Did Entercom go shopping at The Phoenix on Black Friday?

[wprt949]

well if WEEI makes its move to the fm

they might have to get a younger morning show

 

[jenbonair]

WEEI is losing money..the whole rate structure is built around being only game in town...tough times for Julie and Jason...98.5 is the new king...weei is stale..wrko is a mess...nice job wolfie...maybe bring back reese and scotto...haha haha

 

[EnterCommunicator]

It's amazing the difference in production between the two stations. Personal opinions of hosts aside, listening to 98.5 just feels so much more vibrant than WEEI's content. The intros and other bits sound fresh whereas 'eei has been running the same stuff forever (and this isn't just FM vs AM, I listen via the internet at work where the difference between delivery formats is nullified).

Wolfe and Kahn have really dropped the ball in standing by and watching the new guy run right up behind them and take the lead.

edit: All those years of puffing out their chests proclaiming they were ratings kings while having no real competition seems to have fostered quite the backlash now that there's another game in town.

 

[Don Juannn]

edit: All those years of puffing out their chests proclaiming they were ratings kings while having no real competition seems to have fostered quite the backlash now that there's another game in town.

Can anyone share whats going on inside WEEI?

Anyone with an inside perspective?

 

[Laurence Glavin]

AFAIK there was no pressing need to get off the Medford tower up behind Malden Hospital, especially with the translator covering downtown

Now, 'FNX is limited to a couple hundred watts toward the South Shore-they have a worse signal there that they used to have from Medford, even though they are physically closer. Originally 'FNX had a CP to run 3 kW ERP from about halfway up the Medford tower-I was the one that insisted on the tower top. I did so for several reasons. First, Frank DiRico was just beginning to develop the tower-and having the antenna part way up would have meant going off the air a LOT when climbers were on the tower. Second, we did a shadowing study and found that downtown Boston multipath would have been MUCH worse from lower down the tower. Finally, the power hit was less than 3 db (1650 watts vs 3000 watts), and the extra 140 feet also pushed the 1 mv contour out a few extra miles to the west (you used to be able to listen to 'FNX clearly within pretty much the entire 495 corridor (except due south toward 101.5); now it barely covers the 128 corridor). Finally, there was a reason the antenna was positioned on the pole the way it was-it blew about 4 db more power in the vertical plane towards downtown Boston then a 'real' non-directional antenna. It would have been even more, but the Phoenix botched the leasing process with Harvard and we wound up having to use a 3 inch mounting pole instead of a 5 inch one. The irony was that the complimentary null went right over Lynn, the city of license.

You're bringING tears to my eyes because at one time, Harvard considered putting WHRB up there. It would have prevented a station on 95.3 in Southern Maine, and perhaps allowed a later signal improvement for WHRB.

 

[RIPStar937]

I don't know if this would matter or not but WMKK stopped transmitting their HD2 signal last week

 

[raccoonradio]

yes I am using my port. HD now--no HD2 or HD3 (WEEI). It just keeps saying HD seek...WBOS HD2 comes in but not 93.7 and I am close to 93.7. They are still streaming Funkytown (which was on the WMKK-HD2) at http://star937fm.com/

Maybe saving money? tech issues?

 

[blackgold]

I called WFNX radio last Monday and they said, "No, they have not been sold to Entrecom." The deal never happened.

 

[raccoonradio]

Weekly Dig and B Phoenix are competing papers/on-line etc. All the W-Dig guy had to say was the rumor and people jumped on it; the fact that he was the only one saying it was an indication it was false. At first the denials by both sides led to speculation that well, maybe they are dealing but can't let the cat out of the bag just yet...anything could happen but so far it seems just a rumor by a competitor

 

[Don Juannn]

I called WFNX radio last Monday and they said, "No, they have not been sold to Entrecom." The deal never happened.

Well, I guess that settles it! ;-)

Psst! It's wouldn't be the first time the people working at the station didn't know the corporate honchos we scheming to sell.

 

[raccoonradio]

So far my attitude is:
--only one entity has said the deal is happening, the Weekly Dig. Competitor to Boston Phoenix.

--it is still slightly possible and Entercom and BPhoenix bigwigs could be denying it but it could still
happen, who knows. And yes the folks who answer the phones may either not know about a deal
or have been told to not tell anyone about it. Not likely to happen, but I wouldn't rule anything out.

--Deals may be in works but fall apart; see similar posts pointing out how Carr was ready to start at WTKK; Nassau was going to have Entercom as a partner in 99.5 and set up a WEEI sports network at its properties. Deal...fell...apart. (With Howie btw I understand Greater was giving out "Carr (candy) bars" to promote their new property--Howie would later give them away himself--and
the WTKK re-designed webpage was ready for The Howie Carr Show, mornings. There was even a URL registered for howicarr969.com or something similar.

So it could happen, who knows. One thing's for sure: if Mike did move to 101.7 they wouldn't have such a strong signal--OK in many areas but not as good as 93.7. So they could still have a money tree in the variety hits/no DJs category but it would be more like a small blueberry bush