Soxless Boss

[Dan Strassberg]

There is no doubt whatever that, compared with 850, 680 has the better
coverage--except in MetroWest, where a slight edge goes to 680 by day and
850 by night but neither station has acceptable coverage at night. WRKO is
near local on Cape Cod and southern NH in a lot of places where WEEI is
barely audible. Without the increase to 50 kW-N, for which it has held a CP
for more than three years (the CP is presumably now "tolled"), WCRN is NOT a
potential solution to Entercom's MetroWest nighttime AM signal problem. The
5 kW 830 niight signal just doesn't reach far enough toward 128. A solution
WOULD be to lease time for Sox night games on WBIX. From a purely signal
standpoint, 890 would work even better than 1060, especially if the FCC
approves 890's application to almost double its night power. But I would put
the probability of the Sox night games appearing on 890 at zero unless 890's
sports format folds. Entercom would be crazy to give credibility to a
competitor and confuse the audience about where on the dial the "sports
station" is. Probably the best solution, though, is to put the Sox night
games on 107.3. A question I can't answer is how much impact breaking format
for the games would be likely to have on WAAF's overall ratings. There have
been rumblings about WBCN edging toward a talk format of some sort. If so, I
assume the rock battle would wage between WAAF and WZLX. If the WAAF
listeners who aren't Sox fans tune to 100.7 when the Sox games start, will
they return when the games are over or will they just leave their radios on
100.7?

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Fybush" <scott@fybush.com>
To: "Bill O'Neill" <me@billoneill.us>
Cc: "Boston Radio Interest" <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 1:17 PM
Subject: Re: Soxless Boss


> 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