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Globe: WEEI to FM, ESPN to 850 (In talks...)

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_...espn_radios_boston_affiliate_set_to_sign_off/

In an article saying that Boston's ESPN station is set to sign off, it's mentioned that WEEI does intend to air some ESPN programming and that eventually Entercom will put WEEI on one of its FM properties, with ESPN landing on 850

>>According to multiple industry sources, ESPN is in discussions to air some of its national programming on WEEI-AM 850 during nights and weekends, with WEEI intending to move to an FM station within months.

Could be 97.7 and or 93.7 but what about 99.5..?
ESPN would then move to 850, article says
 
I was thinking Entercom made sense for this, I was actually wondering if WRKO would be the landing spot when the pulled the Sox off, but what would they do with Carr? They did just move WRKO into the WEEI studios and visa versa (giving WRKO less space in the building)....which would make sense if the ESPN broadcast would be all national. I think they could play WEEI and ESPN off each other if they kept one all local and one all national. Then still have some shared talent/sites/sports flash guys/etc.
 
WRKO supposedly has done better in recent ratings, with "Rush, Howie and the Sox"--oops, subtract the Sox from
that now--and I don't know if they'd keep the talk format or not. As for putting ESPN on 850 and WEEI on FM, some might wonder "why? they'd compete against themselves in sports" but think of this: most people probably would still tune to WEEI and 850 ESPN would do OK with ESPN _plus_...the problem of bumping some sports to WRKO would be solved.

Sox on FM, Celts on 850
Sox on FM, Revs to 850
Celts on FM, college sports to 850
Sports talk on FM, MLB playoffs (non Sox) on 850
etc
 
Yeah, I don't think it would cannibalize itself as much as people would think.

Mike and Mike in the Morning is quite different than Dennis and Callahan. Some people like the "national" feel with nationally themed interviews and no local schmucks calling in, and some like the local feel with Frank calling into every show.

If anything having the relationship with all the national names in ESPN's stable would help WEEI in the fight against the Hub. They'll have a direct contact with all the ESPN hosts/writers, can merge their sites if they want to, and like you said have the 2nd station for any live conflicts.

And yeah, I don't think WRKO's summer numbers would be half as good if you took out the Sox. The only thing worth saving (not that I listen, but I know people do) on that station would be Howie, everything else isn't worth it, if they could find somewhere else for Howie making 680 ESPN would be fine (assuming they don't move WEEI to FM clearing out 850).

To me I don't see why Entercom would pull one of the FMs for Sports though, Mike does well (somehow) and WAAF stands to gain some WBCN numbers (and were already doing pretty well, somehow).

And it's sports talk, it doesn't need to be on FM! Everyone is saying how because the Hub is in FM, now WEEI has to go FM. I don't listen to TALK radio because it's on AM or FM, I listen because the content is what I want. The sound difference doesn't matter to me.

I don't really see how putting just the overnight ESPN feed on WEEI for now til they make a change helps at all, while ESPNs numbers here were not great, I know Mike and Mike still have a following, so pulling them off the air for a few months makes no sense to me.
 
Put WEEI on 93.7 and move Mike to 97.7

WEEI needs to cover the Suburbs, and 93.7 does that perfectly, 97.7 does not.
 
Someone said on the Boston Radio blog that they'd miss Mike and Mike and didn't intend to listen to Dennis and Callahan. I pointed out Mike and Mike may soon be back--on 850!--should this deal happen.

beantownradio25: I would hope 93.7 would be WEEI's new home (put em on both, maybe?) in my own case. At work WMKK comes in very well for me. As does 99.5, another rumored home for WEEI via sale or LMA...? Agreed about the addition of national names via ESPN but of course this is still a very provincial town which likes local sportstalk.

>>I don't think WRKO's summer numbers would be half as good if you took out the Sox

The orig intent was to put the Sox on WRKO to beef up their numbers and perhaps isolate the team from "acerbic"
commentary but it's been said the move HURT WEEI a lot more than it helped WRKO. Most people probably were
tuning in to Sox on 680 and Planet Mikey on WEEI was just getting a much smaller piece of the pie. Now WRKO
has Michael Savage, live. Oh joy...

