Delaware Talk Radio Off The Air
It looks like there are issues at DTR that have caused them to temporarily go “off the air”. They are apparently moving to a new location and potentially other changes. It will be interesting to follow this story. I would guess that WDEL is quietly sighing in relief. Now WDEL can break news stories first.
Tags: Local Media Sucks!
we re-structure our business
That sounds ominous.
(edited by jason)
I feel bad for Randy, Maria and Mike – but what did they expect getting involved with a guy who says he would vote for Bush again.
That tells you everything you need to know about the guy’s character.
Okay. I’m getting tired of being right about everything. I’ll just leave it at that.
WTF?
Let me reiterate…
Let’s not kick them when they are down. I feel crappy whenever there are jobs in the balance. Some of these jobs belong to friends of mine.
Damn it, dude. Look up “class” in a dictionary, and I am referring to the personality trait. You’ve managed to seriously change my impression about you over the years. There was snarky once, but now it’s ego-driven assholery. My respect for you has gone from quite a lot to barely holding on by a severely frayed thread. Of course, that probably doesn’t bother you much anymore.
Note: I edited that comment prior to Randy calling me out.
I still feel the same way though. Funny how it falls on me to have class and not others.
Funny how it falls on me to have class and not others.
Consider that a sign of respect, not being put in “place.”
Oh, and if your company should face this same issue, I seriously don’t think that Dave would make some assholery comment to pile on your head.
Why should any liberal care that Limbaugh-wannabe Dave Burris and his merry band of wingnuts are losing a mouthpiece? You were hoping they’d be successful????
If Limbaugh and Hannity went off the air, would there be any other reaction among liberals other than celebration?
Throw ’em an anvil.
I hope this is temporary!
I seriously don’t think that Dave would make some assholery comment to pile on your head.
I seriously think you’re wrong, and besides, who cares? One more lame right wing media outlet gone is a good thing.
Do you consider all of them as wingnuts? Really?
If someone wants to debate whether or not it is appropriate to feel bad about a business is having issues, fine. I count most, if not all of them down there as friends (or at least friendly) and like it or not, they have attempted to extend the blogging world to new mediums. I had doubts about the future of the endeavor, but if they succeed, it is a big deal.
Like them or not, if they fail, we all have a stake in that failure. How the hell is DelawareLiberal TV ever going to work if DTR fails?
DTR is hardly comparable with Limbaugh and Hannity.
Any idea how long “temporarily off the air” is?
The only way DelawareLiberal TV will work is with nudity 🙂
I hope it is permanent. I feel bad for Mike, but that is about it.
Hey, DL’rs, maybe you can buy their equipment cheap and start a liberal internet talk radio.
pandora,
I know that I am somewhat of an absolutist but Burris=Wingnut=Limbaugh/Hannity worshipper=DTR
That’s how I get there from here.
Dave and friends can still blog as much as they want for free.
Maybe looking for work in the wake of Bush will clarify their minds on certain issues.
Internet radio… new media outlets… DelawareLiberal TV…
You know, blogging doesn’t have to be a quest for world domination.
Smtty,
Yeah, I’m still angry. So? I don’t like Dave or anything that he stands for. I said I don’t like the bad blood, but I did not choose this course.
the zenith of their existence was when Politico gave them kudos for breaking the Carney 2010 run against Castle.
Really does suck for anyone losing a job. However, there is no way that you can’t know the risks involved and be surprised that this happens.
Hope all is well with you guys over there. good luck, I feel your pain.
Good insight, DV
Starting a new business is always a risky venture. Hopefully this is a temporary setback. I really do think that new media is the future of the traditional media. Good luck to our friends and frenemies at DTR.
A1 – I guess you have no idea who Randy Nelson is? Plus, I can’t imagine you really know Dave beyond this blogging (and DTR) world. I thought Jason did, but apparently not. No, Dave would not revel in Jason’s business facing the same issue. If you all truly believe that he would, there is much bias in your eyes, that it’s a wonder you even know the difference between night and day.
No, Dave would not revel in Jason’s business facing the same issue.
I’m hardly reveling. I simply predicted it.
