WILM started airing Hannity today

[MikefromDelaware]

I noticed this afternoon, when I tuned in to hear the WILM afternoon report, that they are airing Sean Hannity. So those predictions were correct. I didn't tune in later to hear if Mark Levine had displaced Michael Savage.

 

[georgetown3ham]

It makes you wonder why a 1,000 station in the shadow of a 50,000 non-directional station would keep coping the larger station. Anyone in Wilmington that can't pick up 1210, either needs a new radio, or a life. I never understood why WDEL carried both Hannity and Rush in the first place. It's one thing if you're the only place listeners can hard a national program, but otherwise waste the time. WDEL is headed in the right direction, local. Copycats don't win long term. Know if Delmarva would just put WDEL on WSTW's HD3 and the WSTW HD2 on WAFL, along with WDEL on HD#, they'd really be leading the way. By the way, based on results from listening to my new JVC HD Radio, the HD content only covers about 75% of the area that the analog signal does.

 

[fred flintstone]

It makes you wonder why a 1,000 station in the shadow of a 50,000 non-directional station would keep coping the larger station. Anyone in Wilmington that can't pick up 1210, either needs a new radio, or a life. I never understood why WDEL carried both Hannity and Rush in the first place. It's one thing if you're the only place listeners can hard a national program, but otherwise waste the time. WDEL is headed in the right direction, local. Copycats don't win long term. Know if Delmarva would just put WDEL on WSTW's HD3 and the WSTW HD2 on WAFL, along with WDEL on HD#, they'd really be leading the way. By the way, based on results from listening to my new JVC HD Radio, the HD content only covers about 75% of the area that the analog signal does.

Because 1210 AM does not put what non-radio geeks would consider a listenable signal into Wilmington. Philly AMs sound better down toward Dover but their signal most places north of canal is not what most people would accept or tolerate. Should a talk station open up on FM in Philadelphia, then it's a whole other story. Philly FMs do well in Wilmington, as did Talk station WWDB-FM back in the day.

If KYW goes to FM (as did WTOP, Washington) look for local news out of Wilmington to disappear.

Even back in radio's Golden Age, with much less interference and better AM radios, Wilmington had its own network affiliates (WDEL-NBC Red/NBC, WILM-NBC Blue/ABC, WAMS-Mutual).

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Looking at the Wilmington 12+ rankings I believe explains why local stations like WDEL and WILM haved aired national programs like Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. Note that WPHT that carries both Limbaugh and Hannity comes in at the #23 spot. WDEL is at # 4 and WILM at #13 as of that last ranking (see the listing below).

You're statement about needing a new radio is incorrect. Sure at home I can get 1210 WPHT clearly (it still is not as clear as either WDEL or WILM), and certainly in my car 1210 does come in fine, but at work in a steel building the only AM stations I can get are: 1150 WDEL, 1290 WWTX, DELDOT1380, and 1450 WILM (that's one reason why it's such a waste having DELDOT on 1380 as that is a viable AM station for Wilmington with a clear signal, where as 1260's signal in spite of the upgrades to their signal come in great in the car, but only fair at home and nonexistant at work so 1260 will never do well unfortunately). Believe me I've tried to get 1210 as I'd like to check out Glenn Beck's show, but no matter what radio I bring in or where in my office I place it, 1210 is a no show. So If I want to hear Hannity, or Limbaugh it's either 1150 or 1450 depending on which station today is carrying their programs. It was WDEL, today it's WILM. Who knows about tomorrow.

Note the only other AM to show in that top 23 is WIP at #21. So for day time radio when folks are at work, at least for AM radio, the local station has the edge.


WJBR-FM
WSTW-FM
WDAS-FM
WDEL-AM
WXCY-FM
WUSL-FM
WMGK-FM
WRDX-FM
WOGL-FM
WMMR-FM
WXTU-FM
WBEB-FM
WILM-AM
WRDW-FM
WDSD-FM
WIOQ-FM
WBEN-FM
WISX-FM
WJKS-FM
WPHI-FM
WIP-AM
WIYY-FM
WPHT-AM

 

[fred flintstone]

Note the only other AM to show in that top 23 is WIP at #21. So for day time radio when folks are at work, at least for AM radio, the local station has the edge.

