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WILM's new studio's are state of the art

M

MikefromDelaware

I took a tour this morning of Clear Channel's new digs on Basin Road near New Castle this morning. For those who've been to the old French Street location of WILM, it is like night and day. It's like going from "skid row" to a mansion. I've always said what a great state of the art facility WDEL/WSTW had, well Clear Channel went all out and the studio's for 1450 WILM, 1290 WWTX, and 94.7 WRDX are fantastic. Each station has it's own main studio with all of the latest state of the art equipment. Both WILM and WWTX have their own talk studio's, again with the latest state of the art equipment and seating with plenty of microphones for guests (Watson's show was on the air as I toured). No more hand written notes from the producer about the callers, it's all on the computer screen. There are several production studios for spots, again with the latest equipment. There is a news production studio for WILM that again could serve as a back up studio for their newscasts if needed, but is used for the producing of the news stories heard on WILM. There's a special studio that WRDX uses for their sports coverage which includes their NASCAR so that they don't interfere with the live on the air programming that's going on in WRDX's main studio. Each studio was so very spacious, especially after being at 1218 French Street.

Each reporter has his/her own desk with their own computer and recording equipment that 's all digital ( I didn't see a cart machine anywhere in the place. They even have a nice break/lunch room with vending machines, sink, coffee, refrig, microwave, tables and chairs, etc for their breaks and lunches. There was a large room with numerous cubicals for the sales force, and offices for management.

It was good to see Mark Eichmann, Annie Nefosky, Tom Byrne, and Mark Fowser again.

Bob Walton did a great job taking me around and telling me about their new digs. They are still working out some of the bugs that comes with any new facility, new equipment, etc, but morale was high. Well I guess time will tell how the ratings will be for WILM. They still are similcasting the Delaware This Morning to WDOV. They've got talented people and state of the art equipment, so they should be able to do any thing they set their minds to do. Best of Luck to WILM.
 
It's about time. I have been to WILM many times when they were on King Street as well as French. Always too many people for such a small space. And as little equipment as they could get away with.

Maybe with the state of the art equipment they can produce better PSA's than the ones they are currently airing during Rush and Hannity. They do not fit the format at all and I find myself hitting the off button when they come on. If it wasn't for that awful not fit for radio Jerry guy on WDEL, I would just switch stations and leave it there.
 
There's a special studio that WRDX uses for their sports coverage which includes their NASCAR so that they don't interfere with the live on the air programming that's going on in WRDX's main studio.

Live on the air programming at WRDX? When does that happen? I wonder if they invested some of that cash in Disney Animatronic people, so when they give a tour, it actually looks like they have live bodies on the air. Before we know it, a tour of the new Clear Channel facilities will be more popular than 'The Pirates Of The Carribean' in Orlando...
 
There was live programming going on, with Max Morgan and a guy DJ ( I forget his name) at WRDX while I was there (granted after 10am they go to automated voice tracking). Bob Walton explained to me that WRDX doesn't use voices from other stations in Clear Channel from other parts of the country, but use their local people here. For instance, the mid day guy voice tracks his show ahead of time as he is busy doing other work there at the station while his show is on (maybe he's in sales or recording spots, etc).

I'm old fashioned and would prefer to do a show live, but I'm sure the mid day guy didn't get a vote and does what he has to do. Other than us radio geeks, the average listener doesn't realize the show is voice tracked.

We radio "purists" probably do not like to see the use of voice tracking and other things radio has gone to, so that they can employ less people, but that has always been the trend. Back in the 1950's when magnetic recording tape became widely available and the advent of the cart machine, both caused radio stations to need less people. Radio people then weren't happy about that either. That is the way of business, be it radio or industry. I've worked in industry for over 32 years and radio part time for about 34 years. Industry is always trying to find ways to use less people or improve processes which usually means using less people so that their profits are even higher. That's the way businesses run.

