Re: WBCN axes rock format - going to all sports (on 98.5 as WBZ-FM) to compete with W
Well, you put a lot of interesting theories without a shread of evidence. No ddoubt these theories are formed by your bias against Felger. Where is your proof the Belichick put Light and Vrabel on because he knew that they could handle Felger? How do you know that Belichick had anything to do with that and it wasn't 100% coordinated by Stacy James or someone else? How do you know if Felger didn't request those two?
Also when did Felger ever say he was afronted by Belichick because he didn't get the access that Holley got? That is your hatred of Felger creating a scenario with no proof.
If you ever listedn to Felger's show on ESPN890, you would know that his contrarian view didn't come out until after Borges made regular appearances and his phones got flooded. Anyone you ask who listened to his show from the beginning will tell you at first it was execellent until he took his contrarian view.
As for WEEI, no matter what WBZ does it is still mediocre radio. If you can ever get a chance to listen to Sirius NFL radio or some of the other radio broadcasts around the country you will see that they do not set the bar very high for content and they pander to the lowest common denominator. That leads me to Smerlas since he is a perfect example of this, he shows on his Tailgating TV show that he is very knowledgeable when he isn't allowed time to do BS, but on WEEI he'd rather team with Pete and play a bafoon.
As for Felger, people love to hate him. But that doesn't neccessarily mean they won't listen to him. Borges' columns became more read after people started to hate him.
WBZ may or may not work, but it doesn't mean WEEI is a good radio. It is popular. It is dumbed down a lot of the time. It really doesn't bog themselves down with indepth analysis a lot of the time in favor of yahoo callers. Doesn't mean they are beatable. It also doesn't mean they are good. There a lot of jugganauts on radio who do very well by attacking the lowest common denominator. It just ain't my kind of radio. Only Dale and Holley try to raise the bar on that level on a conssistent basis.
I have no bias against Felger. He was my favorite Patriots beat reporter almost from the day he arrived on the Pat's beat, and an eagerly anticipated untainted voice of reason as a guest football insider through 2003 on WEEI. Ditto on Sports final alonside the bumbling Lobel and Burton. He lost me first when he pandered for airtime as a smash mouth co host on WEEI during his 2004 auditioning phase. And as is always the case the persona he cultivated there to get ahead quickly began to creep into his print pieces and TV work. He sold his soul for a shot at the big bucks, pure and simple.
Few in any walk of life will acknowledge professional jealousy publicly, although his collegues have and even he has alluded to it, though he tries to veil it under the guise of self effacing (juvenile db) humor.
Felger was on good behavior the first couple of months on ESPN, until his first ratings started to filter in. He saw the handwriting on the wall and started pandering to his lowest common denominator. His demographic of choice is the young male who thinks he's smarter than the rest of us, including Belichick... I fear that is your demographic. He panders to those who bolster their own ego at the expense of others just as much as the WEEI crew does. Only with Felger homers can never be insightful or intelligent, just ballwashers. Intelligence equates with criticism... I'll take my dose of annoying attempts at humor in the form of egotistical hosts bashing moronic callers as opposed to egotistical hosts and callers bashing deservedly acclaimed coaches and players, thanks. Only 3 for 4 in Superbowls in the last 8 seasons...waaahhhhh.
When he first began covering this team he developed an almost immediate (and insightful) admiration for all they represented, even as he doubted it was enough to carry them to a championship. That's balancing heart and head. As his airtime increased and his access shrank (I remember the time he announced on air that his punter buddy would be bringing in the kicking unit, only to have BB comment to them at lunch that he hoped they each had important football work to focus on that afternoon...) his admiration began to turn to disdain. He began to whine about what they didn't do and nitpick what they did do.
