Still Alive at 65! That is WDIA's current promotional slogan. I am not sure if it inspires confidence in the station's future but a 65th anniversary is definitely something for a radio station to celebrate.
And WDIA still sounds good. Very local and community focused in mornings and talk programming (blocks in late morning and late morning), music still sounds wonderful (how many stations still play 60s R and B like The Impressions, The Dells, and Jerry Butler?) and DJs have been added back to some dayparts after big cuts in the past several years. Bobby O'Jay morning show hasn't changed a bit. Stan Bell does a great nighttime oldies show and Stormy in the afternoons is clearly focused on the middle-aged female listener. Late nights and weekends are still primarily music-only without DJs including much of the All Blues Saturday. I still really miss the Davis Brothers and Captain Curtis Lee. I don't think the Sunday gospel programming has been touched. WDIA really has been burned by the PPMs, a perennial top 10 if not top 5 station until a few years ago, it was 16th in the latest Memphis ratings.
And WDIA still sounds good. Very local and community focused in mornings and talk programming (blocks in late morning and late morning), music still sounds wonderful (how many stations still play 60s R and B like The Impressions, The Dells, and Jerry Butler?) and DJs have been added back to some dayparts after big cuts in the past several years. Bobby O'Jay morning show hasn't changed a bit. Stan Bell does a great nighttime oldies show and Stormy in the afternoons is clearly focused on the middle-aged female listener. Late nights and weekends are still primarily music-only without DJs including much of the All Blues Saturday. I still really miss the Davis Brothers and Captain Curtis Lee. I don't think the Sunday gospel programming has been touched. WDIA really has been burned by the PPMs, a perennial top 10 if not top 5 station until a few years ago, it was 16th in the latest Memphis ratings.