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Should WEEI drop AM?

A bit of a certain weather event is happening in Beverly right now--hope you have your car's windows rolled up...and if you tune to 850 you'll probably hear "so I CRASH BOOM SISS Ochocinco was SSSS ZZZTTT RPPPT
Brady SISSS CRASH BOOM".

And if a Sox game were on you'd hear, "There's a long drive out to right field and this is SSSZRRR CSSSGG
CRACK BOOM"...

Home run? Caught? I dunno I'm LISTENING TO THE GAME ON AM RADIO!!
Meanwhile at 93.7

no static
no static
no static at all
F...M! (no static at all)(
 
if you run enough power AM quiets the background noise. its never a serious prob on a local like WBZ. maybe DXing WBZ from Saskatchewan would be riddled with t-storm noise
 
Yes, was mentioned in one of these threads. I even have a sound clip of it. Not edited--simply grabbing
the AM 850 signal then hitting the button for 93.7. You can hear the delay, and the diff. in sound
quality.
http://raccoonradio.freehostia.com/Air/delay850937.mp3

As regards to AM in general, these thoughts from Tom Taylor's radio-info.com (I am quoting from
a part of this site itself):

>>“What’s going to happen to AM radio?” From the audience microphone comes a heartfelt question from “Radio’s best friend” Art Vuolo. He wonders where AM radio will be when it hits its 100th anniversary, very soon. CBS Radio’s Dan Mason says “I’m concerned, also. I’ve read where the FCC would like to have a sunset for AM analog radio.” Hubbard’s Bruce Reese says “we’ve got options – AM stations can stream, there are translators…but the band has its inherent physics problems.” He says “probably the best way to do that is to convert AM to just digital.” Entercom’s David Field has a sidebar – fewer AM signals, or fewer viable ones, would produce “a diminution in the amount of inventory” radio’s got to sell.
 
Someone on WEEI's facebook said they live in Nova Scotia and hoped WEEI would not drop its AM signal.

We'll see if that happens: of course,
--"WEEI 93.7 and weei.com"... "93.7 WEEI". No mention of 850 except for the texting number, 850850

--Vahey said an ESPN employee who is a good friend said that 850 would go all ESPN "in the next month".
This was said in mid-Sept. but who knows when it might happen. If it DOES happen perhaps Nov 1 as a start date? Nov 1 was the official
start date for ESPN overnights, etc. on WEEI a couple yrs ago.

We'll have to see if they do drop WEEI on AM; who knows, may just keep it as is for awhile, but they
definitely accent the FM signal and pretty much don't say "AM 850" anymore...?

In Memphis Entercom now has 3 sports stations--well OK, an AM-FM combo and another AM.
The 680 and 92.9 are both ESPN while the 790 (WMC) which had been classic country is now, as of
today, sports with a local show and then Fox Sports otherwise. If you go to their site note the
logo of "ESPN 92.9/680" in lower left corner. The 92.9 of course is what they accent most. A couple
yrs back I was in Memphis area and had distinct DISpleasure of hearing Sox lose big to Yankees
on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. The 92.9 was a better bet for a signal.

http://www.sports790am.com/

"Also enjoy ESPN 92.9 Part of the Memphis Entercom Sports Network"
 
No sign yet that Entercom would make WEEI 850 "24/7 ESPN". On Sep 23 (I looked it up), K. Vahey mentioned on boston-radio-interest that a good friend of his who worked at ESPN said they would
do that "in the next month". The ESPN employee may have been misinformed or lying, who knows.
Or Ent. decided to keep it as is.

Post: http://lists.bostonradio.org/pipermail/boston-radio-interest/2011-September/027004.html
(He said "a deal has been struck...")
It seems likely for the time being WEEI would stay on 850 with the same programming as 93.7 but
if the audience theoretically has mostly migrated to FM, what else can they do with the 850?

ESPN 24/7? ESPN Deportes? True oldies? Selling off to someone who will make it foreign lang., religious, prog. talk, whatever? Hey...if the price is affordable, visualize "Easy as the Breeze...WJIB 850" :) (High electric bill though, right? :) ) I don't know what else...? But again they can just stay with running the local talk/
ESPN/play by play on the 850 as well as the 93.7

Heck...

--Old Time Radio (Next, Baby Snooks!)
--All Comedy (Don't laugh. WTAR 850 in Norfolk, VA does just that. http://wtar.com/index2.shtml )
--And if they were to do ESPN Deportes they could poss. do local sports shows in Spanish and
certainly could put Sox games in Spanish on...
 
Entercom is doing things right by keeping WEEI on the monster 850 signal and using 93.7/103.7 as ancillary augmentations. This also gives versatility because they can split the FMs for extra scheduling or revenue. Example: 103.7 breaks away from 850 to carry PC Friars basketball. 93.7 also gives them an "FM presence" on the Boston dial.

