By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

The breaking news of Boston, once again, becoming a two all-sports talk radio town dominates today’s Shots. But we’ve thrown in some extras as well, down below.

Big week next week for Shots – including a Howard Bryant farewell series and a brand new PodShots’ PodCast – so do stay tuned. . .

Eddie’s Last Stand or, if you prefer, Hot Dog Sayonara

Boston’s sports marketplace is barely big enough for two all-sports, talk radio stations. To think it would handle the third for anything more than one fiscal quarter was ludicrous.

That’s why, today (Friday October 28) at 11 a.m., WWZN full-time employees have been called in for a meeting with what can best be described as “some suits from corporate.” The suits (either from Vulcan, Paul G. Allen’s Mothership or Sporting News Radio) are going to be bringing the bad news that, at the very least, no more local programming will originate from the Burlington, Mass. studios located at 1 Van de Graaff Drive. The Zone has been running locally since 2001.

A spokesman (Michael Nank) from Vulcan (and Vulcan Sports Media), the web-listed company that uses the “Doing Business As (DBA)” for WWZN, did not return a Shots’ call or email late Thursday. Several messages were also left at Sporting News Radio corporate numbers as well as with Nank’s co-worker and fellow Vulcan flack, Jason Hunke. All calls and emails, in all fairness, were made after business hours in their respective time zones.

“The corporate guys are coming and they’re bringing a lawyer – it’s not good if they’re bringing a lawyer,” joked one good-natured WWZN station insider.

Said another Zone staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity: “It looks like all the full-timers are gone. They’ll probably keep some part-timers for production purposes. For now.”

A list of some of the dozen employees who would be affected can be viewed here at The Zone’s “Contact Page”.

Afternoon drive show, “The Diehards,” according to several Thursday afternoon listeners, had a “farewell tone and feel to it.” Hosts Ryen Russillo, Anthony Pepe and Jon Anik were recalling the good times and, in essence, confirming what had been rumored for several weeks – that their show, and likely their local entry, was being de-commissioned.

“Yeah,” said one Zoner who wished not to be identified, “there were some funny memories they talked about. They said they weren’t mad at Sporting News and when some of the callers called in, it was sort of like: ‘Yeah, where have YOU been?’ Before you knew it, it was 6 and it was over.”

Over and out, it would seem. Already staggered by a weak signal and even weaker ratings, The Zone’s death knell came when ESPN Radio Boston 890 AM started in earnest in this market about six weeks ago. Losing the Celtics before that (to WRKO, sister station of Entercom’s WEEI), was another bad sign for The Zone in recent months.

Higher-ups started to peel away from The Zone, including the high profile move of former Zone GM, Mike Winn over to 890 earlier this month. Everyone, it seemed, was positioning themselves for the inevitable.

Russillo, probably the best-positioned of the three Diehards’ co-hosts and any of ‘WZN’s talent, seems to have learned his lesson about “loose lips sinking ships” after the summer’s “Track Gals”/Emilee Dennis incident. When reached by Shots on his cell-phone early Thursday evening, a curt and terse Russillo said, “I’m not talking to you, Dave.”

Fair enough. Shots had prior dust-ups with Russillo and he certainly has his ill feelings about my coverage of the industry and Russillo specifically. We truly do wish him luck. He’s got a lot of talent and has made a name for himself during his time at The Zone. He’s good on TV and creates good radio. ERB would be smart to grab him if they have the place or the need for him. (But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’d be a good fit for Felger’s show and as of now, there’s no other local programming slots available at ERB.)

(Russillo did, of course, find some words to say to the the Globe and Bill Griffith for Friday’s paper.)

The plain, sad truth of the matter is that there are a few more good people out of work today who were working (albeit cautiously) yesterday. Shots has been there before at other media outlets and it’s not a great day nor a great feeling. But life continues. . .

. . . Whether or not that list of unemployed includes Eddie Andelman , the washed up former Radio Star of This Market, remains to be seen.

Andelman had been away this week on vacation, but one Zone Insider said his trip ended tonight and he would be in town for the meeting. Whether or not he will attend is another question.

The Godfather of Boston (and beyond) Sports Talk radio, Andelman had been, at one time or another in the past 18 months, reportedly considering buying WWZN along with some of his well-to-do cronies. That deal never came to fruition and that possibility is much less attractive to partners (if it ever was ‘pretty’ in the first place) with the arrival of ERB.

Andelman may indeed be pushed out of the market with this move, leaving the New Kid on the Block (ERB) to fight it out with the Established Leader (WEEI). It would, as many have observed, effectively end the Era of Eddie. Even a “curmudgeon at large” like Shots would suggest that Andelman deserves one last farewell show. We’d even try to listen if the winds are blowing the right way off the ocean. . .It is possible, in fact, that today’s scheduled Breeder’s Cup preview from 2-4 p.m. at 1510 will be Andleman’s Zone farewell. It would give the Lynnfield Loudmouth one last time to traipse out some of Suffolk Downs’s (and his) finest gamblers and know-it-alls, among the din of the fading race track. And somehow, that too seems a perfect way for Eddie to sign off.