And one more thing, there are going to be businesses falling on their asses all over the country for the next few years thanks to Dave and the stupid economic policies he and peopel like him championed. They pushed for Bush to get elected TWICE in spite of everything that we knew. They pushed for policies that rewarded wall street crooks. They pushed for us to ebter into this stupid treasury depeleting war.
He has never demostrated one bit of remorse about that. What else does one have to know about him? That he is kind to animals? Great!
Smitty,
If Jason’s business was a liberal talk radio station, I have no doubt that Dave would relish its demise.
And, yes, I am thoroughly biased. Burris has been an arrogant mouthpiece for a party and policies that have brought death, destruction, and destitution to millions.
One more wingnut like him off the air is a good thing. Hopefully, he’ll stay off.
Try thinking of as the free market working, maybe that will help you feel better.
I can’t do this. You and some are way too enjoying this when there are others involved. Geek gave a great illustration as to why this should be a problem, that a great opportunity to take this to another level has taken a hit. But hey, that’s cool, I guess. Personal vendettas outweigh the opportunity that was placed at your feet. I guess in all this hatred you have, you failed to mention that Dave offered to have you to be part of it in the beginning? Yeah, he treats you wrong, I guess, J. Keep that ideological vendetta rolling. This is particularly disturbing, because this highly-personal issue you put out there is nothing but ideological divides, yet, you’ve made it so damned personal.
This world-view revenge motive is over my head, I guess. Here, I’ll stop pretending I am a friend and that I give a shit, which is a lie (that I was pretending), but it’s not worth the emotion. I used to like blogging and commenting, but I have three kids at home to raise and instill what I believe are moral choices and how to be independent in their decisions and understand the consequences. That’s hard enough as it is. I sure the frick don’t need to keep preaching it to a 42-year-old (or whatever), nor should I need to do so.
I’m done with you and I’m out of here (note, not a quitting to blogging, lest those used to that get confused). Honestly, I can’t take the shit anymore. You’ve calloused, dude, posturing to a fanclub whose insatiable appetite for blood that I will never understand.
Learning from the past is noble. Living in it is full of deception. Look backward to learn, look forward to live. -RSmitty
That was a freebie for you.
exeunt stage center
*Sarcastic clapping*
Do what you have to do.
The fact of the matter is that I’ve given Dave chance after chance to demostrate the fact that he is a human being.
He passed.
Jason, aka anonone,
This is truly asinine. You’re like a Toyota worker who celebrates to hear that the GM plant the town over is shutting down. Dick.
I certainly don’t agree with everything the DTR crew believes, but I respect their right to believe it, and further wish them the best of luck in restructuring, recovering, reorganizing or whatever it takes. They put their all into that venture. I hope it still bears fruit.
I was never able to listen, but I popped over to their web site every once in a while. The only ad I ever saw was from the contractors’ group. The only ad I’ve ever seen here is for the Web design company. So I think the most instructive thing out of all of this is that Internet ads don’t work.
I don’t feel bad because there are no lost “jobs” here. If you aren’t being paid, that’s not a job. That’s volunteer work. The station sucked and it was a bad business plan. See ya later.
And you passed the “human being” test HOW, Jason? Show us your test scores.
I am with R Smitty. This sustained level of crazy hatred seems pointless, unproductive and unbecoming for A New Era of Responsibility. That applies to everyone, not just Wall Street bankers, by the way.
anon2700,
Free market capitalism and competition is what our economy is all about, isn’t it? Most business startups fail. That’s life.
Comparing DTR to GM and Toyota is ridiculous.
If you are so sad that their business is failing, write them a check. And while you’re at it, you need to tell Google that “Internet ads don’t work.”
CC,
Point taken. However, I don’t like what Bush and people like Dave have turned me into.
I want to lay down this hatred and climb out of the trench – but bitter experience tells me not to.
If you let them do it, they win. Be the better person. My counseling for the day.
If we let them keep us in the trench they win.
If we get out and try to make nice they win.
Awesome!
anonone,
I’m not comparing DTR to GM. Please r-e-a-d first. I was comparing Jason to the ecstatically happy Toyota worker cheering at the demise of a competitor, though it means people out of work. You’re one cold-hearted bastard, too.
