a law suit that would bring. I can see the headlines now: Delaware State Owned Radio Forcing Religious Services on the Public, film at 11. That would be as embarrassing for Delaware as Christine O'Donnell becoming our Senator in Washington, or Joe Biden becoming President.

Anyhow, have a Merry Christmas.

 

[MattParker]

You raise several potential new topics: Notably...

...is any segment of the audience served by paid religious broadcasts on Sunday morning? Most stations which carry services get premium rate in a time that would otherwise go unsold. Stations are served. Preacher's egos are served. I wonder if this is a worthwhile use of church members' offerings. If preachers were serious about reaching the non-churched, they would buy 60 or 120 minute segments in regular programming during the week to get people to church.

...does DelDOT radio serve any purpose - at all? It's not even real traffic reports or current information. Sirius/XM runs current traffic reports - not live but on a continuous loop and updated frequently. They are as timely as Traffax or Shadow/Metro, although somewhat more detailed. If DelDOT made an arrangement with Traffax, Traffic Pulse or some other service for real traffic reports continuously - no waiting for traffic on the whatevers and no leaving out the jam ahead of you because they ran out of time - that would be worth the bandwidth. The traffic service could sell spots and maybe the station might actually bring in money.

If DelDOT made time available to all groups equally (not just those with a religious affiliation) and those groups are paying for time with the same rate card available to all, it doesn't seem like there is a first amendment issue. Schools can let student and community groups, including those with a religious purpose, use school facilities (sometimes for a fee). And the groups would be paying for radio time so there's no "establishment" issue (the government is getting money, giving it).

No, Biden won't become president. But it is possible he could take over for William Shatner in !@#$ My Father Says.
Click on this link to see Biden sing and dance: http://sendables.jibjab.com/originals/so_long_to_ya_2010

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Thanks for putting me on to that website. I got a kick out of Biden and Obama, well done, but the one with Bush and Kerry was hilarious. Thanks.

I agree that a 60 or 120 sec sermonette to promote a church probably would work better as it would get aired more often than once a week thus reaching folks who are normally listening to the radio. Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church used to air such 2 minutes messages on 1260 WAMS. In fact, I believe, their spots were the only income coming in to the short lived 1260 WAMS.

The one purpose the Sunday Morning worship service serves is the elderly, who no longer can get to church and desire to still have a local worship experience rather than listening or watching some televangelist. Granted that's a very small segment of the radio audience and maybe a DVD or CD from their home church delivered to them each week so they could either listen or view might be better, assuming they have a CD or DVD for their TV. Plus they get a visit from someone from their home church which I know from the work I've done bringing Communion to shut in's (house bound) and folks in nursing homes means a great deal as they do get very lonely and are blessed to have someone to have a conversation with, even for 5-10 minutes. So I think I agree with you that the radio station benefits more from that than does the local church or the congregation, and the bigger bang for the buck probably is the 60-120 sec spot.

You might want to suggest your ideas to someone in Delaware Government attached to the Governor's Office. They might be interested in how to make a cash sink hole become a cash cow for the state. Great ideas.

 

[MattParker]

Thanks, Mike, although it sounds as though you have better connections in Dover than I.

Actually, life, full-time traffic would be my second choice for the 1380. First choice would be turn the license over to the U of D and operate the DelDOT stations and WVUD as public radio stations. There is room for local public radio plus some excellent NPR, PRI, APM and BBC programs for which WHYY-FM has not made room in their schedules.

I didn't realize you hadn't seen "This Land" from '04. It is a classic. Good-bye 2010 is great, too.

The more I think about it, the more I like your idea of recording services and bringing DVDs to people unable to attend services in person. When my mother was ill, her pastors visited her and brought her the sacrament, which meant a lot to her, but I know she missed the experience of the service itself. In addition to DVDs, it seems like churches could easily and cheaply stream services (live and on-demand, audio or audio-video) to home computers and even mobile devices. The kind of technology once available only to TV broadcasters for hundreds of thousands of dollars can be purchased at any electronics store for a few hundred dollars (less than a church might spend on radio time during a year).

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Many churches today are doing that, I found numerous Lutheran and United Methodist churches around the nation, plus locally Hockessin United Methodist puts the audio and some video of their services online. Also Trinity Community Church near Hockessing also has video and audio online too. They generally only offer the sermon part of the service, probably due to copyright issues with the music. This will probably become a larger trend, especially as Baby Boomers age and who are not as uncomfortable with computers, the internet, etc, as their parents. A lot of radio ministries like The Lutheran Hour, Alistar Begg, etc, also offer online podcasts to catch their programs.

