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Wilmington Fall Ratings

M

MikefromDelaware

Here is the link for the latest ratings for Wilmington. So the order is:

#1 WJBR - AC

#2 WSTW -CHR

#3 WDEL-AM - News/Talk (live and local)

#4 WXCY - Country

#5 WILM - News/Talk (Rush/Beck/Hannity)

#6 WDSD - Country

There's only a 0.6 difference between WXCY and WDSD, so it appears that WDSD has closed the large gap that WXCY had when WDSD switched back to country a couple of years ago.

The numbers between WDEL and WILM almost flip flopped from the Spring book. I wonder if WDEL's Eagles Football, Wesley College, and other national NFL football games via Dial Global radio give it an edge over WILM that only does national conservative talk? Granted WILM airs sometimes when WWTX isn't available, Balt. Ravens Football.

Apparently there aren't many of folks like me, who do listen to 1290 WWTX Fox Sports Talk as they rarely if ever show in the ratings. I guess the real sports folks who eat, sleep, and drink Philly sports tune into 94.1 WIP-FM and 97.5 WPEN-FM. I like the variety of topics and interviews you get with Fox Sports Radio (Premiere shows) over the Phillycentric talk on 94.1 and 97.5. I'm going to have to try to listen to WIP-AM at work online (can't get it at work) to hear what CBS Sports Radio is doing vs Fox Sports Radio). CBS did steal Jim Rome from Fox so he's over there now on 610. A new show, forget the name, has replaced Rome. Wasn't too bad.

Sports Talk is a nice change from political talk.

Of course as with the Spring book, any non-Arb subscribing station doesn't show. So we all know that a number of Philly stations would show and beat out some of the Wilmington stations so the ratings only tell part of the real story.

http://ratings.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb139
 
WWTX was my first hit when I was in the mood for sports talk, 610 was second (I can barely hear 94.1). Now I never move from 610. Much better for my taste.
 
Jhguthlac: I did try 610 WIP's CBS Sports Radio at work online. I too like it. So I now have 610 as a preset in my car. Depending on what's being discussed, I check out both 610 and 1290 WWTX, then 97.3 ESPN Radio (from NJ), then 97.5 WPEN, and lastly 94.1 WIP-FM. However I usually end up at either 610 or 1290. Funny Jim Rome didn't change a thing from his old show on Fox Sports Radio via Premiere Radio Network and his new show on CBS Sports Radio - same theme music and all. I believe CBS Sports Radio will do fine and 610 WIP probably won't beat out 94.1 WIP-FM, but it will bring a different set of sportstalk listeners to their station, giving 610 new life again.

Now if a game is on the radio I want to hear, then its usually on either 94.1(Phils or Eagles) or 1150 WDEL which airs a lot of pro football via Dial Global and I do catch some of those games there on WDEL plus the Phils or Eagles), or 1290 for Balt. Ravens.

I scanned by WILM to catch a minute of Rush the other day just to hear what he was doing. He was mumbling about some computer issue and even said he shouldn't be talking about this on air, but then rambled on about for another 7 minutes when I went back to 1290. He's just not the professional he used to be. He gets away with that sort of stuff, because he is who he is and his fans accept it.

I don't usually tune in to WDEL for either Al or Rick's shows, if Allan Loudell has an interview of interest I'll tune in his midday newscast on WDEL, also to catch the Dave Ross Commentary and then tune back at 1pm to 1290 or 610. I'll scan by 90.9 WHYY-FM and if what's being discussed is of interest, if it is, then I'll tune in, but if not, back to 1290 or 610.

I'm really burned out on political talk from both sides. So I just don't spend much, if any time listening to WDEL, WILM, WPHT, WNTP, or WWIQ. I do listen to WHYY-FM for Morning Edition, I like the in-depth news magazine style and sometimes Radio Times and Fresh Air again depending on what's being discussed.
 
MikefromDelaware said:
So I now have 610 as a preset in my car. Depending on what's being discussed, I check out both 610 and 1290 WWTX, then 97.3 ESPN Radio (from NJ), then 97.5 WPEN, and lastly 94.1 WIP-FM.

