To be fair the Patriots suck, the Sox are middle of the road at best, the Bruins are the same. The Celtics are great but boring to most. It’s not a great time to be sports radio.
Running on fumes: discussions of WEEI
- Thread starter MyDaughterLovesTomGordon
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Jones and Keefe have been solid. They have a natural chemistry and Keefe's good at pulling back Jones's sports hardo moments. Keeping it a bit lighter works.
Jones and Keefe are great. They pulled my dial* back to EEI for the first time since old school Dale and Holley.
* podcast subscription
* podcast subscription
I know people hate Jones, but Jones & Keefe has been constantly in my rotation since it restarted, typically on podcast due to timing.
Jones has to actually do his homework now since Keefe seems to be much more informed - particularly in baseball and basketball. He's still one of my least favorite in Boston sports radio history, but is more bearable now since his takes aren't as blatantly Felger and Mazz like.
I'm not too impressed with the afternoon show though. I'm not sure what Hart brings to the table other than talking about a predictably god awful football team. To me it's a terrible idea bringing in anyone to co-host who only can contribute in one sport.
I'm not too impressed with the afternoon show though. I'm not sure what Hart brings to the table other than talking about a predictably god awful football team. To me it's a terrible idea bringing in anyone to co-host who only can contribute in one sport.
J&K > Z&B. I really enjoyed them at night on the Hub, so I’ve been tuning in since the start. EEI should’ve made this happen sooner. I wouldn’t be surprised if this moves the needle a bit.
Just came to post that I like Jones and Keefe. Perfect time for picking the kids up from school (have to get there early and sit in the car). Want to confirm what others have said. Jones is way better than he has been previously. Keefe has always been fun. Gresch was always the worst.
This show is the anti-hot take show.
This show is the anti-hot take show.
Mego wasn’t bad. She was just kind of new and deferring too much to Jones. Keefe is more a goofy breathe of fresh air and it seems like Jones has loosened up because of it.
I couldn't be more stunned to read all of this Adam Jones love. That guy was friggin' AWFUL when he was on 98.5. Guess it truly was a terrible act.
I switched today from 98.5 to 93.7 because Zolak was telling this boring ass story that was going absolutely nowhere about being in California before the Pats game. Jones and Keefe were talking Bs and Swayman.
It was so much better and I can’t believe I just wrote that.
It was so much better and I can’t believe I just wrote that.
At baseline the entire sports radio landscape is a wasteland and Im not sure it could have possibly become worse at EEI but the recent shakeup has been a positive. It hasnt worked for my schedule personally but I always have enjoyed Keefe and I agree with the comments that Jones has toned it down and become tolerable with Keefe. However, considering the history of the management of this station I expect in 6-12 months they will have moved one of Keefe & Jones to a 5 person drivetime booth with the Big O, Courtney, Gresh, and Callahan and in process reviving the whiner line
She was fine. Arcand and Jones didn't seem to like each other much but Arcand is pretty thin skinned so who knows?
Arcand and Mego did this past Sunday AM together, so EEI seems fine with that pairing.
He still is, Keefer i guess makes him tolerable to some, i dont know because the 10-2 spot is to busy for me to sit down ever and listen to them. But i dont see how anything will ever make me want to listen to Jones, his glass always half empty approach is just grinding to me.
Saw on Twitter that Larry Johnson has passed.
edit: "The Preacher and the Teacher!" obit: https://www.farleyfh.com/obituaries/larry-johnson
edit: "The Preacher and the Teacher!" obit: https://www.farleyfh.com/obituaries/larry-johnson
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rough...met him once as a kid pre-game when EEI had a studio on Yawkey Way during a commercial break before Red Sox pre-game
Growing up, Mustard & Johnson played on weekends on the car radio, and sometimes the Creature was there too
Growing up, Mustard & Johnson played on weekends on the car radio, and sometimes the Creature was there too
But the Patriots are so bad that it's interesting to cover. And the belichick news and the Celtics literally are coming off a title. I think just dismissing that as boring is kind of convenient. Terrible time to cover Boston sports? I don't think so I think you have one team that's the best in the league and one thing that's the worst and right away that's a lot more interesting than having average teams
Keefe is an agreeable guy so I think it does sort of mitigate the worst impulses of Adam Jones but not by all that much. What does strange hire. And the thing is they're giving him drive time money to host an afternoon show.
The latest book came out and more bad news for WEEI. Hillman killed it was a 14.3, which would be #1 in most other markets. The Arcand and Hart numbers aren't surprising as they're both bores. They might as well just give up in the afternoon, as there's no one they could realistically bring in to be competitive with F&M. Jones and Keefe improved and did a 5.8, but the problem is over 60% of Hillman's audience turns off the radio the second the clock hits 10 AM.
https://x.com/bostonradio/status/1872401748016443611
https://x.com/bostonradio/status/1872401748016443611
And 30 some odd % click off after T&H.
