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WEEI-AM 850 to become ESPN Radio
- Thread starter Fenway1912
- Start date
>>The target, according to the same sources, is to be on the air no later than early fall.
Details still to be worked out. In 09 when ESPN returned to WEEI, it started with some baseball playoffs in Oct and then on Nov 1 or poss. late Oct., ESPN's overnight talk shows etc wound up
on 850. Maybe Oct or Nov is start of contract?
I wonder if they may put baseball playoffs (non-Sox; hey, they still are in run for wildcard) on 850 only and free 93.7 for talk, but who knows. You could see also scenarios like the following:
ALCS Divisional Playoff: NYY vs. Texas, 93.7
NLCS Divisional Playoff: Wash. vs. Pitt. on 850
Details still to be worked out. In 09 when ESPN returned to WEEI, it started with some baseball playoffs in Oct and then on Nov 1 or poss. late Oct., ESPN's overnight talk shows etc wound up
on 850. Maybe Oct or Nov is start of contract?
I wonder if they may put baseball playoffs (non-Sox; hey, they still are in run for wildcard) on 850 only and free 93.7 for talk, but who knows. You could see also scenarios like the following:
ALCS Divisional Playoff: NYY vs. Texas, 93.7
NLCS Divisional Playoff: Wash. vs. Pitt. on 850
Ah! Yinz are from da Burgh, well my cartoon fan convention moved there in '06 and I fell in love with the city/region to the point where now I live in Pittsburgh and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
one week out of every year! I used to say of PNC Park, "Nice stadium, shame about the team".
No longer--they're pretty hot (as are the Wash Nationals who I saw this wk in their nice new stadium...Fenway Park is so old btw that some of the people that worked on it could have been born in the Lincoln Administration. Nationals Park a bit more recent!
"Are yinz gonna catch the Stillers game at a dahntahn bar or at home on your caach, an' at?"
one week out of every year! I used to say of PNC Park, "Nice stadium, shame about the team".
No longer--they're pretty hot (as are the Wash Nationals who I saw this wk in their nice new stadium...Fenway Park is so old btw that some of the people that worked on it could have been born in the Lincoln Administration. Nationals Park a bit more recent!
"Are yinz gonna catch the Stillers game at a dahntahn bar or at home on your caach, an' at?"
DToTheJ said:
When Clear Channel moved WPKX 97.9 from Enfield (Springfield) to Windsor Locks (Hartford) and renamed it WUCS, it transferred WPOP 1410's ESPN programming to 97.9 and replaced it on 1410 with Fox Sports Radio. However, both stations have local talent in evening drive and a few other slots. Could a 100 percent bird-feed 850 fly in Boston, or is this one of those situations like Disney affiliates, where the advertisers buy in regardless of the ratings -- even if the station doesn't even show up 12+ -- because whoever is listening is in some coveted demographic niche?
DToTheJ said:
I believe so! While a 50 kW non-D blaster is nice, advertisers and station operators only care about reaching every inch of their DMA, which FM can do. WFAN may reach 40 states or so at night, but all those out of NY area listeners aren't counted in the ratings and don't matter to advertisers.
What's happening in Boston is going to happen elsewhere as well.
Haven't listened much in recent years but Bristol either gave up on early morning talk or had a very diff' time replacing Jason Smith at this time last year.
The Ca-based Smith was very JetsMetsnyk's-centric but had a decent show for five years or so.
He had taken the hours from Todd Wright --also decent-- who had been around for most of the 2000's.
The Ca-based Smith was very JetsMetsnyk's-centric but had a decent show for five years or so.
He had taken the hours from Todd Wright --also decent-- who had been around for most of the 2000's.
It's all about how to sell it.
If sufficient WEEI listeners have migrated to FM, then the AM signal is in play. Entercom knows there is a sports audience that doesn't want the constant hyper-local sound of WEEI or WBZ-FM. One would think research has identified who they are and what they want.
The question becomes whether this audience is significant enough so that it can be combined with WEEI on FM to create a combo buy that is attractive to advertisers seeking 25-54 males.
It's about enhancing the buy for advertisers to enhance revenues. Creating, and owning , a subset of the sports radio crowd on the AM signal that can be billed in combo with an effective FM may be at the tipping point where it is more profitable that a simulcast or other uses of the AM. It also provides AM only sales opportunity for non-local long-form events -- not big bucks, but essentially free money.
Somehow I don't think Entercom blew up Mike because they thought WEEI would sound prettier on FM. It's all about revenue, and I think part of the analysis had to be potential future uses of 850 when the WEEI audience went to FM . Identification of an additional sports audience that could be served at little cost while adding to existing billing would seem to make a new sports format on the AM a significant revenue enhancement.
