Dale Arnold odd man out at EEI

[Sean Smyth]

Brian Hatgelakas <brian.hatgelakas@verizon.net> wrote:

<< I have aquestion,

How did WEEI stunt from news to sports?  I have vague memories of WEEI's early 
sports days.  Was it all live and local in the beginning including overnights 
and weekends?  What company owned them? >>

WEEI went to sports the Tuesday after Labor Day 1991 -- looking at a 1991 
calendar, that's Sept. 8, and the date sounds right.

There was little in the way of stunting, really. Eddie Andelman signed with WEEI 
when his contract with WHDH was up, and he moved over to 590 a week or two (I 
think it was two) before the format switch. Craig Mustard already was doing a 
7p-midnight show, aside from Celtics and Bruins conflicts, so that alone gave 
590 a pretty good sports presence.

They were live and local 6 a.m. to midnight -- I think.

-- 6 to 10 a.m.: Andy Moes (RIP).
-- 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Dale Arnold.
-- 1 to 4 p.m.: Glenn Ordway, Janet Prentsky (sp?).
-- 4 to 7 p.m.: Eddie.
-- 7 to midnight: Craig Mustard.

The only part of their original schedule on which I'm unsure is when Mustard's 
show dumped out for Sports Byline USA. I'm pretty sure it was midnight, but it 
may have been 10 or 11 p.m.

They ran Sports Byline USA and then Sports Final until 6 a.m.

The format switch itself was rather uneventful. They went out of CNN Headline 
News, which WEEI in its news incarnation ran overnights, right into a newscast. 
Maybe Bruce Lee did the first newscast on Sportsradio 590 or maybe it was Bob 
Ames, I don't remember. I do remember WEEI ran Headline News all that weekend 
instead of staffing locally, as they usually did.

The Celtics bought the station in either 1989 or (IIRC) 1990 from the Papa 
Gino's folks.

Hope this helps. I listened way too much to AM radio as a 12-year-old ...