Local AM has the edge because the signal is listenable - not because it's local.

It is interesting that WIP (with a good not a great signal) does OK in Wilmington and The Ticket doesn't even show up in the Arbitron numbers. Most listeners (in Wilmington or Philly) would rather hear guy talk than pure sports talk. And to the extent people want people want to hear sports talk, they want it to be about the local teams - not syndicated, one-size fits all sports talk. (Note: In the context of professional sports, "local" means Philly.)

Also interesting that people want local in sports talk but not so much in political talk. Syndicated political talk generally trumps local shows.

Rush and Beck are available online. And look for Beck on 1450 AM - coming soon.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

I'm not sure I'd agree with your conclusion. It would be interesting, to find out, back when both Wilmington's WJBR-FM and Philly's WBEB-FM were both airing Delilah how many listeners of that show from Wilmington were listening in to 101.1 rather than 99.5. My guess is that most Wilmingtonians who'd listen to Delilah would pick WJBR. My guess is even though Wilmington's WJBR comes in clearly in Philly that the Philly listeners to Delilah chose Philly's 101.1 rather than 99.5 Now with only Wilmington's WJBR airing Delilah those Philly fans of Delilah would have to make the switch to the Wilmington station. I'd think it would work the same way with say Limbaugh's show. When WILM dropped Rush a few years ago, and it was about a year before WDEL picked up Limbaugh's show, sure those Rush dittoheads had to go to Philly's 1210, Baltimore's 1090, and Dover's 1410, etc, but once WDEL picked up Limbaugh, my guess is that once they knew that Limbaugh was available locally they switched to WDEL rather than tune in to an out of town station. My guess is WILM will get most of WDEL's former Rush fans unless they live or work in a fringe area of WILM's reception area, but then that would put them below Smyrna and that's WDOV's 1410's turf so CC gets those listeners anyway. In any case, it will be interesting to see how the ratings are this time next year after folks get used to all the changes and the dust settles.

You also seemed to be saying that most folks prefer syndicated political talk vs local talk. So that would imply that based on all the switching around that has occurred between WDEL and WILM that you're saying that WILM should do better ratings wise than WDEL in future ratings, not necessarily billings, but ratings? So that would mean that Clear Channel's strategy is a good one, going more syndicated rather than more local? Assuming that to be true and assuming CC uses that to their advantage marketing wise, just maybe WILM could become a real winner in the billing department for CC and possibly WDEL would take a hit in billings.

It will be interesting to watch two cities that have similar situations to see how the ratings play out: Wilmington's WDEL vs WILM where the stronger station 5K WDEL went all local and the less strong 1K WILM went almost all syndicated; and Baltimore's WBAL vs WCBM. WBAL being the stronger signal doing like WDEL and going all local vs WCBM with a lesser signal going syndicated. There may also be other cities also that have similar scenarios.

Unfortunately, my employer blocks broadband radio from the computers at work, so it's either radio for programming like Glenn Beck, Limbaugh or even NPR.

 

[fred flintstone]

When WILM dropped Rush, the show was then on WWDB-FM (not 1210). DB had picked up the show a year or two earlier. Philadelphia was the last major market to take Rush; Wilmington the first to drop him. The key consideration for dropping Rush then was the syndicator, Jacor (since acquired by Clear Channel), had started charging stations for the show. Before that it was straight barter. But another factor was Rush was no longer an unduplicated program in Wilmington; many listeners got better sound and signal from WWDB-FM than from a Class D AM .

