Boston Sports Radio Wars Rosters: Tanguay & Zo, Felger & Mazz...

[MoLewisrocks]

LOL Good luck to the new guys, they're gonna need it. No official announcement but one is anticipated as early as today. The new station is set to launch next Thursday...

The Sports Hub, trudging toward its launch, has yet to formally announce any personnel moves, but sources with direct knowledge of the talks confirm that the Globe’s Tony Massarotti will become Michael Felger’s permanent cohost on the station’s weekday show from 2-6 p.m. Massarotti will continue to write for the Globe and Boston.com multiple times per week.

WEEI, Sports Hub expand their rosters - The Boston Globe

 

[RobertWeathers]

LOL Good luck to the new guys, they're gonna need it. No official announcement but one is anticipated as early as today. The new station is set to launch next Thursday...




WEEI, Sports Hub expand their rosters - The Boston Globe

I've actually enjoyed Mazz's pieces in the Globe. Didn't exactly endear himself with Patriot Nation in that article a couple of years back, but all-in-all he'll be ok. He needs a little work on that sinus condition though.

 

[fgssand]

LOL Good luck to the new guys, they're gonna need it. No official announcement but one is anticipated as early as today. The new station is set to launch next Thursday...




WEEI, Sports Hub expand their rosters - The Boston Globe

UGH - couldn't they come up with a fresh voice and something different?

Tony Mazz is the worst choice possible, ever since his insulting Patriot fan article and ridiculous WEEi appearance the next day, I haven;t been able to nor will I listen or read anything the guy comes out with.

 

[MVPatsfan13]

This is just one mans opinion, but can we keep all the crap about reporters and their stations out of the Patriots section.
I dont really care who gets along with who and what station has agreed to let "rival" reporters on their shows, this section is about the New England Patriots.
I dont know what section this stuff belongs in, but its not this one.

 

[Rob0729]

I'm glad to see Zo get a radio spot. He is arguably one of the best guys on the radio talking football in this town. Definitely makes their midday show far more appealing to listen to. That is also a big hit to WEEI who would have been better off losing Smerlas than Zo. This is a big addition for WBZ.

Not a big fan of Mazz though. I used to have nightmares with "But Glenn! But Glenn" ringing in my head over and over again. I would have liked to have seen someone to balance Felger's contrarian ways, but Mazz hates the Pats fans. But he does bring baseball knowledge which Felger lacks and usually gets slammed on by his former WEEI bretheren.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

This is just one mans opinion, but can we keep all the crap about reporters and their stations out of the Patriots section.
I dont really care who gets along with who and what station has agreed to let "rival" reporters on their shows, this section is about the New England Patriots.
I dont know what section this stuff belongs in, but its not this one.

Patriots coverage or the potential thereof certainly does impact the average fans overall NEP experience. No one made you click on a thread about this topic...

 

[Rob0729]

BTW, if the WBZ doesn't beat a topic a topic into the ground like WEEI has been doing with the David Ortiz thing for the past week, whoever they have hosting won't matter because many people will switch to them because they are sick of caller after caller, day after day calling in and saying the same thing about a story that the entire rest of the country has moved on from.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I'm glad to see Zo get a radio spot. He is arguably one of the best guys on the radio talking football in this town. Definitely makes their midday show far more appealing to listen to. That is also a big hit to WEEI who would have been better off losing Smerlas than Zo. This is a big addition for WBZ.

Not a big fan of Mazz though. I used to have nightmares with "But Glenn! But Glenn" ringing in my head over and over again. I would have liked to have seen someone to balance Felger's contrarian ways, but Mazz hates the Pats fans. But he does bring baseball knowledge which Felger lacks and usually gets slammed on by his former WEEI bretheren.

I don't think Zo and Gary will have much of a shot at unseating Dale and Holley. Particularly since they are the WEEI show with in studio Globe access and would be a natural fit for Reiss. Zo was pretty aweful in RI, but then again Tanguay is no Gresh...And that will also mean another weak lead in for Felger, which was one of his many problems at ESPN. Mazz will still be writing for the Herald so it's likely Felger will be co-hosting any gig he can keep, too. If they enlist Borges it will become the ultimate bashfest.