For some reason WVUD has avoided being affiliated with NPR, PRI, etc and is strictly local. In their defense they do air a lot of music that wouldn't see the light of day locally, but I rarely listen as that music generally doesn't interest me. I'd probably tune in more often if they were airing quality shows from NPR, PRI, BBC, CBC, etc.

Sure a WVUD-AM at 1380 could help fill that role too, especially if they could keep the uni-directional set up they have rather than going back to the 5 tower mess so they'd get out like they are now vs the old days of WAMS.

 

[jhguthlac]

WVUD is a community station that serves the Greater Newark area. Local hosts, including students. Airing NPR and the BBC does not give students on-air experience. And it would not bring in the funding the station needs.

The station has quality classical music programs, along with bluegrass, new age, gospel, etc. All of these have a listener base that contributes cash.Its amazing how many aging hippies like the bluegrass!

And there is no reason for a WVUD-AM. Only us radio geeks even know there is a 1380 radio station. Why increase the UofD's electric bill for nothing!

 

[MattParker]

WVUD is a community station that serves the Greater Newark area. Local hosts, including students. Airing NPR and the BBC does not give students on-air experience. And it would not bring in the funding the station needs.

The station has quality classical music programs, along with bluegrass, new age, gospel, etc. All of these have a listener base that contributes cash.Its amazing how many aging hippies like the bluegrass!

And there is no reason for a WVUD-AM. Only us radio geeks even know there is a 1380 radio station. Why increase the UofD's electric bill for nothing!

WVUD is nothing more than expensive toy for a small group of students to play with. Give the students a low power campus station to play with. WVUD is a Class A non-commercial FM station (or educational station). It is not a community station; look at the signal coverage. Most university-owned public radio stations started out as student radio stations (WXPN, WRTI, WAMU ...). FM bandwidth, especially in the Northeast corridor, is too scarce a resource to waste. Besides, most of the students who do shows at WVUD are there because of their interest in some type of music - not because of their interest in radio. And anybody smart enough to get into a highly selective school like the U of D is going to figure out that while radio may be fun, it is no way to make a living.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Actually the U of D did have a low powered, carrier current station at 640, WHEN back in the late 60's early 70's. Dick Aydolote (sp) of WDEL fame at the time - he did a mid morning show for years there, his son, I believe he used the on air name of Dave Norman, was the student PD at WHEN at that time. If I remember correctly, WDEL had donated much of the equipment WHEN was using. Then at some point the U of D decided to ditch that and moved to FM. The U of D couldn't keep the WHEN calls as a real station was already using those calls, I believe it was in Massachusetts somewhere. I forget the original calls the FM used, but eventually did switch it to the current WVUD.

WVUD seems to do fine at fund raising time. I'd agree that WVUD does serve an underserved part of the audience, especially the Classical and Blue Grass audience. That, to my mind, makes WVUD a valuable asset for the Wilmington area as they are airing much music that doesn't get aired anywhere else on Wilmington radio.

It would be great for the Wilmington area to have it's own NPR station aimed specifically at serving upper Delaware, but that ain't going to happen unless either Mt. Pleasant High or McKean High sells off their FM station so someone could make it an NPR station. So as usual, Northern Delaware will have to rely on WHYY-FM and WRTI to offer us a great variety of Classical Music/Jazz/ and NPR programming from Philly. WVUD has it's place too, even though I rarely listen, though I do sometimes listen to their Classical music show and even a couple of times for a short time the Blue Grass music. I have to admit for football, I tune in to 94.7 WDSD as their sportcasters are far better than the student sportcasters giving the play by play on WVUD, but they've got to learn somewhere and WVUD offers those future Curt Gowdy's and Merle Reese's a place to learn their trade.

 

[BRUSSTAR]

I'm with Parker on this one. It blows my mind that, in 2010, folks still go on about "giving students radio experience" with regard to these stations. Experience for what? 90 percent of the capable, actual radio broadcasters (with real experience, talent, and know-how-- not a silly what-to-do-when-I-grow-up whim) are unable to gain meaningful employment in what's left of the industry.

As for Mike's comment about keeping 1380's current signal versus the old WAMS one from Mt. Cuba, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. No one's putting up five towers for AM anywhere, anymore-- especially for such a non-viable allocation. Sadly, the taxpayers of Delaware are likely to continue funding that useless mess for years to come. I guess it was the state's gift to Joe Farley that just keeps on giving.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Actually, I agree with Matt, as I'd personally prefer WVUD to offer NPR/CBC/BBC programming than what they offer. However, I can also see the value of what WVUD offer the community with some of that underserved music, even if I'd not listen to a lot of it. It's definitely low budget radio as I believe, all the on air staff are volunteers, even the adults. There's probably only one or two paid staffers, one PD and one engineer who's probably on a call in basis when needed. My guess is,the UofD sees WVUD simply as a way to promote the UofD strictly as a college station unlike Temple's WRTI that really isn't a college station anymore as it's the Tri-State Areas Classical and Jazz station. I don't know if Temple gets any financial kickback from the WRTI brand, for being at Temple, but it's a professional station like WHYY-FM whereas WVUD is local yokel radio.

