Red Sox radio deal brings more ad choice
There are no sure bets in the advertising world.
Take the Superbowl. Advertisers readily shell out a cool million for a 30-second spot, even though it’s doubtful anyone will remember the ad three months – or even three weeks – down the road.
But sports are often an "emotional buy" for advertisers, according to Warren Palley, president of Palley Advertising of Worcester.
As spring training draws near, that buy for radio advertisers is getting a lot more complicated than in years past.
That’s because WTAG 580 AM will not be broadcasting the Sox this season, ending a 40-year long partnership with the team. Two other stations will broadcast the games - WTAG rival WVEI, based in Worcester, and WCRN 830 AM, a smaller player in the market. WCRN is making a big play to gain market share in the region with bolstered programming and a strong nighttime signal.
The change came after radio broadcaster Entercom Communications Corp. bought the rights to Red Sox Radio last year and made the decision to end its partnership with WTAG in hopes of reaching more listeners between Worcester and Boston. In addition to losing the Red Sox, WTAG – which is owned by national radio giant Clear Channel – just recently changed news services from CBS to the more right-leaning Fox News.
More choice
The result for those in the local advertising world is a lot more choice, according to Palley. "The more choices the better, because that means we have competition," he says. "It may be confusing to some, but overall I think it’s a good thing for advertisers."
The confusion comes from the fact that WVEI and WCRN, while both broadcasting the games, have different agreements when it comes to selling advertising.
Because WVEI is owned by Entercom, it will be selling air time to advertisers during the games. However, WCRN’s agreement only allows it to broadcast the games with the advertising secured by Entercom. As a result WCRN will likely gain much-needed listeners from Red Sox radio – it currently has a less than 1 percent market share according to Arbitron ratings – but it won’t see revenue from selling ads during the seventh inning stretch.
"That’s the hook," Palley says.
And gaining big time programming like the Red Sox was a major score for the family-owned station, which only last year switched over to a talk format.
Chris Thompson, general sales manager for WCRN, says that bringing on the Red Sox broadcasts was not a dollar-and-cents decision. "More than helping the business from an actual fiscal standpoint, it helps programming overall."
"We did it for the listeners, not for the sales," he adds.
Big money
Entercom – which owns WEEI and WRKO in Boston – reportedly agreed to pay between $13 million and $14 million for each year of a 10-year contract to broadcast the games, making it one of the richest sports deals in the nation, according to the Boston Globe. (Jim Rushton, vice president and director of sales at Entercom for WEEI, WRKO and Red Sox Baseball, declines to name the dollar amount, but says the Globe figure was "a little high.")
Entercom will be broadcasting the Red Sox in four markets – Worcester, Boston, Springfield and Providence - through several stations owned and operated by the company, including WEEI FM in Providence, WVEI AM in Worcester and WVEI FM in Springfield, according to Rushton.
While Rushton says WTAG had been "a great long term partner," he says the station’s weaker signal had too many gaps in the MetroWest and Northern Central Massachusetts region.
Entercom∈s James Rushton says WTAG had been a good partner but its signal had too many gaps in the region.And that’s where the upstart WCRN came in.
Part of what helped WCRN become a more desirable station to broadcast the games is the fact that it will soon – within the next couple of weeks – be broadcasting at a powerful 50,000 watts during the nighttime. Previously the station only had a license to broadcast at 50,000 watts during the daytime. The stronger signal is thanks to a new 290-foot tower the station erected about a month ago in Leicester.
WCRN’s beefed up nighttime signal will allow Entercom "to have more quality coverage," Rushton explained.
Increased competition
Even though Entercom has forked over a record sum for the broadcast rights and WCRN has invested capital in a new tower, advertisers shouldn’t expect a giant hike in rates because of the competition that now exists, according to Palley. "While in the past you had one choice (WTAG), now there are three stations offering sports packages," he says.
Frank Collins, who handles advertising for Duddie Massad, the owner of Diamond Chevrolet, ISoldMyHouse.com, East-West Mortgage and Table Talk Pies, says he doesn’t expect, and wouldn’t stand for, sharp hike in radio rates."Rates have been pretty stable for us right along," he says, partly because Massad is such a large player that he can negotiate for better prices, but overall Collins says "it’s a buyer’s market right now in radio."
WTAG hasn’t taken the loss lying down. The station has put together a sports package in hopes of retaining the sports-inclined advertiser.
The advertising package is built around mostly local sports programming, including the Worcester Tornados, Sharks and Holy Cross games, according to Palley. George Brown, programming director at WTAG did not return calls seeking comment.
The loss of the Red Sox doesn’t have to me an overall loss for WTAG, according to Collins.
"I think WTAG is here to stay," he says. "They’ll just find another direction to go in."
From WVEI’s perspective, things have been busier than normal this time of year, according to Jack Sheridan, an account executive at the station. But the bottom line, according to Sheridan, is that the Sox fans get to see a repeat of 2004.
"We light candles every day," he says.
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