Maybe you need to redefine “win.” Because even when you do “win” (a debate point, an election, a bill’s passage) they will never admit it. They will just retrench and reload with different ammo.
Even if it is something as awe-inspiring as Chris Matthews’ dismantling of that talk-show host over the meaning of appeasement a la Neville Chamberlain — even that doofus probably didn’t realize or admit defeat.
DTR came out swinging saying they were going to destroy WDEL, WILM, WGMD, etc., etc., etc….
It’s the same old Dave Burris bullshit. He talks a big fucking game with all of this bravado, and then when he fails then it’s “Aww shucks why are you picking on me.” He does the same thing with political campaigns. It’s always someone else’s fault.
The truth is the idea was bound to fail because it was a stupid idea. Delaware is a small market to begin with, then you target your niche to people at their computers who want to listen to political bloggers. No wonder no one listened to them.
I would feel bad if people were losing wages but they weren’t even being paid, so what the hell does it matter?
And for all of your sniffling at WDEL, LiberalGeek, you seem to never have anything like that to say when you are on the air with Mascitti, et al.
How do you know they weren’t being paid?
Anon, You’re giving bagel boy ‘way too much credit.
And for all of your sniffling at WDEL, LiberalGeek, you seem to never have anything like that to say when you are on the air with Mascitti, et al.
Sniffling? Look, it is in all of our best interest for there to be a vibrant 4th estate in this state. The News Journal has abdicated their role through staff cuts and wRong Williams.
WDEL is, in my opinion, the team to beat for news in Delaware. What DTR lacked in listeners, it made up for in scoops. Scoops don’t pay, however. I want DTR and WDEL to thrive and compete. I cannot help but think that every time Randy Nelson got a scoop, that Loudell was a little annoyed that he didn’t get it first.
As for WILM, I haven’t really listened to them for years.
@LG – Ok, fair enough. I have little disagreement with that. Sorry for coming at you. It was out of love.
Nuance is hard in writing. If only I had a radio show… 🙂
We don’t do nuance here.
HA! Moving to a new location, huh? Someone else’s basement, maybe. C’mon did you really think an internet radio station in Sussex county talking DE politics had any chance whatever. Is this really even a story?
With all due respect I think some of you have a bit of a preception problem here. You happen to know these people because you operate in this little circle of inside jokes like pretending DV is an attractive human being.
The was one shocking aspect to this story. How didn’t this happen sooner.
Kinda interesting that the DTR bloggers who are usually commenting on this site hourly haven’t peeped.
Just sayin’
“C’mon did you really think an internet radio station in Sussex county talking DE politics had any chance whatever.”
… and an Internet radio station in Glasgow would have done better?
C’mon, please stop the gratuitous Sussex slams. We have rednecks, you have Nancy Willing. Aren’t we even?
Why interesting?
If they are really unemployed today, they likely have quite a few other priorities.
Just chill
“The News Journal has abdicated their role through staff cuts and wRong Williams.”
LG,
Please don’t judge the entire paper by one person. I know he’s easy to pick on because he’s such a public face, but that’s like judging all of delawareliberal by DV or jason.
Most of the staff of TNJ are good, hard-working people who are holding on praying they still have a job in 12 months after Gannett is done carving its name deep into its papers’ shinbones.
Wow…I just get back from a three-and-a-half-hour roundtrip to Sussex to pick-up some of my belongings and this blows up.
I’ll have something posted later. Until then, enjoy yourselves. I know I am reading all these comments.
cassandra_m,
Never mind – Mike is back so all is well in the world.
More soon.
Because, anonone, on some level we are a community. And I’ve never been a fan of kicking someone when they’re down.
Personally, I enjoy debating other points of view. I think a blog is at its best with spirited discourse.
Wasn’t DTR in the black less then one month ago?
What a long, strange trip it’s been.
Most of the staff of TNJ are good, hard-working people who are holding on praying they still have a job in 12 months after Gannett is done carving its name deep into its papers’ shinbones.
Agreed. Gannett is the source of the problem. I don’t necessarily blame the people that are left, but they have been whittled down to such a small group, that I would say that they don’t have the resources to do much beyond report what people tell them.