. . . Another unknown in all this is whether Sporting News Radio will have the desire to even remain in the market with its national-only line-up (and continued brokered time deals, perhaps): ERB (which has a similarly weak signal to 1510) uses most of its broadcast day for ESPN’s national programming (outside of Mike Felger’s “The Drive” from 4-7 p.m. locally). ESPN’s original programming is far superior to anything TSN can offer on the national level: saving, perhaps, Tony Bruno and parochial Boston does NOT need two, separate, national rosters of blabmeisters.

Having the brand name of TSN in the Boston market can not be important enough to the parent company to continue to hold dial space in an area that is clearly, now, a two horse race.

. . . One Boston radio talent down the dial has told Shots that the entire operation will be boarded up January 1, leaving open the door for some local programming to continue for two months. The future of bought-time shows, such as James Murphy’s mini-empire of baseball, hockey and football shows, is uncertain. Likewise, the station is also home to Harvard football which plays Dartmouth this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Scheduled to make the call are Bernie Corbett and Mike Giardi. Fear not, if WWZN fails, student radio, WHRB-FM 95. (Cambridge) will also have the game, using a three-man booth with Ryan Donovan, Nathan Lebenz and Luke Cocalis. Unless one of the student-broadcasters (related to student-athletes, but able to use the radio station’s credit card at will) is doing sideline duty. We’re efforting that information currently. or Percival T. Dog is. One of us.)

. . . Last night’s Wrestling broadcast at 1510 may prove to be the very last bit of The Zone’s local, original programming. And somehow, with the old-time Wrestling Guru, Andelman on deck of the Zone’s sinking skiff, it would offer closure to the station’s four-year-plus run in the luminous shadow of WEEI AM 850. (The wrestling broadcast, an infomercial for the NECW, was billed as “. . . the first time in over 50 years that professional wrestling will be broadcast live on radio in the Boston market.” It likely made history for more than just that reason.)

. . . A chronology of the frequency, 1510 kHz, can be found here from our friends at www.bostonradio.org.. . . Here, also, is some techy talk on signal strength that allows you to punch in your zip code and discover the likelihood of hearing specific stations in your area. The higher the dBu number, the better the signal strength.

. . . Shots and Boston Sports Media will have more on the WWZN fallout and TSN’s future in the Boston market when, and if more information becomes available.

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming. . .

• Was that a Track Gal we omitted from the Shots FSN Celtics media day re-cap? Yeah, we thought so. Our bad – but those pictures just don’t do your true beauty justice. Next time, we’ll kiss the ring and bow as required by Track Gal Protocol (TGP). Apologies all around.

• NBC7’s Joe Amorosino disgraced himself and his profession on Sunday night when he appeared as the Sports Xtra host decked out in what he must have believed was a hip-hop ensemble (black Celtics baseball cap, turned sideways, dark sunglasses and a Bird throwback jersey over a white, long-sleeve shirt.) A full week before Halloween, Amateurino was doing his best to break the new NBA dress code. It was neither fun, funny or fruitful.

We had to turn off the tube after two segments where he was in costume and it took away from the Ricky Davis piece entirely. . . . How Wendi Nix can tolerate being second fiddle to that clown is beyond us.

• Correction Department: The Shots fact-checking head, Percival T. Dog, reports that Herald scribe in limbo, Howard Bryant, was not, in fact searching for living space in the DC-area, as reported earlier this week. “I had to finish having my heart attack after looking at the housing prices down there,” Bryant told Shots in a wide-ranging, 90-minute chat on Thursday.

Chunks of that talk will be presented here, in the days leading up to Bryant’s last official day at the Herald (Nov. 11). His final, farewell column (that could go as long as 1,800 words) to the city’s sports’ citizenry he served for three years will likely appear in his usual “Boston UnCommon” space on Nov. 9.

Bryant is currently using accrued vacation time and on Thursday managed to sneak a visit down to Plymouth to visit his folks, Donald and Nona. He was driving down in an auto, but the excitement and lift in this guy’s voice could have gotten him there quicker. “Everyone I talk to just loves the Post. They are so energized about their paper,” Bryant said of his impending move to DC to cover the Redskins for the Post.

As for parting shots to the city? Yeah, Bryant’s got a few. You’ll find them in the Shots Bids Bryant Bye series that will begin next Wednesday, Nov. 2. (Don’t, you haters and manipulators residing on Forum A or Chat B, pass judgment on the amount of space Shots will be giving Bryant’s departure over the next week to 10 days. The man happens to have a lot to say – and convey – about the current Boston Sports Media Market. It’s revealing and relevant and if you prefer to ignore what he says, so be it.)

