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Boston Sports Radio News – Pete Sheppard Eliminated at WEEI

sportsradioboston — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:35:51 +0000

Sheppard out at WEEI

By Chad Finn, Globe Staff | January 20, 2010

Article Courtesy of: Chad Finn Boston Globe

Pete Sheppard, who spent more than 10 years as a contributor and fill-in host on sports-radio WEEI’s “The Big Show,” has had his position eliminated by Entercom Communications, which owns the station.

“As we continue to operate in challenging economic times, it is with regret that we announce today that we have eliminated Pete Sheppard’s position as sports anchor on “The Big Show,” Entercom said in a press release. “We’d like to thank Pete for his outstanding work . . . [and wish him] the best of luck in his future endeavors and remain extremely grateful for all his contributions over the past decade.”

Sheppard, 42, had been at WEEI since 1994, when he joined the station in a part-time capacity. In 1999, he began co-hosting a weekend show with Jon Wallach, and in ’99 he moved to the highly successful “The Big Show,” where he provided sports updates during breaks, bantered with host Glenn Ordway and the rotating co-hosts, and generally served in the role of a boisterous if occasionally buffoonish everyman with a genuine passion for sports during the drive-time program. Alongside ex-players Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie, he also hosted the “Real Postgame Show” following Patriots games.

The news of Sheppard’s departure comes as a surprise. The native of Narragansett, R.I., signed a contract extension with the station in May 2007. While WEEI is facing a significant challenge from sports-radio upstart The Sports Hub, which launched on the FM dial in August, it has maintained and even enhanced its overall Nielsen ratings as well as those in coveted demographics. In December, “The Big Show” finished second in its time slot in the ratings among men 25-54.

What’s next for Sheppard remains uncertain. According to Mike Thomas, the program director at The Sports Hub, Sheppard has not been in contact. Thomas added via e-mail, “If he is interested in working here, he would have to contact me. Although we have a full staff right now.”

Sheppard and Entercom vice president of AM programming Jason Wolfe could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon. But Sheppard’s former colleagues — as well as caller Curt Schilling — acknowledged his absence at length shortly after “The Big Show” went on the air at 2 p.m.

Said Ordway: “We learned last night that the company was going to eliminate the position held by Pete Sheppard over the last 10 years and they are going to outsource the flashes during afternoon drive like they do from certain hours over the course of the day. Obviously we were disheartened to hear that. I spoke with Pete at length last night. Pete does understand the economics of it.

“He was a very unique character . . . he presented his own approach, his own schtick, that of the passionate sports fan.”

Wednesday’s “Sports Flash” update was handled by Chris Villani, a frequent WEEI update anchor who is employed by Metro Networks, the company to which Sheppard’s job has been outsourced.

Pete-Sheppard-Boston Sports Talk Radio

Ordway indicated that Sheppard might be heard on the WEEI airwaves in the future.

“Who knows, down the road, maybe an opportunity happens for him, maybe an opportunity happens back here, when things open up, the economy comes back, and we’re looking at a different set of numbers,” he said.

Ordway, for whom Sheppard often and capably filled in as a host, reiterated that it was a financial decision made by Entercom.

“Even though we have been a very successful radio station, we are part of a larger company, and they have to, in essence, make sure they keep all of their company healthy, and so, therefore, it’s a matter of moving some numbers around to make it all work.”

Later in the program, Schilling, the ubiquitous former Red Sox pitcher who blogs for WEEI.com, called in and expressed his disappointment that Sheppard was gone.

“I probably won’t be heard on WEEI until Pete’s back . . . so I wanted to wish you guys all the best.”

Sports Radio Boston News – Chad Finn Attempts to Sort Out Boston Radio Call Letter Mayhem

sportsradioboston — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:05:01 +0000

ESPN Radio’s Boston affiliate set to sign off

By Chad Finn Globe Staff

ESPN Radio’s Boston affiliate, WAMG-AM 890, will go off the air Monday after four years plagued by a weak signal and limited local programming.

But ESPN, the powerhouse sports network, may not lack an outlet in the Boston market for long. According to multiple industry sources, ESPN is in discussions to air some of its national programming on WEEI-AM 850 during nights and weekends, with WEEI intending to move to an FM station within months. (Entercom Communications, which owns WEEI, also owns two FM stations in Boston: WAAF 97.7/107.3, and Mike 93.7.)

ESPN Radio would then take over the 850 spot on the dial. The new ESPN 850 station would then be affiliated with the ESPN Boston website, which launches Monday.

This development adds to the recent frenzy in Boston sports radio competition, which became considerably more contentious in mid-August, when the CBS Radio-owned “98.5 The Sports Hub’’ launched on WBZ’s FM signal, issuing the first legitimate challenge to WEEI’s local dominance.

WAMG was expected to be that challenger upon its debut in July 2005. It hired former Boston Her ald sportswriter and WEEI contributor Michael Felger to host a drive-time program to go toe-to-toe with WEEI’s “The Big Show,’’ hosted by Glenn Ordway.

But WAMG had no play-by-play affiliations with local franchises, and its national programming struggled in a provincial sports market. In recent months, the station had aired just five hours of local programming daily.

What proved most damaging, WAMG’s signal strength didn’t extend much beyond Boston, and faded to static in the early evening. While a source who previously worked at the station said last night that it had made significant gains in advertising last summer, it failed to make a dent in the ratings. And its future looked even bleaker in July, when Felger left to return to WEEI and contribute to the station’s upstart website. He has since moved to “The Sports Hub,’’ where he hosts the drive-time program.

WAMG, which is owned by the investment firm WallerSutton, is expected to switch formats Monday, though one source at the station said employees were not told what the plan was and there is some belief that the signal will go dark.