Even BSMW was complaining about his diminishing reputation by mid season 2006 (based on trends they had observed since the season began in TC). He was increasingly leaning on others (like the ESPN cronies he inherited with the job, the FOX contacts he inherited with FSNE, the PFW malcontents, the inexperienced (and particularly the chubby) new faces or transferees attmepting to fill the growing void at the Herald, not the mention the Inside Track bimbos for content an insight (and opinion) because by then he had little or no time for on air prep or development of his own. He was then juggling his radio gig with his position as the Herald's top Patriots "beat columnist" (no longer constrained as a beat reporter) replacing Mannix vitriol, and his new gig as front man for FSNE - while hanging on to Sports Final and it's pre and post game programming. All in the face of decreasing access (and the emergence of another media guy he characterized as a rump swab, because apparently if you had access you now must be...).
He was trying to become a multi mediot millionaire, and he ended up a radio station blogger and cable co host. Have you read any of his work on WEEI, most notably his juvenile douche bag (can't laugh at me if I laugh at myself...) mail bags? Have you listened to how tortured and constrained he is in the company of Michael Holley? Anyone who with half a football brain and the stones to challenge him turns him into a visibly sullen twit... ESPN surrounded him with starstruck, fratboy sports wannabes and he regailed them with cougar humor and hyper critical insight (like how if he were starting a team from scratch his #1 QB would be Carson Palmer, a younger and perhaps more talented version of the guy he used to carpool and socialize with who no longer gives him the time of day). I recall watching him interview Brady after a game in 2007 and it was painfully obvious that Brady had been forced to participate due to the new radio deal with ESPN and the NEP. It was one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever witnessed... Players want nothing to do with Felger because he doesn't interview you so much as he attempts to lead you into agreeing with his view or bait you into saying something you'll regret. Most players and coaches understand the media has a job to do. It's when they cross the line by cavalierly impacting your life or livlihood as a means to their own selfish end to get ahead that access evaporates.
Team him up with the right personality and you might have had half a chance at a successful show. Unfortunately there are few available personalities that combine Holley's sports IQ with self assurance, composure and talk radio sensibility - the latter of which is at times sorely challenged dealing with Felger. For his own sake Felger would have been better off patiently angling for an opening with the established station and a support system. Make the same mistake with him as ESPN did, surround him with fratboys and ask him to compete with established programming and allow him to moonlight on CSN, and you can kiss your foray into this market goodby. He will succomb to the pressure to pander for ratings.
Nobody is saying WEEI is "good", just good at marketing a niche. I wish there were an alternate niche that would support elevated radio sports talk, just don't think that is the financial reality in Boston. It's a very parochial, opinionated and pro limited market. Most callers to talk radio would rather biatch about players or pat themselves on the back for matching wits with radio personalities they secretly admire or openly dispise than rationally discuss football, same problem you see on this message board. Drags this place down too, but it is what it is. East Coast passion is rooted in the fellowhood of the miserable mentality, even moreso in greater Boston because of 89 years of more often crashing disappointment than glory. Especially in a traditional baseball town. The Bruins and Celtics offered some respite, but they didn't ever matter enough to the majority fanbase here, and they'd been disappointing as well for approaching decades. It was baseball first, and in the last 15 years football slowly gained a growing following within that majority. But it's only in the last several years that football rose to being on par with baseball, and I do think that by and large, and for better or worse, the Boston sports media has nearly caught up with that reality. There is way more football coverage now than there was back in 2002, that's for sure - including in the so called off season...including on WEEI.
You cannot expect that to ever come close to the NFL on Sirius, though. That would be like comparing any local network's regular scheduled programming to NFLN. And when you find yourself inhabiting a universe where three pro sports teams have won 6 championships in the last 8 seasons, denying any of them coverage just to appeal to a minority niche (the just football please, fans) would be nonsensical from a business standpoint. Programming is tailored to appeal to the broadest base.
Which is also why it's apparently not even limited to sports in this market during the AM commute. And why it will always include a component of bashing or mocking someone or something because that is part of what the core demographic in this market craves irrespective of age or education or income level. Again, just look at this board if you disagree...