Both WJBR and B-101 are Adult Contemporary stations. Both are background radio (in contrast to talk radio, which is foreground radio): People have them on but don't actively listen to them. Audience skews female, 25 to 54. They get good numbers not because a lot of people listen (cume) but because those that do listen keep the station on for looooooong periods of time (TSL). Neither has much local identity; all AC stations sound pretty much alike wherever you are. I don't see much basis for choosing one station (JBR or 101) over another, except JBR does promote itself very well in Wilmington (we shall see what happens with the Beasleys when they try to "sneak" JBR into the Philly market).

People's listening decisions are often complicated, but casual listeners (people don't work in radio, think about radio or frequent radio boards) will generally pick sound over substance. They pick the station with better reception (stronger signal; FM over AM) and acceptable programming over one with poor reception and preferred programming. They will pick a talented national host-personality with a well produced show over a competent local host with less professional production quality. WDEL, unusual for a local station - especially in a medium market, has two well produced local shows with good talent (solo host and paired hosts); plus a much better signal in most of the market. And WDEL is careful not to spend too much time on local topics. National politics has demonstrated more drawing power than local politics. If all politics is local, you certainly wouldn't know it from talk radio - any place. The one exception, of course, is a juicy scandal but most topics dealt with by local government don't really lend themselves to talk radio rants and arguments. Neither does local government often have the inherent partisan conflict that fosters the us versus them - good guys versus bad guys - point, count-point style of cat fight on which talk radio thrives.

A big factor in radio listening is inertia: If you hook people in morning drive, you stand a better chance of keeping them. By noon, it's often too late. WDEL with a superior news presentation and late morning talk show hooks people, and apparently not many of Rush's former listeners have bothered to follow him - even with the Overseas Telephone Call Hour, which appears well calculated to drive away noontime listeners. But often people are more attached to a given station any of its hosts.

Watch for some surprises when PPM comes to Wilmington. The volatility of audience numbers of the two talk stations suggests strongly that what people write down in diaries is not necessarily what they listen to.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

You're right, I had forgotten about Rush being on WWDB back then and yes, a strong FM signal would trump a strong AM signal no matter what the format other than maybe news. Anyone, even the oldest demo of 65+ if given the choice of hearing their favorite music or talk show host on clear static free FM vs AM would choose FM.

What might give JBR the edge of B101 for a Wilmington listener would be the traffic reports during drive time as B101 only would announce a tie up on I-95/495 near the PA border. Other than that they sound pretty much the same to my ear too. Their playlists are similar, there are some differences, I believe JBR airs more oldies AC music than B101, but I don't listen to either for very long as much of their music just sounds so bland and vanilla to my ear.

I also agree with your accessment that the casual radio listen vs those of us who are interested in radio, etc, would pick a clearer signal airing a less desirable program or music rather than listen to any static and hear a better program or a better selection of music. Which is why the local AM will do better than the out of town AM if their is no FM competition for the same programming or music.

I believe you made the statement that if and when KYW goes to FM Wilmington newscasts would end. I'm not sure it would end completely, again people tune in to both WDEL and WILM for traffic and weather and the Philly stations don't cover Wilmington traffic. However, I believe you are partly correct, because many Wilmingtonians do listen to WHYY-FM (NPR) as I do too. I tune in to WILM for the traffic /weather and hear what's going on here locally both news/sports Uof D and BlueRocks in season (about a 1/2 hour of listening total), but really do prefer All Things Considered and Morning Edition for the national news as neither CBS or Fox offer such indepth coverage. I don't see why they'd tune in to KYW though, even if on FM, over the NPR programming on 90.9. The national news they'd get on WDEL or WILM via CBS or Fox respectively. The big drawback to selecting a KYW-FM would be getting Philly news, traffic, that wouldn't be of interest. The other reason is school closings and business closings for snow, etc. So I believe there would still be a market for Wilmington radio news.

I'm sure the PPM devices will show some discrepancies as I know of people who do get confused as to whether WDEL is at 1150 or 1450 and whether WILM is at 1150 or 1450.

As to which station offers the superior newscast. They both seem similar, yet different. I believe it's a matter of style rather than one being better than another. Just like with channels 3,6,10's newscasts. They all basically are the same, yet some folks swear by channel 6 Action News, others like KYW 3's news better, and still others are loyal to NBC10's newscast. My guess is both WDEL and WILM have their loyal supporters who prefer one station's newscast style over the other station's.

