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From Boston Radio Watch

O

onradioct

The following was posted on boston radio watch earlier this week. I'll take out some pieces and parts so it's not an illegal posting... but how much validity is there to this story? It makes sense for the Sox of course, with ownership who is obviously working to squeeze every penny from the franchise... but what of the Sox relationship with WEEI?

WRSX - Red Sox FM 102.5?. Billboard Radio Monitor reported that the initial bids were due last Friday for Charles River Broadcasting's WCRB 102.5FM....
there are whispers around Yawkee Way that FSG(Fenway Sports Group), the super-savvy media arm of the Boston Red Sox would like to leverage its NESN-empire to acquire an FM talk station to run the team's games in 2007 and perhaps even launch the first FM sports talk in the market.
 
> The following was posted on boston radio watch earlier this
> week. I'll take out some pieces and parts so it's not an
> illegal posting... but how much validity is there to this
> story? It makes sense for the Sox of course, with ownership
> who is obviously working to squeeze every penny from the
> franchise... but what of the Sox relationship with WEEI?
>
> WRSX - Red Sox FM 102.5?. Billboard Radio Monitor reported
> that the initial bids were due last Friday for Charles River
> Broadcasting's WCRB 102.5FM....
> there are whispers around Yawkee Way that FSG(Fenway Sports
> Group), the super-savvy media arm of the Boston Red Sox
> would like to leverage its NESN-empire to acquire an FM talk
> station to run the team's games in 2007 and perhaps even
> launch the first FM sports talk in the market.
>

Bologna


Why waste money?
You've already got WTKK, WRKO, WBZ, WEEI, ESPN radio (and how is the Zone doing these days?).

And, if there was need for Sports talk on FM in Boston, Entercom could just throw WEEI on 93.7.

Great, now look what I've just started....
 
> > The following was posted on boston radio watch earlier
> this
> > week. I'll take out some pieces and parts so it's not an
> > illegal posting... but how much validity is there to this
> > story? It makes sense for the Sox of course, with
> ownership
> > who is obviously working to squeeze every penny from the
> > franchise... but what of the Sox relationship with WEEI?
> >
> > WRSX - Red Sox FM 102.5?. Billboard Radio Monitor reported
>
> > that the initial bids were due last Friday for Charles
> River
> > Broadcasting's WCRB 102.5FM....
> > there are whispers around Yawkee Way that FSG(Fenway
> Sports
> > Group), the super-savvy media arm of the Boston Red Sox
> > would like to leverage its NESN-empire to acquire an FM
> talk
> > station to run the team's games in 2007 and perhaps even
> > launch the first FM sports talk in the market.
> >
>
> Bologna
>
>
> Why waste money?
> You've already got WTKK, WRKO, WBZ, WEEI, ESPN radio (and
> how is the Zone doing these days?).
>
> And, if there was need for Sports talk on FM in Boston,
> Entercom could just throw WEEI on 93.7.
>
> Great, now look what I've just started....
<font color=green>RS baseball could easily be talked 24/7,year round. But I don't think the RS want to get in the business.Why not bid and get a bit more leverage: Bosox next contract will likely be done, in early '06?</font>
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Almo on 12/11/05 01:14 AM.</FONT></P>
 
national trend is for teams buying stations to put the games on...
> >
> > Why waste money?
> > You've already got WTKK, WRKO, WBZ, WEEI, ESPN radio (and
> > how is the Zone doing these days?).
> >
> > And, if there was need for Sports talk on FM in Boston,
> > Entercom could just throw WEEI on 93.7.
> >
> > Great, now look what I've just started....
> RS baseball could easily be talked 24/7,year round. But I
> don't think the RS want to get in the business.Why not bid
> and get a bit more leverage: your next contract will likely
> be done, in early '06?
>
 
Another sports station?

> The following was posted on boston radio watch earlier this
> week. I'll take out some pieces and parts so it's not an
> illegal posting... but how much validity is there to this
> story? It makes sense for the Sox of course, with ownership
> who is obviously working to squeeze every penny from the
> franchise... but what of the Sox relationship with WEEI?
>
> WRSX - Red Sox FM 102.5?. Billboard Radio Monitor reported
> that the initial bids were due last Friday for Charles River
> Broadcasting's WCRB 102.5FM....
> there are whispers around Yawkee Way that FSG(Fenway Sports
> Group), the super-savvy media arm of the Boston Red Sox
> would like to leverage its NESN-empire to acquire an FM talk
> station to run the team's games in 2007 and perhaps even
> launch the first FM sports talk in the market.
>
My goodness aren't there enough full time sports stations in Boston? And aren't there enough under-performing, 0 ratings sports outlets? This in addition to sports part time on other major radio outlets.
 
