WSTW PD John Wilson fired

[MichaelKlein]

Press release from Delmarva:

After careful consideration and review of the station’s performance over the past several
years, and in an effort to maintain our leadership in today’s challenging media
environment, company leaders made the difficult decision to change the programming
leadership at WSTW FM, Wilmington. Consequently, John Wilson was released today
as Program Director
During his career with Delmarva Broadcasting Company, John contributed a great deal
to both WSTW and its sister station, WDEL AM. In particular, his on-air work helped
establish WSTW as the market’s top station in the 1980’s.
We wish John only the best and thank him for his many years of service.
The search for a new WSTW Program Director begins immediately.
WSTW FM is owned by Delmarva Broadcasting Company, an independent radio
company with eleven radio stations in Delaware and Maryland.

 

[RunWithScissors]

This would be a nice time for them to flip to Active. When they flipped from BM they leaned Rock and that blew them through the roof with Drake. Does anyone remember John Anderson and Joe Dawson....late 70's.

 

[OldNumber7]

This would be a nice time for them to flip to Active. When they flipped from BM they leaned Rock and that blew them through the roof with Drake. Does anyone remember John Anderson and Joe Dawson....late 70's.

First off, the fact the John Wilson was able to stay around this long was a testament to Delmarva's almost unswavering loyalty to people who do right by the company, even when the going gets tough later on. I recall that John had already been off the air for years when he struggled for a number of years to handle the responsibilities of his PD job while coping with a horrendous back injury. Anywhere else and he would have been shown the door years ago. I'm sure the management at Delmarva really struggled over the decision. John was always a class act and he deserves our best wishes. I'm sure he'll land on his feet. He knows half the people in the state.
That said, the station is all over the place, musically and way too hip for the room (Wilmington). The best way for them to fight back against the JBR behemoth is to return to a more mainstream approach, with plenty of old reliable hits from the 80s and 90s thrown in. Not nearly as vanilla as JBR, but rooted in the established hits and recurrents. That's not what the radio geeks would want, but it's the only sensible strategy.

 

[Keith Thompson]

This would be a nice time for them to flip to Active. When they flipped from BM they leaned Rock and that blew them through the roof with Drake. Does anyone remember John Anderson and Joe Dawson....late 70's.

Or better still, they can actually try to be a well-focused hot-AC than the trainwreck of a format that WSTW has been the last several years (I haven't figured out the logic of going from Christina Aguilera to the Doobie Brothers back to back), or they can just import MIlford sister station's Eagle 97.7 music mix. It seems they are so content on trying to please everybody that they aren't pleasing anybody anymore. Even when I worked for Delmarva, I had friends outside of radio tell me that they could never figure out what kind of radio station WSTW was trying to be.

Or another idea (one that I had when I worked for Delmarva) is to move WXCY to the 93.7 frequency and move WSTW to the 103.7 frequency, make it a true CHR and aim it at the Baltimore market.

 

[Keith Thompson]

This would be a nice time for them to flip to Active. When they flipped from BM they leaned Rock and that blew them through the roof with Drake. Does anyone remember John Anderson and Joe Dawson....late 70's.

First off, the fact the John Wilson was able to stay around this long was a testament to Delmarva's almost unswavering loyalty to people who do right by the company, even when the going gets tough later on.

With all due respect, a loyalty that wasn't shown to me when I was let go at WXCY. I haven't figured out what the problem was with WXCY that caused me to get shown the door, and if I did anything specific to cause my ouster, I wasn't told specifically what it was other than they knew I wasn't happy about a few things. However, though I wasn't 100% happy with things, I was loyal to the company and I certainly was not looking to leave.

 

[SK727]

Hey kind of off topic, but can anybody tell me what ever happened to Johnny B that used to do the morning show on STW? Just curious.

 

[Derek Smalls]

PD at a station just outside of Dallas.

http://www.975klak.com/personalities.html#Johnny B BM

 

[Rockin Rob]

They have someone one board with programming chops and would know how to bring the sound around.

I nominate....

Bob "The A Game" Acampora.

His pedigree reads WHTG, WDRE/WIBF, WAEB, WBBO, and WSTW (and I am sure others). If I am not mistaken he was PD, APD, or MD at B104. Maybe B-98.5 as well, don't recall.

 

[QzarDE]

With Wilson now out of the door, does this spell the end for Jill Quale? It's obvious that Wilson was the main reason she
is still around, having been a successful team in the early 90's, but as nice as a person as she is, sounds like a dead weight
in the morning, only being there to giggle, read the scripted news, and toss it to traffic. God help her on the mornings when it's just her and Big Bobby. Remember after Johnny B Left? Man, that was a train wreck.

I completely agree with Rockin Rob, Rob Acampora has the pedigree to make an outstanding PD for WSTW. Plus,
he's a hell of a nice guy who has paid his dues at WSTW..from weekends, to nights, now drivetime. Knowing DBC like I do (a past FT'er of several years who enjoyed his time there), the more likely choice for PD is Mike Rossi, moving from MD/APD to PD. With that, there
is a strong possibility that A-Game could move to MD, which would still be a step in the right direction for WSTW.