I know you don't like over seas interviews that now air on WDEL, but apparently someone likes them as both stations (WILM and now WDEL) apparently have value for them as apparently that newscast is a ratings getter and possibly an ad generator. WILM had the sponsorship of Wilmington College for those interviews. I'm not sure who's sponsoring the interviews on WDEL. But my point is those interviews may be a revenue maker and that's the bottomline, right.

 

[ixnay]

all AC stations sound pretty much alike wherever you are.

Some people might find talk stations pretty much alike too. I know that I do. Which is why I avoid talk shows (but not KYW/WINS/WCBS/WBBM-type modes in drive time). For me WILM picking up Hannity means, among other things, one less source of frequent, regularly intervaled (is that a word?) traffic reports.

WDEL with a superior news presentation and late morning talk show hooks people, and apparently not many of Rush's former listeners have bothered to follow him - even with the Overseas Telephone Call Hour,

Good one, fred! (R-I needs a ROFL emoticon.) On a more serious note, I've never understood why some people believe that a reporter/anchor from a medium or smaller market is prohibited from making the calls Allan Loudell and his Wilmington comrades and competitors do. I find it something of The Little Radio Market That Could.

which appears well calculated to drive away noontime listeners.

Not this one, whenever I'm taking lunch in the noon hour and driving someplace therein.

ixnay

 

[WTUX]

Mark me down as another person who listens to KYW more than WDEL or WILM. I know what I will hear, when I will hear it and the sound will be professional. The local news for New Castle County really is unimportant to my daily life, at least that news which reaches the air waves.

I have tried to listen to news in the afternoon on WILM. The news readers are so poor that it is painful to listen to them. If I am around during the noon hour, I enjoy the WDEL presentation. It is good to hear a news presentor who cares enough to go the extra mile to give listeners a broader view of the world. In this dumded-down world of ours, effort like that is often discouraged rather than encouraged. However, now that "Reporters' Round-up" has returned to KYW at 12:30pm, I tend to listen to that whenever possible.

 

[fred flintstone]

If KYW were to go to FM and actively target Delaware (instead of just mentioning it with Pennsylvania and New Jersey in its IDs), it would have a Delaware reporter or two (maybe shared with TV) and would make a point of including top Delaware stories, just as the TV stations do.

Most people in Northern Delaware watch the Big 4 TV tri-state newscasts from Philly - not the Delaware News on channel 12. Much the same would probably happen in radio.

Most of the local stories both Wilmington stations include are really not worth covering - or broadcasting. Both WILM and WDEL have local news as a big part of their brand position and raison d'etre. They have to fill the time with local stories - whether important, interesting or not. (This is true of most small market and suburban stations whose only way to differentiate themselves from their big city competition is local news).

KYW on FM would probably also start doing longer traffic reports to provide full tri-state traffic coverage (much as WCBS Newsradio 88 has longer - often two minutes or more - traffic reports to cover New York, North Jersey, Long Island, Westchester-Rockland and Connecticut). CBS Radio's Westwood One owns both Shadow Traffic (which does traffic for KYW and almost every other station in Philly) and Traffax (which does traffic for WILM, WJBR and other Delaware stations), so getting traffic information for Delaware would not be a problem.

And even if something were missing in KYW's Delaware coverage, a lot of people would probably go with KYW-FM for FM's better sound and for KYW's better presentation and production.

I once thought (naively) that Loudell's "bad habits" were the result of being his own program director, with no one to offer coaching and feedback (and make it stick). Now he has a PD but he still persists in pleasing only himself - not his audience. He does overseas interviews because they seem impressive - not because the audience is interested or because they fit the station's format. He asks questions designed to show off his knowledge, not draw out his guests. He is now on a station with a format emphasizing local and political talk - not arcane topics and obscure events in the third world. But it's easier for him to get Ranjan than Biden or Ruth Ann and looks better to award judges.

