Globe: At radio deal's end, Sox may be in play

[John Francini]

Yes, put them on FM, so we can hear those "Yankees Suck!" chants,  
along with other beer-besotted obscene epithets, in high-fidelity glory.

They're fine where they are.  They already HAVE piped-in crowd noise  
-- there are microphones all over the grandstand in an arc from 1st  
base to 3rd. All that FM would do is allow the piped-in noise to be  
heard in higher fidelity. Big deal.

I don't see what FM adds to Patriots broadcasts. Especially since  
WBCN doesn't come in so well north of the Mass. border.

Frankly, I'd never seen the point of moving the Patriots to FM.  
Before that, they were on the 38-state blowtorch that is WBZ-AM, and  
back when they were "The Spirit of New England", they used to have a  
hammerlock on the Boston sports radio scene, with at one point the  
Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and BC Football all on the same airwaves  
(with conflicting games moved to then-WBZ-FM 106.7).  I was immensely  
upset when that happened.

I had hoped that once Infinity and Westinghouse Broadcasting merged  
that surely Patriots would return to WBZ, where they belonged. They  
don't belong on an alternative rocker. Never have.  I listen to  WBCN  
exactly 16 time a year (more if the Pats are in the playoffs). I  
create my own simulcasts, as I can't stand network TV announcers;  
otherwise it's a 'never listen' station.

Baseball and AM radio go together like mustard and relish on a hot dog.

john





On 31 Jan 2006, at 13:29, Bob Nelson wrote:

> And speaking of Sox on FM: they're already on Gloucester's WBOQ  
> 104.9, and
> I believe WEEI-FM down in R.I. will run them this year...
>
> There are various stations on the Red Sox network that are on FM,  
> including
> WXTK on the Cape
>
> Affiliate list is at http://weei.com/affiliates.asp
>
> By the way they do list WBOQ but they say "Beverly" (yes, that's  
> where studios
> are but tech. licensed to Gloucester and their antenna is in  
> Gloucester too,
> IIRC)
>
> Sox have been on FM before--remember WPLM (was that the days of the  
> Campbell
> Soup--er, Sports Network? Also for a time I think WWEL 107.9  
> carried some games.
>