Key thing to keep in mind here is: WEEI has successfully established and maintained itself as a sports leader on AM and 93.7 simply ices the cake. 93.7 is a rimshot where 850 sails right into the heart of Arbitron's Boston book! A stand alone WEEI 93.7 would be counter productive because it will cause them to attempt to cover Boston by the 103.7/93.7 rimshot setup. 850 fills that hole SO nicely! Ain't nothin' broke here that needs fixin'.


-
 
This explains why they keep calling themselves "850 WEEI"...no wait, they're saying "93.7 WEEI"
aren't they? :) I just had Mutt and Lou on and they said "93.7 WEEI". Yes, 93.7 and 103.7 might be considered "ancillary augmentations" but don't forget the
idea is that now that they have strong competition on the FM dial, they want to lure people to that
FM signal, primarily. Yes "93.7 (is the) 'FM presence on the Boston dial" and I guess they will stay
on 850 as well.

Two scenarios:
--Exact same programming on 850 and 93.7, and when there are conflicts like Red Sox/Celtics (assuming
they ever play again...), put one on AM and one on FM
--Run ESPN 24/7 on the 850 and again, they can deal with play-by-play conflicts by putting one on AM, one on FM.
Or they can always bump some stuff like Mon. Night Football to 680 if necessary.

The PC Friars could well be part of the 103.7 lineup, or if not, they could well carry the games.

Oh and by the way the monster 850 signal?

Sucks.

Well, at night it does, especially west of Boston. Or if you are near high tension wires. Or work
in a building like my post office. Otherwise, 850 is a real powerhouse. I can sit in the breakroom at work and try to get 850 in but it's very faint, very subject to interference. 93.7? Clear as a bell.

Powerhouse? Assuming you can get WEEI. Without interference, even. Maybe by day it's OK, but...

>>a sports leader on AM

AM is grandpa's favorite radio band. Times are changing and the focus shifts to FM. Perhaps if
Entercom could pick up another FM (doubtful but who knows) they could launch a music (or something else?) station
on it (return of Mike FM?), or perhaps even move/simulcast WRKO there. Say, for example,
Greater decides to deal off 96.9. Entercom buys it (yeah right, a major competitor in the
market) and voila, Mike 96.9 or "96.9 WRKO-FM". (Howie as usual is telling his listeners to switch to WCRN at sunset. "Maybe by next year at this time I'll be on FM in Boston and won't have to tell people this.") Meanwhile, EEI on FM takes in listeners
who are tired of AM's limitations.

But yeah, the guy in Nova Scotia who can get EEI 850 by day is happy :) It is true that there may be
select areas where 93.7 or 103.7, etc. may be slightly shaky, and 850 is there to help out. But
just listen to EEI and you'll see the focus is on the 93.7 frequency ("guess what...we're on the
FM dial too!") and the only time you hear a mention of 850 is when they give out the text
number, 850850.
 
yes they should keep 850am because you can't get 93.7 in some parts of Boston (Brookline, Comm Ave area, Southend, parts of Roxbury, Kenmore Square area, South Boston, and parts of Dorchester-ALL these places can get 850am just fine) THIS is listenning by walkman, any walkman, new and old, MP3, HD, Phone FM, any walkman!!!!
 
The following is a JOKE :)

I think Entercom should buy up all the 41 stations in the USA on 850 and take them dark (including KOA), then tell Canada to go suck a puck over the non-existent Montreal station on 850 (which actually moved to 690 and went bust there too), and finally take WEEI non-directional Class A.
 
Ha! But in all seriousness don't forget Keating Willcox bought up WPEP in Taunton to take it dark
and thus get a 30kW day signal for WNSH (now owned by Costa-Eagle). Such things happen :)

It could well have trouble in some sections of Boston with a Walkman or something (93.7), I don't know.
Where I am it's just fine. The tower of 93.7 can be easily seen from Routes 1, I-95, and 128 (i.e.,
128 splitting from 95 in Peabody to go up to Gloucester). Maybe 8 miles from where I live, 6 miles
from where I work. For me 93.7 is golden.

Of course for many in their cars in and around Boston 93.7 should be fine, on a car stereo.
 
raccoonradio said:
Ha! But in all seriousness don't forget Keating Willcox bought up WPEP in Taunton to take it dark
and thus get a 30kW day signal for WNSH (now owned by Costa-Eagle). Such things happen :)
Click to expand...
He sold it for $400,000!
 
I think Entercom should buy up all the 41 stations in the USA on 850 and take them dark (including KOA), then tell Canada to go suck a puck over the non-existent Montreal station on 850 (which actually moved to 690 and went bust there too), and finally take WEEI non-directional Class A.
Click to expand...

Crap! Someone's onto my master plan!!!! ;D

In all seriousness, I really do think you're going to start seeing moves like that in the next 3 to 5 years. Perhaps not quite that extreme, but you'll see major players on AM strategically buying out other, weaker players on conflicting frequencies and taking the weaker station dark so the stronger station can expand. AM facility values have plummeted in the last four years so I can't help but think we're close to seeing ROI on such a strategy...
 
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