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Red Sox Return to WEEI

So, they have shortened commercial breaks, allowed Globies back on the air, snapped up Futility Lou, and decided to air all Red Sox games, each within the past month, but they are not concerned about the Sports Hub?

WRKO was a mistake from the beginning. Interrupting Howie and the weak signal in the spring and fall made airing the games on WRKO silly.
 
yikes--where I work, and I work nights, WRKO comes in well. WEEI not so good if at all depending on where you are.

Big Red Sox logo still on WRKO site.
 
and I should add, at work:WCRN? barely; make that pretty much not at all; WBOQ 104.9? Yeah if I stay in one area (when I'm supposed to be sorting packages, moving around) holding the Walkman up at arm's length to try and pick it up.

We have boomboxes there---cheap FM antennas. Now if they were on 93.7, 2 towns away, no problem, but...

I'm emailing Wolfie to complain.
 
This could be a precursor to WEEI moving to FM. Did anyone notice how 97.7 was granted a modest power increase? Why would Entercom bother unless they have something in mind for the frequency? I'm not saying that WEEI would necessarily move to 97.7 - it could be Mike moving there.

But putting the Sox back on WEEI (where they belong) is a no-brainer. Now that there's actually some competition in the market, I am not a bit surprised by this move. The WRKO idea was the result of well-intentioned but convoluted thinking. With what CBS has been up to, Entercom can't afford to screw around with the "two station solution" anymore. Particularly when you see how WEEI's ratings have been trending down. I honestly think that there's been some panic at Entercom over "the Hub" and 'EEI's ratings. It's time for them to scramble and moving the Sox back to 'EEI is a good first step. Going to FM is the second. WEEI simply can't compete with The Hub without an even playing field. Simulcasting 850 on FM would definitely do that for them.
 
>>Entercom can't afford to screw around with the "two station solution" anymore. Particularly when you see how WEEI's ratings have been trending down

I'd agree with that. And yes who knows; Mike 97.7, WEEI 93.7? I'd love that. Where I work is maybe 5 miles from
the 93.7 stick in Peabody. (One reason I loved having the Sox on RKO is that the RKO sticks are not that far
away either; in fact up till 1990 I worked in Woburn and we could see the RKO sticks from our parking lot,
that's how close we were)

Or:
WRKO 850 Talk Radio
WEEI 680 Sports Radio... ?

>>Simulcasting 850 on FM would definitely do that for them.

Yes.
Howie just mentioned something about "the Red Sox trying to help out the AM sports station here in town"
 
Hi Raccoon; personally I don't think that swapping AM frequencies between talk and sports does anything for Entercom at this point. It's too late. CBS has presented them with a serious challenge at 98.5 by mustering up an impressive lineup of talk hosts combined with rights to the Pats and Broons.

Their timing couldn't be better either, with autumn and football season right around the corner; baseball winding down (later than sooner...we hope!); and shorter days that kill reception of WEEI. With only one exception that I can think of (urban AC in Memphis), an AM station hasn't beaten an equally matched FM station with the same format in the same market. At least not in the last 20 years. And not even the WRKO/WTKK battle is apples and apples as WRKO has Rush and WTKK doesn't. If WTKK had Rush, they'd be killing WRKO at least 2 to 1.

Given the level of talent and resources involved here, I'd say that CBS Radio has created a very formidable opponent for WEEI. Unless they compete with CBS by using an FM signal, Entercom will lose. It's as simple as that - if for no other reason than half the market can't get 850 at night.
 
Jason Wolfe's "Billy Wagner Move". I was hoping that the games would be on MIke -FM 93.7 too.
Would a simulcast of night Sox and Celtics games on Mike -FM help with WEEI ratings. Good that they are back on WEEI. WRKO should have been the backup station during two game conflicts at the same time.
 
WEEI simply can't compete with The Hub without an even playing field
Click to expand...
A little strong there. They do have a network behind them with drive-time ratings success. And while they will likely have a Boston FM station at some point (WAAF-107.3/WKAF-97.7) , they have to protect the value (what's left) of their two AM's.
 
dyeingeye said:
WRKO was a mistake from the beginning. Interrupting Howie and the weak signal
Click to expand...

WRKO and WHDH seem to have similar size signals, they just go in different places.

WRKO is weak to the west, but is great in Southern NH.

WHDH is weaker in So. NH...but better in the west.

Howie (who lives to the West) makes it seem like WRKO has a horrible signal.

It's apples and oranges to me.
 
>>Unless they compete with CBS by using an FM signal, Entercom will lose. It's as simple as that - if for no other reason than half the market can't get 850 at night.

Agreed strongly!
 