Couldn't have picked a much worse foil for Felger than Mazz... The voice made for print... One believes he knows it all about football and the other believes he's a baseball savant and the ultimate arbitor of character. Will be interesting to see how it goes with pre season opening and the faithful lining up on the Tobin as we speak...

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Interesting thread. Gotta say that now with that loser Maz, I'm less likely to listen. Felgie was bad enough, but now...

 

[Rob0729]

I don't think Zo and Gary will have much of a shot at unseating Dale and Holley. Particularly since they are the WEEI show with in studio Globe access and would be a natural fit for Reiss. Zo was pretty aweful in RI, but then again Tanguay is no Gresh...And that will also mean another weak lead in for Felger, which was one of his many problems at ESPN. Mazz will still be writing for the Herald so it's likely Felger will be co-hosting any gig he can keep, too. If they enlist Borges it will become the ultimate bashfest.

Couldn't have picked a much worse foil for Felger than Mazz... The voice made for print... One believes he knows it all about football and the other believes he's a baseball savant and the ultimate arbitor of character. Will be interesting to see how it goes with pre season opening and the faithful lining up on the Tobin as we speak...

Gresh sucked in RI, not Zo. Gresh is horrible everywhere he goes. In fact, he is part of the reason the Mad Dog channel is sucking so bad on Sirius (Mad Dog fired him on the air, but ended up rehiring him). Tanguay being no Gresh is a compliment in my books. Many people in this area liked Zo on when he was in RI and listened to him over D&C.

As for Reiss on WEEI, don't count on it. He has a relationship with WBZ TV and he has been talking about how excited he is to be on WBZ FM when it starts in his mailbag. My guess is that he already has a contract with WBZ FM from his comments. With Mazz being a Globe guy, he probably will get Globe guys to come and back him up. It is fairly safe to say that he will be on Felger's show. Besides, wasn't it you who said he would suck on the radio anyway because of his personality.

I agree Mazz sucks, but so does Pete Sheppard. So, they balance themselves out a bit. But at least Mazz can back up his arguments with something even when they are bad arguments where Sheppard just throws out homer statements most of the time with nothing behind them. I am not happy about the addition of Mazz, but still hate what the Big Show has become just as much.

I don't know why you want WBZ to fail. Do you really want WEEI to continue their phoning in shows by beating topics into the ground (like the Ortiz thing and the Smotz thing will be by his next start on Tuesday) and just rehashing the same arguments over and over. I mean how many ways can they argue if Ortiz really knows what was on the test or not or why he keeps on delaying talking to the media? WBZ success will only mean a better WEEI who have had it too easy for a long time and have let it show with their inability to know when is when on a topic.

Again, I am not looking for WBZ to unseat WEEI. It won't happen at least for several years, if ever. I am looking for either WEEI to get scared and get their act together since they have gotten lazy over the years or at least another decent alternative to them. Why is that a bad thing? Why would anyone be upset about another sports radio alternative. I'm sure if ratings don't do well after six months, WBZ will tweak the shows.

 

[PatsDeb]

I know I'm in the minority, but I actually like Felger. I think he's pretty harmless and he always talks Pats. Can't stand Maz. Sorry to hear that he is being paired with Felgie, which seems like a weird pair to me. They should have paired Felgie and Zo to challenge EEI. I will still give them a chance though as I can't stand D&C, and the Big Show I have to turn off when everyone starts yelling at eachother.

As I mentioned in another thread, it was really good to hear Bob Neumeier on WEEI as a guest host earlier this week. I wish the new station would get him and put him up against his old show. That might stand a chance and it would be a hook to get others to listen. Even though I like Michael Holley, I would say lose him in a minute (or better yet, lose Dale) if Neumie would come back.

 

[Rob0729]

Seriously, why are people rooting for WBZ-FM to fail? If you don't like the line up, you don't have to listen to it. You hate Mazz and Felger, this guarantees that neither will show up on WEEI any time soon. This is a win for you.

