Nathan Obral said:SauceOnSide said:This is true -- ESPN is notorious for bullying affiliates into carrying Mike & Mike. It's too bad since a stronger morning show could help with the cume for most ESPN Radio affiliates out there. If Rover was really #1 in men (and presumably #1 M12+ would also translate to M18-49 and M25-54) then it seems strange that Entercom would drop him unless ESPN insisted on clearing M&M in Memphis.Nathan Obral said:WMFS is kinda forced to drop Rover and simulcast Mike & Mike, not because of the FCC or any regulations... but really because of ESPN Radio's insistance that Mike & Mike get clearances on almost all of their affiliates.
It would be a different story if Mike and Mike were... I dunno... good? And that's not considering the fact that if you can't hear them on the radio, you can see them on ESPN2, listen on ESPN Radio's website, or read their commenatary on ESPN: The Magazine. So why force stations to carry something rather pathetic that's already seen and heard everywhere?
I do wonder how other affiliates - like Cleveland's WKNR (my station of record) and Washington's WTEM (owned by Redskins owner Dan Snyder) - would be off if they didn't have to carry Mike & Mike. Chances are they would be way better. (WKNR uses the excuse that Mike Golic is a Cleveland native... but his brother Bob - who played for the Browns - actually still lives in the area and works drive-time for an FM talker in Akron, among other things.)
That, and the fact that ESPN actually charges non-O&O affiliates (including 92.9/680) over $10K to use all aspects of branding - even to air their programming in the first place! Clearly, the mafia is in control within the Brisol compound.
I betcha Entercom probably wishes off-hand that 680 was really a FSR affiliate... they might not have had this problem...
Well, they WERE a FSR affiliate when they started, and jumped to ESPN. Imagine if they were still FSR, and had Geoff & Gary and Vernon with the signal of 680? They could REALLY threaten 560 then.