Blackroc said:
WEEI simply can't compete with The Hub without an even playing field
Click to expand...
A little strong there. They do have a network behind them with drive-time ratings success. And while they will likely have a Boston FM station at some point (WAAF-107.3/WKAF-97.7) , they have to protect the value (what's left) of their two AM's.
Click to expand...

Although the statement seems strong, I stick by it. It's nearly impossible for an AM signal to compete with a full-market FM for the same audience. It's been proven in one market after another (and, mind you, I'm one of the youngest AM listeners around). This would be different if someone tried to pop a robotic ESPN clone on FM - but CBS is doing the real deal on 98.5: local hosts with rights to the Pats and B's. It might also be different if WEEI was on the potent 1030 signal (which, of course, is impossible). However, neither is the case. Given that, Entercom will have to scramble hard.

Yes, you're right in saying that they do have the network and the strong programming. But the technical aspects of the signal are enough to put them at a disadvantage. And, WEEI's ratings have been sagging of late. That's not a good omen for what happens after the Sox are done for the year. Adding an FM simulcast puts them right back in the ball game with momentum. At the moment they've lost that momentum.

97.7 would be okay, but 93.7 is would be the best move. Pop Mike on 97.7 and WEEI on 93.7. This way, Mike still gets the office listeners downtown and WEEI 93.7 is strong elsewhere. Keep WEEI on 850 as well - no need to pull it from there. If Entercom did that, The Hub would be the one on defense.

Sorry for all the sports metaphors - but they work and I couldn't resist... ;)
 
well i think weei should just leave it the way it is and let the sports hub take over i think the personalities are better and more in tune to the sports pulse if weei wants to make waves entercom should try buying 985 like wwe did to wcw buy your competition well those are my thoughts!!!!!!
 
WBZ-FM is running promos saying THEIR signal doesn't fade under bridges.

AM signals can really stink. I was listening to Howie yesterday while driving on Rt 114 west (Middleton area)
and thanks to power lines on right side of road, there was a ton on interference.

Hey Jason and Julie: no static, no static, no static at all.... F-M! (no static at all...)

Someone on boston-radio-interest wondered if the Sox forced WEEI to take them full time (yes I know,
same company as RKO) perhaps because, it was rumored, they were late w/ a payment. I also wonder
if the Sox wanted to be on RKO given the conservative talk (uncomfortable with it?)
 
Someone on boston-radio-interest wondered if the Sox forced WEEI to take them full time (yes I know,
same company as RKO) perhaps because, it was rumored, they were late w/ a payment. I also wonder
if the Sox wanted to be on RKO given the conservative talk (uncomfortable with it?)
Click to expand...

I was under the impression it was the Sox that "forced" Entercom to put most of the games on WRKO in the first place. Supposedly John H. and Larry L. really hated the fact that the games were on the same frequency where all this Sox-hate-talk was spewing forth the rest of the day. They wanted the games on a more "neutral" station since they figured the majority of game listeners were just tuning in for the games, not for the rest of WEEI's programming. I don't know if that's really true. I think it might be one of those "fringe benefit" kind of things.

I suspect the real reason for the asinine WRKO-WEEI split was that Entercom was trying to milk the cash cow a little more, knowing they could boost WRKO's overall ratings by having the Sox on there, and thus charge more for WRKO ads across a wider timespan (no matter how stupid that sounds, I'm sure some sponsors bought it) and also knowing that putting games on WRKO ultimately means more high-value spot inventory...especially around the beginning and end of the games as people switched back and forth from 850 to 680 trying to find pre-/post-game coverage.
 
I'll miss Dana Hersey's great pipes on the WRKO and network intros !! Not to take anything away from the great pipes of Mr. Cutler on WEEI !!
 
It's possible indeed that the Sox did not want to be on WEEI--poss. figuring the hosts would be very critical of the Sox, etc. and maybe they weren't too fond of Dennis and Callahan, Big Show, etc and their personas. Also Entercom maybe figured they could get one audience for the Sox game and one for Planet Mikey's talk. Some people could switch back and forth, or those who weren't into baseball might tune in if Mike was talking Pats, etc.

>>where all this Sox-hate-talk was spewing forth the rest of the day

And yes I agree they figured it would boost RKO's ratings, etc. Exactly

And speaking of the Sox on Entercom radio, how about this outrightly inaccurate liner they had Dana read?
"Every pitch, every hit, and every out of the 2009 Red Sox is on WRKO"

Yeah, except on Wed. nights and afternoon games. At the start of the season there were one or two last pre-season games that was on WEEI. Opening day? WEEI. Next game? WEEI.

So much for "every pitch, every hit..."
 
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