This is not conducive to a Woodward and Bernstein type of investigative reporting that is required to be part of the 4th estate. If it weren’t for people that take activist roles in this state, we would never have any of the governments ills exposed until they were too big to impact. We have some of those issues, but we also have good reporting and research by some dedicated individuals that affect the power brokers.
I just don’t see The News Journal having the free time to accomplish those goals.
Oh, and if they have to rely on wRong to cover state politics, then they are really able to do less than nothing.
a2700 – Point taken, same crappy podcast or whatever based in NCCo yields the same results, but I still withhold the right to ridicule Sussex Co. as long as you dipshit rubes continue to built contraptions to throw rotten pumpkins across a field.
Also, can we stop pretending that these shortwave, CB transmissions weren’t a complete joke? Maybe they should try their hand at public access TV, that’s real popular.
For what it’s worth, when ANY business is down for whatever reason, there are real people who are affected. Whether you like or agree with what DTR was doing, keep that fact in mind. As for DTR, I have to respect Randy Nelson and the other folks who worked hard to bring something different to the table in Delaware. Maybe the timing wasn’t right, but credit where credit is due. At least Randy Nelson had the integrity to present the facts that other media outlets ignore(think the NJ), especially when it came to Delaware politics. Best of luck to all of those folks who worked hard. Hope to hear you are back real soon.
“The truth is the idea was bound to fail because it was a stupid idea.”
I honestly think a little ahead of it’s time. There are already applications for either iPhones and other evdo phones that allow for you to plug your phone into your car and allow for listening to INternet radio. IS there a disadvantage due to the limited area? Yes. But the real reason that I didn’t listen to it as much as I may have liked what that I couldn’t listen to it in the car! Regardless of how bad you consider DTR, they couldn’t be any worse than listening to Jensen or Howard Eskin on WIP.
I did however enjoy the local coverage that DTR allowed. I listen to Al a lot in the morning, but sometimes a whole show is run with very little local politics covered. Considering that fact that a lot of state-run programs will be on the chopping block this year, a well informed public would be useful 🙂 and DTR would have helped.
Jason you truly are a petty child. How dare you have the audacity to make such wild comments. To have this small start up company fail is a terrible thing. I guess you like it that WDEL (the most right wing radio station in the whole state) and WILM (with the drug addict, and sham hannity) what we are left with is a good thing. Unbelievable…liberals have no concience.
You remind me of the repukes you disdain daily you are no better than them. Instead of supporting the station…with John Flaghterty, Gerry Fulcher, Randy Nelson and Mike hardlly considered right wing against Maria Evans (who I would hardly call right wing) and then theres Dave. So friggin what.
We had an opportunity here to make it work, to have a outlet to get around the right wing talking heads spewing lies and distortions all day long.
Jason you owe everyone an apology, grow the hell up.
The truth is if we had a really progressive radio station in Delaware we could blow away both the other stations. No one wants to listen to the opinions of right wingers who make up crap from whole cloth an posit as fact delivered from right wing think tanks, who censor their callers and put them off air with the flip of a switch.
Other than Al M. who you got now, fool?
Fuck off Liz.
In other news.
Wingnut welfare runs out for Pajamas Media.
For the record, Flaherty and Fulcher are gone.
That is all.
“… as long as you dipshit rubes continue to built contraptions to throw rotten pumpkins across a field.”
Rotten pumpkins wouldn’t fly very far. They’re fully solid, mature pumpkins, thanks very much!
Liz,
I’d just like to point out that DL allowed DTR to publicize its programs and solicit listeners and guests almost daily on the DL blog. In addition, DL bloggers appeared on DTR programs on numerous occasions.
So they, in fact, did support DTR, possibly more than any other unaffiliated blog.
As Burris has been a lead cheerleader in Delaware for the disastrous repub policies that have led to record unemployment lines, I, for one, am happy to see him join one.
I think the sussex county bashing gets old too…
Let’s be honest, Kent is the county that sucks.
Let’s be honest, Kent is the county that sucks.
Agreed.
