A new ESPNBoston.com site will be launching in a short few weeks and they’ve already announced that they will be hiring Mike Reiss from the Boston Globe to be the site’s Patriots beat writer.
Check it out at the Fang’s Bites page.
Great discussion in the comment section below. Jump in!
Boston Sports Media Watch 
ESPN is expanding their footprint obviously. But in all of the other markets they had a radio station with some strong local programming and a strong signal. They don’t have that here and it likely won’t be happening anytime soon. I don’t know how they get eyeballs to that site without it.
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What’s a shame is that Reiss is leaving a site like boston.com that has a high volume of traffic to go head up this espnboston site. I can only imagine he either got bowled over financially or the future of the Globe and boston.com is even shakier than we think. I’ll be curious to see if all his loyal followers will migrate over to the new site.
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He just got a 6% pay cut with other cuts in his benefits. Besides, everybody is leaving for national outfits. Spears for Yahoo! and Breer ended up at Sporting News of all places.
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Forgot about that pay cut; and let’s not forget longtime Globie (and part-time NESN analyst) Gordon Edes, who preceded Spears to The Big Y.
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Yeah, I considered Edes, but I thought his situation had to do with taking a buyout rather than fully jumping ship of his own volition.
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The lure of The Mothership can be very strong. “I can be the next Bill Simmons.” But a nonentity like espnBoston.com? What the heck is that? Does anyone really look at WEEI.com that much? How many sites do you need that carry the same stuff? Why am I asking you?
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The ESPN brand is a strong one, and the ‘local’ versions will get a ton of traffic right from the ‘mother-ship’ espn.com. Those ‘local’ media sites are stupid, self-serving wastelands. Radio and TV stations get the memo from consultants telling them that they’ve ‘Gotta do a web site!’ They dutifully comply, and then wonder why the traffic isn’t there. Mostly, it’s because these sites are focused more on banner & click advertisements as revenue-generation tools than they are on content that would drive us to them in the first place. Don’t bludgeon me with click ads and then whine about why I’m not visiting your site.
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I think radio websites make sense. They increase interactivity with the shows and could have been a place for fans to meet each other. It’s just that nobody did it soon enough. WBCN.com was a mess and WEEI.com came too late. And I kind of like WEEI. Speier and Price are good, interviews are put up quickly.
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Agree that there are too many sites coming around, esp. with Comcast rumored to launch one too. As for WEEI.com, their Pats coverage surpassed boston.com’s months ago. Since Chris Price arrived there I have felt he has taken the reigns as Boston’s best football writer. He seems to break more stories while Reiss often waits until things are set in stone. He also seems like a good guy, if a reader comments with a legitimate question he’ll answer them right there as he has done before when I’ve had a Q. This move hardly impacts me, I was going to be getting my football news from WEEI anyway. Price and Petraglia were a better duo than Reiss and Gasper anyway. Good luck to Reiss though.
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Another passenger jumping off the Titanic before it hits the iceberg.
It may be a Boston site but you would expect many of his articles will hit the main site
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Huge blow for the Globe losing Mike Reiss and a huge gain for ESPN.
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ESPN also has Jackie Mac. I’m sure she’ll contribute to ESPNBoston in some way.
On a side note, Dan Shaughnessy is taking over the 12PM-3PM shift on Saturday’s for 985 the sports hub.
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I heard he was coming on board but I was not sure at what time. He is replacing Holden Kushner who was doing a very good job. Hopefully he will stay on.
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I will read reiss at espn rather than whoever takes over the boston.com blog
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Oh geez…another thing to get Dan Shaughnessy all personally enraged to the point where he’ll take out his anger in each and every column. This guy will ALWAYS be left without a chair when the music stops; there are no other ‘next stops’ for him, thanks to his boorish demeanor. Now, if Bob Ryan goes to ESPNboston, then Shaughnessy will go apoplectic (if he hasn’t reached that stage already).
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Big Blow for the Globe, not a big deal for Pats fans – it was just as easy to read Reiss online at the Globe as it was at the Herald site, and it will be on the ESPN site.
Except for those who’s workplace blocks espn.com
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Monster blow for the Globe. Reiss was about the only guy at the entire Globe with a shred of credibility. Now, only Jacoby on the Op Ed page is the only one with any left.
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Reiss’ departure is a shining example of how the Globe’s plan to charge for content is laughable beyond words.
