Last year WBAL made a disastrous decision to drop Rush Limbaugh from its schedule. The result-- listeners flocked to rival stations, especially WCBM 680 which has seen a significant ratings boost. Once the undisputed leader in the Baltimore market WBAL, in the latest ratings,
dropped all the way to sixth.
Granted, dropping Rush was not the only problem at WBAL. They also lost the right to broadcast Orioles baseball. But their research had told them that there was a demand for local programming and so they switched to local hosts who talk incessantly about what is going on with city council, the county commissioners, the mayor's office, etc. You can only take so much of that stuff, especially the whining about electric rates. One of those hosts, Chip Franklin, is fed up with WBAL management and is leaving for San Diego. The decline continues.
When I first moved to Baltimore, many years ago, WBAL was the station to listen to. Not any more. Now I mostly listen to Washington stations.
Read about it here.