Oh, to be a fly on the walls at Shipley Road right now...

 

[Derek Smalls]

My odds on favorite would be Mike Rossi. The guy has been, for all intents and purposes, the PD since Wilson went out with the back injury and had to scale back his duties.

 

[WTUX]

As much as I like Rossi personally, I believe he is a bit too old for the job. They need a 30-something in there who really knows today's music as well as the music of the 80's and 90's.

I agree with Old Number 7, they need to get a musical focus and stick to it. Hot AC with an emphasis on currents might do the trick.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

I like Keith's idea of moving WXCY to 93.7 giving it a real solid hold in the top two counties in Delaware as a Country station plus they'd put a strong solid signal into Philly metro area and challenge WXTU and move WSTW to 103.7

 

[Keith Thompson]

My odds on favorite would be Mike Rossi. The guy has been, for all intents and purposes, the PD since Wilson went out with the back injury and had to scale back his duties.

As a former DBC employee, I'd say the right person for the job is WXCY's program director Dave Hovel who should oversee the programming operations for both WSTW and WXCY. As disgruntled as I am over getting let go at WXCY, I still feel that Dave Hovel is the best PD in the company and even though he is a country PD, he knows his pop music too. As a former DBC insider, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get the job.

 

[imhomerjay]

I was a big fan of WSTW for years, first hearing them when visiting my sister at the University of Delaware. Growing up in Delaware County, I could pick them up easily, and liked the music mix--perhaps some think it wasn't clearly defined, but it never struck me that way. After Eagle 106 was grounded and Y-100 migrated to alternative rock, 93.7 was one of my main listening choices until moving to Bucks County.

As it relates specifically to John Wilson, his style as host of the morning show was perfectly suited to my tastes--a somewhat dry, subdued humor, few silly bits, and a decent amount of music, and since he was responsible for the sound of the station after giving up that gig, I remained a fan of what he did with the overall presentation.

I wish him good luck and Godspeed.

 

[eGillCVI]

Personally, I like their playlist during nights and weekends. The daytime mix is obviously for female office workers and it's not quite my cup of latte.

I've always been under the impression that WSTW performs really well ratings- and revenue-wise. Has that changed?

 

[fredflintstone]

Personally, I like their playlist during nights and weekends. The daytime mix is obviously for female office workers and it's not quite my cup of latte.

I've always been under the impression that WSTW performs really well ratings- and revenue-wise. Has that changed?

Which "playlist" are you talking about? WSTW-HD1 is Top 40. WSTW-HD2 is alternative "Graffiti Radio."
Or are you unable to get an HD signal lock? I understand that's a common problem.

What goes around comes around. Wilson fired an extremely talented and dedicated female weekend jock who did not appreciate how she was being treated and said so.

 

[Derek Smalls]

I had somewhat of a similar experience. I was hired there to help out in their promotions department and do some PT on-air work. I interviewed with Wilson, in which he told me to get a couple of weeks of the promotions stuff under my belt and then we'd discuss the on-air stuff. From the first day there, I was in the ENGINEERING department, of which I knew nothing about and had no desire to learn (sorry, engineers!) and when I went to TRY and talk to Wilson, he avoided me. I later found out from someone else there that he had no plans to let me do on-air work and that he was just blowing smoke up my arse.

 

[K-Tel]

John never avoided anyone while I was there. In fact, he would reach out quite often to check with my on-air and personal sked. I wish more PD's would be like that. I wish him well.

 

[eGillCVI]

Personally, I like their playlist during nights and weekends. The daytime mix is obviously for female office workers and it's not quite my cup of latte.

I've always been under the impression that WSTW performs really well ratings- and revenue-wise. Has that changed?

Which "playlist" are you talking about? WSTW-HD1 is Top 40. WSTW-HD2 is alternative "Graffiti Radio."
Or are you unable to get an HD signal lock? I understand that's a common problem.

Very funny, very funny. Actually, I have no problem getting a lock on Graffiti Radio. I lose B101's and BEN-FM's HD-2 every now and again but otherwise, I think some might be surprised at how this technology doesn't suck nearly as bad as some are suggesting. When I initially got the stereo, I was a little sad because I was losing everything but for some reason, that cleared up by the next time I got in the car. Maybe I was struck by lightning or something.

The playlist I'm referring to is the HD1 at night and on the weekends. I don't like them during weekdays because they're a little too all-over-the-place (which I suppose is an attempt to satisfy as many demo females as possible without realizing how many may not like hearing such jarring segues). The Graffiti Radio is one of the most interesting things I've heard on radio in quite some time.

I don't think anyone responded to my question about the ratings/revenue. Are they down?

 

[fredflintstone]

I don't think anyone responded to my question about the ratings/revenue. Are they down?

They dropped two full share points between the spring and fall books (Wilmington only has two surveys in a year). They are still number two in the market but just a tenth of a point ahead of WDAS-FM. Wilmington numbers tend to fluctuate a lot and there's good reason to question their reliability.