Delilah Rene
Encyclopedia
Delilah Rene Luke almost always known mononymously as Delilah, is an American radio personality, author, and songwriter, best known as the host of a nationally syndicated nightly U.S. radio song request and dedication program, with an estimated 8 million listeners.
local time although a few stations (such as WRCH
) air the show from midnight to 5 a.m. She takes calls from listeners, providing encouragement and receiving musical dedication requests and describes herself as "the queen of sappy love songs."
One of the cornerstones of Delilah's show is its use of callers. Most of the time the caller tells Delilah their situation or story and then Delilah chooses the song that she feels best matches the caller's situation. Callers are recorded during the show and replayed later, sometimes within the hour during the show. She also plays songs by direct request.
Originally heard only on weeknights, stations that carry Delilah have the option of carrying the show six or even seven nights a week, with most stations doing so at least one night of the weekend (usually Sunday) in addition to the weeknight show.
There are several versions of the program that are available. The most common formats are as follows:
The network also used to provide a three-hour Canadian content
-compliant version of the show for stations in Canada, mostly the EZ Rock
stations, but the few Canadian stations currently carrying the show now carry the American version, occasionally with local substitutions to comply with the CanCon regulations.
Delilah's show includes "Friday Nite Girls", a "fan club"-style feature in which Delilah honors groups of her regular female listeners with prizes. She occasionally also calls certain "Friday Nite Girls" chapters and speaks with them live on the air. Delilah also airs a "Delilah Dilemma" each evening in the first hour of the broadcast.
. Delilah moved to Premiere Radio Networks
in 2004, where she remains to this day. Jim Ryan, the Director of AC music programming for CBS Radio, is a consultant to the program.
Many of the stations carrying Delilah's show were owned by Premiere parent Clear Channel Communications
, which led to speculation that Clear Channel would drop similar locally-produced "lovesongs" programs in New York and Los Angeles in order to place Delilah on the air in the nation's top two radio markets. In November 2006, WLTW
in New York began carrying Delilah, after longtime evening hostess J.J. Kennedy was laid-off as part of a major company-wide layoff at Clear Channel (In addition, the version of the Delilah show that runs on WLTW is a separate specially tailored version of the show produced just for that station, with music programmed by local WLTW Programming). In 2007, longtime lovesongs host Zoe Bonet was dropped from KODA
Houston and replaced with Delilah.
Los Angeles
is the largest market not currently served by Delilah. KBIG-FM
104.3 in Los Angeles carried a modified version of Delilah custom-fit to the station's rhythmic AC
format from January to September 2007; when the station switched formats, Delilah was dropped. KOST
, the Clear Channel-owned adult contemporary station in Los Angeles, currently offers a local lovesongs host in the time slot instead.
Other stations having dropped Delilah with no replacement station in the market included KESZ
in Phoenix, Arizona
in November 2009; and KQXT
in San Antonio, Texas
in August 2010.
The show's current flagship station is KRWM
in Seattle
, a station owned by Sandusky Broadcasting.
Delilah says that her show is a "safety zone where listeners take off their armor, slip into a 'Mr. Rogers' cardigan, sit around the electronic hearth and share their secrets."
. Her on-air persona is said to be remarkably identical to her real personality. Because of her personal experience with the foster care system, Delilah has established a foundation called Point Hope as a voice for forgotten children everywhere. Point Hope's immediate focus is on alleviating the suffering of Liberian refugees who are camped at Buduburam
, a refugee camp that was established in Ghana following the Liberian civil war.
Delilah has written two books, Love Someone Today and Love Matters, the latter of which was released in October 2008. Delilah lives in South Kitsap
, WA with her children.
She voiced Sarah in the VeggieTales
episode Abe and the Amazing Promise
released by Big Idea Productions.
magazine. Other finalists included Blair Garner
, Steve Harvey
, Kidd Kraddick
, The Lia Show
, and John Tesh
.
Format
The program, known simply as Delilah (or, alternatively, as Love Songs with Delilah or Delilah After Dark) begins at 7 p.m. and ends at midnightMidnight
Midnight is the transition time period from one day to the next: the moment when the date changes. In the Roman time system, midnight was halfway between sunset and sunrise, varying according to the seasons....
local time although a few stations (such as WRCH
WRCH
WRCH is a radio station in the Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. area and broadcasts at 100.5 FM with an Adult contemporary format. Its transmitter is located on Rattlesnake Mountain with antenna on the WTIC-TV tower, with a backup transmitter in "Radio Park" behind the Connecticut School of Broadcasting...
) air the show from midnight to 5 a.m. She takes calls from listeners, providing encouragement and receiving musical dedication requests and describes herself as "the queen of sappy love songs."
One of the cornerstones of Delilah's show is its use of callers. Most of the time the caller tells Delilah their situation or story and then Delilah chooses the song that she feels best matches the caller's situation. Callers are recorded during the show and replayed later, sometimes within the hour during the show. She also plays songs by direct request.
