New Red Sox radio home?

[2004RedSox]

Boston Globe is reporting that the Red Sox are negotiating with Greater Media for a possible equity position in WBOS and moving the broadcast rights to the FM station next season. With the formation of Fenway Sports Group (FSG), it makes sense that the Red Sox would want more control over the media outlets broadcasting the games. As things unfold it will be very interesting to see what happens with the rest of the programming on WBOS as well as the over all effect on WEEI. I think this will be a huge loss for WEEI.

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/03/18/sox_look_to_move_broadcasts_to_wbos/

 

[Power91]

Yeah it'd be a loss for WEEI...I think they'd still survive fine without the Sox, but their ratings wouldn't be at the top...

It'd be interesting to see what happens with WBOS programming. Whether 92.9 would remain AAA. Or if the Red Sox would bring about a new programming format. If that's indeed the case, does Greater Media plan to put Country on 102.5 and AAA all together, put AAA on 102.5 and give up on country, or totally sell 92.9, and keep the two formats on 99.5 and 102.5 (whichever is on which)...it will be intersting to see how this plays our (or if Entercom just ponies up enough money to keep them)...

 

[blabhead]

> Yeah it'd be a loss for WEEI...I think they'd still survive
> fine without the Sox, but their ratings wouldn't be at the
> top...

I think it would be even worse for WEEI if there was a decent morning show on another station.

> It'd be interesting to see what happens with WBOS
> programming.

I wonder if they will have a post game Sox talk show?

 

[raccoonradio]

WBOSton Red Sox

> Boston Globe is reporting that the Red Sox are negotiating
> with Greater Media for a possible equity position in WBOS

Hmm--Red Sox want a stake in the broadcast. The Sox (and the Yankees) are
said to be among the highest grossing teams in baseball, but the Sox
paid big for the team ($700 million) and the payroll is also quite high.
I think most teams can recover payroll costs with a good radio/TV contract,
and the Sox want to reap ad benefits as part of it--so Greater Media could
mean Greater Money for the Sox.

I could see why they'd want an FM signal in terms of sound quality; also
for those thunderstorm nights, 'no static, no static at all...'. Would
think WBOS covers the area well. So would WTKK. Note that 'TKK's contract
with Severin is only for one year. What if GM got the Sox--most games would
be 7 pm starts and that would squash Jay; he'd be subject to so much pre-emption
that he might wind up getting carried instead by a WBZ or WRKO. Can you picture
in 2007...

7 pm
WRKO--Jay Severin
WEEI--Mike Adams
WTKK--Red Sox baseball

I'd think the Sox would be a better fit on a talk station than a AAA but who knows. Certainly it would improve 'BOS's ratings...Sox on WMJX (mostly
female listeners)? Sox on WKLB _102.5_? Sox _buying_ 99.5 from GM?
the plot thickens!

Again, from my unique perspective I'd love to have them land on WMKK
because the Mike stick is not far from where I work (N. Reading P.O.)<P ID="signature">______________

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[raccoonradio]

> Yeah it'd be a loss for WEEI...I think they'd still survive
> fine without the Sox, but their ratings wouldn't be at the
> top...

Yeah, geez, the thanks they get for that cozy relationship as part
of the "cartel". Money talks... (hey Entercom: suggest WMKK and
maybe WAAF too as Sox flagships...OR double flagship of WEEI/WMKK)

> It'd be interesting to see what happens with WBOS
> programming. Whether 92.9 would remain AAA.

Hard rock? I already have the slogan ready:

THE STATION THAT ROCKS YOUR SOX

(I understand the young'uns have an expression; to say that
something "rocks your socks" means it's really good...pr was that
"rocks your Docs", as in Doc Marten's shoes?)

Or if the Red
> Sox would bring about a new programming format. If that's
> indeed the case, does Greater Media plan to put Country on
> 102.5 and AAA all together, put AAA on 102.5 and give up on
> country

Perish the thought! It does well, and I listen. (Was talking
on FreeRep messageboard with someone from Westport, CT,
fretting at the lack of country in SW CT and NYC. I pointed out
the 92.5 from Hartford--maybe that will come in. Anyway...)

