Running on fumes: discussions of WEEI

NDame616

will bailey
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Jul 31, 2006
2,566
So there may be a chance Beasley is paying Jones to not work at eei?

Not trying to be snarky. We all heard Jones is going to EEI. But his Twitter handle still has 985 in it and his bio still links TSH. And he's VERY active on Twitter so it's not like Felger or Fred who probably don't know their Twitter PW. And we finished the first week in January and he wasn't on.
 

Patriot_Reign

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Apr 21, 2011
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His activity on Twitter is retweeting others, which is his mantra. He rarely posts his own comments which people could then directly reply to. Much harder to have people directly call you the sports vulture when you're just retweeting other opinions that align with your own.
Maybe a late game best salary negotiation between the two stations as to way he's absent from both?
 

BoSoxLady

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Apr 24, 2003
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Joe C is only going to do home games for the future. Good for him. Travel sucks at any age.
I believe Will Flemming will work with Joe for home games and I pray for Sean McDonough’s radio return after the NHL playoffs end.

I don’t see Merloni’s role in the radio booth unless Sean isn’t expected back. Merloni would be fine in the tv booth but would he travel? I hate the roving tv guys NESN has been bringing in.

When Sean is on radio, we have the tv muted for every game. He’s the best!
 

Bigdogx

New Member
Jul 21, 2020
291
Well Ken finally announced on air this morning that Jones will be joining the late drive crew, Ken himself was also promoted to brand director or whatever the head cheese title is at the station. I don't know, i have listened to very little of Jones, his late night twitch show was always sub 100 viewers and it was just bland and dry anytime i tuned in which admittedly wasn't very much.
I just don't like the mix so far, the new show just doesn't work well and i don't see Jones being the guy to come in and stir that drink!
 

Harry Hooper

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Chad Finn's latest on the WEEI announcement:

“This is the third run for Adam and I working together,’’ said Mike Thomas, the senior vice president and market manager of Audacy Boston. “He’s talented, opinionated, informed, and funny.”
Well, who could argue with that?
 

Harry Hooper

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Chad sets aside any subtlety and weighs in again:

Jones, a Northeastern graduate, was an intern and update anchor on Felger’s ESPN 890 program from 2006-08. His approach of contrived negativity is so similar to Felger’s that I’ve occasionally referred to Jones as the intramural version.

But Jones’s approach — “It’s all going to go wrong with that team you like, and you shouldn’t feel good about anything” — lack’s [sic] Felger nuance. Felger mixes a trick play into the playbook once in a while, such as sometimes dismissing a bad Patriots loss as nothing to get too worked up about when listeners are expecting him to take a verbal blowtorch to the team. Jones trashes indiscriminately. It gets old, fast.
 

Quiddity

New Member
Oct 14, 2008
245
Chad sets aside any subtlety and weighs in again:
As big as a troll as Felger can be, he's at least sometimes reasonable, and sometimes mixes things up and isn't as negative as you'd expect. With Jones its 100% him rooting against the teams solely to piss people off 100% of the time. He's not only not entertaining, he's extremely predictable, arguably the most predictable radio guy there is in the market. There's absolutely no point to listening to him for a second because you already know what his take is going to be. I'm pretty confident in predicting this is going to crash and burn big time for WEEI. Don't expect their ratings to improve. They probably get even worse.
 

IpswichSox

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Jul 14, 2005
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Lou will be doing both WEEI and NESN broadcasts. I like Lou's baseball commentary, so this makes me happy.

Lou Merloni, the former Red Sox utility infielder and longtime host at sports radio WEEI, is joining NESN’s cast of color analysts on its Red Sox broadcasts...Merloni was let go as a host from WEEI at the end of December when his contract was not renewed, but he did reach a deal to be part of the station’s Red Sox radio broadcasts for 50 to 60 games this season. With the additional NESN assignment, he will call somewhere between 90-95 games this season.
Link.
 

Humphrey

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Aug 3, 2010
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Unfortunately, Lou's dad passed away a couple days ago. Might not see or hear from him for a couple weeks.