A1, upon reflection, you are correct. No other blog, besides DTR blogs, promoted or participated as much as us (although I certainly heard a number of other bloggers on some of the shows, Tyler comes to mind).
From Jason’s standpoint, I suspect that if Faux News asked him to come on and defend a post or posit an opinion, I bet he would get to NY for the show. That said, if Faux News went up in smoke, I’d be the first to cheer.
Re: WDEL and its NEWS reporting. Today, Ludell talked about Iraq and how great their election went. WRONG! Thousands of people protested, women running for office names were not on the ballot. There were street fights, but you wont hear that on corporate media.
Only the american press is reporting the biased, one sided story the election went off without a hitch. Now where do you thing the facts could have been presented? Watson would have shut it down and talked over you. Jenson would cut you off before the sentence was out of your mouth. But, all the facts could have been presented on DTR where the facts could have been provided without fear of a smackdown. The entire story of GAZA, not one radio station in Delaware carried any of the “other side”, DTR did. Thats what I’m talking about, and I for one will truly miss listening. Randy Nelson was excellent a true patriot and he did get many stories before WDEL, thats to his credit. Just because Jason has a hissy fit with Burris, you have to give Dave credit…its was his money that put the idea up! He surely didnt have to give even one moderate, liberal or progressive the time of day….give him some credit.
Sad to hear it off the air. I will say that if they do reopen in a new location, that they hopefully broaden the programming possibilities. Eight hours a day of Delaware politics can be a bit much, especially since you are online, and the market possibilities are endless if you don’t keep the topics too local.
I mean, sure, 2-3 hours a day of local politics, maybe 2 to three more of national politics, then lighten it up a bit.
From my point of view, it looks like they were trying to reinvent the wheel, when there are popular and successful talk radio businesses that are not stuck in stone about their programming formats.
I listened as often as I could, but in the end, it looks like the focus was too narrow, and it stifled their growth.
Is the DelawarePolitics blog out for the count as well?
Here’s what I get when I visited just now:
Hello world!
December 10th, 2008
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
No, it’s still there, they just killed the redirect from dealwarepolitics.net:
http://www.delawaretalkradio.com/delawarepolitics/
Maybe they are in the process of moving the domain to a new server. If so, this does not bode well.
back at ya Jason.
I sincerely respect Randy Nelson and all others that started DTR. I also don’t think this is the end of it – after talking to Randy not too long ago about this vision for he station, I just can’t see it being gone forever. I for one am looking forward to when it comes back (hopefully bigger, better, and with a great diverse cast of characters – left, middle, right, crazy, normal, and whatever else there may be in between) and I hope that advertisers will see how valuable it can be to have an add run there.
“Good guests” does not make for good talk radio. Engaging hosts do. The false thinking is that “guests” and “importance” and “ideology” make a show successful. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As for DTR, it was an attempt at a ponzi scheme type rip off by Nelson and Co. He’s been trying to pawn it off to unsuspecting buyers by lying about the “success” of the operation. The attempt at ad sales and the sale of the station was based on false figures.. and lies. He conned poor Mike Matthews like he has conned others. Ask Jerry Fulcher about what he was promised and what he recieved. Why haven’t the bloggers followed THAT story? Is Fulcher really suing Randy Nelson for being conned out of his salary? The usually talkative Burris is also strangly MUM on all of the recent happenings too. Notice how he distanced himself from Nelson without a peep? What does Maria know and when did she know it?
When will the “buyers” of DTR that were approcahed by Nelson come forward? Bloggers?
Suffice to say DTR has inspired 71 comments on this thread (now 72). Say whatever you want about DTR, but we certainly are talking about them… and Mike Matthews loves it!
Not that that’s a bad thing.
Paint Mills,
Interesting post.
DTR seemed to me to be a vanity media outlet more than anything else. I can’t see what their business revenue model was; how do you attract advertisers with an audience in the dozens? Not to mention the controversial nature of some of the content on the “air” and on DTR blogs.
In regards to listeners, that data should be tracked fairly easily by looking at number of web connections per hour. Your post seems to imply that data was changed after the fact.
Do you have any evidence of this or are you just guessing?