, or totally sell 92.9, and keep the two formats on
> 99.5 and 102.5 (whichever is on which)...it will be
> intersting to see how this plays our (or if Entercom just
> ponies up enough money to keep them)...
>
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[classicradionut]

I think it makes perfect sense. As to a question further down this thread about whether WBOS stays AAA or makes a flip, I can't see why they would or should change formats. WBCN didn't flip when they started carrying the Pats, and years ago when every little small town AM had a dedicated phone pot line to the broadcast booth, the Sox were on a vast assortment of station formats, each station couldn't wait to get the Sox on the air - even the daytimers because of how much decent money the games brought in.

I think the Sox on WBOS would be a very good thing... and it's high time the Sox moved over to FM like the Pats did.
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[SCRHack]

> Hard rock? I already have the slogan ready:
>
> THE STATION THAT ROCKS YOUR SOX
>
> (I understand the young'uns have an expression; to say that
> something "rocks your socks" means it's really good...pr was
> that
> "rocks your Docs", as in Doc Marten's shoes?)

Here is what I'm wondering how much outside programming can you really have? Philly's YSP had the Eagles and would have regular programming aside from the games... but baseball season is 7 months long and its not just one day a week. You're looking at 5 to 6 games a week a 3 to 4 hour game plus an hour or two before or after... thats 36 hours a week at least. Plus you would need to understand that if you have the Sox on the air people are gonna wanna call in and talk about them... I dunno I think they would have to go all Sports Talk in order to make it work and I think a sports talk on FM may actually kill EEI.



I pointed
> out
> the 92.5 from Hartford--maybe that will come in. Anyway...)

Country 92.5 is a very powerful signal. Got them from Hartford almost all the way to Mount Snow. But dunno how far it penetrates (hehe) out that way.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

SCRHack wrote:

> Philly's WYSP had the Eagles and would have
> regular programming aside from the games... but baseball
> season is 7 months long and its not just one day a week.
> You're looking at 5 to 6 games a week a 3 to 4 hour game
> plus an hour or two before or after... thats 36 hours a week
> at least.

According to the 2006 schedule, the Boston Red Sox will play their 162-game regular-season schedule over a period of 181 days. There will be seven weeks during the upcoming season ("week" in this case is defined as being Sunday through Saturday) when the Sox are scheduled to play on all seven days.

That may be too much for an FM music station.

The idea of the Red Sox getting a share of one of Greater Media's Boston stations is intriguing, but I think that talk-formatted WTKK-96.9 would be most likely of the five to get some sort of Sox investment, since several all-talk stations on AM (such as WGN Chicago, WGST Atlanta, and WTAM Cleveland) are currently flagship stations for local Major Lague Baseball teams.

Also: Could Entercom offer the Sox the chance to buy a share in the "WEEI network" of three stations, soon to be four??

 

[webcastboy]

Re: WBOSton Red Sox

> I'd think the Sox would be a better fit on a talk station
> than a AAA but who knows. Certainly it would improve 'BOS's
> ratings...Sox on WMJX (mostly
> female listeners)? Sox on WKLB _102.5_? Sox _buying_ 99.5
> from GM?
> the plot thickens!
>

Well, I posted not a week ago that the WCRB sale actually made WBOS's format the most vulnerable, not WKLB's.

http://www.radio-info.com/mods/board?Post=678480&Board=boston

But what came out in a followup post was that apparently WBOS, despite it's lousy ratings, actually bills quite well...second in Greater Media's Boston flock only to WMJX. Problem is, selling Sox time and selling bland music time is selling to two demos that hate each other's programming. And the time committment to Sox games is huge; it's not just the 2.5 to 4 hours a day, six days a week, for seven months straight...it's the 2 to 4 hours of pre- and post-game analysis & listener calls that Sox fans have come to expect and demand. That feels like way too big a bite out of the daily music programming to build up a successful music fan base.

Of course, I could be wrong: some other baseball teams have FM signals...what's the rest of the programming on them? Seriously, I don't know which teams have FM and what the programming is...does anyone on the list know? That would be more telling than the rampant speculation we all love to do.

