Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
WDEL (AM)
Radio station in Wilmington, Delaware From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
WDEL (1150 kHz) is a commercial radio station in Wilmington, Delaware. It simulcasts a news/talk radio format with sister station WDEL-FM 101.7 MHz. They are owned by Forever Media with the license held by FM Radio Licenses, LLC.[2]
WDEL 1150 broadcasts with 5,000 watts around the clock. To protect other stations on 1150 AM from interference, WDEL uses a directional antenna with a four-tower array. The transmitter, studios and offices located on Shipley Road in Wilmington.[3].
Remove ads
Programming and sports
WDEL-AM-FM feature local talk and information shows on weekdays with nationally syndicated talk programs at night: The Ramsey Show with Dave Ramsey, Rich Valdés America at Night, Red Eye Radio and America in the Morning.[4] On weekends, WDEL-AM-FM have specialty shows devoted to money, sports, real estate, home repair, gardening and travel, including some paid brokered programming. Syndicated shows on weekends includes The Money Pit, Eye on Travel with Peter Greenberg, Jill on Money, The CBS News Weekend Roundup and Motley Fool Money. World and national news is supplied by CBS News Radio.
WDEL-AM-FM carry Philadelphia Phillies baseball and Philadelphia Eagles football. Additionally, WDEL-AM-FM air New Castle County high school football and basketball games. Sports betting shows from VSiN are heard on weekend nights.
Remove ads
History
Summarize
Perspective
Early years
WDEL was first licensed in July 1922.[5] It was owned by the Wilmington Electrical Specialty Company, and was initially issued the sequentially assigned call sign WHAV.[6] It made its debut broadcast on July 22 as one of the earliest broadcasting stations licensed in the United States, and the first in the state of Delaware.[7] In 1926 the call sign were changed to WDEL.[8] Founded by Willard S. Wilson, the station was originally a 250-watt station, but by the late 1940s, it had been granted an increase to its current power of 5,000 watts.[9]
WDEL was later owned by the Delmarva Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of Steinman Enterprises, a family-owned newspaper, broadcasting and mining company, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Delmarva owned WDEL for more than 80 years.[10]
During the "Golden Age of Radio," WDEL was an NBC Red Network affiliate, carrying its dramas, comedies, sports, news, game shows, soap operas and big band broadcasts. For a time in the 1940s, WDEL was co-owned with another early AM station licensed to Wilmington, WILM. While WDEL carried NBC Red Network programs, WILM aired shows from the NBC Blue Network (later ABC) and the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Adding TV and FM stations
In 1949, WDEL signed on a TV station, Channel 7 WDEL-TV.[11] Because WDEL had been a long-time NBC radio affiliate, WDEL-TV became an NBC-TV network affiliate. It also carried programming from the DuMont Television Network. But it was limited in power due to its proximity to two other Channel 7 stations in New York City and Washington, DC. It later moved to Channel 12. The Steinman Family sold Channel 12 in 1955 and it eventually became WHYY-TV, the PBS station for Philadelphia, but still licensed to Wilmington.
In 1950, WDEL added an FM station, 93.7 WDEL-FM.[12] At first it simulcast the programming on the AM station. But by the late 1960s, it aired separate programming using the call sign WSTW.
Moving from music to talk
With the demise of old time network radio in the 1950s, WDEL adopted a full-service format, combining news, sports and middle of the road music.
In the mid-1980s, WDEL was the first Wilmington radio station to provide traffic reports. WDEL's "TrafficWatch on the 9s" remains on the air today.
In the mid-1990s, WDEL moved to a news/talk format, eliminating music. The station aired a local call-in and information show in the morning, plus various nationally syndicated programs during the day including Dr. Laura, Rush Limbaugh, Mitch Albom and Sean Hannity.
In 2006, WDEL's main competitor, AM 1450 WILM, was bought by Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia, Inc.). Because Limbaugh and Hannity were syndicated by Premiere Networks, an iHeart subsidiary, those shows moved over to WILM. As a result, WDEL adopted a weekday schedule of mostly "live and local" news and talk, only running syndicated programming in the evening and on weekends.
Changes in ownership
In 2015, Delmarva Broadcasting acquired 101.7 WJKS, licensed to Canton, New Jersey. Despite being based in New Jersey, the 101.7 signal covers parts of Northern Delaware, including sections of Wilmington. On April 1, WJKS flipped from urban adult contemporary music to a simulcast of 1150 WDEL, giving the station's listeners the option to hear it on AM or FM. The callsign was switched to WDEL-FM, returning that call sign to the air on 101.7 MHz. (For much of the 1950s and 60s, the callsign WDEL-FM was used on co-owned 93.7 MHz, which now is WSTW.) WDEL can also be heard on the HD2 subchannel of 93.7 WSTW.
In early 2019, Steinman Communications announced that it was divesting its broadcast properties. All Delmarva Broadcasting stations were to be sold to Forever Media. The deal closed on May 20, 2019.
Remove ads
Awards
WDEL has won several prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, including national awards in 2007 for Best Website and 2009 for Best Newscast. WDEL has also been named News Operation of the Year by the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association numerous times.
In 2004, WDEL was awarded by the National Association of Broadcasters with its prestigious Crystal Award for public service.
In 2005, WDEL became one of the first radio stations in the nation to produce web-based news video for its website, WDEL.com.
In 2011, WDEL won a prestigious Marconi Award from the National Association of Broadcasters for "Medium Market Station of the Year."
In 2014, WDEL's news department won the RTDNA national Edward R. Murrow Award for "Overall Excellence." WDEL also won RTDNA's national Murrow Award for "Best Newscast" that year. In 2016, WDEL again won the Murrow Award for "Overall Excellence."
Simulcast
WDEL-FM simulcasts the programming of WDEL 1150 AM:
Remove ads
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads