A Non Conspiracy Theory on WEEI, Sports Radio

[fccfight]

Patti Smith holds her sins tight! in her version of "Gloria" ( a version of a song which would make some alleged Modern Rock stations sound brighter) - this
opinion is "mine", so it is no "Conspiracy Theory".

WEEI has phenomenal numbers - but the station is not accessible - content wise- for the majority of the population. Thus, have so many people evacuated from radio that when a couple of hugely popular teams are in a region - Red Sox and Patriots - that the void is filled by those fans, and they - in fact - are the majority of people listening to radio?

Has the audience dried up like George's Bank? Overfished and pushed away?

So it doesn't matter WHAT the competition is - Sports attracts radio listeners, everyone else has other things to do.

 

[Almo]

> Patti Smith holds her sins tight! in her version of "Gloria"
> ( a version of a song which would make some alleged Modern
> Rock stations sound brighter) - this
> opinion is "mine", so it is no "Conspiracy Theory".
>
> WEEI has phenomenal numbers - but the station is not
> accessible - content wise- for the majority of the
> population. Thus, have so many people evacuated from radio
> that when a couple of hugely popular teams are in a region -
> Red Sox and Patriots - that the void is filled by those
> fans, and they - in fact - are the majority of people
> listening to radio?
>
> Has the audience dried up like George's Bank? Overfished
> and pushed away?
>
> So it doesn't matter WHAT the competition is - Sports
> attracts radio listeners, everyone else has other things to
> do.
<font color=green> But other sports stations do poorly. WEEI kills the Score in Prov.,and the Zone and ESPN in Boston are nonfactors. I don't think it's talent,it's the format. If there was a complete personnel flip they would still be #1. The Red Sox are difference makers. And they are fortunate that the Pats are on FM "rock radio" rather than a competing sports station. </font>

 

[riradioguy]

I have friends (actually friend's wives) who like WEEI because it's "funny". They're not sports fans.



> > Patti Smith holds her sins tight! in her version of
> "Gloria"
> > ( a version of a song which would make some alleged Modern
>
> > Rock stations sound brighter) - this
> > opinion is "mine", so it is no "Conspiracy Theory".
> >
> > WEEI has phenomenal numbers - but the station is not
> > accessible - content wise- for the majority of the
> > population. Thus, have so many people evacuated from
> radio
> > that when a couple of hugely popular teams are in a region
> -
> > Red Sox and Patriots - that the void is filled by those
> > fans, and they - in fact - are the majority of people
> > listening to radio?
> >
> > Has the audience dried up like George's Bank? Overfished
> > and pushed away?
> >
> > So it doesn't matter WHAT the competition is - Sports
> > attracts radio listeners, everyone else has other things
> to
> > do.
> But other sports stations do poorly. WEEI kills the
> Score in Prov.,and the Zone and ESPN in Boston are
> nonfactors. I don't think it's talent,it's the format. If
> there was a complete personnel flip they would still be #1.
> The Red Sox are difference makers. And they are fortunate
> that the Pats are on FM "rock radio" rather than a competing
> sports station.
>

 

[epsilon]

> > So it doesn't matter WHAT the competition is - Sports
> attracts radio listeners, everyone else has other things to
> do.
>

The thing about Sports Talk as opposed to regular talk radio which is mostly politics is that if you are not a political junkie (or perhaps even if you are) you may not have a position on the ins and outs of a particular issue (for example, is John Roberts qualified to be Chief Justice).

Even casual sports fans will have on opinion on whether Terry Francona left the starter in too long last night or if Bill Belichick should've abandoned the running game and gone more to the passig game. Sports fans (especially in Boston) love to bitch about the the local teams, which is what I think draws them to the station.

 

[MrAl]

WEEI is, by definition, a sports talk station but on that station, it's more about the personalities and their idiosyncracies than the straight sports talk you get on stations in other markets... WIP in Philly, WFAN in NY--it's less about the personalities and more about actual sports talk although the morning guy in Philly, Angelo Cataldi, would probably fit in on WEEI...

 

[FMRadio1]

WFAN and WIP deviate from sports just as much as WEEI does, if not more. WIP will be a bit more sports intensive during football season, but the rest of the year they will talk about movies, gambling, and other non-sports subjects of interest to their demos--even more often than WEEI. As far as WFAN goes, Mike & The Mad Dog also go off topic, and they are their most popular talk show. Successful sports outlets mix in other topics. Stations that strictly keep it all sports and aim for the sports junkies only usually have fairly low ratings.

Mike Thomas

> WEEI is, by definition, a sports talk station but on that
> station, it's more about the personalities and their
> idiosyncracies than the straight sports talk you get on
> stations in other markets... WIP in Philly, WFAN in NY--it's
> less about the personalities and more about actual sports
> talk although the morning guy in Philly, Angelo Cataldi,
> would probably fit in on WEEI...
>

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

>>I have friends (actually friend's wives) who like WEEI because it's "funny". They're not sports fans.<<

Right there, that says it all. To be successful, talk radio must, first, last and always, ENTERTAIN. It doesn't matter whether it's political talk, sports talk, financial talk, sexual talk or any of the other talk genres. Every successful talk radio station has been highly entertaining. I'm not a sports fan either, but listening to the obviously passionate arguments on The Big Show, complete with raised voices and people talking past each other, is entertaining enough for me to stick around.