Originally heard only on weeknights, stations that carry Delilah have the option of carrying the show six or even seven nights a week, with most stations doing so at least one night of the weekend (usually Sunday) in addition to the weeknight show.
There are several versions of the program that are available. The most common formats are as follows:
- Mainstream Adult Contemporary (AC): This is the most widely distributed version of the show between January and early November. It airs the usual adult contemporary musicAdult contemporary musicAdult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1950s and 1960s vocal music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence, as well as a radio format that plays such music....
and is geared towards Adults and their families. This is the version heard on most stations. - Gold-based AC: A version of the show that features several older hits.
- Christmas musicChristmas musicChristmas music comprises a variety of genres of music normally performed or heard around the Christmas season, which tends to begin in the months leading up the actual holiday and end in the weeks shortly thereafter.-Early:...
: This is the only version that is produced live between the day of ThanksgivingThanksgivingThanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
and ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
Day. It features all Christmas music, mainly because most of the stations that carry the show switch over to the format. Stations that do not switch to Christmas music at that time can receive repeats of previous programs. Likewise, those who change before the day of Thanksgiving can get repeats of the previous years' Christmas shows until the changeover takes place.
The network also used to provide a three-hour Canadian content
Canadian content
Canadian content refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requirements that radio and television broadcasters must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from...
-compliant version of the show for stations in Canada, mostly the EZ Rock
EZ Rock
EZ Rock is a brand of adult contemporary music radio stations heard primarily in Canada. The branding was originally created by Telemedia in the mid-1990s for its adult contemporary stations, and based on the call sign of its former Toronto flagship CJEZ .Telemedia was later acquired by Standard...
stations, but the few Canadian stations currently carrying the show now carry the American version, occasionally with local substitutions to comply with the CanCon regulations.
Delilah's show includes "Friday Nite Girls", a "fan club"-style feature in which Delilah honors groups of her regular female listeners with prizes. She occasionally also calls certain "Friday Nite Girls" chapters and speaks with them live on the air. Delilah also airs a "Delilah Dilemma" each evening in the first hour of the broadcast.
Distribution
The show was originally syndicated by Broadcast Programming in the late 1990s, which was later bought by Jones Radio NetworksJones Radio Networks
Jones Radio Networks & Jones Media Group were branches of Jones International before being sold to Triton Media Group. JRN and JMN provide local radio stations with satellite-delivered formats. They also offer other services to local radio such as news and talk programs, syndicated radio shows,...
. Delilah moved to Premiere Radio Networks
Premiere Radio Networks
Premiere Networks is an American radio network. It is the largest syndication company in the United States based on popularity of programming...
in 2004, where she remains to this day. Jim Ryan, the Director of AC music programming for CBS Radio, is a consultant to the program.
Many of the stations carrying Delilah's show were owned by Premiere parent Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
, which led to speculation that Clear Channel would drop similar locally-produced "lovesongs" programs in New York and Los Angeles in order to place Delilah on the air in the nation's top two radio markets. In November 2006, WLTW
WLTW
WLTW is a radio station with an Adult Contemporary format in New York City.The station is often number one or close to it in Arbitron ratings for New York City. From 2002 to 2004, the station generated more revenue than any other radio station in the New York market...
in New York began carrying Delilah, after longtime evening hostess J.J. Kennedy was laid-off as part of a major company-wide layoff at Clear Channel (In addition, the version of the Delilah show that runs on WLTW is a separate specially tailored version of the show produced just for that station, with music programmed by local WLTW Programming). In 2007, longtime lovesongs host Zoe Bonet was dropped from KODA
Koda
Koda may refer to:*Ehretia acuminata , a tree from China, Japan, New Guinea and Australia*KODA, callsign of a Houston FM radio station*KODA , the collecting society for songwriters, composers and music publishers of Denmark...
Houston and replaced with Delilah.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
is the largest market not currently served by Delilah. KBIG-FM
KBIG-FM
KBIG-FM is an FM radio station in Los Angeles, California, owned by Clear Channel. The station plays a Hot Adult Contemporary format heavy on music from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.-Early years:...
104.3 in Los Angeles carried a modified version of Delilah custom-fit to the station's rhythmic AC
Rhythmic Adult Contemporary
Rhythmic adult contemporary is a format used on stations in the United States and Canada. It usually gears toward an older audience, ages 25 to 54. Stations using this format play disco from the 1970s and early 1980s, dance/pop music, adult-friendly hip hop/old school tracks, R&B, dance/freestyle...
format from January to September 2007; when the station switched formats, Delilah was dropped. KOST
KOST
KOST is a radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, with an adult contemporary musical format. It is one of three adult contemporary formatted radio station in the Los Angeles/Orange County area, the others being sister station KBIG and CBS-owned KTWV...
