The plot thickens with sports media

[Dave Tomm]

Whatever happens, expect ESPN to remain a non-player in the market, at  
least radiowise.  Their radio strategy is simply to reinforce their  
brand.  Most ESPN Radio personalities are on TV and the web as well.    
They'd like a relatively strong local radio component to drive traffic  
to the website.  However, most of their shows will be off the network,  
and most likely the station will remain on AM, so I doubt it will make  
much of a dent against WEEI (which has it's own developing local web  
presence) or WBZ-FM.  The Worldwide Leader really missed the boat  
here.  They should have tried to cut a deal to get ESPN on FM before  
CBS signed on the Sports Hub.  They're coming very late to the party.   
Too late, actually.  Now they're doing damage control.  They want this  
regional website concept to work, particularly in the major markets,  
because it's the future.  The radio component is just a means to an  
end, and I doubt they're going to invest a ton of money into the radio  
product to truly compete against 850 & 98.5.  At the end of the day,  
look for a slightly stronger AM signal running essentially the same  
programming as 890 is now.  Nothing to get too excited about...

-Dave Tomm


On Aug 28, 2009, at 12:39 AM, Kevin Vahey wrote:

> I know in Chicago ESPN uses the website writers on air. Reiss told me
> his new deal offers him security the Globe can not.
>
> Bristol is speeding up this launch for a reason and putting it ahead
> of LA and NY where they OWN stations.
>
> What the reason is we don't know as of yet
>
> Bob yes we know CC does follow the money and has in the past imported
> programing they don't own. However they could also have decided to
> take Rush in-house to 1200 which would cripple RKO.
>
> I wouldn't bet against 590 being in play as it is the best signal just
> doing nothing and a lot of what is on 590 could be moved to 1150.