“DTR seemed to me to be a vanity media outlet more than anything else. I can’t see what their business revenue model was; how do you attract advertisers with an audience in the dozens?”
And anonone comes after me for making shit up. Jesus, man, you’re deranged on this topic. And you’re clearly making shit up. Just give up, OK? You have no clue how many listeners we were getting. Suffice it to say, it was many, many more than the “dozens” you so cattily assume,
And, controversial? Dude, again, get over yourself. You really put too much emphasis on things that really aren’t there.
As far as what Paint Mills says, I really can’t comment on some of the specifics because I have no clue about the allegations made. Truth be told, though, I do feel like I was a bit used when I was told in August that I should put my teaching career on hold and join the station with promises that, at the time, I should have realized were a bit pie in the sky.
Every company tells its prospective hires it is healthy and growing. And every company keeps blowing smoke up until the pink slips go out. It is happening all over America right now.
“Suffice it to say, it was many, many more than the “dozens” you so cattily assume”
Ok, How many in an AVERAGE hour? Hour, not cumulative?
“As far as what Paint Mills says, I really can’t comment on some of the specifics because I have no clue about the allegations made. Truth be told, though, I do feel like I was a bit used when I was told in August that I should put my teaching career on hold and join the station with promises that, at the time, I should have realized were a bit pie in the sky”
Have you been paid fully, and what do you know of Fulcher leaving? Surely you can say that!
Why is Burris silent?
Did you hear anything about Nelson trying to sell the place?
Did you have access to the live streaming service hit count, or were you told by others how many listeners you had?
Paint,
Yes, I was paid in full. That much I can disclose. I will not discuss about Fulcher leaving as I wouldn’t discuss personnel issues for other companies I’ve worked for. That’s something you won’t get out of me.
I did not hear about Nelson trying to sell the place. I did hear about Nelson trying to bring on another partner.
As for the stream, I had access to some statistics and I’m simply saying I know we got way more than the “dozens” anonone is claiming.
As for you, you’re obviously someone I know. There were only a few people involved on the inside and you’re obviously very knowledgeable. If only you could get around the pesky anonymous handle…
Mike,
What part of “seemed to me” don’t you get? That was and is my opinion.
In regards to number of listeners, you referenced in a post on January 23 that your number of listeners “doubled” when Jason called in to “34.”:
Bitch, please. When you call in we at least double that. =34
I wasn’t making stuff up, I “cattily” assumed dozens because it was WHAT YOU WROTE. And that sounded like a reasonable number to me.
Actually, I thought “dozens” was being generous. With all the trolling you did here begging people to call in, it is hard for me to imagine that there were ever more than a couple dozen with their computers tuned in at any one time.
LOL, anonone. That was SARCASM. Again, by using the word “bitch” and the type of online relationship Jason and I have had for a few years now, anyone should have been able to surmise that I was being sarcastic.
Jeez.
But you wont share the numbers? If it’s all above board, why not? Is 38 an embarrasing number?
Another partner. LikeI said, “ponzi”. $
Won’t say the numbers.
Won’t tell truth about Fulcher lawsuit.
Won’t reveal the Burris/Nelson relationship.
You admit you were used.
In most places, being “used” means you were lied to. Don’t worry man you were not the only one. I’m thinking of going public.
Deleted due to misrepresentation. – nemski
Not Perry Hood, FYI
You fucking clowns are still taklking about this? X Stryker has a point. The story did generate a great deal of comments… from the same dozen people… This was an internet broadcast that nobody outside a subgroup and a special interest of a club listened to. It’s off the air because it is a totally untenable “product” (and I use that term loosely). No let’s just move on with our lives… Can’t Nemski post some more terrible music videos or something…
Can’t Nemski post some more terrible music videos or something…
LOL.
Everyone should be watching Chad Vader videos.
You know what’s funny is that there are more comments here than there were ever listeners of DTR.
Post #81 was not posted by me! h/t RSmitty
I actually enjoyed DTR very much and am sorry to see them temporarily off the air. Sure, there were some growing pains, but the overall quality was high, professional and very informative.
Perry, I struck #81. Sorry for any convenience.
Thanks, nemski!