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Worcester Sharks radio

O

odomski

Guest
As you may know, AHL hockey is returning to Worcester next season. The Cleveland Barons are leaving Ohio, coming to Worcester, and will be the Worcester Sharks. Who will be carrying play-by-play of their games? I would think their radio affiliate would be WTAG, since they aired the Worcester IceCats games. However, are there any other stations in the area that would or could air the games?
 
> As you may know, AHL hockey is returning to Worcester next
> season. The Cleveland Barons are leaving Ohio, coming to
> Worcester, and will be the Worcester Sharks. Who will be
> carrying play-by-play of their games? I would think their
> radio affiliate would be WTAG, since they aired the
> Worcester IceCats games. However, are there any other
> stations in the area that would or could air the games?

How about 1440 WVEI? Affiliate of WEEI Boston, though, and WEEI programming pre-empted for AHL Hockey may not be the best bet.
 
Hell, you can barely hear 1440 AM outside of Worcester at night. Most hockey games are played at night. I agree that 1440 AM may not be the best station to choose from, however, based on the station's nighttime coverage.

However, WEEI pre-empts regular programming on 1440 and 103.7 to air the Celtics and Boston College football and basketball. So, why not just add one more team to pre-empt the regular talk shows?
 
> Hell, you can barely hear 1440 AM outside of Worcester at
> night. Most hockey games are played at night. I agree that
> 1440 AM may not be the best station to choose from, however,
> based on the station's nighttime coverage.
>
> However, WEEI pre-empts regular programming on 1440 and
> 103.7 to air the Celtics and Boston College football and
> basketball. So, why not just add one more team to pre-empt
> the regular talk shows?
>

How about WCRN? Didn't they air Worcester Tornadoes games this past season? I would think WTAG would be the logical choice anyhow.<P ID="signature">______________
"You need your head."

--Todd Rundgren</P>
 
I think the final decision may rest on whether the team sells rights or buys time and packages the broadcasts themselves.

If the team sells broadcast rights to a station, it will probably be WTAG-580, although there could be conflicts with Holy Cross men's hockey and basketball games, which are both being aired on WTAG this year.

But if the team decides to buy airtime, produce the broadcasts themselves and sell commercial time to cover the costs, they could end up on WCRN-830, especially if airtime on 'CRN is less expensive than on WTAG.

WCRN has a great AM signal, strong in all of Central Massachusetts, and in Eastern Massachusetts as well (during the daytime; once their new nighttime signal is activated, their night signal will also be very strong in Eastern Massachusetts).
 
> I think the final decision may rest on whether the team
> sells rights or buys time and packages the broadcasts
> themselves.
>
> If the team sells broadcast rights to a station, it will
> probably be WTAG-580, although there could be conflicts with
> Holy Cross men's hockey and basketball games, which are both
> being aired on WTAG this year.
>
> But if the team decides to buy airtime, produce the
> broadcasts themselves and sell commercial time to cover the
> costs, they could end up on WCRN-830, especially if airtime
> on 'CRN is less expensive than on WTAG.
>
> WCRN has a great AM signal, strong in all of Central
> Massachusetts, and in Eastern Massachusetts as well (during
> the daytime; once their new nighttime signal is activated,
> their night signal will also be very strong in Eastern
> Massachusetts).
>
Based on their own on-air comments, the WCRN staff was stretched
pretty thin as they broadcast all of the Tornadoes games. So it may
be a manpower reason that keeps them from going after the Sharks broadcast.
I'm not sure WCRN is in a strong enough financial position to pay rights
fees, but buying time may be a viable option for the team. However,
my guess is that WTAG will be the most serious contender for the Sharks
games. I think they were able to overcome most of the scheduling conflicts
they ran into while doing the Ice Cats games.
 
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