OT: WEEI partners with Nassau Broadcasting, expands to 11 New England stations

[pats1]

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/shots/

August 16, 2007

Entercom Trumps D&C Option

By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

In what can only be described as an odd turn of events, Entercom announced late this afternoon that it is entering into a partnership with Nassau Broadcasting which will effectively create the very sports talk network that John Dennis and Gerry Callahan were thinking they would be a part of as a challenger to WEEI.

Instead, 'EEI's parent company and Nassau have agreed to use a group of 11 Nassau stations to expand WEEI's reach into all sections of New England. WCRB 99.5 will remain as a classical station under the agreement. The deal is in the "Letter of Intent" stage and will likely need to gain approval at various levels, but it basically makes WEEI an even stronger entity - with or without its morning duo of D&C.

The news can not bode well for the D&C venture capital deal which Shots reported on this morning, as that package appeared to be contingent on having the syndicate of stations from Cape Cod to the Canadian border.

The only option for D&C may be to take whatever package Entercom is offering and they may need to do so quickly.

• The big winner in all of this is Nassau, which gets to ride the wave of success that Entercom has developed and the big loser(s) will be 890 ESPN and 1510 WWZN, neither of which has been able to compete with WEEI as its currently constructed, never mind a new incarnation that stretches through the five states of Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

• The text of the press release from Regan Communications is as follows:

...

 

[PonyExpress]

Too bad. I don't like WEEI and rarely listen. Many of the hosts have a barely concealed contempt for the audience, almost as if they're thinking, "Can you believe these slobs are listening to our half-assed crap? What a bunch of suckers!" Oh well.

 

[italia44]

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/shots/

What is this doing on the Board?

Are you a paid shill?

 

[pats1]

What is this doing on the Board?

Are you a paid shill?

It's a pretty hot topic considering how many discussions there have been on here about 'EEI and Pats talk.

 

[BradyManny]

Too bad. I don't like WEEI and rarely listen. Many of the hosts have a barely concealed contempt for the audience, almost as if they're thinking, "Can you believe these slobs are listening to our half-assed crap? What a bunch of suckers!" Oh well.

I hear you, I still listen to them on both ends of my commute though for the co-hosts (McAdam, DeOssie, Maz, Buckley, Curran, etc). I agree about some hosts having contempt for their audience. Ordway is the biggest culprit as he doesn't appear particularly informed on certain things. Granted, a lot of the callers are just nuts and have no idea what they are talking about, but sometimes callers who are clearly more knowledgeable about a given subject than Big O will call up and Big O and gang will just disagree with them anyway.

Still, all that aside, I still listen. Again, its worth it for the guest hosts.

 

[DarrylS]

Still, all that aside, I still listen. Again, its worth it for the guest hosts.

I agree find Ordway intolerable, and most of his shows descend into shouting matches.. fans of Dale and Holley.. but it is the guest hosts I really like Curran(intelligent about FB and has tons of sources), DeOssie(lots of contacts and fairly smart), Smerlas(kinda goofey, but knows the ins and outs of the game)... McAdam and Buckley are classic Baseball guys and I continue to learn from them as well.

I still listen as it is the only thing I find viable on the car radio...hope they do something about D & C, bring in some sports people.. get away from the "man show" stuff.

 

[E Belichick Unum]

I hear you, I still listen to them on both ends of my commute though for the co-hosts (McAdam, DeOssie, Maz, Buckley, Curran, etc). I agree about some hosts having contempt for their audience. Ordway is the biggest culprit as he doesn't appear particularly informed on certain things. Granted, a lot of the callers are just nuts and have no idea what they are talking about, but sometimes callers who are clearly more knowledgeable about a given subject than Big O will call up and Big O and gang will just disagree with them anyway.

Still, all that aside, I still listen. Again, its worth it for the guest hosts.

I actually know some of that cast of characters. Your opinion of Ordway is wrong. He is actually very well informed and fairly smart, but his show is formulaic. Glen will take the opposite side of an argument just to fill the phones. He is very good at his job, but I really don't know how he gets his ratings. Most of the time it is mindless BS and nothing else.

To be honest, I find most of the afternoon show unlistenable. The callers are dumber than dumb, they scream over each other and there is very little real information shared with the listeners. Felger is pretty good, but even he has gotten into that kiss ass, lets get a supposed expert on the air, mode.

One good thing is that Patriots Monday starts on Monday, so WEEI will talk a little football.