Here’s the preliminary Bryant Series run-down, beginning on Nov. 2, at the Shantywide Leader, Scott’s Shots:

Part I – “The Mystery 50” – His steroids reporting assessed and explained.

Part II – “The Post is personal – not business” he says. “And the Globe was too.” – Bryant says the Globe tried to hire him in the position that went to Chris Snow, that of red Sox beat writer.

Part III – The Cartel – Why he’s not so far off and why others are now agreeing.

Part IV – Bumps in the Road – His stories of hate mail, a loss of confidence and overall perseverance that helped him along the way.

Part V – No Love for Holley nor WEEI – His thoughts on METCO and The City’s First Black Sports Columnist, Holley.

Part VI – A “Legacy” after just three years? – He came in around when Theo took over and left before Boy Wonder did, but he still made an impact.

• Shots heard this disturbing Herald rumor earlier this week: Celtics tag-teamers, Mark Murphy and Steve Bulpett will be pressed into action for BC men’s basketball road games in conjunction with their Green Gang coverage duties. If true, it has little chance of raising morale at a place that some are suggesting might not even fill Bryant’s general columnist slot.

• While Tony Mazz’s “Smear Campaign” column immediately got the WEEIdiots all atwitter and had the Big Oh-No even claiming the title for his own show, the more accurate description might have been: Selective Coverage. No one has “smeared” Theo that we can recall.

The best line – and least understood – might have been when Mazz wrote: “. . .That is why, as much as ever, we should hope this remains a two paper town.”

• Voice from the past? Monday night’s ESPNU simulcast on The Deuce brought this self-effacing sign-off from Sean McDonough: “Have me on again, I’ve got plenty of time.”

McDonough was helping (via call-in) Mike Hall, Mike Gottfried and the artist believed to be Todd McShay (from on-fire Scouts Inc.) over at ESPNU Monday night for a “Final Exam” of college pigskin picks for the upcoming weekend.

• Sounds like there’s some movement down at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s sports desk that might not be related to the NYT-mandated-cuts, but could certainly be laying the groundwork for those pending moves. It appears that Dave Greenslit will be shifting to the news side from his sports editor duties. At least one of the paper’s freelancers was informed of the move when he contacted the paper looking for another assignment.

An email to Greenslit’s published, T&G account from Shots on Monday, went unanswered as of publish-time (late Thursday evening).

• Guess Richard Chacon wasn’t given one of the Sox baubles, eh?

• By far the best ESPN.com E-ticket yet was last weekend’s: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=crimson

• If all 55-year-old women sound and look like Bonnie Raitt did on Sunday night , well, then, I’ll take two. Oh, and James Montgomery wailing the harmonica? Ah, yeah – he’s got the blues. . . The Orpheum has a lot of Fenway in it, we were reminded – tight seats, peeling paint and oooh, all that history.

• Classic! Not to mention, “Accomplished” after the sweep: Shut Up Tim McCarver.

• As much as we kill the Globe, we need to give major, major credit for getting both a Gordon Edes’ game story AND a Bob Ryan column into the Wednesday paper that arrived at the Shanty. Shots went to sleep following the last pitch and it was 2:15 a.m. We’ll bet no other east coast, home-delivered sports page could boast having a gamer AND a solid opinion piece. Good work, crew. All around, good work. And it doesn’t even pain us to say it.

• Shots met the Globe’s Bill Griffith – Griff Gruff – on Wednesday at the FSN event and all the reports were seemingly confirmed. “Nicest guy you’ll ever meet,” we were told by more than a few folks. True enough.

That doesn’t make up for his SporTView being terribly outdated and pre-historic. But it does remind us that there are real, live people behind the bylines. Even at the Globe!

Griffith, by the way, doesn’t seem inclined to take the Globe buyout, thus scratching his name from the list of possible Globe-Goodbyers.

• Nice national hit for Providence’s 790 The Score’s newbie, Bryan Morry, who shared screen space with Jackie Mack on last night’s “Outside the Lines.” The topic was, of course, the return of Tedy Bruschi.

Morry, bolstered by both a Score-logoed background and a Score long-sleeve tee, Morry proved to be prime-time ready under questioning from the always steady, Jeremy Schaap. “I think Robert Kraft is comfortable about the situation,” Morry told the audience just before 1 a.m. EST.

“There are a lot of people who are worried about (him playing),” said Jackie Mack. “But you can just about put seven points on the board (when/if he takes the field) on Sunday.”

• Nice to have a fresh batch of “This Is Sportscenter. . .” spots. But the radio ads have run their course. Fine line there, between genius and acceptable. So far we’ve caught a strip poker game in the cafeteria and LeBron James looking for his cubicle’s chair (in a slick, blue, cavs unie).

• Barry Melrose is only allowed to appear on ESPN about two times a week - they even joked about it early Friday morning on SportsCenter. We think the network has adjusted its hockey coverage a wee bit without games to showcase. And you, Mr. Solomon?

David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. and can be reached at shots@bostonsportsmediadotcom