YaHoo!! WEEI Loses Broadcast Rights To Most of Red Sox Games!

Yahoo! I read an article in the Boston Globe sports pages that made my day. After years of broadcasting Boston Red Sox games, WEEI will no longer carry all of the games. Beginning in 2007, the bulk of the games, along with the pre and post game shows, will be broadcast on WRKO. Yahoo!! And if you reside in southern or central New Hampshire, you know exactly what I’m talking about. WEEI is a sports format, weak AM radio station in Boston. In an effort to expand their range, they have launched sister stations in Worcester, MA, and RI. Unfortunately, their expansion never included NH, where the number of MA transplants are staggering. It is next to impossible to receive the station clearly in this state unless you are standing on top of a 1,000 foot high hill or live in a house made of aluminum. I have often emailed the radio station asking why they wouldn’t expand up here. They responded that I could listen to the station on the internet, but have you ever tried to weed wack your lawn while holding a laptop? I almost wacked my power cord. It’s next to impossible. I remember driving to Portland, ME, to take the ferry to Novia Scotia. I had WEEI on the radio before tucking it away into the ferry. When I drove the car off the next morning, WEEI was still the selected channel on my radio, and I was in Novia Scotia!! Another country! Man, I was ticked off. WEEI promised they would not head to the greener pastures of satellite radio. Too bad, as I would have become a subscriber.
So, looking forward to 2007, WRKO will broadcast 132 games, leaving WEEI to the remaining 30 games. I think (and the Sox said it would NOT be confusing to the fans) that WEEI will broadcast Friday games, morning games, afternoon games (except weekends), and games which fall on a blue moon. Nevertheless, everyone in southern and central NH will be able to receive the broadcasts, without having to continuously search the radio bands when driving through different towns, hoping there is somewhat of a fuzzy signal of an affiliate station licensed to carry the game. Yahoo!!