Tag: Red Sox Broadcast

WEEI Can’t Decide On One New Red Sox Broadcaster, So They Hired EIGHT

By on • ( Leave a comment )

WEEI – Entercom, the unrivaled leader in sports radio and one of the two largest radio broadcasters in the United States, today announced the new all-star team of play-by-play sportscasters for 2019 Boston Red Sox games on WEEI in Boston, the flagship station of the team. Broadcasters participating this season will include Sean McDonough, Josh Lewin and Mario Impemba, who will rotate in the radio booth alongside veteran broadcaster and Red Sox Hall of Famer Joe Castiglione, who has signed a multi-year extension with the WEEI Red Sox Radio Network and will begin his 37th season…

In adition to McDonough, Lewin and Impemba, Chris Berman, broadcaster for ESPN; Lou Merloni, on-air personality for WEEI; Dale Arnold, on-air personality for WEEI; Tom Caron, studio host for NESN; and Dave O’Brien, television voice of the Red Sox for NESN, will also call select games as part of the broadcast play-by-play committee. O’Brien will call a select number of nationally televised Red Sox games.

The WEEI broadcast booth needed a replacement to put next to longtime Red Sox play by play man, Joe Castiglione. Someone that could call the game, provide insights, have a regular conversation (don’t you dare call it a talk show), and essentially just create a more entertaining product.

But they couldn’t decide on one guy, so they hired EIGHT.

There’s a few familiar faces in here with current WEEI names like Lou Merloni and Dale Arnold as well as NESN personalities Tom Caron and Dave O’Brien. In addition to them, WEEI brought back fan favorite and Mass native Sean McDonough, Josh Lewin, and Mario Impemba.

Wait.

Is that what I think it is?

THATS CHRIS BERMAN’S MUSIC!

Chris Berman is back back back back baby! I honestly don’t know how many “backs” Berman is gonna be able to squeeze in when Mookie hits a piss missile over the Monster. There’s really not enough time, but he’ll adjust he’s a professional.

In all seriousness, I only really listen to the Red Sox radio broadcast if I have to. If I’m stuck in traffic or I’m crushing a few Bud Lattes win the old man in his backyard. So I don’t really care who they bring in, but it does scream indecisiveness. I know they probably wanted to test out a few guys to try and jumpstart a broadcast they had grown tired of, but there’s something to be said for familiarity. Having 8 different guys in there on any given night could do 1 of 2 things. It could provide excitement because you’re always hearing different voices and opinions. Or it could quickly create favorites leading to fans tuning out when they hear that Lewin’s calling the game and not Merloni on a given night.

Credit to them for trying something new, but it won’t be easy to build a rapport with Castiglione if some of the new guys are only working a game a week.

Just give Jonny Gomes the job and be done with it.

PS – It’s spring training and I just made a Jonny Gomes reference so get your Jonny Gomes Duckboat shirt before the season starts!

Alex Reimer Sets Record Straight on WEEI’s Red Sox Radio Broadcast Changes

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Image result for fenway park above home plate view

So it seems like The Boston Globe may have jumped the gun a bit earlier this week when they reported that WEEI planned to change their Red Sox radio broadcast format to more of a talk-show type of deal.

They left it pretty open as to exactly what the hell that even meant, but they seemed pretty damn confident in reporting that it was a real thing that was happening.

After the report was then refuted by WEEI’s Program Director Joe Zarbano, Chad Finn – whom initially reported the “story” – then doubled-down and referred to the email which alerted him to the official job posting for the open Sox play-by-play announcer position. At the same time, Zarbano has held firm in his response:

So, as of Thursday morning, all we had to go off of were a series of “he said/she said” tweets, which meant that either somebody got a lead on something they shouldn’t have, or they were entirely duped by a completely misleading email.

I’m now more inclined to believe it was the latter.

The official job posting from the Sportcasters Talent Agency of America makes ZERO mention of a “talk show format” in any way, BUT Finn did release the text of the industry-wide email promoting the posting, which said the following:

There is an opening on the Boston Red Sox radio play-by-play team following Tim Neverett’s decision not to renew his contract.

The Boston Globe has reported about plans for major changes to this broadcast format. STAA knows these plans to be true. WEEI wants to drop the concept of a conventional radio baseball broadcast to make the call of the game sound more like a talk show.

WEEI [program director] Joe Zarbano is eager to receive applications. However, he tells STAA he doesn’t want to be bombarded with email attachments.

So, to be fair, I totally get where Finn was coming from, but like Zarbano said, maybe, I don’t know, he should’ve checked in with the actual radio station first?

WEEI’s Alex Reimer then wrote an article early Thursday afternoon, and he said that the misleading information from the STAA email most likely comes from the fact that the station is thinking about adding one more person to the booth in an effort to create more chatter (and apparently rumors about this have been out there for a while). They want it to have a more conversational tone, which allows for more colorful analysis and insight, and above all it should help to add more excitement to what can at times be a very dull platform.

The three-person broadcast team has gained a lot of popularity, across multiple sports, in recent years, and it’s been met with great success. I’m totally on board with this.

So thanks to Reimer for clearing up that weird early-morning B.S. from yesterday, and here’s to hoping WEEI is able to find a solid trio who can get it done and finally bring the archaic station into the future.