I don't think Andy Hart is a bore.
And Joe Murray might just be the worst radio host in recent memory yet he wins easy (with obvious help from Bs and Cs)
This is because it is not wall to wall sports talk which is boring imo, especially now as the majority of teams in this city stink! They bring more talk, political, local and clown around more. Once you get passed the 10am hour these sports radio channels offer nothing these days, Felger and Mazz while not even close to the Big "O" or Mike and the Dog days, is about as good as it gets in the afternoon today.
I agree with you on wall-to-wall sports talk. I like sports as much as the next person, but 4 hours of sports talk is death on the radio. Someone like Dale Arnold made a career out of doing 4 hours on Red Sox batting order, Bruins 4th line, and the 8th man on the Celtics. He remained employed, but it was boring, and that contributed to his low ratings his last few years on the radio.
Felger & Mazz would like to have a chat. Sports is the ONLY thing they talk about and I can think of a few times where Felger lost his mind because someone tried to bring up a pop culture topic.
F&M make it at least somewhat entertaining. People like Hart and Arcand aren't entertaining when they do it.
Hart and Arcand are the wall street journal of sports talk imo. I dont think the afternoon show has had any juice since they brought spaz in for like a week or two.
that is the only thing i dont like about zo and beetie zolak just goes off to nowhere land
Arcand moving to nights.
Nate “fitzy” Stevens and Ted Johnson will be joining Andy Hart for the afternoon show.
The afternoon show is boring, but I’m not sure if this helps.
Nate “fitzy” Stevens and Ted Johnson will be joining Andy Hart for the afternoon show.
The afternoon show is boring, but I’m not sure if this helps.
I guess I get it, just still kind of odd there's no mention of "Teddy J!"s involvement on the RS show/ station.
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/292329/weei-revamps-afternoons-with-addition-of-ted-johnson-nick-fitzy-stevens/
edit: And I also guess that there goes any speculation about Rich joining 'eei anytime soon.
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/292329/weei-revamps-afternoons-with-addition-of-ted-johnson-nick-fitzy-stevens/
edit: And I also guess that there goes any speculation about Rich joining 'eei anytime soon.
Yeah that doesn't move the excitement meter much, loved TJ as a player but his fill in spots on the radio have been a bit bland imo. Honestly i dont know who they could look to hire right now, no one really stands out in this city much anymore, not to mention i think Ken just likes to hire safe people and you are going to get nothing but safe radio in return.
I think that this is the problem. If you want to make a splash, you need to go outside the lines. There has to be someone or a duo who are coming up on TikTok or in the podcast world that has a following that EEI could hire. Unless it's a huge pay decrease, if you're EEI why wouldn't you say, "Keep doing whatever you're doing online, but come and work for us for four hours a day*."
* I know it's not as simple as that and I know that creating TikTok content (much less a daily four hour show) is a lot of work, but if they really gave a shit about making a dent in the ratings, you pay these unknown people.
IDK, Hart, Johnson and Fitzy sounds the same as Hart and Arcand and Jones and Arcand and the conga line of middle aged white guys/ex athletes dynamic that clearly isn't working. You want new listeners, do that and appeal to listeners who don't feel like they have a voice. That's what TSH did when they launched, Bruins talk and a bit of soccer talk. And the callers weren't laughed at. Eventually it turned into EEI v2.0 but by then they had their core audience and it didn't matter.
Find out what audience TSH isn't catering to, exploit that, add some new (non grumpy old white guy) voices and I think that within a year, you'll see some ratings improvement. And if not, at least something new was tried.
Because I can tell you right now, I'm not listening to a guy name Fitzy tell me what "real fahkin Boston fans want".
How much of this is just an issue where sports talk radio is an old man's game in general, and the remaining audience left to cater towards is the old grumpy white guy? There is a reason it seems like every radio station is being converted into conservative talk radio or a Christian station, those are the people left listening to the radio--everyone else driving around is listening to podcasts and music on various streaming apps.
You also have the issue where WEEI has spent decades crafting an audience that basically shits on anything "different" regarding sports coverage like more niche sports talk and things of that nature, so you risk alienating your dwindling loyal listener base.
At least Keefe is kind of funny sometimes? Maybe it’s Fitzy’s role to add some levity, but I just don’t think “serious sports talk” is the future, and this just seems like an infinity of Very Serious Takes About Football, with a side of “these are the guys not trying hard enough” for other three sports.
I think EEI could learn a lot from the Drew-Scal pairing: Gimme a young, seriously online kid to challenge the grumpy old men and lighten things up, and it wouldn’t kill me to find an actually baseball/basketball fan.
I think EEI could learn a lot from the Drew-Scal pairing: Gimme a young, seriously online kid to challenge the grumpy old men and lighten things up, and it wouldn’t kill me to find an actually baseball/basketball fan.
