Delmarva Public Radio's New General Manager

Delmarva Public Radio has new leadership. Dana Whitehair takes over the fiscally troubled stations. The two services have been running deficits for more than a decade. Salisbury University and the foundation that ran the stations were looking at options that would have eliminated most of the local services. After a concerted effort by the community, the University decided to fund Delmarva Public Radio on an interim basis to see if the stations can become self-sustaining. Sustainability will be Whitehair's challenge.

Dana Whitehair has previous public radio experience as General Manager of WNCW, Spindale, NC and Manager of Technical Services at KUT, Autin, TX.

There's more at Delmarva Now.

A Reprieve for Delmarva Public Radio?

Salisbury University is offering a new home for Delmarva Public Radio and a new plan for operating the two stations for the next three years. According to a report in The Star Democrat, Salisbury University is offering new digs for WSCL and WSDL. Their current home is due to be demolished soon.

Under the plan:

• WSCL's classical format would continue.
• WSDL news and information programming would be run by the university for the near future.
• SU would look to create news and information partnerships with other public radio stations as a plan to lower costs.
• SU will hire an individual experienced in the successful operation of public radio stations to guide the transition and to develop a new business plan, explore partnerships and the hiring of new station manager.
• SU is asking the Salisbury University Foundation Board for approval and to transfer control of the stations to Salisbury University.

SU is proposing a three year plan to turn the stations around. DPR has been losing audience and, as a result, losing revenue. They are calling on the Friends of Delmarva Public Radio to fundraise and contribute at least $250,000 a year to support the station's operations.

Delmarva friends radio group submits proposal

Delmarva friends radio group submits proposal

The friends group contends the stations are in the state their in because of mismanagement. The Friends of Delmarva Public Radio, Inc. also say the proposal from  the consultant, Public Radio Capital (PRC), would culturally diminish Delmarva. PRC recommended the stations become mostly automated. WSCL would become a classical service with programming provided by an outside service. WSDL would become a AAA service with programming provided by an outside service. The Friends hope to preserve the current services according to an article in The Cape Gazette.

Two major obstacles stand in the way. They are facilities and funding. DPR's facilities are being demolished to make way for a new library at Salisbury University. The Salisbury University Foundation has made it clear they no longer can afford to fund Delmarva Public Radio's deficit.

If the friend's can get a reprieve and find new facilities, they need to find a way to grow the audience, increase listener support, increase foundation support, and increase corporate support. They'll also need to look for ways to decrease expenses. These things don't happen overnight.

What could be done?

• Seek help with your fundraising and your goals and objectives. The Station Resource Group and The Development Exchange have resources to help stations.
• Be Brilliant on the Basics. Check out the article by Deb Blakeley and Israel Smith.  How far from the basics is the local content?
• Focus - Do a few things well.
• Look for alliances to increase the quality of local content. Start with other public media outlets.
• Could Delmarva Public Radio find ways to work with their competition without being consumed?
• NPR's flagship programs are expensive. Alternate information programming is available through the networks and independent content providers. The Public Radio Exchange is a good place to start.
• The two stations can still have local content under the PRC proposal. There is room for local programming within the two services being proposed.

Delmarva Public Radio - No Way Out?

Listeners on the Delmarva Peninsula are upset.
Delmarva Public Radio part of our identity
Tom Hehman: Even if SU throws in the towel, we will not

Keep Delmarva in Delmarva Public Radio

As the published letters in the links suggests, listeners are going to miss their local public radio station.

Saving the stations, current local programming won't be easy.

Is it feasible to expect the kind of support it is going to take from listeners to keep WSCL and WSDL from switching formats to national music services? The stations lost money 17 out of the last 21 years. Listener support, foundation support and underwriting continually fell short of fiscal needs. In the past, the university made up the difference. The Salisbury University Foundation responsible for Delmarva Public Radio hired Public Radio Capital (PRC) to assess the station's fiscal viability. The University, coping with a shrinking budget, is looking for places to save.

The suggestion by PRC is that DPR drop news programming and most local classical programming. Public Radio Capital reported that too much of Delmarva Public Radio's audience was being siphoned off by stations in DC and Baltimore. Reduced audience results in diminished support.   The suggestion is to replace the NPR news station with a AAA format. Most of the programming would be syndicated. The classical service would also lose most of its local content and be programmed by a service like Classical 24.

The Numbers Matter
Size isn't everything but, public radio stations need a large enough core audience to draw from to sustain itself. WSCL and WSDL's numbers don't offer alot of hope for listeners to save their stations. In order for residents of Delmarva to save their stations their stations they will need to step forward in numbers that exceed the usual membership benchmarks. The simple benchmark is that ten percent of a station's cume can be expected to contribute. WSCL's cume 12+ was about 18,000 in Fall 2011. WSDL's cume was about 13,000 in the same period.   A rough estimate of potential givers is 3,100. DPR's annual budget is about $1million. According to the station's website about 50% of their budget is covered by memberships. To cover the $500,000 the average pledge needs to be $161. To cover the $220,000 projected deficit the average pledge will need to increase $71.

Simply taking 10% of the cume to make projections doesn't really cover the issue. Specifically, the station needs to look at the size of the core audience and the core's loyalty to the station. Drawing on the core is a much smaller sample to draw on for funding. Simply put, DPR's audience might not be large enough to support itself. Without support from other sources the stations will continue to run deficits as currently programmed.

Delmarva Public Radio

Public will have input on Public Radio's future

For smaller public radio stations with smaller audiences, the struggle to survive comes down to sheer numbers. This is holding true for Delmarva Public Radio owned by Salisbury University. In a letter to the Delmarva Daily Times, Charles T. Capute, chairman of the SU Foundation and Janet Dudley-Eshbach, president of SU, explain why they are taking a serious look at the station's situation. The Foundation hired Public Radio Captial to assess the station's situation and make recommendations. Members of the Foundation are now reviewing PRC's report.

In 17 if the past 25 years DPR has run a deficit. Funds from the University have been used to balance the books. One of the questions that needs to be answered is can a station with cume audience less than 20,000 continue to sustain an NPR news and information format? Especially when you consider they are competing for the same audience with WAMU and WESM.

When considering listener support, the size of the P1 audience is much more significant. If 40% of the Cume audience for news is core (P1), the member base is being drawn from 8,000 listeners. Is the size of the P1 audience large enough to support the cost of the news operation?

Delmarva Public Radio runs two formats. WSCL is a mostly classical service on a 33,000 watt station. WSDL is a mostly news service on a smaller, 18,500 watt signal.