Re: WBZ drops sports on weekends

[Mark Shneyder <mshbc@bu.edu>]

On Mon, 23 Mar 1998, FM radio 1 wrote:

> I have a hard time believing BZ would drop all of it's sports programming if
> CBS didn't think they could retain WEEI once the merger is done.  I'm sure
> that WEEI was the main station they wanted to aquire from ARS in the first
> place.  They seem to own a lot of heavy billers in New York (WFAN, WCBS, WINS,
> WXRK), so I don't think retaining WEEI should be a problem.  Hey, I'd spin off
> WZLX to assure that EEI was part of the family.  CBS also specializes in AM
> formats, particularly news and sports programming, so I think it's premature
> to spin off WEEI, despite what "insiders" may say.  

In theory, Dodge could buy back WEEI and sell sports content to CBS
which then would move it to 680, more likely at the end of the 1998 Red
Sox season.  Heck, half of New England Revolution's 24-game package is
already headed to 680 this season...makes you wonder, eh...

I think if you're Karmazin, retaining WBMX-FM is much more valuable in the
long run considering that your arch enemy, Chancellor, is an easy target
with just 2 FM's here, both of which beating up on one another because
they share much of the same button-punching audience. You can do a lot
with 98.5FM to cut into Chancellor's pockets -- introduce a true Top40
format which combines badly splintered/fragmented stuff you hear on
Kiss108 and Jamn94-5.

- -M

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