The spring radio ratings are out and it appears upstate Pennsylvania-based Forever Media slipped a bit when it came to the battle for the top slot. Forever is the new owner of Delmarva Broadcasting.
While Forever’s WSTW retained the top slot, rival Beasley Broadcasting’s WJBR gained ground. Beasley worked to shore up the morning drive by bringing back popular host Michael Waite, who has since retired.
Showing strength was Forever Media’s WXCY country station. which recovered from a dropoff a year earlier.
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Forever’s WDEL-FM news and talk station saw a modest drop in the past year. Forever has been steadily downsizing the station’s once sizable news operation. Gone over the past year or so are mainstays such as traffic reporter Robin Bryson, editor-reporter Mark Fowser, sports director Don Voltz and veteran newsman Allan Loudell, who was let go a few months before his death.
The fall ratings will offer more clues on whether the changes reflect a trend. The Wilmington-area market is unique, due to its proximity to a Philadelphia radio market that siphons off listeners.
Osborne out at Business Times
Peter Osborne is out as editor at Delaware Business Times.
The News Journal and MBNA-Bank of America alum was credited with building a full-time staff and broadening coverage at the Business Times, which until his arrival a year and a half ago had relied heavily on freelance contributors.
“Tales of shrinking newsrooms became real today for me. I appreciate the opportunity that Robert Martinelli gave me 18 months ago to get the Delaware Business Times on track. We recently won two national awards and, more important, served our business readers well,” Osborne wrote in a LinkedIn post.
Osborne will be succeeded by Jake Owens, former editor of the Cecil Whig in Elkton.
Owens headed the newsroom at the Whig during a turbulent period that saw new ownership from the Adams Publishing Group. Adams is a Tennessee-based company that has grown to 100 weeklies and dailies around the country. The company made lots of changes on the management side that included Owens’ departure.
The Business Times follows the business journal formula of subscription paywalls, a book of lists, print-driven events like 40 under 40, and a print product that comes out every couple of weeks.
DBN was a latecomer to the business journal game, launching in 2014 about four years after the demise of the Delaware Business Ledger.
Editor’s note: The author of this column was the founding editor of the Business Ledger.
Lauria headed to the Center for the Inland Bays
Maddy Lauria has left the News Journal after serving as an environmental reporter working out of Milord.
Lauria spent her career downstate, with stints at the Cape Gazette and the Dover Post before joining the staff of the News Journal/DelawareOnline.com.
Lauria will take a post with the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays.