Alzheimer's, terrible way to go.
 

Bigdogx

New Member
Jul 21, 2020
291
Sucks to hear about Lou's father..:confused:


With that said the Mego show is 100% terrible radio! I have tried to give it a go but i just can't get into it.

Man i miss the Big O days with the gang.:confused:
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Jun 26, 2006
15,077
I'm in the car too much and have sort of masochistically listening to EEI lately. It's just really bad.

Morning show: This is mostly fine. It's vanilla, because Greg Hill is vanilla, but there's a big cast and I think they're mostly likable - Wiggins can be genuinely funny, Courtney is a professional broadcaster with a nice voice and does a good straight man, Curtis reminds me of dudes I went to middle school with and gets off a good one liner now and then, and the new little producer bro Sheim plays the little brother role well. You're not going to get any sports insight, but for driving around it can be entertaining and you stay up on what's going on in sports. It's fine.

The local Maine morning show is not listenable and I just don't listen to T&R even though it's available to me now because I forget about it.

Mid-day show: This is a trainwreck. Gresh is wholly unlikable in any way and is miscast as the host of the show. He can't host a show. His ideas for bits are dumb and not funny and are desperate to "involve the audience" and Fauria doesn't have enough going on to carry half the load. Their producer is a Boston meathead of some indeterminate common name I can't remember and adds no value whatsoever. Fauria somehow manages to always fail to come through with any meaningful or interesting insight about the Patriots, even though he played for the team, and seems to have as much knowledge of how the Patriots operate as I do. It makes no sense.

Also, Gresh's voice is among the more grating I've ever come across. I actually do listen sometimes to the local Mannix brothers in the mid-day, even when they're talking about high school soccer. But mostly this is when I'm putting on a Spotify playlist. It's embarrassingly bad. Not professional radio.

The drive-time show: As alluded to above, it's so bad. I actually like Mego and am rooting for her hard, but you can tell she's desperate to put on a show and be the host and she just isn't ready. She got so excited for the Herald story that she ended up beating it to death with a baseball bat. Arcand is a straight man, but Mego is too, and so it's like Andy Hart doing handstands. Awful. Jones is clearly supposed to come in and be the entertainer to balance out these two, but I'm pretty sure it's going to fail spectacularly. Who knows? Maybe it will be so uncomfortable it's listenable.

Our local Javs and Eli show is luckily much better. They're very good on the NFL, but sorta ignore all the other sports, which is too bad. I only listen to EEI during commercials and when the locals are talking to the coach of UMaine hockey or something.

The night-time show: Poor Rich Keefe. I genuinely feel bad for him. He's stuck with producers who can barely read the trending and news and sound like they're still in high school. He's doing mostly call-in, where the callers sometimes sound more into it than he is, and then inviting in (begging for) Hart and Bradfo and all the other local chum to make the time go by faster. I'm slightly worried he self-harms. He's just glum and half-hearted and clearly submitting resumes everywhere in the country.

I often listen to the re-broadcast Fox national stuff instead of this. Anything is better. This makes you want to drink.

I've got to think a full-on format change is in the offing. They can't go on like this. It's not Boston sports quality. This is what you get in Omaha or something.
 

Rich Garces Belly

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Jun 14, 2009
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Meg-O started to grow on me, and then this week they put Fitzy in with her and it’s train wreck followed by a plane crash. I’ll give it a try when Jones starts but I can’t imagine it being successful.
 

bigq

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Jul 15, 2005
11,789
I'm in the car for 10-15 minute periods throughout the day and catch some of these shows in bits and pieces.

I avoid the morning show. T&R is a much better alternative to WEEI's morning mess. I find the Greg Hill big cast unpleasant and there is not a single one of them that I find particularly interesting. In WEEI's defense the current morning show is a huge improvement over Kirk and Callahan.

Mid days are a pretty close to a push for me. I slightly prefer Gresh and Fauria to Beetle and Zo but don't really care for either show. Something about Zo rubs me the wrong way. I liked Fauria's description of his 1995 pre-draft meeting with Belichick on Thursday morning. I often tune in to music or NPR over either of the mid day shows.

