Even though WEEI maintains a ratings lead in the local sports radio wars, they’re not comfortable. They’re feeling the need to manipulate, exaggerate, whatever it takes to appear even more imposing.

As Chad Finn points out this morning:

While certain WEEI hosts refuse to acknowledge that the station no longer has a sports-talk monopoly, there are occasionally subtle clues that the old familiar hubris is now accompanied by humility. There’s now an emphasis on including Boston listeners to 103.7, WEEI’s FM outlet in Providence, in the local ratings…

Evidence of this can be seen in what happened to Jessica Heslam’s report on the ratings in yesterday’s Herald. When I originally linked the article, this is what it said about the ratings:

During the spring ratings period, WEEI was No.1 among men in the coveted 25- to 54-year-old demographic with a weeklong overall 8.3 share. The Sports Hub, WBZ-FM, wasn’t far behind, scoring a 5.0 share and fifth place. The spring ratings run from April 1 to June 23.

“I’m really proud of our guys,” said program director Jason Wolfe. “The spring was chock full of great content, highlighted by the playoff runs of the Celtics [team stats] and Bruins [team stats]. They belted out great shows, and the listeners responded.”

In morning-drive, WEEI duo John Dennis and Gerry Callahan were first with an 8.9 share while the Sports Hub’s Fred “Toucher” Toettcher and Rich Shertenlieb were fifth with a 6.2.

WEEI midday pair Dale Arnold and Michael Holley came in second with a 6.5 share while the Sports Hub’s Andy Gresh and Scott Zolak were sixth with a 4.4.

The race was close in afternoon-drive. Glenn Ordway’s “Big Show” on WEEI was second with a 7.9 share while rival Sports Hub duo Mike Felger and Tony Massarotti were third with a 6.4.

From 7 p.m. to midnight, Mike Adams and WEEI were first with a 13.3 share, while the Sports Hub’s Damon Amendolara was 14th with a 2.6.

Then sometime yesterday, without any note of the changes, the above text changed to the following:

During the spring ratings period, WEEI was No.2 among men in the coveted 25- to 54-year-old demographic with a weeklong overall 6.8 share. The Sports Hub, WBZ-FM, wasn’t far behind, scoring a 5.0 share and fifth place. The spring ratings run from April 1 to June 23.

“I’m really proud of our guys,” said program director Jason Wolfe. “The spring was chock full of great content, highlighted by the playoff runs of the Celtics [team stats] and Bruins [team stats]. They belted out great shows, and the listeners responded.”

In morning-drive, WEEI duo John Dennis and Gerry Callahan were tied for second with WZLX-FM (100.7) and WBUR-FM (90.9) with a 7.1 share while the Sports Hub’s Fred “Toucher” Toettcher and Rich Shertenlieb were sixth with a 6.2.

WEEI midday pair Dale Arnold and Michael Holley came in third with a 5.1 share while the Sports Hub’s Andy Gresh and Scott Zolak were sixth with a 4.4.

The race was close in afternoon-drive. Glenn Ordway’s “Big Show” on WEEI was second with a 6.7 share while rival Sports Hub duo Mike Felger and Tony Massarotti were third with a 6.4.

From 7 p.m. to midnight, Mike Adams and WEEI were first with a 11.3 share, while the Sports Hub’s Damon Amendolara was 4th with a 5.6.

WEEI clearly fed Heslam the first set of numbers, which are a combination of the Boston and Providence numbers. I’m not sure of the reason for the descrepancy in the WBZ-FM numbers for Damon Amendolara, but the article was apparently changed after WBZ-FM spoke up about it. I heard Toucher & Rich say something about D&C lying about the ratings numbers, and apparently it was brought up later in the day as well.

One huge thing to note about the (apparently) gaudy numbers of Mike Adams – they reflect Red Sox and Celtics games aired in his time slot. The ratings slot is 7:00-12:00 PM- regardless of what programming airs in that slot. I felt much better after confirming that, as I was afraid for the future of mankind if people were actually tuning in to hear Planey Mikey in those numbers.

