Re: Costa-Eagle announces changes

["Sean Smyth" <ssmyth@suscom.net>]

Mark Watson writes:
>    When the Lowell Spinners took the field 5 seasons ago, their games
aired
> on WLLH. When the station was sold to Mega and it was announced it would
> flip to Spanish, the Spinners struck a deal for the games to air on WCCM.
> When Costa/ Eagle announced the sale of WCCM last year to the Archdiocese
of
> Boston, Spinners owner Drew Weber was furious that he wasn't told about
the
> sale as he would have offered to but it. The sale fell through and Costa/
> Eagle held on to WCCM. I wonder what his reaction will be to this 3 way
> frequency flip flop?
> I wonder if Costa/ Eagle has filled him in before today's announcement, or
> will he find out second hand? I also hope someone tells Mr.Weber the truth
> that the 1490 signal is more or less useless in Lowell. Then we'll see if
> the Spinners games next season end up on WCAP (980 Lowell) or not on the
> radio at all. I know The Spinners and WCAP couldn't agree to terms in the
> past, will the upcoming series of flips on 9/8 help lead the way to easier
> negotiations with Maurice Cohen and Drew Weber?  Then again, Mr.Weber may
> have a few things to say to Pat Costa. This could get very interesting.

It shouldn't have too much of an effect on this season since the Spinners'
season wraps up in early September. I wouldn't be surprised if I heard their
last game was Sept. 7, in fact, and Costa-Eagle waited until after the
season to flip formats around.

Doesn't WJUL generally get shutdown (or go with TIC) over the summer? Some
teams (especially in the New York-Penn League and on other smaller A-level
teams) have their games aired on noncomm stations. I have heard that some
college stations keep themselves on the air, give the team the air time in
exchange for a nice "donation," and the team then finds people to
"underwrite" the broadcasts. (In essence, the Spinners would be buying the
air time.) Has anyone heard of this happening before and would know the
details?

Of course, Weber could just buy air time on WCAP if he wanted to go that
route, but I throw the 91.5 situation out there as one of those wild
"what-ifs" and would presumably be cheaper than buying time on WCAP. And I
seem to remember WJUL has a decent signal.

What about 1120? How is their signal into Lowell? (I know they teamed up
with WLLH to air games for the first season of the Spinners but they were
only an affiliate station, not the flagship.)