The Boston Sports Talk Radio market has long been ruled by WEEI 850AM. Every attempt to add a competitor to the market has failed, until last August when the Boston radio landscape was shaken up and 98.5 FM The Sports Hub stormed onto the scene and become a legitimate threat to the reigning king, but not if you ask WEEI. In fact they are even lying about it.
The sports talk powerhouse has failed to acknowledge The Sports Hub from the beginning, with morning hosts Dennis and Callahan jokingly stating they were hiding over the desks and when asked about Sports Hub morning show Toucher and Rich they mocked, “who are they?”
While WEEI has continued to ignore the upstate station, The Sports Hub has become a major player in the highly competitive Boston radio market. While competition is good, the Sports Hub has been calling out WEEI (starts around the 1:45 mark) over the last few days for some dirty tactics and lies when it comes to the ratings.
The major dispute has been over the Spring ratings period (April 1 to June 23), during which WEEI-AM was second among men in the coveted 25 to 54 year old demographic with a 6.8 share compared to the Sports Hub with a 5.0 share. If you add the WEEI-FM into the mix then WEEI’s share goes up to 8.3.
Now to the surface that seems fine but when you dig a little you find out that what WEEI is doing is a lie. In an article today in the Boston Herald, Jessica Heslam, took a fine tooth comb over the situation following Toucher and Rich calling out WEEI for a few days.
The big problem arises when you look at WEEI-FM (103.7), which is a Providence Station and therefor out of the Boston Market and should not be counted toward the Boston ratings.
Sports Hub program director Mike Thomas told the Herald “I don’t see how you can count ratings from a different market in Boston - just because the signal gets into the Boston market, it’s still a Providence radio station. Those ratings would count in the Providence market - not in the Boston market.”
“They’re trying to do everything they can to make it seem like they don’t have any competition,” Thomas said of WEEI.
And if you think its just bickering between two rival stations over the ratings, think again.
“If they’re trying to combine ratings from one market to another, it’s a false read,” said Arbitron spokeswoman Jessica Benbow to the Boston Herald. “You can’t do that. You cannot add them together because they are not 100 percent simulcast.”
The Sports Hub have been able to make such a splash in Boston with a series of smart decisions since switching 104.1 WBCN into the Sports talk. Already the home of the New England Patriots, The Sports Hub was becoming the home of the Boston Bruins. The Bruins have long been an afterthought for WEEI, but The Sports Hub have embraced hockey and a great play-off run by the Bruins during the spring ratings period have given them a boost.
Keeping morning show Toucher and Rich could have been the smartest move made by the Sports Hub. Having been on WBCN, a rock radio station, for three years, Toucher and Rich have amassed a very loyal following in Boston. While the format change left many wondering about their future, they have found a niche by combining the humor and occasional raunchiness of the old show with a fresh take on local sports...and very little of the political talk that has turn many away from WEEI.
To help with the change, The Sports Hub added John Wallach, a veteran of Boston Sports Radio as the update guy and third chair for Toucher and Rich. It had been the bits however that have allowed Toucher and Rich to emerge as the flagship show of the station. From Naughty Massarotti and Ask A Pink Hat to New Jack Edwards and Drunken Red Sox Recaps to John Lackey or a Muppet and giving Boston Celtics forward Brian Scalabrine a spray tan mid season, they have brought in a refreshing new take on Boston sports that was desperately needed.
The Sports Hub filled out the roster with sports talk and Boston veterans like Scott Zolak and Andy Gresh in the afternoon, Michael Felger and Tony Massarotti as the drive time show and new comer Damon Amendolara as the night show.
If we can take anything away from the current ratings spat its that WEEI is clearly threatened, whether they choose to admit it or not. We will have to wait and see how it all plays out.
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