Conference 7.286::sports_90

    There is an all-sports station in Denver with a nearly-identical format
    to .0;  it seems to be doing well (don't know the ratings numbers), but
    I'd say that if Denver could support an all-sports station, so could
    Boston.

    The Celtics management committed to keeping an all-news format for
    WEEI.  I would be really disappointed if WEEI will become all-sport,
    not that all-sport is not a good idea, but WEEI is the only decent
    all-news (in fact, only about 80-90% news/sports, there is a little of
    non-sports/news programming) station in Boston and I would hate to see
    that go.  Before Boston gets an all-sport station, I would like to see
    (or hear) a true all-news station first.
    
    Charles 

No, I doubt it.  The current radio shows are real light-weight affairs here in
Boston.  John Karlson doesn't know much about sports and tries to make
up for it with double talk and good connections with local teams.  Eddie
Andelman wins ratings with personality.  Neither program goes out of
its way to cultivate "good callers" who would appeal more to the true sports
fan as opposed to housewives who think Mike Greenwell is cute.

There is the makings of some decent stuff though.  If it could be done (which
it can't) I'd get Mike Shalin, Bob Ryan and a few others and start a real
show.  There's some round table which goes on Ch. 38 which has some
decent people.  There's enough other talent in the area, such as Sean
McDonough and the Pats announcer (a little light, but well-rounded) who
could help such an endeavor.

And then there's the callers.  95% of them are die-hards, yet not the
most sophisticated people in the world.  Something would have to get 
people to look further than the Red Sox for a topic.

I'd try to hire some of the above talent and go for a 4-12 slot for a while,
with a game from 7:30-10:00 usually.  I'd carefully screen the callers, and
make sure the show doesn't get too parochial.  And I'd probably fail
miserably because Eddie Andelman would be commanding too much of
the crowd, no matter how dumb 75% of his show is nightly.

Dan

    Pete Franklin is the guy who used to be on WFAN.  Dale Arnold is
    the Patriots announcer.
    
    I gave up on radio talk shows in the late seventies and early eighties
    when I realized 90% of the callers were blaming Steve Grogan for
    everything that was wrong with the Patriots, which told me everything
    I needed to know about their intelligence level.
    
    John

I think you tend to get a lot of highly opinionated, less informed
fans on those call in shows.

In Hartford, Arnold Dean does a sports call-in show on WTIC-AM 1080,
and during hockey season, right after the Liut trade, there were people
calling in like mad.  The night he had Eddie Johnston on, the fans
really made fools of themselves.  While public opinion was running
strongly against the trade, Johnston was talking facts and realities
of NHL busniness.  

A rational, somewhat intelligent person could see at that point in time
what I think has been born out...that the trade was a good one.

Personally, when I'm coming home late night and catch a talk show (usually
if I can't find metal on the dial) I like to listen to talk-net or whatever
it is, where the dupes of the world call some guy to ask about a problem
that five minutes worth of commons sense would solve.....8^)


Gotta love those fans,
'Saw

    I thought I read in one of the Boston Rags that WEEI was staying
    with all news until 6 PM then going to all sports until Midnight.
    Next year both the Bruins and Celtics will be on WEEI so it will
    make a lot of sense to do this. 
    
    Mike

    I also remember reading the sports talk from 6PM on, once the
    Celtics take over WEEI.
    
    BTW, WIP (610 AM) in Philadelphia is another all-sports station.
    
    NAZZ

    All sports at night is not a bad idea, but 6 pm may be a bit early
    since people may still want to catch some news on their way home.  But
    then again, maybe they want to start at that time to catch the
    commuters and those with car phones.  It sure beats those "golden age
    of radio" old stuffs.

    Can someone tell me of a morning sports show in the Westboro/Boston
    area ?  I have a 45-50 minute commute in the mornings and would
    love to listen to some sports other than the 10 second blurp during
    the news.  Thanks for your help