If WEEI gets the slightest bit scared, they will improve their programming (they already ended the Globe war because of it). Again, how is this a bad thing if you are loyal to WEEI?

If WBZ fails, WEEI gets fat and complacent again and are happy to go for low hanging fruit and pitch slow pitch softballs to the callers to fill up the show with topics that have been so overplayed that everyone is just repeating themselves over and over again.

If WBZ is even slightly successful, it will only make it better for everyone in this town (well, WEEI might lose ad revenue). It will give WEEI die hards better programming and it will give people who are sick of WEEI an alternative to listen to even if the alternative isn't as good as it could be. How is this a bad thing? Why root against it?

Beside, I am sure as other guys with WBZ ties' contracts get up (like DeOsie), they may make the move to WBZ and make that programming stronger.

 

[Rob0729]

I know I'm in the minority, but I actually like Felger. I think he's pretty harmless and he always talks Pats. Can't stand Maz. Sorry to hear that he is being paired with Felgie, which seems like a weird pair to me. They should have paired Felgie and Zo to challenge EEI. I will still give them a chance though as I can't stand D&C, and the Big Show I have to turn off when everyone starts yelling at eachother.

As I mentioned in another thread, it was really good to hear Bob Neumeier on WEEI as a guest host earlier this week. I wish the new station would get him and put him up against his old show. That might stand a chance and it would be a hook to get others to listen. Even though I like Michael Holley, I would say lose him in a minute (or better yet, lose Dale) if Neumie would come back.

I'm with you. I like Felger too. I hate Mazz too.

I think they paired Mazz with Felger rather than Zo because Felger is weak on baseball and Mazz better fills that void than Zo. Personally, I would have rather had Felger and Zo, but I am sure that would turn off a lot of baseball fans. I am sure there are a lot of baseball diehards who are happy about Mazz (or at least can stomach him) and peissed off about the addition of Zo.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Seriously, why are people rooting for WBZ-FM to fail? If you don't like the line up, you don't have to listen to it. You hate Mazz and Felger, this guarantees that neither will show up on WEEI any time soon. This is a win for you.

If WEEI gets the slightest bit scared, they will improve their programming (they already ended the Globe war because of it). Again, how is this a bad thing if you are loyal to WEEI?

If WBZ fails, WEEI gets fat and complacent again and are happy to go for low hanging fruit and pitch slow pitch softballs to the callers to fill up the show with topics that have been so overplayed that everyone is just repeating themselves over and over again.

If WBZ is even slightly successful, it will only make it better for everyone in this town (well, WEEI might lose ad revenue). It will give WEEI die hards better programming and it will give people who are sick of WEEI an alternative to listen to even if the alternative isn't as good as it could be. How is this a bad thing? Why root against it?

Beside, I am sure as other guys with WBZ ties' contracts get up (like DeOsie), they may make the move to WBZ and make that programming stronger.

Agree 100%. More competition breeds better quality & value for the consumer. Always has. Always will.

 

[jmt57]

I think the key may be the morning show. Dennis & Callahan are EEI's weak link in my opinion. If Toucher and Rich can put together a decent show - enough sports to keep the sports junkies satisfied, stay away from politics, throw in some humor and other current events/entertainment to keep it light enough for a broad audience - then maybe people will tune in and not have a reason to switch the dial back.

Tanguay will need to count on guests to help keep the audience informed and entertained. Bring in enough local beat writers as well as national names that can talk about Boston area teams and the audience should remain interested in listening. If Tanguay ends up being counted on too much to carry the show himself I think people will end up turning the dial back to Dale and Holley.

 

[Section103]

You know what I like about Felger? The fact that I hate him. Seriously. I like to listen to the guy because he has no issue playing devils advocate or flat out disagreeing with the masses. It makes for good radio and good print.