, the Clear Channel-owned adult contemporary station in Los Angeles, currently offers a local lovesongs host in the time slot instead.
Other stations having dropped Delilah with no replacement station in the market included KESZ
KESZ
KESZ, 99.9KEZ-FM, is an Adult Contemporary outlet based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Clear Channel Communications station broadcasts at 99.9 MHz with an ERP of 99 kW.-History:...
in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
in November 2009; and KQXT
KQXT
KQXT-FM is a San Antonio, Texas, adult contemporary/christmas radio station operating with 100,000 watts from a transmitter site on the Tower of the Americas in downtown San Antonio...
in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
in August 2010.
The show's current flagship station is KRWM
KRWM
KRWM , "Warm 106.9", is an Adult Contemporary radio station serving the Puget Sound region. The Sandusky Broadcasting outlet broadcasts at 106.9 MHz with an ERP of 49 kW and is licensed to Bremerton, Washington...
in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, a station owned by Sandusky Broadcasting.
Audience
Usually finishing within the top three radio programs nationwide, the program is especially popular among women between the ages of 25 and 54 http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070129/20070129006444.html?.v=1.Delilah says that her show is a "safety zone where listeners take off their armor, slip into a 'Mr. Rogers' cardigan, sit around the electronic hearth and share their secrets."
Personal life
Delilah is a single mother of nine children, five of whom are adopted. Delilah has been married (and divorced) three times, which she tells as a common joke on the show or she uses it as advice for her callers. She is a public advocate of adoptionAdoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
. Her on-air persona is said to be remarkably identical to her real personality. Because of her personal experience with the foster care system, Delilah has established a foundation called Point Hope as a voice for forgotten children everywhere. Point Hope's immediate focus is on alleviating the suffering of Liberian refugees who are camped at Buduburam
Buduburam
Buduburam is a refugee camp located west of Accra, Ghana. Opened by the UNHCR in 1990, the camp is home to more than 12,000 refugees from Liberia who fled their country during the First Liberian Civil War and the Second Liberian Civil War , in addition to refugees from Sierra Leone who also...
, a refugee camp that was established in Ghana following the Liberian civil war.
Delilah has written two books, Love Someone Today and Love Matters, the latter of which was released in October 2008. Delilah lives in South Kitsap
Kitsap
Kitsap may refer to:*Kitsap County, Washington*The Kitsap Peninsula, a peninsula in western Washington state, lying between Hood Canal and Puget Sound.*Chief Kitsap, a Suquamish Indian for whom the county was named...
, WA with her children.
She voiced Sarah in the VeggieTales
VeggieTales
VeggieTales is an American series of children's computer animated films featuring anthropomorphic vegetables in stories conveying moral themes based on Christianity...
episode Abe and the Amazing Promise
Abe and the Amazing Promise
Abe and the Amazing Promise is the 37th episode in the VeggieTales series, and it was released on winter of 2009. It is written by Phil Vischer. It is narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK version, and Michael Brandon in the US version. It is the first VeggieTales episode released in 2009. It is...
released by Big Idea Productions.
Awards
In 2007, the show was nominated for the Syndicated Personality/Show of the Year award by Radio & RecordsRadio & Records
Radio & Records was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It originally started out as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006, up until its final issue in 2009.-History:The company was founded in 1973 and...
magazine. Other finalists included Blair Garner
Blair Garner
Blair Garner is an American radio personality. According to his After MidNite with Blair Garner show website, he purchased his first car at age 12. He is the host of the syndicated radio programs After MidNite with Blair Garner and The Blair Garner Show...
, Steve Harvey
Steve Harvey
Broderick Steven "Steve" Harvey is an American actor, comedian, entertainer, television and radio personality and best-selling author. He is best known as the star of the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, and as one of the four comedians featured in the Spike Lee film The Original Kings of Comedy...
, Kidd Kraddick
Kidd Kraddick
Kidd Kraddick is an American radio host. His nationally-syndicated morning radio show, Kidd Kraddick in the Morning, is based in Las Colinas, Texas, in Irving, a suburb of Dallas, and airs throughout the United States, syndicated by Kraddick's company, Yea Network.-Early life:Kraddick was born on...
, The Lia Show
The Lia Show
The Lia Show, formerly known as Neon Nights, is a nationally syndicated country music and entertainment radio program hosted by Lia Knight . The program airs nightly from 7 pm to midnight locally across the United States...
, and John Tesh
John Tesh
John Frank Tesh is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2 Million listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in US, Canada, and the UK...
.
See also
- The Lia ShowThe Lia ShowThe Lia Show, formerly known as Neon Nights, is a nationally syndicated country music and entertainment radio program hosted by Lia Knight . The program airs nightly from 7 pm to midnight locally across the United States...
-- a country music show based upon the Delilah format, also based in Seattle - John TeshJohn TeshJohn Frank Tesh is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2 Million listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in US, Canada, and the UK...
- one of Delilah's competitors