Also interesting in that Finn article is that Tony Massarotti’s Baseball Reporters show from 6:00 to 7:00pm is beating the official WEEI Red Sox pregame show, prompting WEEI to change up their pregame show, as outlined in Finn’s article. (and how much of a sleaze does Jason Wolfe come off as in the Finn piece?)

Clearly, WEEI is feeling the heat from their first legitimate ratings challenge, and is pulling out all the stops, (and more) in order to try and come out ahead. They’re desperate.

——-

John Lackey carried a no-hitter in the eighth inning before former Sox catcher Josh Bard broke it up. Leading 6-1, the Red Sox actually allowed the Mariners to tie things up in the ninth before scoring two runs in the 13th to pull out an 8-6 win.

Get all the coverage at RedSoxLinks.com.

Red Sox blow five-run lead in ninth, then rebound to beat Mariners - Daniel Barbarisi recaps the action from last night.

Kalish making major impact - Peter Abraham’s minor league notebook says that Pawtucket outfielder Ryan Kalish may soon be major league ready.

Lowell feeling good in rehab start with PawSox, looks forward to return - Brian MacPherson has Mike Lowell getting closer to a return.

Beckett’s return is eagerly anticipated - Amalie Benjamin’s notebook looks at Josh Beckett’s return to the mound tonight.

Setting the record straight on Brady - Leave it to Mike Reiss to make sense of all the Tom Brady speculation and rumors.

New England Patriots 2010 Season Preview - The Fifth Down, The New York Times’ football blog, previews the Patriots.

Positional Previews – Offensive Line - Patriots Daily looks at the O-Line. So does Tom E. Curran and Glen Farley.

Remembering your father’s Patriots - Jim Donaldson checks in with some old guys who used to cover the Patriots – Kevin Mannix, Mark Blaudschun, Carlo Imelio, Tim Murphy, Terry Price,  and Leigh Montville.

Increased Leadership Across Entire Patriots Roster Essential for 2010 Success - Jeff Howe examines the way the Patriots have address the leadership issue.

Robinson ready to bring energy next season - A. Sherrod Blakely has the guard looking forward to an entire season with the Celtics. The Celtics also re-signed Marquis Daniels last night.

Avery Bradley can’t wait to play - Dan Duggan has the Celtics first round pick eager to get back on the court.

And finally:

What To Do When The News Is Slow? Just Make It Up - I’m going to be doing a new weekly media post over at SBNation’s Boston site. The first one looks at a few topics this week on sports radio.

Each Glenn Ordway vacation day that goes by this summer that results in WEEI’s Big Show being hosted by Mike Adams or Butch Stearns (although Bob Neumeier is an improvement) leaves me asking the same thing – what happened with Pete Sheppard, and why hasn’t he gotten another job yet?

I wasn’t always the biggest fan of Pete (and vice-versa), but the guy did bring something to the Big Show and WEEI – the perspective of a fan.  He didn’t hide the fact that he was a fan of the teams, especially the Patriots. I didn’t like the bully act, or the year he became a “Yankee fan”,  but I liked that he genuinely was a fan as well as a radio host. And I miss it.

On the occasions that Ordway was out, and Sheppard was his main backup, the Big Show still worked. Now, when I hear Adams or Stearns in the Dale & Holley crossover, I know that a full afternoon of Felger and Massarotti is on tap.

Since Entercom let Sheppard go earlier this year, he has yet to surface on another radio outlet. Chad Finn’s media column has reported a couple of times about interest between Sheppard and 98.5-FM, but to this date, nothing has happened.

Sheppard’s Facebook account  (which I believe is genuine) lists his current profession as  Professional Poker Player(for the moment)  and his wall lists out the tournament’s he’s been competing in. He also occasionally gives updates on his search for work in the radio field. He posted this last week:

I also wanted to update everyone on my next gig…Things are still being worked on right now, I can tell you all this, I won’t be going to 98.5 The Sports Hub any time soon…I am not going to get into any details because things could change in the future, but as of right now, it’s not happening….In broadcasting, timing is everything lets put it that way..