So getting this back to radio, WILM has been handicapped in their old studio where they didn't have realiable equipment ( you had to work there to understand) and didn't have the ability to automate so they HAD to have someone there 24/7. Even if all the overnight person did was sit there and push buttons for the local spots and id's. WILM probably was the last station in the US to have someone sitting there during the overnight simply to be able to play the local avails and legal id's. So now they are in this state of the art studio that truly is a fantastic place, sure they are going to take advantage and use less people. I hate to see it, but also realize that they are not alone in this approach in radio or in industry. It simply is a fact of life. It's tough on all involved both the laid off and those left behind to pick up the work that still needs to be done only now with less people.

I believe only WDEL/WSTW are required to have someone in their building at all times due to them being the flag ship station for EBS. Now today that may not be required any longer due to the better technology. Maybe someone from Delmarva can bring us up to date on the EBS thing and what WDEL/WSTW are required to do.
 
The reason that Clear Channel Delaware uses their local voices to voicetrack was because, when they were a rock station, the hired guns that were pumped in via hard drive, couldn't remember what station they were voicetracking for from one day to the next. I remember 'Jenn Wylde' (who was VT'd in from West Palm Beach, FL) came out of a song one night, saying 'Rock 92...'

Not knocking you, Mike. I just know that Walton is better than Houdini with the smoke and mirrors that go in to the illusion that is Clear Channel Delaware. All the answers that he gave to your questions have been practiced and rehearsed over and over for the last 10 years...
 
I'm not sure what answers you'd have wanted to hear from Bob. Of course he gave answers that support what they (Clear Channel Delaware) are doing, just as the manager of Delmarva, or any other business would do. Bottomline, they are a business and their company has a certain way of doing things, just as any other company in radio or industry does. His job is to keep the stock holders happy just as any large corporation tries to do. Bob seems to enjoy his work and exhibited a great deal of enthusiasium for their stations. Remember I'm a former employee of WILM who left on good terms, however, he's not going to tell me any thing propriatary as that would have not been the proper thing to do. He took the time from his busy day to offer a former employee a look at the new digs, plain and simple. I'm sure if I took a tour of WDEL/WSTW with Pete Booker, Bob Mercer, or Chris Carl they'd brag about what their stations are doing. Nothing wrong with that. Please don't make more of the tour than that.

Fact is WILM/WRDX/WWTX all now have probably the nicest studios of any radio station in Delaware. That's not a slam on WDEL/WSTW's studios which are just about as nice. I've not been to WJBR's studio so I can't comment.

The thing that some are forgetting too is that WDEL had a similar programming approach prior to Rush and Hannity jumping to WILM. WDEL did less news (with a smaller news staff than WILM) aired less local talk as they were following the conventional wisdom of the so called one two punch of Limbaugh/Hannity. Prior to those shows leaving WDEL you didn't hear them saying they wanted to go live and local. They sort of were pushed into that. That's when they made the decision to go live and local and expand their newscasts. They are making a go of it and I hope it works. WILM has shrunk their news staff so that it's closer to the size of WDEL's. WILM has become the national talk provider in Wilmington and hopefully their stable of national talkers will work for them. Time will tell.
 
MikefromDelaware said:
I believe only WDEL/WSTW are required to have someone in their building at all times due to them being the flag ship station for EBS. Now today that may not be required any longer due to the better technology. Maybe someone from Delmarva can bring us up to date on the EBS thing and what WDEL/WSTW are required to do.
Click to expand...

The FCC doesn't have any rules or regulations mandating a 24/7 on-air staff because of EAS purposes (primary station or otherwise). EAS boxes are designed to operate automatically, without having to have someone there to push buttons to initiate an activation.

As long as (a) a station has EAS equipment, (b) is monitoring the sources that it should be (OEM or State Police, other primary stations, Weather Radio, etc.), and (c) it's set-up properly to relay necessary warnings and information, that's all the FCC cares about.