Now if a game is on the radio I want to hear, then its usually on either 94.1(Phils or Eagles) or 1150 WDEL which airs a lot of pro football via Dial Global and I do catch some of those games there on WDEL plus the Phils or Eagles), or 1290 for Balt. Ravens.
Click to expand...

You don't realize how much the dial has changed until you read something like this. A decade ago, who would have thought there would be so many choices for sports on the radio?


MikefromDelaware said:
Apparently there aren't many of folks like me, who do listen to 1290 WWTX Fox Sports Talk as they rarely if ever show in the ratings.
Click to expand...

How does this compare to the old AM1290 WJBR when they carried what was then the Westwood One Adult Standards format?
 
The old AM 1290 WJBR did show up in the 12+ numbers, but the problem was the listeners were above the 55+ age, so even though they had ratings, (I want to say 1.5 range as I recall) they couldn't sell local avails.

WWTX 1290 the Ticket, Fox Sports Radio showed up one time in the 12+ numbers, ( I believe something like 0.7 - 0.9 range) and haven't seen it since. But from what I understand, the listeners they do get mostly are YOUNG males (a difficult demo to reach - if Wilmington had PPM like Philly we might see higher numbers for WWTX as how many young men are getting the diaries and willing to fill them out, etc). So even though not in the largest numbers, a very desired audience for some advertisers. Also women are taking more interest in sports (look at the numbers of female viewers for the Super Bowl for example). THAT audience is always in demand by advertisers, so even though a small audience, apparently stations like WWTX can sell local avails, plus being a CC station, they own the Premiere Radio Network and make money by having their programming airing in as many markets as possible, so its a win/win for CC Delaware and its parent company CC.

I believe that radio, especially in the spoken word format, realizes it needs something new, as political talk is old and tired, and too predicable. So as you said, the radio dial has really changed in recent years, where we in the Wilmington/Philly metro have a lot of sports radio choices. Even WDEL has gotten into the game as they air almost all the Dial Global Radio Network NFL games in the evenings, besides their coverage for many years of the Phillies and Eagles and local college and high school sports.

Sports isn't partisan, both liberals or conservatives, GOP, DEMS, Red State, Blue State, the Christian community, the non-Christian community, men, women, white, black, brown, red, yellow, gay, straight all can listen to and enjoy sports talk and sporting events on the radio whereas political talk radio divides the audience so is far more limited in potential listeners. I believe its growth has only just begun.
 
I had access to the ratings book for several years. In the hourly ratings, WWTX beat out both WDEL and WILM from 10am til 1pm (that's when WILM started Rush) then pulled ahead of both again from 4pm to about 6pm. Numbers averaged between 2 and 3. And most listeners had no idea the station wasn't local during the week.
 
I'm assuming you're referring to AM1290 WJBR not WWTX 1290 Fox Sports Radio.
 
I know 1290 switched from Westwood One Adult Standards to The Ticket around 2003 or 04, but does anyone know how long they carried the standards format? Did it start sometime in the '90s, and what was its format before that?
 
True Mike. I did mean the old AM 1290. 1290 had been B/Ez for several decades as WTUX. When WJBR-FM bought it in 1976, they aired soft AC, then Oldies, then duplicated the FM. That continued after switching the FM to AC from B/Ez. Switched to Adult Standards sometime between 1993 and 1994. Big ratings, little revenue.
 
Thanks for that AM 1290 timeline. If I didn't know better, I'd say they're due for another format change since the current one, as well as the last one, lasted 10 years. But we do know better and I think it's a safe bet that sports talk will be around for a long time.

Speaking of the old WJBR AM, I thought Jim Stoddard had a nice little Saturday morning show. Talk about local... he used to have a feature where he discussed the origins of how various towns in the area got their names. I think it was called "What's In A Name." The 10 or 15 minute old-time radio segments were fun, too. Somewhere in my aircheck collection I might have the last hour of Jim Stoddard's last show... I remember taping it after reading about the coming format change to sports right here on the Radio-Info board.
 
I should add that I worked for 1290 during the WTUX days, late 60's thru 1976. Loved it.
 
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