Re: Another sports station?

While your opinion is well-shared by many, consider what's driving
the ratings of WEEI: despite the Patriots winning 3 of the last 4
Vincent T. Lombardi trophies, the Olde Towne Team of 4 Yawkey Way
is by far the #1 topic year-round on `EEI. To have a "Sox Station"
in the market would pull at least a decent cume & TSL of the current
listenership (if not duplicate). It'd wouldn't be a top-5 biller or
ratings station, even in the 25-54 male demo because of the likelihood
of cume duplication. But, it would put a bit of a dent in `EEI.

Would I do it as a broadcaster? Probably not. But if I had money to burn,
what the heck??

My 2¢.


> My goodness aren't there enough full time sports stations in
> Boston? And aren't there enough under-performing, 0 ratings
> sports outlets? This in addition to sports part time on
> other major radio outlets.
>
<P ID="signature">______________

AIM - bostonrandy

</P>
 
The Red Sox purchasing their own radio station might work out for them. Instead of just receiving X number of dollars of year for radio broadcast rights, they would keep all the profits of their radio station, which might be more than the broadcast rights fees they would be able to charge.

If the Sox do purchase their own station, it may be the death knell of WEEI-850 as a sports station. For one thing, I think the Sox may try to hire away most (if not all) of WEEI's current sports talk hosts. For another, without the Sox, WEEI's audience would nosedive.

But, anybody who purchases WCRB-102.5 will face a major problem: Were it to be changed away from classical music, there would be a considerable outcry.

If Charles River Broadcasting decides to sell-off it's assets, perhaps it might want to turn around and buy WFNX-101.7 and donate it to a nonprofit group, who would operate it as a 24/7 classical outlet. Perhaps the nonprofit group can be organized in such a way that 101.7 could not be sold or have it's format changed from classical music.

I would think that after selling-off their current stations, Charles River would only have to pay a relatively-small fraction of the proceeds they got by selling the other stations to buy 101.7 and then to donate it, which could help reduce the amount of taxes Charles River might have to pay on the sale proceeds.

Granted, 101.7 doesn't have the signal of 102.5, but the new 101.7 signal (I don't know if WFNX is broadcasting with it yet) will cover areas inside of Route 495, and I would think the great majority of WCRB listeners reside within 495, if not with Route 128.

And with 101.7 a commercial frequency, and classical music a relatively inexpensive format to run, a nonprofit group probably can operate a 24/7 classical station on 101.7 and plow whatever profits it makes back into the station. This way, they won't join the various noncommercial stations running periodic pledge drives.
 
I have no idea what you just said but I think it was insane.

FNX is not going classical as long as Mindich breathes, much to my dismay at seeing the signal effectively wasted as FNX.
 
> If the Sox do purchase their own station, it may be the
> death knell of WEEI-850 as a sports station. For one thing,
> I think the Sox may try to hire away most (if not all) of
> WEEI's current sports talk hosts. For another, without the
> Sox, WEEI's audience would nosedive.

I can't see Boston supporting another sports station; we can't even support all three that we have. If they could get the WEEI hosts; then they would certainly have a good chance at success.

They'd likely need an affiliation as well for the overnight hours, and all three are taken.

The entire situation does leave a good question though; if the Red Sox are announced as the winner of 102.5, how many hours later will Entercom launch 93.7 WEEI or 107.3 WEEI?

> But, anybody who purchases WCRB-102.5 will face a major
> problem: Were it to be changed away from classical music,
> there would be a considerable outcry.

If 102.5 is sold, there's definately going to be a format change. There's no way that the investment of $100 million could be made up with the minimal billing of the station (which billed $8.6m last year), just like the well-known situation in Miami where WTMI 93.1 was killed after a sale from Marlin to Cox for $100m. Bonneville wasn't seeing the revenue in Chicago either, a city with two classical stations; where Bonneville junked classical WNIB 97.1 (and simulcast WNIZ 96.9) for a successful Classic Hits format after buying the duo for $165m.

