OT: WILM (was: Re: [Swprograms] DX Listening Digest 4-131; WOR 1243/1244; DX Programs)

["Richard Cuff" <richard@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks to Jim Moats via Glenn Hauser for this gem in the Baltimore Sun:

Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA  USA
-------------------


** U S A. SLEAZY BUT RICH RADIO LEVIATHAN SWALLOWS TINY QUALITY
STATION --- Jay Hancock, August 29, 2004, Baltimore Sun

WILM-AM, a tiny news-radio station that covers the Iraqi National
Conference and the New Castle County, Del., Planning Board, deserves
its valuable piece of the public communications spectrum.

Clear Channel Communications, a $9 billion corporation that broadcast
"humor" about anal sex last year with "sound effects of flatulence and
evacuation," according to the Federal Communications Commission, does
not.

Now they are merging. Clear Channel said last week that it will pay $4
million to absorb WILM, which is based in downtown Wilmington, Del.,
and calls itself the only independent all-news station in the country.

Clear Channel praises WILM, promises to honor its achievements and
says the merger is for the little broadcaster's own good. Napoleon
spoke similarly of Poland before invading it.

"One of the things that that station has going for it is its years of
history and heritage in the market," says Joe Puglise, Clear Channel's
Delaware vice president. "It takes years to build what they have, so
the last thing we want to do is come along and turn it into a
Czechoslovakian punk rock station."

History and heritage WILM has. If "knowledge is the air that democracy
breathes," as the Los Angeles Times' Tim Rutten wrote recently, then
WILM pipes political oxygen to central [sic] Delaware.

Powered by only 1,000 watts and situated in a dingy studio under a
Wilmington parking lot, the station employs 15 full-time and six part-
time journalists --- more than many far larger stations.

The news product is even bigger than the staff. There's a 4 1/2 -hour
morning news show, an hour at noon and three more hours in the
afternoon, all heavily laced with locally produced stories.

Legendary anchor/reporter Allan Loudell assigns reports on Wilmington
government and crime as well as the latest crises in Africa or the
Middle East. The station has full-time legislative and court
reporters.

Rather than rely solely on wire services, Loudell gets on the phone to
international hot spots via one of the fattest Rolodexes in the
business. Last year he put a Baghdad hotel clerk on the air as bombs
fell in the U.S.-led invasion.

Any town needs such dispatches, but Wilmington does doubly.

The 77th biggest radio market, it's overshadowed by Philadelphia and
has few news resources of its own. There is no Wilmington-focused TV
news except a small public broadcasting outfit. The Wilmington News
Journal, the paper owned by the Gannett chain, sells 116,000 copies on
weekdays in a state with 785,000 people.

WILM-1450 AM has been owned since 1948 by the local Hawkins family,
now led by matriarch Sally Hawkins, 81, and her son, E.B. Hawkins, who
runs day-to-day operations. Long reluctant to sell to a chain, the
family said yes to Clear Channel only because it intends to keep WILM
as a serious news outfit, E.B. Hawkins says.

"We had higher offers," he said. "But we truly believe that WILM news
radio will continue to exist in a fashion most similar to its present
state for a long time because of the nature of this deal."

Besides quality journalism, WILM is distinguished by its reputed
inability to earn a profit. "We've broken even for 50 years," E.B.
Hawkins tells anybody who asks.

Besides periodically spewing garbage into people's cars and offices,
Clear Channel is known for minting money. Its 1,200 U.S. radio
stations make 38 cents profit on the dollar on average, financial
statements show.

How the Wilmington station will simultaneously generate WILM-quality
news and Clear Channel-quality profits will be an interesting parlor
trick, but there are ideas.

Clear Channel's bigger and better-organized sales force should boost
WILM's revenue, both sides say. Puglise wants to rebroadcast some of
WILM's news on WDOV, Clear Channel's more-powerful Dover, Del.,
station. That will increase the audience and could boost revenue.
Administrative functions can be combined.

But I fear the newsroom will shrink or morph. If Clear Channel truly
valued crackerjack journalism, it would deliver it in every market.

Instead, it serves up people such as Suzi Hanks, the newscaster on
Houston's KKRW "The Arrow" who got her breasts augmented on air last
year while sidekicks narrated and made melon jokes.

I'd rather hear Czechoslovakian punk rock.

Copyright (c) 2004, The Baltimore Sun (via Jim Moats, DXLD)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Glenn Hauser" <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 7:31 PM
Subject: [Swprograms] DX Listening Digest 4-131; WOR 1243/1244; DX Programs


> DX Listening Digest 4-131 has now been posted at
> http://www.w4uvh.net/dxlatest.txt    CONTENTS:
>
> WOR 1243/1244 / AFGHANISTAN non / ANTARCTICA / ASIA non / AUSTRALIA HCJB /
> BAHRAIN / BRAZIL / CANADA CBC / CANADA CJWI / CHINA +non / COLOMBIA /
CONGO DR
> / COSTA RICA RFPI / CUBA non / ECUADOR / ERITREA / FINLAND / FRANCE /
GEORGIA /
> GERMANY DRM+ / ICELAND / INDONESIA / INTERNATIONAL WATERS Radio One /
> INTERNATIONAL WATERS non RNI / IRAN non / IRAQ non / ISRAEL / JAPAN /
KOREA
> NORTH / KOREA SOUTH / KURDISTAN / LAOS non / LATVIA / MALDIVES non /
MONGOLIA /
> MOROCCO / NEW ZEALAND / NIGERIA / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / ROMANIA / SCOTLAND /
SPAIN
> / SUDAN +non / SYRIA non / UK +non BBC / UK +non BFBS / USA VOA / USA WBCQ
/
> USA NPR / USA DC Callsigns / USA WILM/CC / USA Starbucks-ing Radio / USA
> KJME/KGNU / USA Air America/WHAT+ / USA Swift Boat / USA KJIM / VENEZUELA
non /
> VIETNAM / CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES / DRM / RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM /
PROPAGATION
>
> After the following issue, 4-132 has been published, 4-131 will be
available at
> http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld4131.txt
>
> For restrixions and searchable 2004 contents archive see
> http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html
>
> NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but
> have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself
> obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn
>
> NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1243:
> Tue 1600 on WBCQ after-hours http://wbcq.com repeated weekdaily
> Wed 0930 on WWCR 9475
>
> WRN ONDEMAND:
> http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24
> OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]:
> WORLD OF RADIO 1243 (high version):
> (stream)   http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1243h.ram
> (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1243h.rm
> (summary)  http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1243.html
> WORLD OF RADIO 1243 (low version):
> (stream)   http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1243.ram
> (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1243.rm
>
> WORLD OF RADIO 1243 in the true SW sound of 7415:
> (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_08-25-04.m3u
> (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_08-25-04.mp3
>
> FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1244:
> Wed 2200 on WBCQ 7415
> Wed 2300 on WBCQ 17495-CUSB
> Thu 2030 on WWCR 15825
> ON DEMAND: from early UT Thursday change 1243 above to 1244
>
> DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS updated: http://worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html
>
> Regards, Glenn
>
>
>
>
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