weei. why so popular?

[blamethemayo]

i just dont get it. why is weei so popular. i know they have a relatively long history. i understand that most of their programming is local. and i certainly understand the reception issues with 890.

but let's break it down...

mornings: is anyone going to argue that d&c is superior to mike and mike? if i wanted to hear angry white male radio, id wait to midday and turn it to 'rko. when i tune into a sports station, i want to hear sports talk. maybe im the odd one?

i think everyone agrees that mike and mike have better guests.

midday: eh. this is the one area where 'eei may have a slight advantage. dale and holley is probably their best program. definitely the most mature program they offer.

pm drive: ugh. what a disaster the big show is. it is absolutely horrible. depending on the season, we get to listen to "OMG THE PATRITOS/RED SOX ARE THE BEST TEAM EVER!!11" along with pete sheppard's annoying man-crush on tom brady.

i wont get into the disaster that is fred smerlas. everytime i hear him ramble on about something i feeling like jabbing scissors in my ear

felger wins hands down. better show. much better guests. better discussions.

night: i like mike adams. i think he is talented. for the most part, i like his show. although many of his antics are a bit sophomoric. his friday night shows at fenway are horrible. what makes weei think we want to listen to adams flirt with drunken 20-something ladies?


that is just my take. im sure many on here will be ready to take my head off!

 

[SonicOverload]

night: i like mike adams. i think he is talented. for the most part, i like his show. although many of his antics are a bit sophomoric. his friday night shows at fenway are horrible. what makes weei think we want to listen to adams flirt with drunken 20-something ladies?

it's not sports radio, it's guy talk radio...

Re: Mikey. I had him on for a few minutes tonight and he sounded sloshed and buffoon-like... Maybe he wasn't the first thing but that's how it came across. I forget what he said about Eric Gagne but it sounded like a teenager ranting. I'm not too thrilled with Gagne either but he seems to be competing with the callers over who can sound more like a yahoo at the bar at the Cask and Flagon.

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

You want to know why 'EEI is so popular? I'll give you two reasons: Dennis & Callahan AND the Big Schmo - PERIOD! And the reason those shows are so popular in the first place is because both shows usually avoid sports like the plague; instead we have the hosts (D&C, Ordway, Pete, Smerlas, DeOssie - the latter also a Bosco grad like myself) talk about why they hate Hillary, Democrats, gays, minorities (esp. D&C), illegal aliens (with Howie gone, who else besides Ordway's crew is going to take on these sponges), etc. That's why Pinch Sulzburger (biggest single Red Sox owner - even bigger than John Henry) ordered the Sox off of WEEI and at first onto WBOS (another station with lame-a** ratings) then onto WRKO when Sulzburger was granted autonomy over WRKO (goodbye Howie, Scotto and DiPetro; hello Tommy Taxes and other liberals to be named later). FYI, Julie and Jason's hands are tied over 'RKO by Pinch.

 

[raccoonradio]

D&C may avoid sports but from when I've listened to the Big Show it's strong on sports
and yes just some goofin' around talk...The Big Show gang doing politics? Not when I've
tuned in!
I don't think there's an el Globo/WRKO connection...

The Big Show gets #1 ratings in its time slot. Give the people what they want.
I do admit I heard a bit of Felger today (w/ Bob Lobel, etc.) and it was well done. (ESPN 890)
It was coming in well (daytime) here in Beverly

 

[Blackroc]

biggest single Red Sox owner - even bigger than John Henry) ordered the Sox

Care to place a wager on that? House or pack of Jr. mints?

They are a very successful guy -talk station. But the ultimate challenge would have been a primo FM station with RS rights and a decent lineup of hosts. It's not going to happen but I would have liked to seen the competition.

For the record WFAN has been hurt badly with the Imus loss and shows that all-sports isn't neccessarily the answer. A bigtime morning guy should be part of the plan.

 

[brassband]

Folks -- it's not sports, it's ENTERTAINMENT!

D & C are entertaining; sports is just one of the vehicles that they use for the show.

The same is true of the Big Show.

As radio icon, the late-great Jerry Williams always said, the key to being successful in radio is to understand that it's an entertainment medium.