Other stations do make calls like Loudell does - when the news warrants and audience interest warrants, as an exception rather than a rule. They make calls to do good radio, not to impress people as a "station that could."

One example of the real importance - or unimportance - of local radio news in Delaware is the way local and state politicians mostly ignore radio and don't bother returning phone calls, while falling all over themselves for TV and the NJ.

 

[radiophiler]

As far as Mr. Loudell pleasing only himself and not his audience, let's remember this quote from Holland Cooke on radio-info.com in a Sept. 23 post (Cooke is WDEL's consultant).

"One year after Clear Channel bought competitor WILM, and yanked Rush Limbaugh away from us, the on-air talent to-whom-you-refer (Loudell) BEATS Maha Rushie in the ratings."

Mr. Loudell must be pleasing someone other than himself ...

 

[fred flintstone]

As far as Mr. Loudell pleasing only himself and not his audience, let's remember this quote from Holland Cooke on radio-info.com in a Sept. 23 post (Cooke is WDEL's consultant).

"One year after Clear Channel bought competitor WILM, and yanked Rush Limbaugh away from us, the on-air talent to-whom-you-refer (Loudell) BEATS Maha Rushie in the ratings."

Mr. Loudell must be pleasing someone other than himself ...

Yes, he is WDEL's consultant and hardly a disinterested source. He's also the same guy who praised the Katie Evening News and thinks she will come out on top.

Whether Loudell (Fatso) pleases someone other than himself, he only cares about pleasing himself. He operates under a student radio station mentality. What he does do well is sell people who don't listen much on his "little station that could" and "extensive Rolodex" image. He excels at hyping himself and promoting himself. The result is people who don't listen much (if at all) are impressed at what Loudell claims to be doing, and think it's good that somebody is doing it (although they don't listen much themselves). There is also some evidence that people who don't care to listen to Loudell's "interviews" will write down in their Arbitron diaries that they did listen, just because they like the idea of what he claims to do (and in fact, does poorly). Loudell's so-called interviews are like healthy items on the menu at McDonald's. People keep saying in surveys that McDonald's should offer more healthy, low-cal, low-fat, low-carb items. When they do, hardly anybody orders them.

Anybody who really wants what Loudell claims to offer is listening to public radio.

 

[radiophiler]

I'll agree that there are a lot of situations where partisans of a certain format, station or personality write down in their radio diaries that they listen more than they actually do. It's a wide-spread situation, not limited to one personality in the Wilimington, DE market. That's why I can't wait for electronic measurement - no matter which company does it.

Over the years, there have been times that WDEL and WILM have simultaneously had local programs in afternoon drive, with more local news, traffic, weather and sports than you would be able to fit into breaks during a nationally syndicated program. Now, it appears that WDEL will have that market position to itself.

I know when I listen to KYW, I have no use for their business/market reports at :25 and :55, so I don't listen to the last five or six minutes of each half hour. Also some days, I have no interest in what KYW has chosen as the top news story(ies). In both those situations, I put Sirius on for music.

But I still go to KYW for traffic and Accuweather and much of the time their top local news stories. Even with Loudell's world/national interviews, the 4-6pm drive on WDEL will have more local content, including traffic reports, than WILM will be able to have with Hannity. Some people will tune in for that. If they don't like the worldwide telephone calls, they can switch the station during those.

When electronic audience measurement finally arrives, stations will be able to figure out down to the minute which features (or songs in the case of music radio) are more popular than others. Then, a real measure of Loudell's interviews will be available.

 

[fred flintstone]

I can't wait for PPM either. Since New Castle, Kent and Salem Counties are in the Philadelphia Total Survey Area (not Metro Survey Area) maybe - maybe - PPM numbers for those counties will be available in the next Arbitron book. Whenever Wilmington gets PPM, I'd expect some surprises. Since Wilmington is not a continuous measurement market, if Wilmington doesn't get PPM on Philly's coat-tails, I'd expect Wilmington to be down the list in the PPM roll-out.