> If Charles River Broadcasting decides to sell-off it's
> assets, perhaps it might want to turn around and buy
> WFNX-101.7 and donate it to a nonprofit group, who would
> operate it as a 24/7 classical outlet. Perhaps the nonprofit
> group can be organized in such a way that 101.7 could not be
> sold or have it's format changed from classical music.

Charles River is certainly selling WCRB in order to cash out while the market is good. Right now, Charles River Broadcasting is more of an investment firm than a radio station owner; and I can't really see them helping out the classical scene, which would be a nice gesture, while they are trying to make the most money possible.

> Granted, 101.7 doesn't have the signal of 102.5, but the new
> 101.7 signal (I don't know if WFNX is broadcasting with it
> yet) will cover areas inside of Route 495, and I would think
> the great majority of WCRB listeners reside within 495, if
> not with Route 128.

Signal would be an issue here. If listeners couldn't get the signal on 101.7, they could just listen to the other classical station, WGBH; as you can certainly bet that they're going to beef up their classical shows when WCRB becomes extinct.
 
> If Charles River Broadcasting decides to sell-off it's
> assets, perhaps it might want to turn around and buy
> WFNX-101.7

I'm sure that Mindich has had many big money offers from many big groups (such as Clear Channel, who will buy practically anything with an antenna that they can get their hands on), and turned them all down. I very much doubt that he will ever sell.
 
>
> WRSX - Red Sox FM 102.5?.

Maybe "Red Sox 102.5", but forget WRSX. The U.S. Coast Guard may have something to say about that according to the FCC. ;)

<P ID="signature">______________
(The Other) Big John</P>
 
> national trend is for teams buying stations to put the games
> on...


Bingo. And now you know why the JRH group (Henry, Werner and Lucchino) got into the RS to begin with. NESN was the key to the whole deal...they can develop the cable outlet with original programming and reap the advertising and subscriber benefits.


> > > Why waste money?
> > > You've already got WTKK, WRKO, WBZ, WEEI, ESPN radio
> (and
> > > how is the Zone doing these days?).
> > >
> > > And, if there was need for Sports talk on FM in Boston,
> > > Entercom could just throw WEEI on 93.7.


What, and lose that terrific progamming at "Mike-FM"??? LOL...


> > > Great, now look what I've just started....
> > RS baseball could easily be talked 24/7,year round. But
> I
> > don't think the RS want to get in the business.Why not bid
>
> > and get a bit more leverage: your next contract will
> likely
> > be done, in early '06?


Entercom will have to overpay incredibly to keep the RS on 'EEI IMHO. This will not be a deal done quickly. I still feel ESPN-Boston and Infinity (WBCN) are large players that will get proper face time from the folks at 4 Yawkey Way.<P ID="signature">______________
...keeping it copacetic...</P>
 
How about this: Charles River sells-off everything else, but keeps WCRB??
 
> How about this: Charles River sells-off everything else, but
> keeps WCRB??

As I was saying, though, Charles River appears to be selling only to cash out. The Rhode Island signals are worthless to any large companies; and Cape Cod signals are likely to be targetted only by regional and local operators. I'd estimate the Rhode Island signals at $1m-$2m, if that, and the Cape Cod signals at probably $5m-$10m. They're nothing compared to the estimated $100m selling price of WCRB.

WCRB is the reason that CRB is selling the properties. It has a powerful Class B signal, and is worth a lot to any operator interested. There's no chance that the only asset would be kept should everything else be sold.

(But how about CRB selling the intellectual property to another operator? That's probably a possibility.)
 
> > If the Sox do purchase their own station, it may be the
> > death knell of WEEI-850 as a sports station. For one
> thing,
> > I think the Sox may try to hire away most (if not all) of
> > WEEI's current sports talk hosts. For another, without the
> > Sox, WEEI's audience would nosedive.
>

The idea of a "WVEI-103.7" makes a fair degree of sense...WEEI-AM doesn't get out west worth spit at night, and WVEI-AM is a graveyarder with a signal you can't even get 10 miles from the transmitter at night, either.

However, to just give up on WEEI-AM as a flagship station for the Sox makes little sense for a very simple reason: most of the Sox games are on after dark, and WEEI-AM gets out as far as northern Maine after dark. While the concept of nighttime DXing is generally quaint to the common listener, I suspect sports games are one area it's still got some life to it. Especially in areas like Maine and New Hampshire where there's enough hills/mountains that the local affiliate might not be receivable at all. And 102.5FM doesn't cover all of Cape Cod and the Islands, either...WEEI mostly does (at least after dark).


