WZON manager: UM sports deal handled unfairly
By Aimee Dolloff
Saturday, March 17, 2007 - Bangor Daily News


Not only were radio station owners Stephen and Tabitha King
disappointed with the University of Maine’s decision to move its sports
programming away from their airwaves to Clear Channel stations, but
station manager Dale Duff said the decision was unfair.

"We’re not going to get into a public debate over what we can do versus
what some other radio station can do and provide," Duff said Friday.
"All we do is stand on what our track record is. We stand on our record
that this has been unfairly handled."

UM Athletic Director Blake James said Friday that the controversial
decision was reached fairly. James said UM could not show preference to
the Kings, two of the university’s most famous alumni and benefactors,
even if some believed it should.

"By university purchasing [regulations], it’s against the rules to play
favorites," James said.

About a year ago, UM entered into a marketing and multimedia bargaining
agreement with Missouri-based Learfield Sports.

"It’s a common model among Division I universities," James said Friday.

For the first time, the university has bundled its television, radio
and on-campus marketing rights, including signs, programs and game
sponsorships, into one request for proposals. Learfield has purchased
the rights to negotiate those agreements for $450,000, plus a
revenue-sharing deal, James said.

Previously, radio and television deals were handled separately, and UM
was responsible for its own on-campus marketing.

The announcement was made Thursday to move University of Maine sports
radio broadcasts away from all-sports station WZON to Clear Channel
stations for the next five years. According to Duff, WZON had been
paying UM $10,000 a year for radio broadcasting rights. In addition,
the station incurred all related expenses, such as salaries of
broadcasters, travel and other fees, which upped the value to "six
figures," Duff said.

"As with any radio deal, I think you want as good of coverage as you
can get covering as many households as possible [while] at the same
time being able to generate some additional revenue for the program,"
James said.

Revenue from such contracts helps fund the athletic department’s
operating budget.

In the new deal, WVOM (103.9 FM) will replace Bangor all-sports station
WZON as the flagship station for all University of Maine football and
hockey games beginning with the 2007-08 season, while WGUY (102.1 FM)
will be the home for men’s and women’s basketball as well as select
baseball and softball games.

When asked about the difference in revenue that UM will receive under
the new agreement compared with the previous contracts, including with
WZON, James said it’s difficult to quantify but that it is significant.

"This is a new approach, so I think it’s hard to compare," he said.
"You’re really comparing apples to oranges."

When Learfield took over about a year ago, Duff said that Learfield
told him that as a third party they weren’t required to put out a
request for proposals on contracts. At the time, Learfield assured WZON
officials that "they wanted to deal with us because in fact the
university appreciates what we’ve done, and we wanted to continue,"
Duff said.

Duff said previously that his station’s negotiations with Black Bear
Sports Properties/Learfield were conducted under the belief that
Learfield officials would develop a statewide network that would negate
the importance of a specific station’s signal strength.

Duff said negotiations with Black Bear Sports Properties had been
ongoing throughout the winter. He said he sent the station’s most
recent counterproposal to Black Bear Sports Properties/Learfield
officials on Feb. 27, getting a return voice mail that day and another
voice mail the next day, which marked their last contact until
Wednesday.

"In our negotiations, we were working toward how we share what we call
local inventory, in other words, local commercial content, so that we
can pay the bills and then how it gets shared with Learfield so that
they can pay their bills," Duff said. "That’s where we were in the
middle of the negotiations when the phone call came on Wednesday
morning. How can you do that with a loyal company that has been
partners with the University of Maine all these years?"

WZON is owned by Bangor authors and UM benefactors Stephen and Tabitha
King and has provided UM sports coverage since 1993. There were rumors
of concern Friday that the switch might discourage the Kings from
donating to the university.

In a statement issued Thursday, Stephen King said he was disappointed
at UM’s decision.

"We understand that monetary considerations were a prime consideration,
but feel the athletic department in particular and the university in
general may not understand that making money the prime consideration in
any dealing is usually short-sighted," King said. "My wife and I feel
that may prove to be the case here; we feel that what UM athletics has
gained for their programs may be offset by a loss in the area of
community relations."

"We’re hopeful that the Kings, as such wonderful supporters and loyal
alumni, will continue their support," said Todd Saucier, UM Alumni
Association president.

Some readers who posted comments on the Bangor Daily News Web site were
concerned that Clear Channel doesn’t have the ability to broadcast
games on the Internet, even though they broadcast at 50,000 more watts
than WZON and cover a significant geographic area with their signal.

"I’ll guarantee we’ll have radio coverage via the Internet," James
said. "We just announced the deal. We haven’t worked out all the
details of those types of topics."

The change in radio coverage isn’t expected to occur until the first
Black Bears football game Sept. 1.

Black Bear Sports Properties will retain and sell nearly all commercial
inventory, produce the games, assume operational expenses and originate
broadcasts, including the hiring of announcers.

"I just believe that this is bad business to have this end this way,"
Duff said.

University of Maine spokesman Joe Carr said Friday the entire UM
community appreciates the work WZON has done for many years.

"Their efforts have helped advance the university and Black Bear sports
in significant ways," he said.