RE: Costa-Eagle announces changes

["Paul Hopfgarten" <paul@03038.com>]

With the possibility of a AA team going into Manchester NH in the next 2or 3
years, and the ownership of the Spinners leading the charge for getting that
Manchester franchise.....would it make ANY sense for the owners to seek out
1250 or 1370 out of Manhcester to broadcast the Spinners (in exchange for
the future Manchester AA team radio rights) for a couple of years?
Heck...maybe even 96.5 FM WQLL? I'm sure their signal reaches Lowell...

Paul Hopfgarten
PO Box 279
East Derry NH 03041



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> [mailto:owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org]On Behalf Of Sean
> Smyth
> Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 8:32 PM
> To: Mark Watson; Boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> Subject: Re: Costa-Eagle announces changes
>
>
> 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.)
>