Soxless Boss

[David Tomm]

Bostonradiowatch.com is reporting that the games will be moving from 
WEEI to WRKO.  How does this make any sense?  It looks like Entercom is 
doing this to prop up WRKO's paltry billings over the last couple of 
years and to gravitate new listeners to 680.  I don't think much will 
change in terms of coverage.  There will still be a gaping hole in 
Metrowest at night where the Sox will be tough to pull in.  Plus, what 
will Mike Adams have to talk about when most of his listeners are tuned 
in to the Sox on WRKO?  Bruins?  Pats training camp talk?  Boring.

--Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"


On May 5, 2006, at 1:17 PM, Scott Fybush wrote:

> Bill O'Neill wrote:
>> Scott Fybush in a Friday morning update to his NERW at  
>> http://fybush.com/nerw.html  confirming that GM is out of the Red 
>> Hose deal. Wonder if Entercom upped the value. I can't see how losing 
>> the franchise could be good for the sports talker, all the while 
>> witnessing the birth of an FM player in the market.
>
> My hunch - and it's just a hunch - is that Entercom's not upping its 
> offer, either. The Sox would appear to be looking for more $$ than the 
> market will bear, and now that WEEI is the "inevitable" choice, 
> there's even less reason for Entercom to increase its offer.
>
> If anything, Entercom might sweeten the pot with some non-monetary 
> enhancements to the deal. I stand by my thought that a WEEI-FM on 
> 107.3, combined with the existing 850 signal and the FMs in Providence 
> and (soon) Springfield, would give the Sox an unbeatable signal 
> footprint over a huge chunk of eastern New England.
>
> What would be the other options for the Sox at this point? They could 
> surely afford to buy 1510 or 890/1400, but the Cardinals' woes with 
> their move away from the big KMOX signal have scared some teams away 
> from making a shift to a lesser signal. (Believe me, KTRS on 550 in 
> St. Louis, with a huge 5 kw ND day signal and a respectable 5 kw DA-N 
> signal, low on the dial with that great Midwestern conductivity, is a 
> far better signal for the Cards than either 1510 or 890/1400 would be 
> for the Sox.)
>
> I don't see CBS loosening the purse strings to do a WBZ/WBCN deal. 
> Clear Channel's not known for paying a lot for sports rights in most 
> of its markets, and they don't have any suitable signals for the 
> purpose yet, anyway. (The Sox on Kiss 108?)
>
> I think the Sox will end up renewing with Entercom, but not for the $$ 
> the team was hoping for. The market, clearly, just won't support it.
>
> s
>