WGIR: ESPN Sox coverage instead of Joe and Jerry?

[David Tomm]

The reason you got the ESPN feed is because ESPN owns the broadcast 
rights to the World Series.  The flagship stations of each team are 
allowed to use their own announcers, in this case WEEI and KMOX/St. 
Louis, but everyone else gets ESPN.  In Providence, WPRO-AM is a Red 
Sox affiliate, but WSKO-AM & FM in that market aired the game instead 
because that station is an ESPN radio affiliate.  My guess is that most 
Sox affiliates got to air the ESPN feed with only a few exceptions.

As far as the "quality" of the WEEI pre-game programming, I can't 
answer to that.  However, the commercial clocks did seem different than 
their usual programming, probably because they had to air some ESPN 
network spots as part of their arrangement so that Joe and Jerry could 
air the game in Boston.  I'm sure WEEI will iron out some of the 
technical glitches before tonight's game.  Or maybe not.......

--Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"


On Oct 24, 2004, at 8:08 AM, WCTB-FM/WHQO-FM/WSKW-AM wrote:

> Hey, I'm an affiliate, and I'm not even clear on what the reason is. 
> As I understand it, though, it's always been that way. The theory I've 
> heard is that it's due to contractual obligations between MLB and 
> ESPN, but seems to me WEEI also benefits from not having to set aside 
> local avails on the network.
>
> What you were listening to lass night likely was WEEI's network feed. 
> 'EEI offered (and we carried) coverage starting at 6:30: a half hour 
> of talk (no local avails) and then the extended pre-game we had for 
> the playoffs. At 7:30, with an audible pop as the switch was thrown, 
> WEEI started feeding us ESPN's pregame.
>
> I have to say, I'm just a little disappointed with 'EEI on this, not 
> because we're getting ESPN's play-by-play, which is beyond their 
> control, but because of what we did get from WEEI: The hour of 
> coverage which originated from their studios didn't follow their 
> format and had local spots and WEEI promos in network positions. 
> Additionally, we were informed with minimal notice that there would be 
> no automation closures for the game.