If sufficient WEEI listeners have migrated to FM, then the AM signal is in play. Entercom knows there is a sports audience that doesn't want the constant hyper-local sound of WEEI or WBZ-FM. One would think research has identified who they are and what they want.
The question becomes whether this audience is significant enough so that it can be combined with WEEI on FM to create a combo buy that is attractive to advertisers seeking 25-54 males.
It's about enhancing the buy for advertisers to enhance revenues. Creating, and owning , a subset of the sports radio crowd on the AM signal that can be billed in combo with an effective FM may be at the tipping point where it is more profitable that a simulcast or other uses of the AM. It also provides AM only sales opportunity for non-local long-form events -- not big bucks, but essentially free money.
Somehow I don't think Entercom blew up Mike because they thought WEEI would sound prettier on FM. It's all about revenue, and I think part of the analysis had to be potential future uses of 850 when the WEEI audience went to FM . Identification of an additional sports audience that could be served at little cost while adding to existing billing would seem to make a new sports format on the AM a significant revenue enhancement.
The move to FM was necessary due to Sports Hub, as well as interference/reception problems.
850 can do well by day but the signal goes north/south at night, hence the need to branch out onto 1440 Worc.,103.7 Westerly etc; why Red Sox games wound up on 830 as well...
Driving back from Conn. yesterday I noticed how strong a signal 97.7 is and it was used to help
bring WAAF closer to Boston (between that and 93.7 they had a couple options as to where to place WEEI on FM--and no while WRKO does need an FM home I don't see them sacrificing 97.7. Poss. 107.3 but even that is a longshot...). I also noticed nr the I-84/I-90 exchange you couldn't get WEEI-FM
on 93.7 (got Hartford's WZMX instead) but after a few miles you did get WEEI-FM. It does cover a lot of ground on 93.7 and the various other stations help, too. This is daytime...at night, it
posed problems etc. "No static at all" plus fairly far reaching. Interference with high tension wires
and machinery not really in play with FM. Plus people tend to stick with FM especially younger listeners, mp3 players with radios are usually FM only etc. Yes possibly the 850 could have
filled in for a couple spots where the various FMs couldn't, but you see what was happening nationwide in Hartford, NYC, Philly, and many other places--the move of sports talkers/
play by play to FM. (And talk too like the 94.9 that helps WTAG)
Leaving CT, I found the very end of the Yankees game (theeeeeeeeeee Yankees lose!) on
97.9 ESPN...fairly good signal. Admittedly does have weaknesses somewhere.
>>Creating, and owning , a subset of the sports radio crowd on the AM signal that can be billed in combo with an effective FM may be at the tipping point where it is more profitable that a simulcast or other uses of the AM. It also provides AM only sales opportunity for non-local long-form events -- not big bucks, but essentially free money.
Yes
>> It's all about revenue
True
Down in the "Tidewater" area, sports FMs could be found on 94.1 (ESPN, Norfolk Tides)
and 102.1 (incl. Washington Nationals). In DC while at the Nationals game I heard it
on 106.7, WJFK-FM...
850 can do well by day but the signal goes north/south at night, hence the need to branch out onto 1440 Worc.,103.7 Westerly etc; why Red Sox games wound up on 830 as well...
Driving back from Conn. yesterday I noticed how strong a signal 97.7 is and it was used to help
bring WAAF closer to Boston (between that and 93.7 they had a couple options as to where to place WEEI on FM--and no while WRKO does need an FM home I don't see them sacrificing 97.7. Poss. 107.3 but even that is a longshot...). I also noticed nr the I-84/I-90 exchange you couldn't get WEEI-FM
on 93.7 (got Hartford's WZMX instead) but after a few miles you did get WEEI-FM. It does cover a lot of ground on 93.7 and the various other stations help, too. This is daytime...at night, it
posed problems etc. "No static at all" plus fairly far reaching. Interference with high tension wires
and machinery not really in play with FM. Plus people tend to stick with FM especially younger listeners, mp3 players with radios are usually FM only etc. Yes possibly the 850 could have
filled in for a couple spots where the various FMs couldn't, but you see what was happening nationwide in Hartford, NYC, Philly, and many other places--the move of sports talkers/
play by play to FM. (And talk too like the 94.9 that helps WTAG)
Leaving CT, I found the very end of the Yankees game (theeeeeeeeeee Yankees lose!) on
97.9 ESPN...fairly good signal. Admittedly does have weaknesses somewhere.
>>Creating, and owning , a subset of the sports radio crowd on the AM signal that can be billed in combo with an effective FM may be at the tipping point where it is more profitable that a simulcast or other uses of the AM. It also provides AM only sales opportunity for non-local long-form events -- not big bucks, but essentially free money.
