WILM & CC Deception

[jhguthlac]

Why does CC exert so much effort trying to deceive listeners? They advertise that Bruce Elliott's show is 5-9am. No, it isn't. The Wall Street Journal is on 5-5:30am. They claim to be Delaware's News Leader. With one news reporter? LOL! And now they try to make listeners think they are on FM HD in Wilmington. They are instead on a Dover FM station. They make sure that fact is not part of their legal TOH ID.

 

[radio19720]

It's so crazy to put anything on HD. It's a waste of time and energy. The day is getting close when WILM moves the main channel of WDSD, 94.7. This would KILL WDEL and they could really enchance thier U o D coverage and make it Delaware's News and Talk station.
WDEL could do the same thing with WSTW and it would be a smart move. There has to be talk in both buildings of switching the FM's.

 

[DX]

It would NOT be a smart move for Delmarva because if WDEL migrates to 93.7 F.M., 1150 A.M. would never find another format which could produce the same sort of revenue.

Even with some ratings setbacks, WSTW as a music station and WDEL as a news/talk station still generate much more revenue combined than if news/talk went to F.M.

It's quite different for the radio conglomerates with multiple A.M. & F.M. frequencies in a single market. If you have a few F.M.'s - with one clearly under-performing - then sure, you might move your news/talk or news format to that under-performing F.M. Or you simulcast.

WDSD is the most successful station in the Wilmington--Dover Clear Channel cluster doing country. You'd blow that up for syndicated talk? That's still a tough sell in northern New Castle County, A.M. or F.M. Unless your ratings skyrocketed so high, you could get national agency buys. Unlikely. Plus, WDSD has signal problems in northern New Castle County.

As far as "deception"... welcome to radio imaging. Some critics once assailed Hawkins-owned WILM for calling itself "Newsradio" because it wasn't, strictly speaking, all-news. (No matter that in some markets, even music stations with the biggest news commitments have sometimes called themselves "newsradio".)

Agreed... some stations press the envelope further than others.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

As WSTW hasn't been doing as well ratings wise for a couple of years, I'd not switch WSTW to news/talk, I'd switch it to a "greatest hits" format similar to 96.1 WSOX York PA. A far better mix of music than WOGL that I believe would revive WSTW's ratings as being a better station to listen to at work than the current WSTW.

WDSD probably should stay a country station. That does seem to be the best money maker for CC Delaware. Funny, I can get WDSD at work really well ( near the New Castle area) far better than WXCY which has a weak signal in comparison. Philly's WXTU is even worse than WXCY. So when I want country, I listen to WDSD. Now in the car I get all three just fine, so depending on what song is being played or if they're in a spot break determines whether I stop at WDSD, WXCY, or WXTU.

I'd agree with DX that it would be a waste, at this point in time, for either Delmarva or CC Delaware to simulcast the AM programming on their FM stations. WDEL and WILM should stay as their respective companies news/talkers. Both are generating revenue. WDEL seems to be really loaded with local spots. Even WILM now seems to have spots (other than during Rush). So Elliot's show apparently has helped WILM/WDOV in that regard.