Howie would like them to cut him free so he could join WTKK (but these days, you wonder...why? WTKK's ratings not all that hot though I guess there has been a slight, very slight, uptick...) They also have Finneran under contract till early next year, or is it early 2011?

You also do have a point about Mike doing well and WAAF could pick up some WBCN listeners. Hmm. (But if
Entercom bought 99.5...ready for WAAF simulcast on what was a classical station? Mercy!)

Sports talk doesn't need to be on FM but it needs a solid signal which sometimes FM provides. Easier to get in some workplaces. No static, no static at all. A dynamic sound during play by play (whether it's the crack of
the bat or NFL players pounding into each other)
 
beantownradio25 said:
Put WEEI on 93.7 and move Mike to 97.7

WEEI needs to cover the Suburbs, and 93.7 does that perfectly, 97.7 does not.
Click to expand...

Would pulling the WAAF simulcast off 97.7 hurt them though?

And if so, does Entercom care enough? Or do they figure the boost they'll get from all the moves is worth it.

I guess I could see that kinda outcome....

WEEI on 93.7
WMKE on 97.7
WAAF on 107.3 only
ESPN on 850 AM
WRKO on 680 AM

I'm still of the opinion that other than Howie they have nothing going on WRKO and they need to do something there.

Maybe keep WEEI on 680 too as a simulcast to 93.7 to fill in some downtown areas (but keep it Howie in afternoon drive). But that just get's confusing.
 
btw some are saying why should WEEI move to FM. Here's ChrisNH's comment on the Globe's article about the possible scenario, and I quote: "Even the supposed 'powerful' WEEI turns into a limp-wristed peanut whistle as soon as the sun goes down throughout the fall-through-late-winter period. It's an embarrassment. There are Canadian stations that easily trample it, so thousands of listeners simply give up on WEEI once the leaves fall from the trees. Thankfully, WBZ-FM exists and that's my station now."
(link is the article linked above)

the theo: yes what you say could wind up happening and the idea of simulcasting WEEI on 680 for a time, well,
at nights it could make sense at least (Planet Mikey instead of RKO's Mike..Savage). During the day and to some extent at night, WRKO and WEEI have similar areas covered though there are some areas that have real problems
with 850--see above. Such a move would also dilute the idea of "talk and talk only, not really sports" on WRKO
but who knows. Some stations do shift to sports after 7 pm whether it's play by play or talk.

I do remember some sports talk on WRKO over the years: Dick Lutsk (sp?) at 6 pm after Jerry Williams...
The Pete Rose Show...
 
I suppose getting rid of the WAAF/WKAF simulcast is a step back for WAAF, but if they want to keep their cash cow afloat, then this would be the best move.
 
93.7 would be a nice compliment to 103.7 actually signal wise.

And they are both easy to remember since they are similar.

I wonder if they'd shift the call letters around or just let 103.7 be the actual "WEEI" going forward if they did that.

and yeah, I do think the bump WAAF would take from losing 97.7 would be more than made up for with all the other moves.

I wonder if Mike would be hurt going from 93.7 to 97.7 though? 97.7 is pretty bad on the north shore. If they think their strength is downtown and south then it would be fine, but if there's a lot of Mike fans up north it could hurt them.
 
Plus, 93.7 doesn't cover Rhode Island as well as some of the other Boston stations, so they have 103.7 in Rhode Island to do that for them.

The WEEI-FM calls will definately go to the future Boston FM Mothership of WEEI, and 103.7 Westerly will get another set of EI calls.

As far as Mike FM, moving to 97.7 would mostly likely dent their ratings since 97.7 is much less powerful than 93.7

WKAF is sounding stronger as of late, I can get them in New Hampshire compared to back when it was WILD, they had lost steam by the state line.
 
Also, 93.7 WMKK (I wrote WMKE before by accident) has a construction permit it pulled in aug too....upping power? interesting!
 
With ESPN putting there web site soon, they will want a radio outlet I can see WEEI on 93.7 at the end of the regular baseball season. In October 850 AM can have MLB playoffs (non-sox),Boston College Football and Basketball. 93.7 FM would be the flagship of the Celtics and the Red Sox in 2009 Playoffs (we hope) and in 2010.
97.7 FM could be new home of MIke-FM.
Call Letters:
WEEI-AM 850
WEEI-FM93.7
WERI -FM 103.7 Westerly/Providence.
 
