WCRN adds Red Sox, and the "Sweet Caroline" story

[Sean Smyth]

Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@att.net> wrote:
> Well, start with the question of why Entercom (presumably with the
> agreement
> of the Sox) decided not to put the Sox on FM in Worcester. Entercom
> had to
> do something. WTAG doesn't really cover MetroWest AND except in the
> fringes
> (Marlborough and west), WRKO's night signal in MetroWest is inferior
> to
> WEEI's, which is, itself, inadequate.

Always thought I got a serviceable signal from WTAG in MetroWest when I
would listen to the Sox in the car. Let's also remember that WMRC's
signal does cover a small yet exponentially growing part of MetroWest.
And 103.7 has quite the signal west of the city.

> Having the Sox on WCRN certainly does raise the possibility
> that
> Entercom is trying to make a deal with the Carberry's to buy WCRN. I
> can't
> see such a deal going down until the Carberry's get past their legal
> issues
> with the Town of Leicester that have so far kept them putting up the
> fourth
> tower (required for 50 kW-N). However, I can't imagine Entercom
> offering a
> price that the Carberrys would agree to unless it was clear that the
> nighttime 50 kW was going to happen. I suspect that if a deal is
> reached,
> the price for WCRN will be in the vicinity of $14 million.
> 
> Unless I'm missing something, an Entercom acquisition of WCRN would
> not put
> Entercom over the ownership cap in this market. They would wind up
> with
> three FMs (93.7, 97.7, and 107.3) and four AMs, 680, 830, 850, and
> 1440.
> AFAIK, Westerly/Providence and the Connecticut Valley are not part of
> the
> Boston market, but even if they were, Entercom could get back inside
> the cap
> by selling 1440.

I just don't see Entercom agreeing with the Carberrys when they have
the desire to build out the CP to boost power and potentially swipe
away listeners from WRKO with a talk format -- unless, of course, there
was good incentive to do so. I don't know any of the principals
involved, but if the Carberrys still wanted a radio station to "play"
with, why couldn't they sell 830 for (a nice pile of) cash and 1440?

And are you sure 830 would count toward Entercom's Boston cap -- if
that were the case, wouldn't Clear Channel, with WSRS and WTAG to go
along with WKOX, WXKS, WXKS-FM, WJMN and other properties, have some problems?


 
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