In the afternoon I strongly prefer Meg-O and Arcand over F&M. F&M consistently gleefully shitting on the local teams is a big turn off for me. I'm not really looking forward to Jones joining the WEEI afternoon show.

I don't catch any of the evening shows but I agree that Keefe's talent is wasted there. I think he is the best thing going on WEEI.
 

Bigdogx

New Member
Jul 21, 2020
291
That show was terrible radio, it’s why everyone decided to switch to 98.5.
LMAO yeah everyone meaning you, the show was so terrible that it was rated number 1 for 11 years straight!

Don't think i really need to prove it anymore then that, WEEI could only dream about those days coming back at this point, same with the Hub who really is trash other then the morning show and that's if the host isn't contemplating living and emotionally checked out!
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Sep 10, 2017
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LMAO yeah everyone meaning you, the show was so terrible that it was rated number 1 for 11 years straight!

Don't think i really need to prove it anymore then that, WEEI could only dream about those days coming back at this point, same with the Hub who really is trash other then the morning show and that's if the host isn't contemplating living and emotionally checked out!
It was doing great with no meaningful sports radio competition ("The Zone" from the early 2000s had next to no reception outside of Boston), and good for Ordway for lasting as long as he did in a tough business. But for reference to the below dated article, Sports Hub launched in August 2009 a little more than 3 years before the departure announcement. Hence @RorschachsMask 's comment about the massive switch to 98.5:

60658
 

Patriot_Reign

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Apr 21, 2011
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I've been listening and don't think it's terrible. Jones and Arcand obviously have chemistry and maybe because they're both younger then the former two hosts (or aren't ex-athletes) Meg feels like she fits in better.
Of course Jones is openly rooting for Boston teams to lose/ everyone they play to win, but the other two have been fine taking shots at him for it.
Would never have considered switching from F&M before to hear Lou or Fauria's take on things but this show has been a breath of fresh air to a degree.
I mean Felger screaming about how much he hates Brady retiring because it removes the talking point of how Bill and Brady have both fared since Brady left is unlistenable.
 

RedOctober3829

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Jul 19, 2005
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deep inside Guido territory
I've been listening and don't think it's terrible. Jones and Arcand obviously have chemistry and maybe because they're both younger then the former two hosts (or aren't ex-athletes) Meg feels like she fits in better.
Of course Jones is openly rooting for Boston teams to lose/ everyone they play to win, but the other two have been fine taking shots at him for it.
Would never have considered switching from F&M before to hear Lou or Fauria's take on things but this show has been a breath of fresh air to a degree.
I mean Felger screaming about how much he hates Brady retiring because it removes the talking point of how Bill and Brady have both fared since Brady left is unlistenable.
Adam Jones is unlistenable and an automatic turn of the dial the second I hear his voice on the air.
 

Obscure Name

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Oct 29, 2006
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All I remember is the two dudes agreeing that Audioslave is better than Soundgarden, then Mego saying they're the same thing. Literally unlistenable.
 

Rich Garces Belly

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Jun 14, 2009
345
I've been listening and don't think it's terrible. Jones and Arcand obviously have chemistry and maybe because they're both younger then the former two hosts (or aren't ex-athletes) Meg feels like she fits in better.
Of course Jones is openly rooting for Boston teams to lose/ everyone they play to win, but the other two have been fine taking shots at him for it.
Would never have considered switching from F&M before to hear Lou or Fauria's take on things but this show has been a breath of fresh air to a degree.
I mean Felger screaming about how much he hates Brady retiring because it removes the talking point of how Bill and Brady have both fared since Brady left is unlistenable.
i agree, maybe it was the low standards I had but Meg-O actually fits with them. It’s a much better show than I had anticipated and so far I’ve enjoyed it.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Nov 16, 2004
20,560
i agree, maybe it was the low standards I had but Meg-O actually fits with them. It’s a much better show than I had anticipated and so far I’ve enjoyed it.
I'm onboard so far. If Jones isn't being a complete dick and just doing his schtick it's a pretty good show. Meg-O works way better on the new show than the old one. Arcand is great as always. Maybe because they're all in a similar age range 35-40? (give or take?) it seems much more natural than the other show. MegO talks half as much now, which is a great spot for her.