The WILM and WDEL have long been volatile, with fluctuations that can not be explained by programming changes or events in the market. We have seen a majority of a station's listeners jump stations in one book and then jump back in the next. It goes way beyond sampling error. The only likely explanation is errors (intentional or not) in diary keeping. On top of that, anyone who has ever answer the phone at either station knows people often don't know which station they are listening to (and call the "wrong" station). The average age of both stations' audiences also compounds problems in diary keeping. Recent program changes (or swaps) only can add to the confusion - and the unreliability of diary numbers.

Recent program changes mean greatly increased operating costs for Delmarva. Clear Channel is cutting costs at many, if not most, of their stations. More syndicated programming means lower costs for CC's Delaware cluster. At the end of the day, WILM could end up all or mostly syndicated with a minimal news operation (or none at all), get lower ratings and still be the more profitable station. WDEL, meantime, has to get big numbers and sell lots of spots to cover programming costs and show a profit. Part of the problem for WDEL is spots on the station are often given away when clients buy WSTW. So it's hard to say to what extent WDEL is making money on its own. Since Clear Channel is moving to co-opt the top syndicated shows, Delmarva has little choice but to go local. But that is expensive and they've got to generate ratings and ad dollars to keep it up.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

It wouldn't surprise me if WDEL wasn't quietly looking to see what national shows they can pick up down the road to better compete against WILM's stable of national shows without having to take just anything to fill air time, ESPECIALLY if they don't see good ratings and more importantly gain more actual billings for their local programming rather than, as Fred implies, simply providing free spots to customers for buying paid spots on WSTW and WXCY.

Maybe WDEL is looking for a more topical type of national show to eventually use so as to pull in a different type of talk audience that isn't being targeted in Wilmington now. It's nice to hear WDEL doing so much local talk, but as Fred questions, will they be able to sustain the cost of all that local talk talent? It is also good to see them continuing on with local news. However, as what gets pointed out to me often here is that the bottomline is what matters, and Delmarva Broadcasting is a business, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out for them. It would be great if they were able to make a profitable go of it. But as Fred pointed out, it seems that WILM has positioned itself to possibly be better set up to make a profit than WDEL.

As I said in an earlier post, it will be interesting to see how both Baltimore's and Wilmington's ratings go for the WDEL all local talkers vs WILM mostly national talkers, and WBAL all local talkers vs WCBM all national talkers. You never know, maybe folks are tiring of the non-stop barage of conservative talk and would actually enjoy the old style format of local talk that simply wasn't just politics, but was topical too. I too have wondered about how WDEL would pay for all the local talk talent they've collected.

I listened today to part of Allan Loudell's midday newscast. I haven't listened for quite sometime. It seems to my ear, that he is more comfortable now with the WDEL format and style than when he first made the switch from WILM. I don't have a problem with Allan's interviews. I don't have a problem with Mark Fowser's interviews on WILM either. Both do a fine job and I find the interviews generally interesting and they do add a new dimension to a local newscast. As some people are fond of saying there is an ON and OFF switch on most radio's so no one is forced to listen to a program they don't like. It was nice to hear CBS's Dave Ross with his commentary at the end of the Loudell newscast. It does seem funny though hearing CBS on WDEL as they were NBC for many years and then AP, but as they essentially have become what WILM was prior to the Clear Channel ownership of WILM, then CBS fits in quite well at WDEL.

My guess is both WDEL and WILM will do fine as they both will appeal to a specific segment of the Wilmington listenership. Now as far as the billings part of that goes, it would seem that WILM has the edge, but maybe both will do just fine.

 

[fred flintstone]

Maybe WDEL is looking for a more topical type of national show to eventually use so as to pull in a different type of talk audience that isn't being targeted in Wilmington now.

Much of the problem for WDEL, their backs are against the wall and local-live is just about their only viable option. There isn't really much else in syndication available - especially anything that could be considered competitive with Rush and Hannity.

