The Red Sox get back to work tonight as they begin a series in Tampa with the Rays. What will the second half of the season bring for the Red Sox? Can they pull it together and grab a playoff spot, or is a complete meltdown right around the corner?
Mismatched Sox wearing on Bobby? – Gordon Edes has today’s must-read column, with plenty of griping and back-biting going around the Red Sox clubhouse, most of it centered around manager Bobby Valentine.
Sox need to make a statement – Jon Couture tries to be optimistic about this team, but finds it increasingly hard to do so.
Adrian Gonzalez continues his quest to find the old Adrian Gonzalez – Rob Bradford has the first baseman trying hard to regain his power stroke.
Ciriaco takes chance and runs with it – Peter Abraham has the well-traveled 27-year-old giving the Red Sox a jolt of energy.
Media
Mediocre Red Sox not hurting NESN’s ratings – Chad Finn looks at NESN’s strong ratings numbers, has more on WEEI, and weighs in on Matt Millen’s torturous ESPN appearance yesterday.
McDonough talks and plays a great game – John Molori talks to Sean McDonough about his work at ESPN and his love of golf.
Examining Gary Tanguay’s New Confrontational Style – What in the world is going on with Gary Tanguay? That’s the subject of my SB Nation Boston column this week.
In an email to BSMW, Entercom’s Jason Wolfe disputed the numbers from yesterday’s post, (A sure sign WEEI is doing better, Wolfe has emerged from his bunker.) discarding the standard Arbitron numbers that run from 3-7pm and sending over what he claims are the 2-6pm numbers for the month of June.
He also zinged me with this line:
I know you’re a 98.5 fan and not an EEI fan, that’s fine, you’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re numbers are wrong.
OK. Has he paid attention at all to what I’ve said about Felger and Mazz, either here or on Twitter? A 98.5 fan? Someone over at CBS Boston is getting a good chuckle out of that.
Someone from 98.5 emailed me recently and said:
Maybe we suck. Maybe we’re too negative. Or too loud. Or too whatever. You are entitled to whatever opinion you have.
I sure am glad all the radio people are allowing me to be entitled to my own opinion on things.
Anyway, here is what Wolfe sent me regarding the afternoon drive numbers:
Men 25-54, Mon-Fri 2-6 pm.
Week One Week Two Week Three Week Four
6.9 8.4 7.0 6.3 WEEI
5.7 7.6 6.4 5.7 98.5
Men 18-34, Mon-Fri, 2-6 pm.
Week One Week Two Week Three Week Four
3.3 2.7 3.1 2.6 WEEI
7.7 9.8 9.6 9.6 98.5
Men 18-49, Mon-Fri, 2-6 pm.
Week One Week Two Week Three Week Four
6.1 6.6 5.8 5.0 WEEI
6.0 8.8 7.5 7.0 98.5
He also included the 35-54 age bracket, which really solidifies that older listeners prefer the Big Show, while the younger ones prefer Felger and Mazz.
Men 35-54, Mon-Fri, 2-6pm
Week One Week Two Week Three Week Four
7.5 9.0 7.5 7.4 WEEI
4.6 6.9 5.5 4.7 98.5
The numbers from yesterday were taken directly off sheets with the Arbitron copyright on them. These numbers provided by Wolfe may well be accurate, but he’s also had a history of being, um, creative with how he comes up with ratings figures.
Yesterday, WEEI also sent over these figures, interestingly, the release contained the line “WEEI saw benefits of carrying both the Celtics and Red Sox game broadcasts.” Um, yeah. :
WEEI 93.7 Arbitron Ratings (rival station The Sport Hub compared in red):
M25-54 June Spring 12 Winter 12
6a-mid 6.8 #3 (BZ 5.5 #4) 7.1 #2 (BZ 6.0 #4) 5.7 #4 (BZ 8.5 #2)
6a-10a 6.8 #4 (BZ 7.6 #2) 7.3 #3 (BZ 8.0 #2) 7.6 #3 (BZ 9.8 #2)
10a-2p 5.5 #3T (BZ 5.9 #2) 6.7 #3 (BZ 6.8 #2) 5.5 #4 (BZ 10.0 #2)
2p-6p 7.1 #3 (BZ 6.3 #4) 7.9 #2 (BZ 6.9 #3) 6.2 #3 (BZ 9.8 #1)
6a-7p 6.5 #3 (BZ 6.6 #2) 7.3 #2 (BZ 7.2 #3) 6.5 #3 (BZ 9.6 #2)
7p-mid 11.0 #1 (BZ 4.6 #6) 9.5 #1 (BZ 5.5 #5) 4.0 #11 (BZ 6.5 #2)
Wknds 5.8 #3 (BZ 2.6 #11) 5.6 #4 (BZ 3.2 #10) 3.7 #10 (BZ 5.6 #6)
Is your head spinning yet?