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Christopher Gasper is pretty good but wherever Reiss goes I go. Reiss was able to resist getting infected by Borges when they were both there so there’s hope Reiss won’t get the TMZ bug.
And I went to the Boston ESPN web site – man they sure have a lot of internet ads. It took me 30 minutes of Adblock to find content. ESPN still needs to learn that it’s quality rather than quantity in advertising.
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That is still the radio website. The ESPN.com run site doesn’t go up for a couple of weeks or something.
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Thanks Rick. Sometimes I just don’t know.
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I’m assuming that the new ESPNBoston site will replace the one for the current 890 station, but it’s odd given that the radio station has such minimal local presence. Still have to wonder what 890 management was thinking trying to start up in Boston with an extremely weak radio signal just four notches down the dial from a ratings juggernaut.
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Will ESPNBoston charge for content like they do for Gammons and Olney on the main ESPN site?
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Just read on bostonradio.org that the new ESPNBoston site “will be more than a website, it will be connected with a new radio outlet” that will have a stronger signal than 890.
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Their radio site is god awful, as of this morning they had a poll up asking “what team do you think john smoltz will end up with?”
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ESPN Boston local will enter with a splash, with alot of money and talent thrown in at launch, but after launch, it will have to prove its worth in revenue. I predict it will not do so.
Boston fans are particularly provincial. Sure, we read the national sites, but if we want extensive coverage, we go to our own, like the Globe and the Herald and EEI. The local journalism sites will eventually find a business model that supports our need for all local all the time.
Where did you get your primary coverage on Sen. Kennedy? ABC News or boston.com?
ESPN local will eventually have little effect except to fragment the market further. Without the synergy of a radio station (the market already fragmented by a Sox/Bruins vs. Pats/Celts split) to push it, it won’t hit its revenue targets, and the spending spree will end.
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Is there some confusion as to what is happening here? Reiss is going off to do exactly what he’s doing now, except for the responsibility of having to churn something up for the paper every day. The only thing that’s changing is the URL.
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So Scott, Reiss is simply going to be a football writer and not more of an editor-in-chief of the site like Rob Bradford over at WEEI.com? Don’t forget that before he joined the Globe, Reiss was not only a Patriots beat writer but also sports editor for the Metrowest Daily News.
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Hey Jason;
This is what I know, from Fang’s Bites:
“Veteran ESPN.com editor Peter Lawrence-Riddell has been named the managing editor of ESPNBoston.com, supervising the day-to-day editorial operations”
From the same release, published by Ken:
“A stable of authentic Boston voices familiar to local fans will be at the core of the site, including newly hired Mike Reiss, formerly the Boston Globe NFL writer, who will cover the New England Patriots.”
From there, I’m reading this as for his primary responsibility, Mike will continue as a beat guy and blogger focused on the Pats.
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If that’s the case Scott, I hope he gets to bring his trademark ‘Reiss’ Pieces’ name with him to the new site. Thanks for the info.
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While we continue speculating the future of 890AM, any chance ESPN/Disney will try to buy an FM station in Boston to broadcast ESPN Radio 24/7 sans local programming?
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Does anyone know which stations are actively for sale? We can probably eliminate anything that are CBS Radio and the Entercom stations as they would be cannibalizing their babies. Greater Media at 96.9, maybe? Radio 92.9?
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The speculation at bostonradio.org and radio-info.com is that 1510 and 1200 might be the destination. On FM, 99.5 is being thrown around.
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This has nothing to do with Reiss or ESPNBoston, but for those who care, Chad Finn said in his boston.com chat today that there are rumors EEI might be bringing in some national program content in the evening. What might become of Mike Adams?
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I don’t get it from a strategic standpoint. Why would ‘EEI go national in the evenings and leave DA as the ONLY local evening sportstalk show? It doesn’t make sense… Cost can’t be the reason.
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Cost may be the reason when you are paying Mikey Adams for his old schedule (4 nights a week in the summer and 3-4 in the winter), but now he is working one night a week during the summer.
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I thought I heard Ordway & Adams say something during the crossover on Wednesday about Mikey doing “late night.” I’m not sure if they were kidding. Maybe they’ll use Adams on the overnight shift, since he’ll hardly ever have a full show in the 6-11 slot anymore. If so, it may be just a way to burn off whatever time is left on his contract.
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