Sports radio in Boston

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

To follow up on the WWZN thread...

Boston just doesn't have enough sports programming to fill two all-sports
stations, especially since two teams are on non-sports outlets. Successful
stations like WFAN, WIP, et al., are booked up year-long with play-by-play.
WIP has somehow bucked the trend without having baseball, though they
usually have either the Sixers or Flyers around deep in the playoffs til
May, then the Eagles coming on in late July/August. WEEI owning only one pro
franchise's radio rights means that there's lots of nights with Ted Sarandis
berating the callers for not talking about what he wants (instead of talking
about what they want). It's not entertaining radio.

Even WEPN (the erstwhile WEVD), which has Islanders' and Jets' rights, is
struggling in an 9-franchise market. When they Disney's NYC stations lost
the Yankees, that was a huge blow. I think Disney leased/bought 1050 in the
first place in an effort to convince YankeeNets to make the station the YES
of radio.

They're not getting the Patriots any time soon, but Entercom really needs
the Celtics and/or Bruins to solidify WEEI's standing, as well as a local
overnight show (not second-rate syndication material), and some better hosts
who can make the station sound more than an outlet for drunk fans to call
and vent. Passionate, intelligent sports talk without 24-7 yelling and
screaming is possible; WFAN's proven it. The fact that they have no rights
of significance other than the Sox -- and BC basketball, which will hit the
tank and become massively uncompetitive as soon as it joins the ACC in a
couple years -- means that there's so much more sports talk that the fans
are subjected to than what one hears on WFAN.

If 1510 does go under, I hope that someone picks up the AM Press Box show.
If the show had a few more callers and some tighter production, I think it
could really blossom.


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