It would take a great deal for them to take shows from either Premiere Radio (Clear Channel) or ABC Radio at this point, after both syndicators pulled the rug out from under them. Fox has a radio distribution deal with Clear Channel, so that might rule them out, too.

Who is out there?

Laura Ingraham (TRN): Fed live 9am to Noon. Reportedly WDEL briefly considered going with this show before deciding on Al Mascetti.
Neal Boortz (Jones). Fed live 10am to 1pm. Libertarian (although some dispute that description) from Atlanta. Does well in some markets.
The Radio Factor: Bill O'Reilly (Westwood One). Fed live 12pm to 2pm.
G. Gordon Liddy (Radio America). Fed live 10am to 1pm. Former Watergate Burglar.
Tammy Bruce (TRN): Fed line from Noon to 3pm. Self-described lesbian conservative from LA. Briefly heard on WCOJ.

Slim pickings. Hannity almost has a clear field in afternoon drive.
In addition, there are WILM castoffs:
Mike Gallagher (Salem). Fed live 9am to noon.
Dave Ramsay (Self-syndicated). Fed live 2pm to 5pm. Also heard on WCOJ.

Or they can depart from political talk and go with Clark Howard (Jones) for consumer topics or Joy Brown (WOR), a radio shrink.

All of the above are mostly relegated to smaller stations, smaller markets or to the number two or three conservative talk station in larger markets.

As I say, nothing competitive with Hannity and Rush. Local-live may their only chance.

 

[WTUX]

When WDEL flipped to N/T in the early 90's, G. Gordon Liddy and Dr. Joy Brown were part of their on-air line-up. Neither worked particularly well. In fact, audidence reaction to Liddy was so negative that they had to pull him.

So, like is being pointed out in this thread, there are few options for WDEL. While talk radio does well, it is not necessarily the format itself that is a success. Rather, it is certain stars such as Rush, Hannity, Stern, Imus and a few others who are successful. So many other hosts out there are just time-slot fillers. This is the problem "Free FM" is dealing with. Developing star quality hosts like Stern takes much time. The medium market stations have not been developing that talent at a fast enough pace to satisfy the major market needs. Markets like Wilmington need to be working to create younger talk talent that will fill the void.

 

[fred flintstone]

So many other hosts out there are just time-slot fillers. This is the problem "Free FM" is dealing with. Developing star quality hosts like Stern takes much time. The medium market stations have not been developing that talent at a fast enough pace to satisfy the major market needs. Markets like Wilmington need to be working to create younger talk talent that will fill the void.

You put your finger on a real problem. Radio has no farm system. It ends up bringing in people from other fields with some name recognition, most of whom fall flat on their faces. A station like WDEL has no incentive to develop talent, which will leave once it gains "seasoning." I doubt radio could sign newbies to seven year contracts like baseball does, and then sell their contract as they develop. When Peter McArthur gets an offer, he's gone and WDEL has an empty chair to fill. (I'm surprised they've kept McArthur this long - as good as he is).

On the other hand, a large group broadcaster like - oh, I don't know, maybe Clear Channel with still a several hundred stations after they finish selling and re-organizing - would have an incentive to designate certain stations as farm teams. The station may or may not be profitable. It's main mission would be development. More than functioning as a minor league baseball team, such stations would function like a teaching hospital. Radio has student interns. These stations would be more like residents; graduates of college level communication programs, fully qualified, having big-time potential, getting coaching and experience. Talent would not stay more than a couple of years. The station would have to keep breaking in newbies and then lose them. But in sort of a haphazard, disorganized way, WILM has been doing some of that all along.

Of course, it will never happen. And Clear Channel will continue to pay through the nose for people like Whoopi. Besides, in 10 years, nobody's going to be listening to AM radio any way (20 years for FM). For owners, radio is like an old car. It's not worth trading. Best thing is just to run it until it dies. But don't invest much in fixing it up, or even in keeping it running. Looked at another way, radio owners are realizing the only way to make money on their investment in a declining and even terminal station market is to think like slumlords.