 

[BradyManny]

I agree find Ordway intolerable, and most of his shows descend into shouting matches.. fans of Dale and Holley.. but it is the guest hosts I really like Curran(intelligent about FB and has tons of sources), DeOssie(lots of contacts and fairly smart), Smerlas(kinda goofey, but knows the ins and outs of the game)... McAdam and Buckley are classic Baseball guys and I continue to learn from them as well.

I still listen as it is the only thing I find viable on the car radio...hope they do something about D & C, bring in some sports people.. get away from the "man show" stuff.

I agree with a lot of this. I wish Dale and Holley were either the morning or afternoon show. I only get to listen to them on occassion, but it seems they are probably the best show on the station.

 

[BradyManny]

I actually know some of that cast of characters. Your opinion of Ordway is wrong. He is actually very well informed and fairly smart, but his show is formulaic. Glen will take the opposite side of an argument just to fill the phones. He is very good at his job, but I really don't know how he gets his ratings. Most of the time it is mindless BS and nothing else.

To be honest, I find most of the afternoon show unlistenable. The callers are dumber than dumb, they scream over each other and there is very little real information shared with the listeners. Felger is pretty good, but even he has gotten into that kiss ass, lets get a supposed expert on the air, mode.

One good thing is that Patriots Monday starts on Monday, so WEEI will talk a little football.

I think Ordway is informed on SOME things. In general - I like the Big O and enjoy listening to the show, I just think sometimes he goes overboard in trying to be a contrarian to the caller or public opinion. I guess I'd attribute the occasional combativeness he shows on the station to creating a certain character. I think he understands controversy sells, debate sells, argument sells - he's like a much better natured Felger in that sense.

I agree, sometimes the callers they let on there sound particularly dumb/uninformed. Either they do this for entertainment sake, or they need to screen better. Or both.

 

[Bigdogx]

I'm sorry but some of you people out towards Boston and who were not on the western side of the state have no clue how lucky you were to receive Weei the last few years! While we were stuck with either jim rome and a local sports show that operated out of northampton and basically talked about Umass sports!

Really Weei is the best radio show period end of discussion in this area, Ive had to deal with bad sports shows the last 5+ years until they finally got there @#@$ together and expanded on their weak signal. Some of you just do not understand what a bad sports talk show really is, try listening to some no names discuss how the Umass football team will do for 80% of the show then some of you would realize how lucky you have had it the last couple years!

 

[E Belichick Unum]

I'm sorry but some of you people out towards Boston and who were not on the western side of the state have no clue how lucky you were to receive Weei the last few years! While we were stuck with either jim rome and a local sports show that operated out of northampton and basically talked about Umass sports!

Really Weei is the best radio show period end of discussion in this area, Ive had to deal with bad sports shows the last 5+ years until they finally got there @#@$ together and expanded on their weak signal. Some of you just do not understand what a bad sports talk show really is, try listening to some no names discuss how the Umass football team will do for 80% of the show then some of you would realize how lucky you have had it the last couple years!

OK maybe we ARE a little spoiled. I have to do the occational long distance drive and for the most part sports radio is non-existent unless you head south into NY. I go to Maine often and once you lose EEI, especially at night, it is either religion or music.

 

[Bigdogx]

OK maybe we ARE a little spoiled. I have to do the occational long distance drive and for the most part sports radio is non-existent unless you head south into NY. I go to Maine often and once you lose EEI, especially at night, it is either religion or music.

The fan was all I would listen to if it was coming in good, trust me no matter how much red sox talk they do, it is nowhere near the horrendous crap we have had out here up until last year when they opened up a new affiliate.

 

[Seven Nation Army]

I go to Maine often and once you lose EEI, especially at night, it is either religion or music.

Strange, an AM radio signal should travel further at night.

 

[E Belichick Unum]

Strange, an AM radio signal should travel further at night.

WEEI is actually a clear channel station but they still have to reduce their power from 50,000 watts to something far less (maybe 5000 but I am not sure) at sunset plus AM is line of sight and there are an awful lot of hills between Boston and Maine.

If I remember by basic communications from the Navy, an AM signal will bounce off of the troposphere and travel great distances, but that doesn't happen for WEEI. WHDH, however, bounces all over the pace.

https://www.atis.org/tg2k/_atmospheric_duct.html

Atmospheric duct: A horizontal layer in the lower atmosphere in which the vertical refractive index gradients are such that radio signals (a) are guided or focused within the duct, (b) tend to follow the curvature of the Earth, and (c) experience less attenuation in the ducts than they would if the ducts were not present. Note: The reduced refractive index at the higher altitudes bends the signals back toward the Earth. Signals in a higher refractive index layer, i.e., duct, tend to remain in that layer because of the reflection and refraction encountered at the boundary with a lower refractive index material.