If 890 is sold

[David Tomm]

On Sep 1, 2007, at 5:01 AM, Don A wrote:

>>> One of the reasons WKLB wanted to get off of 99.5...is the terrible 
>>> signal they have on the South Shore.
>>> Why would they want to put sucessful programming on an inferior 
>>> signal?
>> 99.5 is still a better signal than 850...
>
> Can say I agree with that.

Yeah, sure.  How great is 850 after dark much outside of 128?  It 
sucks.  How about 850 during the day in Worcester county and Southern 
New Hampshire, the fastest growing regions of the Boston metro?  It 
sucks.  99.5?  Crystal clear in those areas.  As far as South Shore 
goes, it's been mentioned that 103.7 fills the gaps in that region 
nicely.  99.5 coupled with 103.7 on the South shore and 102.9 in 
extreme southeast corners of the market would give WEEI improved 
coverage over the ENTIRE ADI, day and night.

>>> Why would they want to enable another sports outlet in Boston?
>>> I would think they would want *all* sports listeners on one station.
>> But there is a segment of the audience who may want a more national 
>> perspective.  ESPN would provide that....
>
> And where would that audience come from?  Probably WEEI.

So under your scenario, Entercom allows another broadcast company to 
pick up ESPN and potentially use it against WEEI, and you'd be OK with 
that.  Greater Media could easily pick it up and put it on 92.9 along 
with some local hosts and take WEEI on head to head.  CBS radio could 
do the same thing on 104.1.  But, since you love 850 so much, you'd 
just wait for another company to put sports on FM and blow you out of 
the water, much the same way GM signed on WTKK and is now poised to 
surpass WRKO as the talk station in Boston once they get Howie.  ESPN 
on 850 would be a flanker station for WEEI.  It parks ESPN on a 
co-owned station and more importantly KEEPS IT AWAY FROM A COMPETITOR!! 
  Is this so hard to figure out?  As long as the ratings go to the same 
company, who cares?  Entercom didn't care when they took the Red Sox 
off 850, because the ratings and revenue will go to the same place.  
The same thing would happen if WEEI moved to 99.5 and ESPN came over to 
850.  Sports is HUGE in this town, and it's just a matter of time 
before an all sports station comes to FM.   WEEI will need to make this 
move before someone else does, and acquiring the ESPN affiliation 
(while also keeping Fox Sports Radio) would discourage other stations 
from jumping in.

-Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"