> Signal would be an issue here. If listeners couldn't get the
> signal on 101.7, they could just listen to the other
> classical station, WGBH; as you can certainly bet that
> they're going to beef up their classical shows when WCRB
> becomes extinct.
>

WGBH has had an identity crisis of sorts lately. I'm oversimplifying, but from what I've heard they're trying to stay true to the classical and jazz roots...but the hard reality is that come fundraising time it's not the music shows that're bringing in the cash. Admittedly none of the shows are really bringing in the cash...I remember flipping between WBUR and WGBH a few months ago - they were both running fundraisers and I heard on WGBH: "We're trying to make our goal of $1000 this hour" and then in the same hour I heard on WBUR: "We're trying to make our goal of $30,000 this hour". Telling, eh?

Plus with DTV and IBOC conversion costs, and the $4-5 million total they've laid out to purchase the allocation for WZAI on the Cape and then get it on the air...and lets not forget the costs behind Open Source...they've plowed through some serious green lately. I don't think WGBH can afford to gamble on increasing classical programming.

Although what WOULD be interesting is to see a station like WMBR, or even a little one like WBRS, turning all-classical (and I mean the same classical as WCRB) and seeing what happens. My hunch is that it could work...but God help whatever manager who'd have to weather the storm of controversy from the students. :)



Speaking of WFNX...this always comes up on Radio-Info but WFNX is almost certainly going to stay WFNX as long as the Phoenix is around and making money off their personals section (which is to say, for a good long while). The two complement each other pretty well and I suspect Steve Mindich *likes* running FNX the way he does...I'm sure it's fun to him and probably still cost-effective enough to keep doing it. So why would he ever sell?

But...there's always a "but"...we'll know for sure after he moves FNX to the top of One Financial Center/co-lo with WHRB. FWIW, a CP has been issued although it's still a little, albeit ONLY a little, questionable whether a directional FNX can exist mere feet away from a directional HRB. That's a bastardly difficult pattern to make considering it can't affect HRB's pattern. I'm sure it can be done somehow, though.

Anyways, either he's moving it there in a bid to make WFNX more competitive with a Stern-less WBCN, or he's moving it to jack the value up for a sale. If it's the latter, I'd imagine we'll know within a few months of the LOC being issued.
 
> Although what WOULD be interesting is to see a station like
> WMBR, or even a little one like WBRS, turning all-classical
> (and I mean the same classical as WCRB) and seeing what
> happens. My hunch is that it could work...but God help
> whatever manager who'd have to weather the storm of
> controversy from the students. :)

It would never happen with either of them. The school administrations have practically nothing to do with programming on either one of those college stations beyond making sure a certain percentage of students (versus community volunteers) are on staff and on air. The programming is all left up to the student managements (and the efforts of some community volunteers) and there would never be a consensus to make those stations all one format.

Unlike B.U. or U. Mass. Boston, neither MIT or Brandeis have any interest in making their student stations into professional Public Radio stations, and neither have an agenda such as U. Mass Lowell, where the administration is breathing down the students necks and slowly installing their own profit-making (though still technically non-commercial) programming onto their station piece by piece. They also have no interest in "imaging" their student stations at all, like Emerson and Harvard have.

> Speaking of WFNX...this always comes up on Radio-Info but
> WFNX is almost certainly going to stay WFNX as long as the
> Phoenix is around and making money off their personals
> section (which is to say, for a good long while). The two
> complement each other pretty well and I suspect Steve
> Mindich *likes* running FNX the way he does...I'm sure it's
> fun to him and probably still cost-effective enough to keep
> doing it. So why would he ever sell?
>
> But...there's always a "but"...we'll know for sure after he
> moves FNX to the top of One Financial Center/co-lo with
> WHRB. FWIW, a CP has been issued although it's still a
> little, albeit ONLY a little, questionable whether a
> directional FNX can exist mere feet away from a directional
> HRB. That's a bastardly difficult pattern to make
> considering it can't affect HRB's pattern. I'm sure it can
> be done somehow, though.
>
> Anyways, either he's moving it there in a bid to make WFNX
> more competitive with a Stern-less WBCN, or he's moving it
> to jack the value up for a sale. If it's the latter, I'd
> imagine we'll know within a few months of the LOC being
> issued.

I think he only wants to improve the signal downtown. Better complement for the Phoenix paper if the signal is clear in the city.
 
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