The Tracksters report in today’s Boston Herald that John Dennis and Gerry Callahan may move from WEEI (AM 850) to WBCN (104.1 FM) when their contract expires later this summer. As is always the case with radio, this is a battle of corporate titans, as WBCN is owned by CBS and WEEI by Entercom.
Which reminds me — is it just my imagination, or are the jocks on ‘EEI talking about baseball less since the Red Sox moved to sister station WRKO (AM 680)? It seems that every time I tune in lately, they’re talking about the Celtics’ draft prospects, a subject that I imagine must be about as popular with most sports fans as, oh, double-entry bookkeeping.
What’s next? The Bruins? Good grief.
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Actually, I think you are hitting on the distinction between hard core sports fans and, essentially, Red Sox fans. ‘EEI has managed to play to both the past few years (in part due to the Sox success) and, as a result, have put up ratings that no sports station in the country has ever seen. The challenge now is that the hard core sports fan is sick of all things Red Sox (as are media members) and the potential for the Celts to re-create their success in the ’80s with an unusual opportunity with the top pick married a to a half-way decent team is compelling (of note, Celts went from 29 wins in ’79 to 60 wins in ’80 with the addition of Larry Bird). Certainly, its more compelling than wondering how Jon Papelbon’s shoulder will hold up.
EB3 hereinteresting. I am curious to see how Finneran is doing against Cal and Dennis. They have been mocking him, yet more people are listening longer to RKO in the mornings than they had been. That can only mean less listening to EEI, and others.I say they stay. They have a good thing going and wy risk it. blow it.
I gave up listening to Dennis and Callahan a few years ago after tiring of Callahan’s endless, misinformed, hateful rants (and Dennis’ complicity, silent or otherwise). I’d say I’m glad that the Sox moved to RKO (though I realize it doesn’t much matter in a corporate sense), but the company there is even worse! If BCN wants to embrace the hate – whatever… They turned their back on their storied legacy years ago.
The fact that Dennis and Callahan were talking about sports of any kind must have been some horrible aberration. Isn’t it their job to keep listeners woefully misinformed about current events?
Endangered: Good point, and my apologies for mixing apples and oranges. It’s Holley, Ordway, et al. who’ve been going on and on about the Celtics and other non-Red Sox matters.
Hi,I haven’t listened to D&C in years. They are such homers, especially C. who can’t string an intelligent sentence together without stumbling and being bailed out by C. I’ve been switching back and forth between Finneran and Imus. Really depends on who’se Imus’ guest or what Tom’s talking about.
Dan: I think it’s just your imagination.
Dan, this is your imagination speaking. Any insight into what happened with Jerry Trupiano? Who got rid of him, and why?
Dan, you’re letting your own lack of interest in the NBA get the better of you here. The draft is a *huge* story this year, in Boston and elsewhere. (The C’s should pick Durant #1, by the way.)
The folks at WEEI have been claiming for years that they concentrate on baseball (Sox) and football (Pats) because that’s all their audience cares about. When they’re trying to sustain top-of-the-market numbers, they have to appeal far beyond the hardcore sports fan, and the Celtics have a long, long way to go before they capture any attention outside their own sphere. That said, I don’t know why WEEI would be increasing the Celts talk now. The Celts are on WRKO as well, so they’re not banging their own drum. And I don’t sense any immediacy to Celts talk. The team is playing out the string, and the draft is a long way off.
One problem is that now that the closer question is solved (for the moment), there’s virtually no controversy about the Red Sox. The lineup and even the batting order has been set for weeks. So as long as the games don’t count, there’s little to talk about the Sox.Give or take the fact that they could have a No. 4 starter instead of a No. 4 outfielder, but that topic has been done to death. 🙂
Trupiano gave way to Geffner and O’Brien because Larry Lucchino has worked with them (or at least Geffner) so Trup was the odd man out…Trup recently did some college hoops on radio.Entercom has announced btw that the Celts return to WEEI next year.
Geffner may be the worst Red Sox announcer since John McLean worked the first part of the 1972 season after the radio and TV teams split after WHDH lost its television license.Not only is Geffner babbling in PR-speak, he sounds like he’s reading releases on the air. I’ll take a “waaay back” on an infield fly any day.
This may be nothing more than a contract renegotiation ploy. Suddenly, a “competitor” emerges from the woodwork with a better offer, an old trick in the media biz.
Well, it was just announced that the Celtics games will be on WEEI next year (instead of WRKO).This is hardly surprising given the Sox moving to WRKO, but it might be a subtle (yet intentional) shift to get listeners used to WEEI not just being “All Red Sox, All the Time”
Or the shift to WEEI can be more construed as the Celts and Red Sox would be conflicting schedule wise in April, necessitating a shift anyway (and believe it or not kids, in the old days the Celts’ season ran into June). Not sure I put ulterior motives on the shift from WRKO to WEEI (c’mon, it’s the same company after all).
If Entercom’s contract with the Celtics allowed the company to move games to webcast-only, I’m pretty sure that’s what would happen.
And every Tuesday night on ‘EEI, we are subjected to an hour of Patriots’ draft prospects — for almost two months before the draft.The Celtics *are* playing regular season. Bruins too. This is a turning point month for the Cektics.Let’s see what happens next week.