Several WAMG staffers, among them on-air personalities Bob Lobel, Kevin Winter, and Chris Villani, were informed of the decision to end the all-sports format Thursday.

Sports Radio Boston – Chad Finn – Mike Reiss Snubs Globe & Defects to ESPN Boston

sportsradioboston — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:59:31 +0000

Article Courtesy of: Boston Sports Media - Boston Globe/Boston.com

ESPN jumps into local fray with website

By Chad Finn Globe Staff / August 28, 2009

While discussing the flurry of transactions in the local sports media, a source at a popular Boston website recently mused, “There are not a lot of allegiances anymore. Every man for himself. It’s really become a free-for-all.’’

Yesterday, a well-known but unexpected player entered the fray. And did it ever land an important piece.

Mike Reiss, the Globe and Boston.com’s prolific NFL writer, is departing to join ESPN Boston, the sports network’s second city-specific site as it attempts to strengthen its national brand with a local online presence in the nation’s largest and most passionate sports cities. The site will launch Sept. 14, an ESPN spokesman confirmed.

“Adding Boston to ESPN’s local-sites network is a natural fit for our goal of serving sports fans,’’ said Jim Pastor, senior vice president for ESPN business divisions. “It is one of the nation’s premier sports towns and home to one of the strongest and most passionate fan bases in the world.’’

The relentless Reiss, whose “Reiss’s Pieces’’ blog has been a trusted resource for Patriots information since he came to the Globe in July 2005 after making his mark at the Metro West Daily News, is a shrewd initial hire, an indication that ESPN has done its homework on what has succeeded in the Boston marketplace.

“We have lots of online competition now in sports,’’ said Globe editor Martin Baron. “Our numbers show that we’ve been very successful before in meeting competitive challenges. And I can tell you that we’re determined to remain successful.

“We’re very sorry to lose Mike Reiss. But talent runs deep in our sports staff. We’ll draw on the other great sports journalists who work here, and we’ll bring in some new talent, too.’’

Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation indicate that ESPNBoston is pursuing other Globe writers. Sources at WEEI and the Boston Herald indicate that they are unaware of ESPNBoston pursuing any of their staffers, and The Sports Hub 98.5 website is still in the fledgling stage. And there will be yet another player on the local media scene soon, when Comcast Boston premieres a site that intends to compete with Boston.com, WEEI.com, and ESPNBoston, among others, in covering local teams.

ESPNBoston’s Sept. 14 launch date is not coincidental; it is the day of the Patriots’ season opener against the Buffalo Bills on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.’’ Reiss will travel with the Patriots, though it remains uncertain whether writers on other beats will go on the road to cover their teams.

ESPNBoston is the network’s second locally branded site; ESPNChicago debuted in mid-April. It has been a tremendous success, particularly regarding the most important factors to advertisers: visitors and page views. ESPNChicago (espn.go.com/chicago) had more than 700,000 unique visitors in July, up 19 percent compared with June, and 87 percent unique visitors since May. It quickly surpassed the traffic numbers for the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times websites to emerge as the most visited sports site in the city, although there is skepticism as to whether ESPN is including numbers from repurposed stories on the main site.

ESPNBoston intends to closely follow the blueprint of ESPNChicago, emphasizing its deep reservoir of ESPN-produced content while also utilizing aggregation and links to other sites in an effort to become the destination site for local sports.

Like the Chicago site, ESPNBoston will emphasize logical, symbiotic affiliations and integrations with various branches of its own brand. It will feature a brief daily “SportsCenter’’ regional highlight package as well as a partnership with the local ESPN Radio affiliate. Currently, ESPNBoston does not have a website, instead redirecting to ESPN Radio 890-AM’s site.

The appearance of the ESPNChicago website is certainly familiar: it is virtually identical to the ESPN mother ship’s home page, except, of course, that all of the content is localized, including all of the news links down the righthand column.

Among the national ESPN personalities who have contributed at ESPNChicago are columnists Gene Wojciechowski (a former Tribune sportswriter) and Chicago native Scoop Jackson. ESPN has a roster of columnists and contributors with significant Boston ties, including Bill Simmons, who writes the popular “Sports Guy’’ column and also hosts an entertaining podcast, baseball guru Peter Gammons, and NFL analyst Michael Smith.

ESPN confirmed that Simmons, Gammons, and Smith will contribute to ESPNBoston, though much if not all of their work is expected to be repurposed from ESPN’s main site.

Nonetheless, their contributions will be a tremendous asset. As one source at a competing Boston sports website put it, “If they come up with a creative way to spin Simmons’s and Gammons’s traffic as part of their site here, their numbers are going to be insane.’’

ESPN announced July 20 that it planned to follow its successful debut in Chicago by launching city-specific sites in Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York. ESPNDallas.com is expected to launch within the next couple of weeks, to coincide with the Dallas Cowboys’ opener.

ESPNLosAngeles and ESPNNewYork are slated for early next year, and other cities that already have ESPN Radio affiliates are likely destinations. According to sources with knowledge of the situation, ESPN is intent on expanding into virtually every major media market, with the possibility of regional branches down the road.

Eyebrows were certainly raised in Boston when the sports-mad region, home to six professional championship teams this decade, wasn’t listed among ESPN’s second wave of localized sites. After yesterday’s developments, perhaps the initial absence was part of the plan.

“We started hearing [ESPNBoston’s arrival] was a possibility weeks ago,’’ said a source at a competing local sports website. “But it certainly does seem to have been a clandestine operation.’’

Until yesterday, that is, when the local sports media’s seemingly never-ending game of musical chairs saw Reiss switch seats.

“Everyone is scrambling right now to position themselves in the best way possible,’’ a source from a competing website mused. “Only time will tell what the best situations actually are.’’

Chad Finn can be reached at finn@globe.com

Chad Finn Touching All the Bases