I'd still like to see WVUD buy 1380 and offer those other NPR/CBC/BBC programs. It would be a far better use of 1380 and probably would pull in some ratings and yes financial donations. Yes, it would be better for a WVUD-FM to air those shows, so maybe the answer would be 1380 WVUD would air those music shows, as it is unusual music heard no where else on the radio dial, those who really want to hear it would tune in to 1380 and it would get its first real ratings in years. Then WVUD-FM could air the more professional NPR/CBC/BBC programming and also pull in plenty of financial donations, maybe even some corporate underwriting, etc.

 

[MattParker]

I don't oppose student radio. As extra-curricular activities go, it certainly deserves a place. As does a student newspaper, student bands, and student theater. Such experiences are valuable in themselves. I do not agree that their place is to have students learn a trade. Some students may participate in such programs and find a vocation; most will not.

However, I do think WVUD, an FM station with regional coverage, as a student radio station is wasting a valuable resource. The university and the region would be far better served if the station were a professional public radio station. University-owned public radio stations typically do employ students, both as interns and as paid part timers. Those with a serious career interest in broadcasting would still have opportunities, arguably in jobs more reflective of the real word of broadcasting. And as I mentioned, the university could obtain a low-power license for a student radio station for the university community. Often university-owned public and student radio stations occupy shared or adjoining facilities; students are not shut out from a radio experience.

And yes, I think it would make sense to operate "Delaware Public Radio" with both FM and AM services (specifically 1380 AM, which is also a decent AM signal going to waste).

I doubt university-owned stations do much to promote the parent institution or its activities, although they may create some good will. Well-run stations are self-sustaining and able to pay their own way (from grants, sponsor underwriting, contributions and CPB funds). As MikeFromDelaware has pointed out, there is a place for local content not being met by other public radio stations in the region or even by commercial broadcasters. And there is some excellent public radio programming not being carried in this area which could have a place. An example is "Tell Me More," a daily news-magazine aimed at urban listeners. Another is "The Takeaway," a more conversational and interactive alternative to "Morning Edition." Such programs would provide opportunities to counter-program WHYY-FM and provide a unique service. MFD has also compared a local program on commercial radio to NPR and such programs could thrive in an actual public radio environment, if one were available, freed from the constraints of commercial talk radio.

Note: WXPN is owned by the University of Pennsylvania. It was a student run station until student "creativity" almost cost the station its license. To keep the license, the university agreed to turn WXPN into a professional station. Penn also now has a campus radio station. WXPN with programs in national syndication, a music performance venue, cafe, production facilities and product sales is now able to show black ink to Penn. Probably not enough to affect overall university books but at least the station isn't costing them anything.

 

[jhguthlac]

When I was OM of a local station, I had three former Rutgers students and one former U/D student who came on board over the years and were ready to go, thanks to the training on the school radio station. I learned the value of having a radio station included in the communications department.

WVUD's on-air crew has included two practicing lawyers, who have music specialties that appeal to the Newark audience. One of those was Gerry Grant, a Newark city council member. Former popular dj's, such as Roger Holmes, have done regular shows there. So, it is not just a student station. It is a community station. Scott Bernie, a popular local musician with the Sin City Band, is a regular morning host. Again, community.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

So what WVUD has morphed into, is a niche non-comm station that is part of the UofD community, but also is now a part of the Newark Area / Western Suburban Wilmington community as well. Unfortunately the 12+ numbers don't show what sort of numbers the non-comms get, but as the station appears to be financially supported by its listeners, just like the religious non-comm WXHL, they both in their own ways are serving the community with unique programming that the commercial Wilmington stations do not offer. That to my way of thinking is what the idea of "community radio" or the non-comm radio band was to do.

I still would like to see the UofD buy 1380 and put alternative NPR/CBC/BBC programming to counter program WHYY-FM.

 

[DX]

[EDIT-reference to deleted material]


This insistence on turning nearly everything from 88.1 to 91.9 into a professionally run public station is crazy.

...Aggravated further in our region by the "professional" public stations which have gobbled up nearly all the remaining available channels with translators!

The public part of the F.M. spectrum is much more interesting in some other metro areas.