Between actually turning on WEEI Twitch at 2pm some days, listening to Keefe's podcast, my WEEI listening is up from 0.0 to an hour or two a day depending on the day.
 

Bigdogx

New Member
Jul 21, 2020
291
I keep trying, but just can't get into it! By a far margin the 2-6 slot on WEEI is the pits right now imo. Funny enough, i find Mego the least offensive out the the trio, Arcand and Jones are terrible though, boring drab and unlistenable to me.
 

Harry Hooper

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WEEI is apparently on holiday today with some national broadcast piped in.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Nov 16, 2004
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I have to say I love the Keefe Show at night. I don’t like Fitzy but Keefe seems to be in fuck it mode and he’s doing what he wants and if it works it works if not he’s fine with it. It’s feels like basically a 4 hour podcast which I’m a fan of. I’m sure many people will hate it since it’s not typical radio. Want to put a bracket together about top fictional athletes and talk about it? I’d rather listen to that vs hot takez of if the Patriots need to put out and official statement on why BB isn’t at the combine or other crap.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Apr 12, 2001
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I’d rather listen to that vs hot takez of if the Patriots need to put out and official statement on why BB isn’t at the combine or other crap.
This is going to be a very long spring and summer, I can't listen to any more coordinator/is Mac Jones good/does BB still have his fastball talk any more. It's so boring.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Nov 16, 2004
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This is going to be a very long spring and summer, I can't listen to any more coordinator/is Mac Jones good/does BB still have his fastball talk any more. It's so boring.
It’s brutal right now. The Bruins are too good for interesting talk, the Celtics are almost there and most of the talk is how many timeouts they don’t take and Pats coordinator / Mac talk. Sox are expected to be not good but when 90% of it around the GM it’s boring.

Give me T&R and Keefe for the next few months.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Apr 12, 2001
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It’s brutal right now. The Bruins are too good for interesting talk, the Celtics are almost there and most of the talk is how many timeouts they don’t take and Pats coordinator / Mac talk. Sox are expected to be not good but when 90% of it around the GM it’s boring.

Give me T&R and Keefe for the next few months.
Absolutely. For as much as we love to hear everyone talk about how great the B's are, after awhile it turns into the Chris Farley show. Same with the Celts, there doesn't seem to be a hoops expert on either station that can break down a game. The less said about the Sox, the better. So I guess Pats bullshit it is.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Jun 26, 2006
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An under-rated quality Ordway brought to the station was his deep ties with the Cs.

Is there a single NBA fanatic on the station now? It would be great for them to bring in an ex-player — I think Scal does a hit once a week with the drive-time show, but that's about it — as a regular sometimes host, along the lines of Razor or the way Wiggy started.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Nov 16, 2004
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This is a VERY bad development for the morning show:

View: https://twitter.com/davecullinane/status/1638539039593705472?s=20


The casual nature of this racism and the shared smile between Curtis and Scheim is just fucking gross. I listen to this with my kid in the car sometimes. That was always a bad decision. I'm not going to let it happen again. Fuck those dudes a lot.
Wow. I thought at first it was a nipple / breast joke which would have been one thing then searched who she was. Yikes and the fact it was off the top of his head is disturbing.
 

CantKeepmedown

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Jul 15, 2005
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I had no idea that nip was ethnic slur. But Curtis most certainly did. He needs to go away. Banner couple of weeks for Boston radio.

And even if he tries to claim ignorance about the term, what is he going to say? "I was talking about her breasts!"?
 

lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
20,234
I had no idea that nip was ethnic slur. But Curtis most certainly did. He needs to go away. Banner couple of weeks for Boston radio.

And even if he tries to claim ignorance about the term, what is he going to say? "I was talking about her breasts!"?
Nips is still commonly used for those little bottles of booze.