I am excited for WBZ for two reasons:
1 - No more static
2 - This one is an IF... IF there isn't constant yelling or talking over callers, no whiner lines and no deaf, dumb and blind homers then it has to be an improvement over WEEI. I love the Boston sports teams but I don't have to have blind faith in all that they do. I also don't need to chastize and criticize them for any minor move or bad play call. (that I of course have a valid opinion about because I watch a lot of sports or coach pop warner <end sarcasm>)

I am NOT excited about less Patriots access and Pats Monday will pull me back to WEEI... or at least their website for the replays.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

Felger's ok, at least he'll talk football. Cannot stand Mazz with his Micky Mouse voice and condesending attitude. I listen to WEEI about 5 minutes a week before their stupidity forces me to change the station.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I know I'm in the minority, but I actually like Felger. I think he's pretty harmless and he always talks Pats. Can't stand Maz. Sorry to hear that he is being paired with Felgie, which seems like a weird pair to me. They should have paired Felgie and Zo to challenge EEI. I will still give them a chance though as I can't stand D&C, and the Big Show I have to turn off when everyone starts yelling at eachother.

As I mentioned in another thread, it was really good to hear Bob Neumeier on WEEI as a guest host earlier this week. I wish the new station would get him and put him up against his old show. That might stand a chance and it would be a hook to get others to listen. Even though I like Michael Holley, I would say lose him in a minute (or better yet, lose Dale) if Neumie would come back.

Holley is probably the best overall sports radio host and the most genuinely connected Patriots co-host on the airwaves in NE...if he doesn't know it personally, his best friend at ESPN Michael Smith is on it. Neumy is a character, pure and simple. He'd have probabaly represented an upgrade over Tanguay for the new kids but either the $$$ wasn't right or he's not really in the market for a FT radio gig. Horse racing is his gig. But WEEI may have already reeled him back in as a fill in.

Ruscillo would have been a help at WBZ, a better foil for Felger now that he's become more established and he's knowledgeable about all sports although basketball is his thing. But ESPN must have him locked in. Apparently WBZ made a run at Lou Merloni, who actually could have given Felger a better balance and kept him in line, but he's agreed to an extension at WEEI. Doubt DeOssie will jump ship because of all the promotional tie ins with Ordway and WEEI and his other business interests.

At least they apparently didn't go after Lobel...

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Seriously, why are people rooting for WBZ-FM to fail? If you don't like the line up, you don't have to listen to it. You hate Mazz and Felger, this guarantees that neither will show up on WEEI any time soon. This is a win for you.

If WEEI gets the slightest bit scared, they will improve their programming (they already ended the Globe war because of it). Again, how is this a bad thing if you are loyal to WEEI?

If WBZ fails, WEEI gets fat and complacent again and are happy to go for low hanging fruit and pitch slow pitch softballs to the callers to fill up the show with topics that have been so overplayed that everyone is just repeating themselves over and over again.

If WBZ is even slightly successful, it will only make it better for everyone in this town (well, WEEI might lose ad revenue). It will give WEEI die hards better programming and it will give people who are sick of WEEI an alternative to listen to even if the alternative isn't as good as it could be. How is this a bad thing? Why root against it?

Beside, I am sure as other guys with WBZ ties' contracts get up (like DeOsie), they may make the move to WBZ and make that programming stronger.

There is a difference between rooting for it to fail and simply predicting it will or expecting it to given the data at hand...and history.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Holley is probably the best overall sports radio host and the most genuinely connected Patriots co-host on the airwaves in NE...if he doesn't know it personally, his best friend at ESPN Michael Smith is on it. Neumy is a character, pure and simple. He'd have probabaly represented an upgrade over Tanguay for the new kids but either the $$$ wasn't right or he's not really in the market for a FT radio gig. Horse racing is his gig. But WEEI may have already reeled him back in as a fill in.

Ruscillo would have been a help at WBZ, a better foil for Felger now that he's become more established and he's knowledgeable about all sports although basketball is his thing. But ESPN must have him locked in. Apparently WBZ made a run at Lou Merloni, who actually could have given Felger a better balance and kept him in line, but he's agreed to an extension at WEEI. Doubt DeOssie will jump ship because of all the promotional tie ins with Ordway and WEEI and his other business interests.

At least they apparently didn't go after Lobel...

"what's wrong...........with that?" I like Neumy too. I like horseracing so I find him entertaining.