The person in current radio who understands this best is Rush . . . he's primarily a showman who uses humor -- and let's face it, his opponents constantly feed him prime material for satire and sarcasm -- and that's how he holds his audience. Why couldn't Air America get a foothold? Because they don't have a sense of humor!

The ESPN radio shows are fine for sports junkies (and fantasy football geeks) who want to talk Xs and Os all the time . . . but that's not a wide enough audience. 'EEI understands how to grab and hold an audience that doesn't know the difference between the infield fly rule and a flea-flicker.

 

[SonicOverload]

Folks -- it's not sports, it's ENTERTAINMENT!


The ESPN radio shows are fine for sports junkies (and fantasy football geeks) who want to talk Xs and Os all the time . . . but that's not a wide enough audience. 'EEI understands how to grab and hold an audience that doesn't know the difference between the infield fly rule and a flea-flicker.

that's why I'm glad there are sports shows that cater to that audience (insert Ciao complaining about there being more than one sports station). As for the Big Show, they do mainly stick to sports but also throw in some neanderthal politics on occasion. Big O, Sheppard, DeOssie and Smerlas are all right wingers, especially Smerlas... you do get balance when Steve Buckley appears.

 

[ArtSpooner]

I think that WFAN realized, early-on, that hard core sports doesn't work too well in the morning. That's why they hired Imus. I think 'EEI realized the same thing when they hired him. I think that the sucess of the Sox and Pats, coupled with too much "ranch talk" by Imus led them to insert D&C into his time slot, keeping in mind that four straight hours of calls from Frank from Gloucester and Tony from Bridgewater wouldn't work.

The rest of the shows stick to sports pretty much. I've not heard much in the way of political talk on the Big Show. Once in a while you hear an outburst from Smerlas, but not much after that.

I'm convinced that the sucess is tied closely to the success of the local teams. Kind of like the "Pink Hat" phenomonom. Callahan was out for months and the ratings barely slipped. Granted the shows were terrible, but the ratings stayed high. Unless it's really bad e.g. Larry Johnson, Smerlas and Deossie, Bob Halloran, etc. I don't think the so-called talent has a lot to do with it.

 

[raccoonradio]

conservatives are neanderthal? perhaps in a state so far to the left that anyone even moderate is
considered to be that way (there USED to be a conservative wing of the Dem party believe it or not).
If conservatives are neanderthal what does that make liberals...commies?

I think someone ought to try a sports talk show mixed with liberal politics. Peace rallies, global
warming, yeah that'd work! But of course you know sports is just wrong because one team
would feel bad because they lost. So we just won't keep score. BOTH teams will win. (Actually
some kids' sports leagues took scoring out for that very reason. I'm not kidding!) And sports
is so...violent. Football...it's like war. It's just wrong. Why can't both teams just have a group hug? :

>>Why couldn't Air America get a foothold? Because they don't have a sense of humor!

Yeah, they had that dramatic actor Al Franken on...and Jones has that ultra serious Stephanie
Miller. Never did any comedy stuff on those shows I guess (Well maybe it was humor but there
had to be other reasons people didn't listen...?)

 

[brassband]

With all due respect to Al Franken . . . Rush is a much better comedian, and the butt of his humor is most often himself . . . all that "half my brain tied behind my back" and "talent on loan from God" stuff is just plain funny.

Why can't that act work for a liberal? Because they really believe that they are smarter than everyone else, and it's not funny when they claim to be, as it is with Rush.

With regard to the Big Show and D & C, I think they stray away from sports quite frequently, and not just when they talk about politics. What they have done is create "characters" -- such as Pete Shepard and John Metaperel -- who are essentially playing parts in a sitcom. The topic they are talking about is sports, but these characters are also taking shots at each other during the dialogue. People keep listening just to see what kind of silliness is going to occur among these characters.

 

[SonicOverload]

Stephanie is funny... she should be on in Boston

no, not all cons are neanderthals but Smerlas falls into that territory.

 

[blamethemayo]

smerlas is awful. how anyone can listen to him for more than 2 minutes without feeling somehow less intelligent...is beyond me.

it doesnt matter what the subject is...sports, politics or his restaurant.

and did my eyes deceive me, or did someone on this thread call tom finneran a liberal? that person must have a pretty broad definition of liberalism. ive heard nothing remotely liberal from tom. seems like your run-of-the mill social intolerant to me.

