Sox network still way late with legal ID break

[Kevin Vahey]

WDLW was the overflow outlet for WITS in the spring back in the days
when the Bruins ran deep into the playoffs.

WITS starting testing in Waltham in the winter of 1980 and I remember
well hearing Glenn Ordway clear as a bell on my phone in North
Cambridge.

WITS was desperate at that point to keep the Sox contract but to do so
they had to provide a night signal that could be heard in both Belmont
( where Dick O'Connell lived ) and Westwood ( where John Harrington
lived )

Belmont of course was no problem but Westwood actually became worse.

The one thing that has never come out is what a John Blair exec said
to Dick O'Connell to enrage him enough to sever ties with WHDH after
the 1975 regular season.

The Red Sox never had a formal contract with the Herald-Traveler just
the old gentlemen agreement between Yawkey and the HT which was always
done by handshake.

The big winner in the switchover was Jess Cain who WMEX made a huge
push to sign before the 1976 season but Blair signed Jess for huge
money to keep him on 850 and WMEX then countered with Alan Dary as MEX
morphed into the MOR format that HDH had abandoned in favor of soft
Top 40.