I remember discovering Fitzy YEARS ago on YouTube. He was pretty funny in short burst, 5 minute videos where he did the exaggerated accent schtick, swore a lot, and burped. But then that got stale. I can't believe he's doing radio still.
His radio act just has not materialized much imo, i use to love his short videos he made regarding the Patriots with the Townie news. If he could of somehow incorporated more of that into the show it would be better off imo. A show that is 100% focussed on only sports talk and 0 horsing around is going to be a failing show imo with a weak listening base.
That's a fair question. And it's something that I thought of when I made my post. I'm not sure how many people younger than 40-50 are listening to sports radio--judging by the types of ads that run all day (weight loss and boner pills) my guess is probably not that much. But I think that EEI is nearing Hail Mary territory where they have to have find something that would goose their audience a bit.
I hear what you're saying about alienating their current audience but in order to get a younger audience, you have to cater to the youth, right? Hell, if EEI is being run as a tax writeoff, if the younger, hipper sports guys don't do the trick hire Gresh and, I don't know, some marginal offensive linemen and have them belch about "footbaw" and the "real way to play" for four hours a day.
Trying something new on a ship that is currently taking on a ton of water might not be a bad idea.
It's like asking why newspapers don't do all sorts of progressive things to bring in new readers. It's a dying industry, no one innovative wants to work there, and companies don't want to invest heavily just to push off death a few more years.
I wonder how much they debated adding Rich even with the flameout. If you're going to reach, you might as well throw it all against the wall and say screw it.
Well, sorta? I am not in the radio business and I don't claim to know what's going on at EEI, but unless the owners literally don't give a shit about the station and are holding onto it for tax reasons or because the Sox broadcast there, why not try something new?
And I don't buy that no one "innovative" (which I assume you're using as a synonym for young) wants to work at the station. Yes, no one wants to work anyplace where they're underpaid. If EEI is serious about moving up in the ratings, why don't they try something that isn't the same exact thing that they've tried (and failed with) for the last 10+ years?
Otherwise just pull the plug.
Rich needs a lot of help. If he could get paired up with like a Cerone Battle, that might have been an interesting duo. Cerone is terrific on the weekends and he's, what second or third on TSH bench? I'm not sure his contract situation but him and Rich might be a fun listen on drive time.
They're owned by Audacy, who just filed for bankruptcy about a year ago.
https://www.boston.com/news/business/2024/01/08/radio-giant-owner-of-weei-and-more-files-for-bankruptcy/
The sports hub is owned by Beasley Media Group, who are also in danger of filing for bankruptcy and had to do a reverse stock split to prevent their company being delisted on an exchange, and have been cutting costs like crazy.
https://rbr.com/beasley-puts-the-wheels-in-motion-on-reverse-stock-split/
There is basically no ad revenue left in radio. It's not a business anyone would voluntary enter at this point if they were young and wanted a career. There are a few people at the top getting paid, like Felger, Mazz, and Fred, but everyone else is making next to nothing. If you wanted to do it for almost free for a bit just to get your name out there as a podcaster or other social media person I could understand that, but it's not like there are too many people making money doing that either.
Yeah, I'm 30--I grew up listenting to WEEI. I feel asleep as a child listening to Ted Sarandis and later Mike Adams (that was an unfortunate Google search just now, as I was checking if he was still alive) and when I got my first car, my radio dial never moved from WEEI. Then I got a car with Bluetooth connectivity and I never listen to the radio unless the Sox or Celtics are on, or I need a quick traffic update. I've sampled current sports talk radio enough and it's always way worse than I can ever imagine. I grew out of it and discovered things I liked better (mainly podcasts) and I'm never going back to the bottom-feeding shit they put on radio, and I feel like most people in my age range, event he dumb ones that listen to like, Joe Rogan and Dave Portnoy, are in the same boat.
Hey wait a minute!
Your post is actually very interesting. You are 30 and grew up on the worst of sports radio possible with Ted and then Planet Mikey. Then when you got a car you listened to EEI on AM radio and not TSH. I’d expect you to be 60 instead of 30
I get the negative on sports radio but locally Toucher & Hardy, Beetle & Zo and even Jones and Keefe don’t bottom feed. I can’t speak to Hillman and I’m assuming Felger and mazz do because they’re awful.
Leroy & Cerrone are good, Barths football previews are good. Arcand is great when he’s not with Hart. Matt McCarthy loves baseball and is passionate.
I feel like Felger and Mazz (who are the absolute worst but highly rated) paint it all in a broad brush. I believe sports radio in Boston is at its peak except for the afternoon slot, but that’s because I hate F&M
Give me 2024 Boston Sports Radio over 2004 or 2014. 2009 sports radio was an all time low and why WEEI isn’t the #1 IN THE COUNTRY
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