The Boston Globe reported Saturday that ESPN Radio WAMG-AM 890 will go off the air on Monday after a series of problems, including awful signal strength and an utter lack of local programming.
But that’s not what makes the Globe’s story so interesting.
ESPN Radio isn’t going away in Boston. The Globe’s sources say ESPN may move programming to Boston’s mainstay sports station, WEEI-AM 850, because WEEI plans to move itself to an FM station to compete better with the new CBS station, 98.5 The Sports Hub.
The company that owns WEEI, Entercom Communications, only has two FM stations that it can use. Entercom also owns WRKO-AM 680.
The Sports Hub kicked rock station WBCN off the air, and the company that owns WEEI only owns two FM stations that it can move it to: Mike 93.7 and WAAF 97.7/107.3. WAAF and Phoenix Media station WFNX are the only rock stations left in Boston.
Mike 93.7 sounds like a much better option. The station doesn’t have nearly the following that WAAF has, but there’s at least the possibility that WAAF could get axed. Whichever station gets WEEI, the Globe says that ESPN will take over the WEEI-AM station to supplement the ESPN Boston website, which starts Monday.
Entercom had no news posted on its website Saturday.