 

[rapking]

Why WEEI so Popular ? WEEI , A very good Sports Station VS Boston other Sloppy Sports Stations ( WAMG,The Zone ) and Boston Crappy Music stations( Only College,Pirates and WCRB is good in Boston ) .

 

[SonicOverload]

and did my eyes deceive me, or did someone on this thread call tom finneran a liberal? that person must have a pretty broad definition of liberalism. ive heard nothing remotely liberal from tom. seems like your run-of-the mill social intolerant to me.

well, compared to Michael Savage, Finneran is a left-wing liberal. I imagine it comes from him being perceived as "Tommy Taxes" (a Carr-ism that has come into this board's lexicon, apparently) although he's a hard-core social conservative.

 

[raccoonradio]

True enough; by the way on Felger's show yesterday they were talking non-sports for a moment,
with the whole Ellen's Dog controversy...but at least they tied it in to sports with a mention of
Michael "Vapo Rub" Vick...

 

[SonicOverload]

True enough; by the way on Felger's show yesterday they were talking non-sports for a moment,
with the whole Ellen's Dog controversy...but at least they tied it in to sports with a mention of
Michael "Vapo Rub" Vick...

I have no idea what the Ellen's dog thing is about. I'll google it now but that shows how little I pay attention to pop culture. Or try not to.

 

[Quiddity]

Why is WEEI so popular? Not that hard to figure out.

1) People are absurdly obsessed with sports in this area. Add on the fact that the Pats and Sox have been very successful since around 2001 and that adds even more potential viewers to their station.

2) They have a very good signal.

3) They have no competition whatsoever. Any time someone tries to compete, the signal is so horrific that you can't hear it outside of 128.

4) They aired every Red Sox game up until this year and even this year still air a fair amount of them.

When you put those four together, they're gonna get great ratings, no matter who is on the air. John Dennis, Gerry Callahan, John Meterperel, Dale Arnold, Pete Shephard, Mike Adams, Larry Johnson, Craig Mustard, Steve Burton, Bill Burt, Butch Stearns and many other regular hosts have no talent whatsoever, but the ratings are still there. Their commercial break during D&C and the Big Show averages about 25-30 minutes per hour, but the ratings are still there. They non-stop bash and flame anyone who doesn't agree with them, calling them turds, blowing them up, etc... but the ratings are still there. It's because those things have no impact on the ratings whatsoever. As long as those things listed above remain, they'll contiue to have huge ratings no matter who is on the air.

 

[Neanderpaul]

WEEI is "so popular" for the exact behavior on display in this forum every day.

They sit and debate the merits of whatever. And just like all New Englanders...as long as there's an opinion to disagree with...they will.

And they do it better than every other talk station in the market.

Talk radio doesn't have to be serious, or issue-oriented. That's why its appeal tends to be so limited. Talk radio merely needs to be entertaining, and interactive. "Talk Radio" overall is now nothing more than monologue. Blowhards telling the listener their opinion, and how everyone else's is invalid, or wrong. "Talk Radio" never listens...it waits to talk.

WEEI engages in dialogue. If nothing more than to rebuke every caller's dissenting opinion. It works. Always has. Always will. Especially in the over-opinionated, self-righteous Northeast. There's probably no region of the country better suited for the format.

Read every thread in this forum out loud. That's good talk radio

WEEI has done it well for a long time.

I hated Sarandis...but his phones rang. Agreement=dead phones=death in Talk. It's a simple format and congratulations to WEEI for being the best at it. If the other talk-based stations took themselves a little less seriously, and got off the high-horse, people might listen. Talk with...not AT.

Brudnoy got it. Glick got it. Williams got it. And WEEI gets it.

That...is why they are "so popular"

Here endeth the sermon.

 

[blamethemayo]

im glad someone brought up those loooooong commercial breaks on 'eei. i forgot about those.

how long are those suckers? break + flash has to equal 12 minutes or so.

 

[Blackroc]

Even if they do managle to hit a break on time during morning and drive, program content usually doesn't start untill .12 past or so.

So then they miss their 20/20,get to it at about .28 and get to the spots at about .32 past the hour and lose the .40 20/20 completely.