John Lackey got the better of his former team, going 7 1/3 innings and giving up two runs to pick up his 10th win of the season in the 4-2 Red Sox victory. Get all the links at RedSoxLinks.com.
The WEEI ratings-gate scandal continues today. Jessica Heslam has Julie Kahn defending the station’s decision to start combining the AM & FM numbers. Whats interesting is that the station chooses to combine the numbers for ratings and PR purposes, but not for staff bonuses. She’s got Pete Sheppard speaking out:
Ex-WEEI personality Pete Sheppard, who was on Glenn Ordway’s “Big Show” for more than a decade, said he missed out on two hefty ratings bonuses – close to $10,000 – because program director Jason Wolfe said he couldn’t combine WEEI-FM’s Massachusetts listeners with WEEI-AM.
“He never would combine those ratings to give us our bonuses – never,” Sheppard, who was axed in January, said yesterday. “We pleaded with him twice – because it was a big chunk of money.”
Sheppard’s contract entitled him to a quarterly bonus – excluding the summer – when the Big Show was No. 1 among the coveted 25-to-54-year-old male demographic.
Seems a little hypocritical to me.
Okajima caught in culture clash – Rather than joining his colleagues in screaming about accountability in talking to the media, Gordon Edes waits a day, and then gets an exclusive with Hideki Okajima, who explains some of his reticence in talking with the media.
Sox ailing on airwaves, too – D.C. Denison and Alexandria McMahon in the Globe explore the reasons for the Red Sox drop in TV ratings.
For Sox, the real Lackey appears in his former park – Alex Speier looks at the strong outing for John Lackey.
Maturity has led McDonald to security – Daniel Barbarisi has a good story on outfield Darnell McDonald, who has discovered what it takes for him to remain in the majors after all these years.
Red Sox have dilemma at trade deadline – Mike Fine says that the Red Sox have decisions to make.
Pedroia is jolted by news – Peter Abraham’s extensive notebook has Dustin Pedroia not getting the injury news he was hoping for.
Pats wiping away remnants of glory days – Tom E Curran has Troy Brown revealing that the Patriots are attempting to make this team create its own identity.
Wicked-early look at Patriots roster projections – Karen Guregian tries to project the roster.
Five key questions on offense as Patriots begin training camp – Robert Lee looks at the Tom Brady-led offense and the keys to the season for that unit.
Celtics must pick up pieces – Julian Benbow has the team still looking to fill out their last remaining roster spots.
Boston Sports Media Watch 
This ongoing radio ratings story is great and the management of WEEI is handling this about as well as LeBron handled "The Decision". Bruce, you confirmed that Mikey's ratings at night were inflated due to including the Sox and Celtics games, Im assuming that is the same for the Big Show on days like today – and opening day which must draw a monster number – when the Sox play a matinee. If thats the case then Glenn's show is in even more trouble than the numbers at first glance would indicate.
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I am not the desired male demo for those stations, but I listen often and flip in the afternoon drive between both. In the AM I flip between SportsHub and KISS-108 (see, not in the demo but I am done with D&C). My point is that KISS has been on top of the ratings for years, like 'EEI. They also have an outlet in RI, but I don't think that is included in their ratings. 'EEI should just back off this, although it is good to hear from Pete.
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Using JKA (Julie Kahn Accounting) can the Comm. of Mass. count any jobs created by 38 Studios in Rhode Island towards Mass. unemployment numbers?
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Ratings-gate…. hmmm…….
Will the Herald now be reporting that "sources" indicate a tape "exists" of Jason Wolfe spying on Arbitron as they calculated their preliminary ratings?
Will Gregggggggggg Easterbrook now say that not only should Wolfe be fired immediately, but WEEI should be stripped of their FCC license, because the very integrity of the US entertainment world is at stake?
Will Tom Jackson now say that Wolfe has lost his hosts; that "they hate him in that broadcast center now"? (Okay, that's from the Lawyer Milloy release…. but work with me here.)
Will we get more pontificating from Don Shula and Tony Dungy about how "disappointed" they are in WEEI?
Will Roger Goodell ding them a draft pick or two?
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What's even more a joke is the (somewhat new) arbitron ratings method of PPM. There's probably only 15-20 actual folks listening to either EEI or The Hub who have a people meter. Just one meter can sway the cume or share in a big way. It's a complete joke. You wouldn't think it would get worse than the old diary method, but it has. Heslam or Finn should do some digging on that.
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That is interesting. Do you have a link to more information?
The diary method was widely considered a joke. Nobody recorded their listening in real time and failed to note their changes among stations.
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Why did Arbitron's position change in between yesterday's story and today's story? Yesterday, the article stated that the spokeswoman
"said each station streams its own commercials so the ratings can’t be added together. Ratings are used to buy and sell ads.
“If they’re trying to combine ratings from one market to another, it’s a false read,” said Arbitron spokeswoman Jessica Benbow. “You can’t do that. You cannot add them together because they are not 100 percent simulcast.”"
Today:
"In a statement yesterday, Arbitron backed ’EEI’s decision, saying its “software does allow subscribers to combine estimates, including when the stations are not 100 percent simulcast. This is an important analytical tool we provide our customers, and one that we fully support.”"
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thom,
This is a huge contradiction by the folks at Arbitron. How can their story change 180 degrees in a single day? What is going on here? Or is the globe now trying to spin this story in favor of 'EEI? This Arbitron contradiction makes me scratch my head.
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Why hasn't Heslam picked up on it? From the start of this situation, her reporting has been disgraceful. She reports the numbers fed to her from WEEI without confirmation, changes her story online when confronted, and writes another piece about how the two sports stations are challenging the numbers without ever noting that she was part of the whole process.
Now, in the last two days, she publishes two contradictory statements from Arbitron without any explanation.
And she writes this great piece:
"listeners come from Plymouth and Norfolk counties, as well as Plymouth, Brockton, Bridgewater, Raynham, Abington, Foxboro, Hingham, Marshfield, Quincy and Braintree."
"As well as the same thing I just wrote." Who the fuck edits this stuff, let alone writes it?
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Why does Pete need to sweat 10K? I thought he was a pro poker player. I would imagine he is doing very well for himself.
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The only laughs I got from D&C this morning were from Peter Gustin's bumpers loudly proclaiming D&C as #1 in the ratings for the second day in a row. I think they doth protest too much…
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I was on Okajima's side in this dispute until I read the article linked above. I understand not wanting to talk after a bad outing. But he's lonely because no one in the bull-pen speaks Japanese? Is he brain dead? He's been here since 2007 and doesn't know enough English to converse with his fellow ball players?
Did he ever discuss with his wife that taking English classes and making some non-Japanese friends might be part of the cultural experience? Instead it sounds as though he's hunkered down in a Japanese-only bunker wallowing in self-pity. No surprise he's lonely, it appears as though he hasn't made any effort to be otherwise.
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