Exactly what warnings a station chooses to carry is a completely different topic for the next rainy day.
 
eatspaste said:
The FCC doesn't have any rules or regulations mandating a 24/7 on-air staff because of EAS purposes (primary station or otherwise). EAS boxes are designed to operate automatically, without having to have someone there to push buttons to initiate an activation.

As long as (a) a station has EAS equipment, (b) is monitoring the sources that it should be (OEM or State Police, other primary stations, Weather Radio, etc.), and (c) it's set-up properly to relay necessary warnings and information, that's all the FCC cares about.

Exactly what warnings a station chooses to carry is a completely different topic for the next rainy day.
Click to expand...

The problem is...and this isn't really the fault of broadcasters because they're simply following FCC guidelines...is that many of the emergency personnel who would activate the EAS either don't understand or haven't been properly kept up to date with the EAS system. Several years ago, I believe it was during Hurricane Isabel, there was a severe weather emergency due to tornados and flooding problems in the middle of the night. The emergency personnel in Harford County declared a state of emergency and tried to call WXCY to get the word out, but got no answers because the station is no longer staffed at night. The emergency personnel in the county were still operating under the old EBS guidelines and were shocked and upset to discover that their local radio station is no longer required to be staffed when they are on the air. It certainly wasn't WXCY's fault, since their EAS equipment was up to date and fully functional, but somewhere along the way the bureaucracy never got around to informing emergency personnel about the EAS system. I certainly don't think the EAS is an improvement over the EBS, but generally it ain't the broadcasters' fault.
 
MikefromDelaware said:
I took a tour this morning of Clear Channel's new digs on Basin Road near New Castle this morning. For those who've been to the old French Street location of WILM, it is like night and day. It's like going from "skid row" to a mansion. I've always said what a great state of the art facility WDEL/WSTW had, well Clear Channel went all out and the studio's for 1450 WILM, 1290 WWTX, and 94.7 WRDX are fantastic. Each station has it's own main studio with all of the latest state of the art equipment. Both WILM and WWTX have their own talk studio's, again with the latest state of the art equipment and seating with plenty of microphones for guests (Watson's show was on the air as I toured). No more hand written notes from the producer about the callers, it's all on the computer screen. There are several production studios for spots, again with the latest equipment. There is a news production studio for WILM that again could serve as a back up studio for their newscasts if needed, but is used for the producing of the news stories heard on WILM. There's a special studio that WRDX uses for their sports coverage which includes their NASCAR so that they don't interfere with the live on the air programming that's going on in WRDX's main studio. Each studio was so very spacious, especially after being at 1218 French Street.

Each reporter has his/her own desk with their own computer and recording equipment that 's all digital ( I didn't see a cart machine anywhere in the place. They even have a nice break/lunch room with vending machines, sink, coffee, refrig, microwave, tables and chairs, etc for their breaks and lunches. There was a large room with numerous cubicals for the sales force, and offices for management.

It was good to see Mark Eichmann, Annie Nefosky, Tom Byrne, and Mark Fowser again.

Bob Walton did a great job taking me around and telling me about their new digs. They are still working out some of the bugs that comes with any new facility, new equipment, etc, but morale was high. Well I guess time will tell how the ratings will be for WILM. They still are similcasting the Delaware This Morning to WDOV. They've got talented people and state of the art equipment, so they should be able to do any thing they set their minds to do. Best of Luck to WILM.
Click to expand...

Think there are any pictures of the new digs up at WILM's website so we can see for ourselves?
 
I haven't notice any photos, but I haven't been on their web site recently. You can check it out at www.wilm.com. You bring up a good point, they should run a photo spread of their new digs on line. I'm sure many of the listeners would enjoy seeing their favorite WILM personality pictured in the new studio. Of course the WRDX website might have photos too as they too are in those new digs.
 
Being a fan of studio photos, I would love to see the new digs of all three stations. The photos that KYW posted after their move were great.
 
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