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Sunday, January 10, 2016

A Viewer Writes: Where is WBOC Chopper 16?

Hey Joe,

Where is WBOC Chopper 16? They keep saying on their news show opener " and Chopper 16 covering the entire peninsula" , but it's not covering the entire peninsula because gone. It hasn't been seen since before Christmas. The helicopter is gone and the hangar it was housed in at Salisbury Airport for the past 11 years has been cleaned out and vacated. WBOC news and Bob Bryant, the airport manager married to Lisa Bryant at WBOC, is very hush-hush about it. I wonder what happened to it and why they keep pretending it's here. My kids and I were big fans of it and sorry to see it gone with not so much a word from WBOC.

Have you heard anything about it?

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obama gave it to isis

Anonymous said...

I've always thought they kept it in the station's back yard since I've always seen it flying in and out of there. I live up here at the north end so seeing it landing there is a pretty regular thing for years.

Anonymous said...

I hope it is gone for good. It was worthless. Never contributed to the story. The annoying part was if they did use it, they would also put up a flying copter graphic covering the bottom corner of the screen as if to tell us we were too dumb to realize it was being shot from a helicopter. Got sick of "my friends at Johnny Jonasick".. That store sucks. Better off at Ashley Furniture or Furnitureland.

Anonymous said...

Who really cares , I don't watch WBOC anymore. Maybe it died.

Anonymous said...

I like choppers , state police are the best . They rescue people , save lives and catch criminals they are very good for our society.

Anonymous said...

Probably had to unload that cash eating monster,it doesn't make money just costs.

Anonymous said...

It was just used for sceen shots but you can bet it was costing $.

Anonymous said...

Dan said they would sell it. (lame I know)

Anonymous said...

I refuse to watch those local channels because I have Directv and thanks to our locals,I cannot get the NYC Fox channel and I miss all the Giants games. If I am willing to pay for it,what right does the local affiliate have to block it???? WRDE is the worst....the owner is on radio ads begging people to remember to watch HIS NBC local,yet that channel has outages all the time.Some of us preferred NYC and Philly locals.

Anonymous said...

Captain Willie is taking drone flying lessons. Much cheaper.

Anonymous said...

Is there a logical reason why someone from WBOC doesn't chime in and explain?

JoeAlbero said...

WRDE broadcast is horrible 8:29. Follow the bouncing ball with WBOC. Everyone out there has known for years that radio has been dying and barely hanging in there. WBOC found a station that was about to go under and picked it up for next to nothing and bailed them out. I have absolutely nothing against that. However, their TV station is also failing, hence our numbers announced on New Years Day. We saw the same thing happen with the Daily Times.

Advertisers have the opportunity to reach a larger audience for $100.00 a month. Smart advertisers realize you and I are muting the commercials and not even watching them any more, so they're not getting any new business from them.

Now a viewer questions, where's the chopper? Who knows, it could be in for service, it could have been sold.

What I do know is, local TV stations are crumbling and we have a plan to take over that market, unless you want to watch the news at 6 AM, 7 AM, 8 AM, Noon, 4 PM, 5 PM, 6 PM, 7 PM, 10 PM, & 11 PM? Most of which you've already seen on SBYNews.

We had a choice. Hook up with WRDE or start our own broadcast, we choose to do our own. It turns out it was the right move. Even the shows on WRDE, the voice doesn't match up with the mouth when people speak. There's a delay and it drives everyone nuts on just about every show they broadcast.

The only good thing WBOC did with their new radio station was pick up Joe Edwards. Joe is a great guy with incredible knowledge of the Shore.

I'm pretty sure SBYNews will have better content though. Time will tell.

Anonymous said...

Joe is buying the helicopter?

JoeAlbero said...

8:56, Aside from a purchase, (which is a lot of money) helicopters cost $300.00 an hour in fuel alone. Then there's the cost of an on call pilot.

No, I think we'll stick to Drones instead.

Anonymous said...

One word. Drone.

Anonymous said...

The state police said their helicopter total cost per hr was 2 grand. Yikes!

Anonymous said...

I have to call you out on this one, Joe. No way chopper cost $300/hr to fly when gas is like $1.80 a gallon.

JoeAlbero said...

OK 9:49, Let's get real for just a minute. Do you actually believe the fuel that is used to fly a helicopter is the regular unleaded fuel used for cars???

Anonymous said...

$300 an hour was cost of maintenance. Every part on a helicopter is rated for time and replacement. The demands of flight on a helicopter are extreme. FAA requires every so many hours to replace this bolt, this nut, this support, blades, engine over hauls.

$300 hour includes that type of cost.

He is probably low on the cost.

Anonymous said...

WBOC never owned Chopper 16. It was leased from US Helicopters. Besides the fuel expense, it cost @ $500 per ignitor to start it and the cost to Pat Nelms to fly it. I enjoyed Captain Willey and his helicopter stories but they became repeats after he lost his flight medical. Just another wasted expense, they never go out via helicopter or vehicle to get the real late breaking news.

Anonymous said...

47 news did a piece last night on rolly polly and the other place. I chuckled when I realized it took them two days to get an easy story. Then I noticed it was at the top of your top articles and realized they simply took it from you guys.

Anonymous said...

It's way more than $300. Closer to $2500 per hour total cost of operation. Always wondered how a second rate local TV station could keep that going.

Anonymous said...

Love Joe Edwards. Great guy. Joe A. you should hire him and take over ALL the media.

Anonymous said...

I always enjoyed the views flying over Delmarva, thanks for the coverage. ( There are some nasty people on here leaving messages.)

Anonymous said...

They probably sold it to help pay for their new radio station that they purchased.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
The state police said their helicopter total cost per hr was 2 grand. Yikes!

January 6, 2016 at 9:37 AM

There is one key word in your statement that explains everything.

"State"

bayman said...

I know someone who works there. I will find out what is going on.