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WEEI Adding FM Simulcast Monday

On my commute this morning, listening to Mike-FM, at about 7:45 and a little later as well, they aired a promo for "Sporting News Radio coming here to 93.7 on Monday" or something to that effect.

At about 8:10 this morning, they promo'd WAAF and the Hillman Morning Show on 107.3 and 97.7.

Didn't hear any promos on the ride home tonight but I'd guess that Entercom will promo the heck out of all their Boston properties on 93.7 all weekend long.
 
NHRadio said:
Yes. The Telecom Act swept all those old rules away.

paulfromlowell said:
So whatever happened to the "Split Programming Rule" that forbid simulcasts like this? Did I miss the repeal of that?
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Simulcast rules were done away with in 1992 when FCC raised ownership limits to 12 FM/12 AM.
 
JIBGUY said:
NHRadio said:
Yes. The Telecom Act swept all those old rules away.

paulfromlowell said:
So whatever happened to the "Split Programming Rule" that forbid simulcasts like this? Did I miss the repeal of that?
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All of these new AM-FM simulcasts may just bring the rule back.
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I think you'd see a combination of AM's going dark, and many languishing with brokered programming. Unfortunately the capital investment in an AM station is pretty great (as you know!) and if you can't reach enough people to sell enough advertising to pay property taxes plus system maitenence, the station will end up off the air. A lot of these AM ground systems are becoming 40, 50, 60 years old and are deteriorating. Much like simulcasting kept FM alive in many cases in the 50's and 60's, I think simulcasting will keep many AM's alive today. I love AM as much as the next nerd, but I know that I don't posess the popular opnion.
 
I did say "something to that effect". I was more paraphrasing what I heard. The point was that they aired a promo that WEEI and sports talk and the Red Sox were coming to 93.7 on Monday.

OK? :D
 
Drove to Cape and found 93.7 comes in solid the whole time exc. maybe slight drift in Plymouth. They will cover more areas, 24/7, and nighttime/Sox/Celts will get a boost from the signal. Those who can't get 93.7 have the various other stations (incl. 96.3 here on the Cape)
Maybe they could resurrect Mike somewhere, who knows
 
It'll be interesting to see whether adding EEI to FM brings in any more revenue. Given what MIKE was billing I'd say overall it will be less....
 
You're probably right, but the way I see it the point is not so much to outbill Mike but to protect WEEI's billing and ratings from further erosion since 98.5 has been eating its lunch. Now that the FM sports battle is equal we'll see who's left standing 18 months from now.


quote author=ned link=topic=197472.msg1755571#msg1755571 date=1315705955]
It'll be interesting to see whether adding EEI to FM brings in any more revenue. Given what MIKE was billing I'd say overall it will be less....
[/quote]
 
ned said:
It'll be interesting to see whether adding EEI to FM brings in any more revenue. Given what MIKE was billing I'd say overall it will be less....
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Don't forget that costs will be down with the simulcast. Mike Morgan is out of a job, and I'd bet the part time board techs that they had are out, but I don't know for sure. There's also a big savings in not having to pay music royalties, streaming royalties, and not having to stream the station period.

Entercom's got number crunchers, I'm sure the deal won't be too bad or the bean counters wouldn't have signed off on it. It's very true that it's more of a defensive mood, but it still has to make decent business sense. Say what you will about Entercom, they're very responsible with their money compared to the heavily leveraged Clear Channel and Cumulus.
 
Good points; btw awhile ago there was talk that if the performance tax went through it would cost broadcasters considerably in increased payments and this might lead to more "music stations going talk". I don't know if it were to get passed in future but you might see that (and have music fans moan about "too many talk stations on FM, which should be for music"...
 
So now that WEEI has switched to FM will the other stations that carry the Red Sox games on FM whose coverage overlaps WEEI-FM's still be able to air the games? I'm asking because I noticed that on Sunday (before Mike FM switched) 96.7 The Wave (WQSO) from Rochester NH did not carry the game as they did in the past.
 
Are they keeping the WMKK call letters? Obviously they'll only be mentioned at the top of the hour but since WEEI-FM already exists in Westerly, Rhode Island, they can't give the WEEI call letters to 93.7 unless they switch the call letters on 103.7.

By the way, CBS recently added two FM Sports stations to its roster, not just in Philadelphia. They also switched an Alternative Rock station in Cleveland to Sports. CBS now has seven FM Sports stations: WBZ-FM Boston, WIP-FM Philadelphia, WXYT-FM Detroit, WJFK Washington, WKRK Cleveland, KDKA-FM Pittsburgh and WJZ-FM Baltimore.



Gregg
[email protected]
 
I believe they have applied for the WEEI-FM call letters to be placed on 93.7. For now Jim Cutler's promos say "WEEI on FM" (not WEEI-FM, which for now is 103.7 in Westerly RI). The RI station will take the WVEI-FM calls from Easthampton MA, which will get new calls. WMKK calls will be gone when the FCC
approves the "WEEI-FM Lawrence MA" calls.

I don't know the status of stations like the Wave 96.7 on the NH seacoast and WBOQ in Gloucester. I suspect they may carry Sox rest of the year but may, esp. in case of WBOQ, not get rights next year.
93.7 comes in fine all over the North Shore and 104.9 would be redundant.
 
False alarm I guess for the Wave 96.7 as the Sox are back on tonight. From Dover NH I can now listen to the Sox on 6 FMs:

93.7 WEEI
96.3 WEII
96.7 WQSO
99.7 WNTK
104.9 WBOQ
107.7 WTPL
 
Even if the new WEEI-FM can be heard on the Seacoast, it's not an advertising vehicle for Seacoast advertisers, who are in their own separate radio market. Entercom doesn't get any ratings benefit from having Sox listeners in the Seacoast tuned to 93.7 (unless they're visiting from Boston and carrying their PPM units); it DOES get a bottom-line benefit from the affiliation money it gets from 96.7 up there. No reason to think that would change.
 
People sent text messages last night saying it was coming in fine in NH, MA (incl. Cape) on 93.7
One text was from someone in E. Longmeadow saying it sounded fine in FM. Maybe they were listening on
105.5 because isn't the 93.7 in that area WZMX in Hartford? Someone on the WEEI facebook said they tuned in to 93.7 in Hartford but got music instead. I explained why.

And...was this the first time the Sox were in the metro Boston area on FM? I say nay, nay.

WWEL 107.9
WPLM 99.1
(and as someone pointed out, for a time, WCGY 93.7!)
 
1975 ALCS playoffs on 92.9 WBOS and 1510 AM WMEX when 850 WHDH contract expired at the end of 1095 regular season.
 
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