Super Bowl and Pats Radio

WEEI-FM 93.7 and WBZ-FM 98.5 will both carry the Super Bowl, with 93.7 doing the national Westwood One feed while 98.5 does the Patriots network. The affiliates of the Patriots network will also carry the game but under contract must carry the Westwood One feed.
This is also typical of the World Series. When Red Sox are in it, WEEI 93.7 does their own Red Sox network broadcast but network affiliates must carry ESPN radio or whomever is doing it. A friend of mine in Salem traditionally hears the Sox on North Shore 104.9 and commented to me he was wondering why he was getting network coverage and not the locals, so I pointed out to him 93.7 would have given him that.

There is a list online of Pats affiliates but it may fail to mention some of these stations have FM translators--WMRC 1490 Milford MA for example, which is also on 101.3.



I think for some years local coverage of World Series was not allowed--so maybe in 1980 when Phillies were in World Series , Harry Kalas was not able to do coverage. By 93, vs the Blue Jays, he was allowed...and in 2008, the Phillies won the Series so Harry was able to call that victory.

Wikipedia:
>>(1980 WS)This call was not made live by Kalas, as MLB radio-broadcasting regulations at the time forbade local stations from producing live coverage of World Series games, instead forcing them to air the national CBS Radio feed of the games. Philadelphia fans were so outraged about this afterward that they started a letter-writing campaign to the Commissioner's Office, demanding a change to the rule. Due at least in part to this outcry from Philadelphia fans, MLB amended its broadcasting contracts the following year to allow World Series teams' flagship radio stations to air the games with local announcers. Nevertheless, Kalas was part of the Phillies' World Series celebration in 1980, and rode in the team's victory parade down Broad Street.

>>On October 29, 2008, Kalas was finally able to call a Phillies' championship-winning moment in the World Series when Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske to win the 104th Fall Classic

Kalas passed on the following year.

Here's a question. Two weeks ago I was listening to Rock 102 WAQY Springfield and they said they were carrying the pre-game and post-game shows, but could not carry the play-off game due to NFL regulations. I don't understand the point of carrying the pre-game and post-game shows if they're not allowed to carry the game.

That is weird but maybe they just wanted to have at least pre and post game, even by NFL regulations that couldn't carry the game (but they weren't offered Westwood One's game call?) As far as I know the "flagship station only" (doing their own coverage) only applies to the Super Bowl but affiliates weren't allowed to carry playoff games...not even the Westwood One feed?

This has always been the case the NFL has their own rights deal for the Super Bowl and the final round of playoffs. The flagship can carry the game but their network can't. Westwood One or one of the big network outfits usually buys these rights which is a nationwide deal. Locally WEEI has usually had this national broadcast where the Sports Hub has their local flagship rights. The hub's network stations only get the pregame and postgame unless they buy the game from the national syndicator.

The Westwood One exclusivity arrangement applies to the Conference Championship games as well. So WAQY probably is not a Westwood One affiliate, and they ran the WBZ pre-game show so they could charge their sponsors at least part-rate for the wek.