OR, Greater Media could be banking on the success of HD Radio's multicasting ability, where WBOS music fans could turn to HD-2 while the Sox games are on HD-1. That's a big gamble, but then again, Greater Media has invested heavily in HD Radio so a "in for a penny, in for a pound" mentality could be at work.

Heh, if they REALLY wanted to drive adoption of HD Radios, imagine if they put the games only on HD-2! I imagine MLB might have something to say about that, though.

Maybe this is all a red herring, too...the Sox could be leaking this info to hear what the fans have to say from the inevitable speculation on listservs, message boards and call-in shows. If the reaction is negative enough, they may choose to stick with WEEI for at least another few years.

Question: if the Sox buy 99.5, is it too close to the Boston market so that they couldn't put the games on both 99.5 *and* 850AM? I mean, they've got 'em on 104.9 WBOQ so I wouldn't be surprised if they could have a 104.9-99.5-850 simulcast. Getting FM in Fenway Park would be tough, but I just crunched some numbers 99.5 does put decent signal into Boston and the Fenway, although it drops off FAST as you get west of Coolidge Corner. I suspect, too, that the Pru's blanketing zone would make 99.5 reception inside Fenway a tall order, but then again, that's what 850AM would be for.

 

[Almo]

> > Yeah it'd be a loss for WEEI...I think they'd still
> survive
> > fine without the Sox, but their ratings wouldn't be at the
>
> > top...
>
> I think it would be even worse for WEEI if there was a
> decent morning show on another station.
>
> > It'd be interesting to see what happens with WBOS
> > programming.
>
> I wonder if they will have a post game Sox talk show?

I still think it's a bluff but why not,the Red Sox have other options including ownership so they should be tough negotiators. Ideally their rights would go to a second FM talk station which had the Red Sox sign on at 5pm,with pre and post-game talk . A station that could really battle WEEI with a good morning show as well.
If WEEI won't pay,then maybe they will go into the biz if the numbers work for them and they can make the 12mil on their own .
From the Globe:"It's too early to count WEEI out. For one, they hold the radio rights and it is a big undertaking to ask fans to switch stations." Yeah, it takes so much effort to preset a button!

 

[JustinT]

Re: WBOSton Red Sox

> Of course, I could be wrong: some other baseball teams have
> FM signals...what's the rest of the programming on them?
> Seriously, I don't know which teams have FM and what the
> programming is...does anyone on the list know? That would
> be more telling than the rampant speculation we all love to
> do.

The Washington Nationals were on rimshots WWZZ/WWVZ last year, which aired a CHR format until its demise this January. This year, the MLB site states that the games are on the 1500 WTWP/107.7 WTWP-FM simulcast, which will air an in-depth news format when it launches at the end of this month. In both cases, the Nationals are buying time on the Bonneville stations to air the games.

One poster mentioned that the Kansas City Royals are on FM. According to Wikipedia, the Royals' games are aired on KCXM when flagship WHB is running a night pattern. Looking at KCXM's website, the station appears to have a format that is somewhat like WAAF.

In Atlanta, the Braves are on WKLS (96Rock), which has a classic rock format. So there's a lot of variety in the formats of flagships. But as you stated, there is a huge difference between the target demos of WBOS' AAA and WBOS' potential Red Sox coverage.

> OR, Greater Media could be banking on the success of HD
> Radio's multicasting ability, where WBOS music fans could
> turn to HD-2 while the Sox games are on HD-1. That's a big
> gamble, but then again, Greater Media has invested heavily
> in HD Radio so a "in for a penny, in for a pound" mentality
> could be at work.
>
> Question: if the Sox buy 99.5, is it too close to the Boston
> market so that they couldn't put the games on both 99.5
> *and* 850AM?

Yes, definitely. The 99.5 signal does cover most of the market, but the signal isn't the best in areas like downtown Boston that would be critical to the success of a sports station.

I'd hate to put in some ridiculous speculation, but would there be any chance that the intellectual property of 96.9 and 92.9 could trade places as a result of the Sox getting partial control of 92.9? Imus was the morning show on WEEI for many years, and it would be safe to say that Mike Barnicle's show is fairly sports-friendly as well. The only programming that would be largely off-format would be Michael Graham, though who knows how long he'll last.

