WBZ and the Red Sox

[Howard Glazer]

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Laurence <marklaurence@mac.com>
To: Kevin Vahey <kvahey@gmail.com>
Cc: BostonRadio Mailing List <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 12:18 AM
Subject: Re: WBZ and the Red Sox


> On Jul 10, 2007, at 10:48 PM, Kevin Vahey wrote:
>
> > I consider this one of the great mysteries of Boston radio history.
> > The Red Sox and WBZ have never joined forces. WBZ certainly coveted
> > sports as they have been the home of the Pats, Celtics and today the
> > Bruins. WTIC became a Sox  station 50 years ago in part so Tom Yawkey
> > could hear the games in South Carolina. Why WNAC, WAAB, WHDH, WMEX,
> > WITS, WPLM, WRKO, WEEI but never WBZ?
>
> Maybe because their strong signal would lower the value of network
> affiliations in many markets.  I'm guessing that was more of a
> consideration 20-40 years ago than it is now, but I think the network
> was probably a large part of the financial package.  As a network
> flagship, WBZ would be competing against many of its affiliates.
>

For some reason this has never seemed to matter to the Cubs and WGN. OTOH,
many other teams have migrated away from their old 50 kw flagships in recent
years (WJR, KMOX, WSB, WBAL), but I thought those moves were done to get the
teams on all-sports stations or younger-demographic FM, not to please the
affiliates in the sticks. Right?

Howard