Yes
>> It's all about revenue
True
Down in the "Tidewater" area, sports FMs could be found on 94.1 (ESPN, Norfolk Tides)
and 102.1 (incl. Washington Nationals). In DC while at the Nationals game I heard it
on 106.7, WJFK-FM...
Fybush's column today points out 93.7 "has trouble penetrating the massive wall of RF coming from the Prudential Tower in Boston’s Back Bay – which means that if you’re listening to a cheap portable radio in the Fenway Park bleachers, 93.7′s signal can be easily overloaded by all the nearby Pru FMs while 850 blasts right in." Also mentions trouble in Needham/Newton area, and Scott wonders if maybe the forthcoming
"ESPN 850" might at least still carry Sox games.
http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html (subscription based)
"ESPN 850" might at least still carry Sox games.
http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html (subscription based)
Would Ent have to change calls of WEEI 850 to avoid ratings confusion if they go all ESPN? Or no need due to PPMs? In Phil. for example WIP calls are at both 610 and 94.1, WPEN calls at both 950 and 97.5---100 per cent simulcast at both, sports talk radio, but what if, say, the AMs of one or the other went to all syndie, thus a split up?
If so: WEBI is available (sounds like WEEI but isn't--enough to satisfy ratings requirements yet similar enough to the FM...?)
If so: WEBI is available (sounds like WEEI but isn't--enough to satisfy ratings requirements yet similar enough to the FM...?)
raccoonradio said:
No need since the PPM doesn't get confused.
Great...also got my answer via tweets @bostonradio (thanks)
(to me):
>>For marketing purposes, most likely 850 would be branded as "ESPN Boston". WEEI would only be used in 93.7 association --For ratings purposes, both stations would be tracked separately just like WJZ-FM(Fan 105.7) and WJZ AM(ESPN 1300) in BAL --As @jdb820 pointed out, thanks to PPM technology call letters are just a formality these days. It's all about branding
(to me):
>>For marketing purposes, most likely 850 would be branded as "ESPN Boston". WEEI would only be used in 93.7 association --For ratings purposes, both stations would be tracked separately just like WJZ-FM(Fan 105.7) and WJZ AM(ESPN 1300) in BAL --As @jdb820 pointed out, thanks to PPM technology call letters are just a formality these days. It's all about branding
Thought I heard at least one show on the online station went away, not sure which one. A sign of the upcoming change I'd think. Forget where I read it (Facebook?)
whdh1920 said:
The Adam Jones show has been 'suspended' by ESPN Boston
The word about this came out in early Aug but there has been no sign. Maybe later? Maybe not at all?
Labor Day has come and gone. Do they wait for the (merciful) end of the Sox season to go all
ESPN on 850? Or do they feel it's best to stay as is. Now they have 1510 as the mostly-national
competition (not that too many will listen!) I don't know if 1510's local show the Bawstin Diehards
will have EEI or Sports Hub quaking in its boots, and they prob aren't worried too much about the NBC Sports Radio programming (ooh! We have another competitor!) Supposedly they were to go all ESPN
to get a few $$ from the WorldwideLeaderInSports and supposedly most have fled to FM 93.7 (etc.)
so why not, but no indication if or when this will actually get done.
In a chat with listeners, Jason Wolfe was heard to say something like "We always have a good relationship with ESPN" when asked about the ESPN to 850 move. So...it may happen.
Perhaps.
Maybe.
If?
SOMEDAY...
Labor Day has come and gone. Do they wait for the (merciful) end of the Sox season to go all
ESPN on 850? Or do they feel it's best to stay as is. Now they have 1510 as the mostly-national
competition (not that too many will listen!) I don't know if 1510's local show the Bawstin Diehards
will have EEI or Sports Hub quaking in its boots, and they prob aren't worried too much about the NBC Sports Radio programming (ooh! We have another competitor!) Supposedly they were to go all ESPN
to get a few $$ from the WorldwideLeaderInSports and supposedly most have fled to FM 93.7 (etc.)
so why not, but no indication if or when this will actually get done.
In a chat with listeners, Jason Wolfe was heard to say something like "We always have a good relationship with ESPN" when asked about the ESPN to 850 move. So...it may happen.
Perhaps.
Maybe.
If?
SOMEDAY...
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