 

[Mickey37]

Report: Sox Close To Buying Part Of WBOS

WCVB/Channel 5 reported Saturday night that the Sox could be interested in buying 25% of WBOS.

 

[radiodouble]

Re: Report: Sox Close To Buying Part Of WBOS

> WCVB/Channel 5 reported Saturday night that the Sox could be
> interested in buying 25% of WBOS.
>
"have you seen the globe today?"

 

[radiodouble]

Re: WBOSton Red Sox

>
> The Washington Nationals were on rimshots WWZZ/WWVZ last
> year, which aired a CHR format until its demise this
> January. This year, the MLB site states that the games are
> on the 1500 WTWP/107.7 WTWP-FM simulcast, which will air an
> in-depth news format when it launches at the end of this
> month. In both cases, the Nationals are buying time on the
> Bonneville stations to air the games.
>
> One poster mentioned that the Kansas City Royals are on FM.
> According to Wikipedia, the Royals' games are aired on KCXM
> when flagship WHB is running a night pattern. Looking at
> KCXM's website, the station appears to have a format that is
> somewhat like WAAF.
>
> In Atlanta, the Braves are on WKLS (96Rock), which has a
> classic rock format. So there's a lot of variety in the
> formats of flagships. But as you stated, there is a huge
> difference between the target demos of WBOS' AAA and WBOS'
> potential Red Sox coverage.
>

in atlanta, wgst and wkls are actually -co-flagships.
regadless, majority(like 95%) of mlb teams have an am
station as their flagship.

the white sox' new flagship score 670 will add am-hd
feed this season. other teams' flagships will be doing
the same within the next couple years. so am vs. fm sound
quality thing is going to be a moot point for those who want
to hear the 'sounds of the game'. hd will be bring it to am.

 

[johnster]

Re: WBOSton Red Sox

>Getting FM in Fenway Park would be tough, but I
> just crunched some numbers 99.5 does put decent signal into
> Boston and the Fenway, although it drops off FAST as you get
> west of Coolidge Corner. I suspect, too, that the Pru's
> blanketing zone would make 99.5 reception inside Fenway a
> tall order, but then again, that's what 850AM would be for.


Getting Red Sox broadcasts inside the park is a blast from the past and just is not important anymore. The delay on all these stations makes listening to the game while watching impossible. WBOS's audio is roughly 16 seconds behind realtime 24 hours a day. There is the HD buffer delay and a profanity delay running. Now you add ISDN backhaul, satellite up-linking and down-linking and a couple of more seconds might be added to away games or affiliates broadcasts.
The days of hearing the ballgame audio off radios in the park is gone. Anything in realtime at the ballpark has to be pumped directly out of the broadcast booth before the addition of these delays of modern broadcast audio chain.

Though AM HD conversion is running behind FM it is only a matter of time. The FCC and NAB are pushing ahead and all will conform in the next few years. Though it's not in the current plan I wouldn't be surprised to see the removal of the Analog signal down the road perhaps in our lifetime.

 

[CrankyYankee]

Re: Report: Sox Close To Buying Part Of WBOS

Would the games be in stereo?!<P ID="signature">______________
"What's That?" "French Horns!"

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[fybush]

I'm not buying the Globe report, and here's why

Greater Media has no choice, under the FCC's ownership rules, but to shed one of its five FMs when it acquires WCRB. And selling 25% of WBOS to the Sox does not count as shedding.

There's more on this in tomorrow's <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html>NERW</a>, but in a nutshell, for WBOS not to count against Greater's market ownership cap, Greater cannot sell airtime for the station, cannot provide it with programming, and cannot have more than 5% of the station's voting shares or 15% of its nonvoting shares. Anything more, and WBOS still counts as one of six FMs that Greater would own, which the FCC won't allow.

So either the Sox (and partners other than Greater) intend to buy WBOS outright from Greater, or the Globe has the story wrong. Wouldn't be the first time...<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 ON SALE! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>