Dave Hatfield writes:
>On sports radio WEEI in Boston, host-extrodinaire Eddie Andleman regularly
>promotes & encourages listeners to attend local college sporting events.
 
It is true that Eddie has run a feature during his show where he runs
down a list of local college sporting events that people can take
their families to.  This is certainly good, as is the Boston Globe's
listing of collegiate sporting events.
 
The problem with this is that Eddie seems to only tell you about the
events he wants you to know about - i.e. events involving his alma
maters (BU and NU) and a few other area schools.  I say this because
even though he repeatedly says he should be receiving more event info
from college SIDs, and that he will use whatever is sent, the truth is
that he doesn't.  At Merrimack, I asked why the school doesn't have
its sports schedule read on Eddie's show and have been told that last
year, Merrimack tried faxing him its weekend sports schedule, including
hockey, for weeks on end until they finally gave up - why waste the
phone call when they won't use it.  Apparently this has been the case
with other SIDs from schools outside of Boston, too.  I believe the
explanation they were given was that no one cares about Merrimack/
Lowell/etc.
 
In fact, it seems like the only schools that get included (for the
most part) are the ones inside Route 128 - or within about 15 minutes
of Boston.  Yet the station's signal reaches WELL beyond that area
(50,000 watts), usually by perhaps 75 miles or more.  And Eddie still
complains that he doesn't receive enough info, and then he rips into
the SIDs for not taking advantage of his free publicity.  You just
can't win.
 
Similarly, Eddie's well-known (in Boston) dislike of hockey...he will
spend hours and hours blasting hockey fans - sometimes it is quite
funny - but only if he is really pressed on the issue, will he admit
that he supports and enjoys college hockey.  He doesn't qualify his
criticism of hockey by saying "I really mean pro hockey; college
hockey is okay," because his criticism gets hockey fans upset (imagine
the most popular sports talk show host in *Boston* ripping hockey at
every chance he gets), increases listenership and phone calls, and
generally makes for an entertaining show.  And after all, that is the
business he is in - entertainment.  Nothing wrong with that, but it
helps to remember it up front when tuning him in, which I do probably
every night on the way home.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93