>    Radio Rights Awarded
>#001#
>March 28, 1997
>Contact: John Diamond at 581-3743
>
>UMAINE AWARDS RADIO BROADCASTING RIGHTS TO WZON-AM
>
>ORONO - The University of Maine announced today that it has entered into
>a new three-year contract with The Zone Corporation of Bangor to broadcast
>UMaine sports on WZON-AM.
>
>The contract, to begin in September, extends WZON's broadcast rights for
>men's ice hockey and men's basketball, which the station has been carrying
>for the past three seasons.  It adds coverage of football, women's basketball
>and baseball to the list of sports for which WZON will hold exclusive rights.
>
>In return for granting broadcast rights, UMaine receives in-game and
>non-game broadcast time to air informational and promotional 30-second
>public service announcements promoting UMaine-related information,
>events, and accomplishments.
>
>The dollar value of the promotional spots, which will air year-round, is
>approximately $23,000 annually.  The promotional broadcast time covers
>both WZON and WKIT-FM, which is also owned by The Zone Corp.
>
>The new agreement also awards UMaine $8,000 per year in broadcast rights
>fees.
>
>Similar arrangements have been in place for the past three years within the
>current set of radio broadcast agreements, which have been shared by
>WZON-AM and WABI-AM.  WZON was the only broadcast station that submitted
>a proposal to carry UMaine games on radio for the next three-year period.
>
>Under the agreement, The Zone Corp. will work with UMaine officials to
>create a network of radio stations to carry the UMaine broadcasts originating
>with WZON.
>
>"We're very pleased that WZON will continue to broadcast University of
>Maine sports over the next three years," says Christopher Spruce, general
>manager of The Zone Corp.   "Sports are what we do so this is a partnership
>that makes great sense and offers significant benefit to all involved -- the
>university, WZON,  our advertisers, and, most important, UMaine fans, many
>of whom are already WZON listeners."
>
>Robert Eslin, UMaine's assistant director of purchasing and chair of the
>selection committee, says the committee's foremost concern was getting as many
>of
>the major sports on the air for the benefit of the fans.  However, some
>unavoidable scheduling conflicts involving different teams are certain to
>result, which means that there may be games that do not get broadcast live
>or in their entirety.
>
>"The ideal situation would be to have all major sports on the air without
>conflict with other UMaine broadcasts," says Eslin.  "In the absence of such
>a situation, we carved out the best possible deal for the fans and for the
>university.  Working with WZON, we will make every reasonable effort to
>maximize the broadcast of UMaine sports for the benefit of all."
>
>To address the likely conflicts,  Spruce says WZON will provide live updates
>from game sites not receiving full coverage as well as providing full
>tape-delay
>coverage in some instances.  Other options will also be explored, Spruce says,
>including the possibility of arranging for other stations to broadcast games
>that conflict with UMaine games being broadcast by WZON.
>
>In addition to coverage of football, men's ice hockey, men's and women's
>basketball, and baseball, WZON also intends to broadcast selected games
>involving the field hockey team and women's and men's soccer.
>
>Under the new contract, the three-year agreement may be extended by as
>much as two years by mutual agreement of both UMaine and The Zone Corp.
>
>Broadcast rights for post-season play are not controlled by the University
>but are determined by the NCAA or athletics conference conducting the
>tournament.
>
>
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