Red Sox return to WEEI

[Dan.Strassberg]

But might this actually be a more complicated squeeze play than the
posts in this thread suggest? There have been repeated rumors that
Entercom is technically in default to the Red Sox because one of its
payments to the Sox was a few weeks late. If that's true, maybe there
is more than we have been acknowledging to Entercom's decision to move
those Sox games that heretofore had been on WRKO (which covers
southern NH quite adequately) to WEEI (which doesn't). If the contract
between the Sox and Entercom allowed Entercom to make this move
unilaterally, Entercom, by moving the games to WEEI and cutting off
WGAM/WGHM, intentionally cut off the Sox coverage of southern NH,
thereby, as it were, holding Granite State Sox listeners hostage. The
mesage from Entercom to the Sox could thus be construed as: "continue
to hassle us about late payments and we'll show you how we can fight
back. You want listeners in southern NH? Then give us a break with the
payment schedule."

If its contract with the Sox permits it, Entercom could return the Sox
to southern NH while continuing to put the screws to Absolute by doing
what Bob Nelson first suggested on this list over a week ago--a format
flip between 680 and 850. As I said when Bob first made the
suggestion, the idea of having WEEI 680 carry the Sox and WRKO 850 as
The Talk Station actually makes some sense. There would be some
downsides, though, and listener confusion would be first among them.
Then there is also the issue of 680's nighttime signal in most of
MetroWest being even worse than 850's, which is already no picnic. And
of course, we know that Howie Carr would bitch and moan about loss of
his listeners in southern NH even though I believe WCRN supplies the
coverage there that 680 provides but 850 doesn't. Also, unless
Entercom could line up a Cape Cod affiliate to carry Howie's show,
Howie could bitch about losing the signal on which his Cape Cod fans
depended.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger Kirk" <rogerkirk@ttlc.net>
To: "Ron Bello" <rbello@belloassoc.com>
Cc: "Boston Radio Mailing List"
<boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 8:34 PM
Subject: Re: Red Sox return to WEEI


> Prob
>
> Ron Bello wrote:
>> *The way I read it, **Absolute Broadcasting has not paid their
>> rights fee on
>> time.  Entercom cut them off. *
>>
> Probably correct.  BUT, cutting off the feed won't allow Absolute to
> run spots to earn the money to pay them.  It's not like Entercom has
> a plethora of other stations just waiting in the wings to take those
> rights.
>
> It's like jailing someone for being penniless and not letting them
> out until they aren't.
>