In terms of WEEI, a move to 93.7 would mean their stick would be a mere 15 miles or so away from downtown Boston (I used google maps and entered in "Boston" and "Lakeland Park Dr Peabody MA"

97.7 is on Great Blue Hill...a google map search shows Great Blue Hill is about 13 mi. away via Blue Hill Ave. So about the same. It was said 97.7 's signal not as strong...? radio-locator lists them at 1700 w., 568 height above avg terrain(but with a CP for 2050 watts ERP granted last month)

>>In October 850 AM can have MLB playoffs (non-sox)

Would like that. If you know any Yankee fans they'd love to hear the first round on 850 (under MLB playoffs teams in same div. can't face each other in first round; the way it looks now Yanks get div. and Sox MAY get wild card,
if they can outlast Texas) Knowing MLB they would put Yanks in prime time (8 pm) and Sox may get 4 pm, etc. but WEEI (-FM) would do Sox talk at night with Yanks and whomever they're playing on 850
 
By not as strong, I meant did not cover as much ground compared to other stations such as 93.7
 
93.7 FM coverage area is better than 850AM at night. During the day 850 AM will go further west and north than 93.7 FM. But EEI has affliates already to cover those areas.
 
The CP for WMKK (according to R-L) confuses me a bit.

It appears as though the CP has the stick dropping three feet, and moving to a tower 77 feet away??

How this changes anything is beyond me.
 
ThatGuyOnTheRadio said:
The CP for WMKK (according to R-L) confuses me a bit.

It appears as though the CP has the stick dropping three feet, and moving to a tower 77 feet away??

How this changes anything is beyond me.
Click to expand...

A visit to the FCC's FM Query page reveals that WMKK's only active CP
(it was granted just a month ago--on August 5) will have zero effect
on the signal; the sole purpose of that CP is to correct the
geographic coordinates of the tower, which is owned by American Tower
Systems. It seems that ATS inadvertently submitted duplicate
applications to the FAA for registration of the tower. The FAA had
granted both applications--both the one that specified the correct
coordinates and the one that specified coordinates four seconds of arc
away (can't remember whether the error was in latitude or longitude).
In any event, when the 93.7 facility was built on the tower, the
specified location was, of course, on the registration with the
incorrect coordinates (Murphy's law). ATS has since had the FAA delete
the registration with the incorrect coordinates, thus putting WMKK on
a "no-longer-existent" tower. The CP moves the station to the
still-registered tower with the correct coordinates. The coordinate
change necessitated a recalculation of the HAAT, which will now be one
meter lower than before. As a result, WMKK's 34 kW ERP will now be
equivalent to ever-so slightly less than the Class B maximum of 50 kW
@ 150m AAT. Were it not for the short-spaced co-channel station in
Hartford, WMKK could probably be granted a CP to increase its ERP by a
tiny amount, but because of the short spacing, that is not likely to
be permitted--and it would have no meaningful effect on the signal if
it did happen.

As for WKAF, that CP is real. I think WKAF has been operating at about
80% of the Class A maximum of the equivalent of 6 kW @ 100m AAT. I
believe that the limitation to less than full Class A power was
imposed by the former WINQ (don't know the current calls), the
co-channel station that used to be licensed to Winchendon MA but is
now (I think) licensed to Keene NH. In any event, I think that the
move of the co-channel station further from WKAF's location on Great
Blue Hill has enabled WKAF to increase to the Class A maximum. Since
WKAF's antenna is above the 100m Class A maximum height, the station
will operate with something like 2.05 kW vs the 1.7 kW it had been
running. In all probability, no physical changes are required in
WKAF's facilities--just an adjustment to the output power of the
existing transmitter--and no change at all to the antenna. My
understanding is that, since the Boston market is geographically too
large for any Class A station to deliver 60 dBu (the minimum
city-grade signal) to all of it, this ~20% power increase will not
alter WKAF's situation as a less-than full-market signal (along with
WFNX and WHRB, not to mention non-comms, such as WMBR, WZBC, and
WUMB), but it probably will help incrementally--though nowhere near as
much as returning WAAF to the place where it belongs--Asnebumskit Hill
in Paxton.
 
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