Public Radio Delmarva, based out of Salisbury University campus in Salisbury, Md., stretches throughout most of the Delmarva Peninsula, bringing soothing classical tunes and intriguing news and talk to the airwaves. The station, coming up on their 20th year anniversary, is a veteran in the public communication business, but the past two years have shown an overwhelming support from the community and local businesses.
Coastal Point • RYAN SAXTON
Fred Marino, general manager of WSDL, has targeted the growth of Sussex County.
Since May of 1987, Public Radio Delmarva’s WSCL 89.5 has been providing listeners with classical music and talk radio. In efforts to accommodate a larger audience and to reach out to a broader area, the nonprofit station expanded its network, offering WSDL in 1998. The two stations were simulcast until two years ago, when WSDL was granted its own frequency on 90.7 in October 2004. While classical music and some news are provided on the original station, WSDL has given people an outlet for news and talk radio, says the station’s general manager, Fred Marino.
“WSCL has the larger coverage area,” said Marino. “It goes roughly from the Virginia border up to the C&D Canal and from coast to coast, and in the northwest portion, into Chestertown.” WSDL, which is smaller, covers all of Worcester and Wicomico counties of Maryland and Sussex County, as well as portions of counties that bought rights to the station, including Kent County, and Caroline County, Md.
The decision to break off to another station was not a difficult one to make, according to Marino. “This is an area that is growing in population fairly fast. A lot of people who come here come from other cities and bigger markets, some come here to retire, and they’re accustomed to listening to a lot of different programs than we could get onto one station.” With Public Radio Delmarva’s commitment to providing classical music and feedback from listeners for more shows, the decision was made to branch off with WSDL 90.7.
WSDL’s current weekly lineup ranges from popular public radio news and talk shows, including the Diane Rehm Show, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition. They offer weeknight special programming as well.
“We were determined to serve the area that’s growing the fastest,” said Marino. “Sussex, Worcester and Wicomico counties are the heart of the growth here. No other place on the shore is growing as fast as those counties. That being the case, we thought that was the most logical place to put news.
“Technologically, it would have been difficult when we started WSDL eight years ago, but today, it’s easy.”
Public Radio Delmarva pulls in 41,500 combined listeners of both stations, and that number has been steadily growing, says Marino. After the switch for the second station, the number of people tuning in drastically shot up. “We had only a quarter of that many listeners two and a half years ago.”
As a nonprofit organization, Public Radio Delmarva relies heavily on support from the people and surrounding community. “We have two ways we receive help. One is cash and one is in-kind contributions. [For example,] the university provides all this space and some staff salary support for the station, amounting to over $222,000. It’s not cash, but it’s just as valuable.
“As for cash, most of our income comes from individuals and businesses who give us contributions,” said Marino. “Those two together give us about 75 or 76 percent of our total cash budget.” Other revenue for the station includes federal and state grants from Delaware and the Maryland State Art Council.
“Support has been going up very steadily,” said Marino. The total budget has increased by six or seven percent for the previous three years. The percent of membership contributions from individuals has been increasing by double-digit figures over the past three fiscal years.
“I’ve worked in other markets in public broadcasting,” said Marino, “and I have never seen support from an audience like this one.” Marino, who has been with Salisbury-based program for 16-and-a-half years, is planning to retire next month. His work with public television and radio stations has brought him to Erie, Pa., Boise, Idaho, and Moline, Ill., part of the Quad City district. His children and grandchildren, he said, brought him back to the east coast.
“Our goal is to provide services that people cannot get elsewhere. To some degree, that means you will be serving a smaller audience. Audience growth, while it’s gratifying, is not our main focus.” Marino said the Public Radio Delmarva is more concerned with keeping the listeners they have satisfied. “That is why we’re staying with classical music on WSCL. There are fewer and fewer classical stations. Washington [D.C.] just lost one; Philadelphia lost one a few years ago. Commercial classical stations are beginning to disappear. We intend to keep classical music here as long as we can do it.”
“What I’m most proud of,” said Marino, “is working with an audience that, although it is not huge, it is large enough and loyal enough, that they have supported these services. We made a good judgment two-and-a-half years ago when we decided to change the format of WSDL, but it’s the listeners who made that possible in the end.”
Public Radio Delmarva can be contacted at (410) 543-6895 or toll-free at (800) 543-689. Listeners can tune it to WSDL at 90.7 FM and WSCL at 89.5 FM on the radio or receive streaming broadcasts through their Web site at www.publicradiodelmarva.net.