With so many ex-WEEI personalities (Jon Wallach, Mike Felger, Tony Massarotti, Jerry Trupiano, Ted Sarandis) already on their airwaves, is 98.5 hesitant to put another on?

Pete was strongly associated with WEEI. Could that tie be too much for 98.5 at this point? It would seem to be a silly hangup, but the radio business is a strange one.  

Sheppard would be entertaining as a third man in with Felger and Massarotti as the latter two prepare to spend the next six months trashing everything Patriots. He could also be part of the station’s Patriots broadcasts before and after the games.

Whether he ends up on 98.5 or not, Sheppard’s total disappearance from the sports media scene is pretty interesting. With so many TV and Radio outlets, you’d think he’d have appeared somewhere to keep himself in the public eye, but to my knowledge, he hasn’t been around at all.

I do hope we hear Pete Sheppard on the local airwaves again, and soon.

Got this email this morning from a long time reader, George, who gives his take on the state of afternoon drive radio in Boston. For the most part, I think it’s pretty much dead-on:

Bruce – the Michael Felger role in Sports talk is very interesting. I hate this guy which is unfortunate because I like the energy he brings but too often I feel like 98.5 has become the MSNBC to WEEI’s FoxNews. Felger was the guy once battling the old titans Borges and Cafardo during the Bledsoe vs Brady wars in 2001. He became popular somehow using this contrarian status and pushed the boring Greg Dickerson out the door. Now if Holley could only push Tanguay permanently out the door at Comcast we’d have a tandem.

But now Felger has become the Chris Russo of the Boston sport market. He’ll have Borges on to call the Patriots and BB a liar but never refutes anything Borges says. He is anti-Celtic and NBA and a full fledged Patriot basher. For some reason he is pro-Red Sox except when he thinks they are cheap. Cheap is his big thing, everyone is cheap. And finally the Bruins, he’s a shill on that station which has way more Bruins calls than it should. Hockey in July is borderline inappropriate. The Bruins have a spot in this town and a small but rabid fan base. And that base calls the radio, but it is not reflective of the market in general.

As for Felger and Mazz: It’s a terrible combo, because Mazz has become the contrarian as well. It worked at WEEI where the backrubs of Boston teams had become common. But its boring radio to have two guys bashing the local sports scene. Tony’s big thing is to bash the Red Sox, that’s where he differs from Felger.

So overall given the success of the teams, I find the late afternoon shows very disappointing because they don’t really attack the issues objectively. I think Holley, Zolak, Gresh and Dale do a much, much better job on a daily basis analyzing the issues, whereas Felger is pretty much the same schtick every day. “Patriots are cheap, Brady wants out, blah, blah, blah.” “Bruins are losers, but I love them and will talk about them for hours.” “Basketball is stupid and I don’t understand it but I’ll talk about it.” The only debate of interest ever is with the Sox because they will take different sides, Mazz is always anti-Sox and is still talking about Teixeira.

At the other end, the Big Show is too complimentary and I think their deals with the local teams is the problem. They give the Sox and Pats a pass too often, don’t talk hockey, and well, the Celts talk is biased when they are playing well and non-existent when they aren’t.

What are your thoughts on the afternon drive shows?

The latest ratings show that Dennis & Callahan are facing their biggest challenge yet in the ratings from 98.5 FM’s Toucher and Rich.

What show are you listening to for sports talk in the AM?

Jessica Heslam has the story in the Herald this morning. (Also noted in Ken Fang’s Megalinks in the post below this one.)

The simmering feud between the city’s two sports radio powerhouses boiled over yesterday when a WEEI producer got slapped with a one-week suspension for texting “vulgar” messages to upstart rival the Sports Hub.

Andy Massaua, who works for Glenn Ordway’s “The Big Show,” was suspended yesterday and has been banned from texting anyone at WBZ-FM (98.5).

I thought 98.5 wasn’t even on WEEI’s radar?