WEEI announced this afternoon that Mike Adams will be joining “The Big Show with Glenn Ordway and Michael Holley” effective today. He will serve as the flash guy for the program, will be in-studio, ready to weigh in with a thought from Bill Lee or memory of the 1978 Red Sox.

If they’re trying to appeal to a younger audience, this is the exact wrong move.

On the air, it was mentioned that the Planet Mikey show is not being impacted by this move,  but now that the Red Sox season has begun, most evenings are already scheduled with game broadcasts.

In another move, WEEI.com announced a content sharing partnership with the blog network SB Nation.

Some of the details about the deal, as outlined in the release from WEEI.com:

  • WEEI.com will feature headlines and content from SB Nation websites relevant to all the Boston teams, and SB Nation will bring WEEI.com’s highly-regarded reporting and personalities to its readers in Boston and beyond.
  •  A new feature on WEEI.com called “Behind Enemy Lines” will provide news and commentary from SB Nation’s network of team-focused blogs about upcoming Boston opponents. 
  •  A new, co-branded landing page will include links to SB Nation content appearing on WEEI.com as well as outbound links to national stories within the SB Nation network.
  •  WEEI.com and SB Nation will integrate relevant content within each other’s coverage of Boston sports teams, offering a unique diversity of perspectives on all the local teams.
  •  Content from each partner will appear on dedicated team pages & blogs in widget form for easy-to-use functionality.

Of interest from this desk is the fact that I write a weekly media column for SB Nation Boston. As far as I know, this does not impact me in any way. No one has said anything to me, anyway.  We’ll see.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

30 thoughts on “Mike Adams To Join Big Show, WEEI.com Partners with SB Nation”

  1. Should we assume that there will be a new 6-11 show announced soon? Can't imagine Mikey will be on two shows long term.

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  2. my guess is that they're probably paying Adams a decent salary and during Red Sox season he doesn't work a lot. So they want to get something for their money. Either way, it's stupid. But Shep is bringing the heat on cyclone radio or whatever the hell it's called.

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  3. My brother and I were discussing what the announcement would be and he suggested it might be something like what CSNNE is doing with incorporating social media, and they might have their flashes include the latest on twitter and facebook and try and target that younger demo. And yet they added Mikey Adams. If there isn't a clearer split from what might attract the under 40 demo and what might appease the older crowd than that I'm not sure what would.

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  4. UGH!…..HORRIBLE MOVE…..Ordway and Holley are still trying to find their own, "chemistry" and now they are going to throw Adams in there to keep butting in with his inane comments? (trying WAY TOO HARD to be funny as always) another bonehead move.

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  5. So, why IS WEEI trying to ruin their station? This move makes more sense of this was an intentional way of de-valuing their programming than an honest to goodness attempt at improving the station.

    First Dale and Holley are gone, replaced by Mutantsky and Merloni's sleep-inducing four hour shift of nothingness, and now the "retooled" Big Show — which has only become worse since Ordway now only has 1 person to walk over instead of a trio of them — adds Mikey Adams?

    I actually thought for a second that they had brought Pete back, which would have been infinitely better than "Planet Mikey." I started laughing outloud when they praised Mikey's "quick wit and sense of humor, which will add fun" back to the station….are they for real? The guy who knows nothing about present day sports and whose main area of expertise is 1970s Red Sox baseball? John Ryder deserves a Marconi for making the night-time program even remotely listenable (which it really isn't), and now Mikey is free to interject his "hilarity" all afternoon?

    It's got to be a desperate attempt to save a sinking ship, because Ordway and Holley are AWFUL together. I gave them the benefit of the doubt a bit when it was first announced, but the show is so hideous — Ordway does his usual windbag routine but now, without anyone there to challenge him, he talks all over Holley. Without the usual "writer roundtable" there's nothing moving the program forward. It's nearly as unbearable (or worse) than Felger and Mazz doing their usual contrarian/anti-everything rants.

    I seriously do not understand what WEEI is doing, whatsoever.

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  6. Buy stock in the Sports Hub, and place bets on Felger and Mazz's ratings to increase even more in the next few months. WEEI is just imploding. Ordway is not only past his prime, he's just old news. Not even Holley, as good as he is, can save him. Adding in the a guy who wants to be in the new Farrelly Brother's Three Stooges movie will not help their afternoon drive ratings.

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  7. That will leave Holley as odd man out. O has solid chemistry with Mikey as he did with Shep, and that will give Holley a choice of getting in the sandbox with them or playing above it all. No fun either way.

    The obvious pairing to EEI suits all along had to be Ordway and Sheppard – they should have gone all in with that. Glenn as the know it all Mike Francesa and Pete as voice of the fan Mad Dog. It would have been better than what they got now. Call it, I don't know, Big O and The Meat Beater.

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  8. Michael Holley must be wondering what he got himself into. If they thought he would mellow Ordway it seems to have done the reverse. Ordway is trying to assert himself even more – I can't count the number of times he's said "Hold on a minute!". When I heard today that the 'big addition' was Mikey, my reaction was NOOOOOOOOO!!!

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  9. The Mike Adams move is a clear case of statistics lying. The powers to be look at the WEEI night time ratings and think Mike Adams has a loyal following and does a good show. Management factors in the Sox and Celtics broadcasts and still think Mikey is a viable personality. So now they want to utilize said talent even more by having him included in the Big Show. They are going to make an already unlistenable show worse. Good job guys.

    Look at it another way…Pete Sheppard got fired in a cost cutting move. At the time WEEI announced that they were going to outsource the afternoon flashes because it saved money. Now they are bringing them back in house…is it no longer economical to out source them? Has enough time since the Pete firing passed that no one will notice? Are they still sticking to the story that Pete's firing was a cost cutting move when we all know that is hooey? Do they have a sign in the Entercom offices that says…Let's do all we can to hand our listenership the Sportshub? Each time I ask for intelligent informative sportstalk we get schlock, skits and poo. maybe I should ask for more sclock, skits, poo and an andleman…maybe then we will get a decent show.

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    1. They aren't bringing flash guys "back" to the station. If anything they're making Adams work an honest 40 hours now since his show is constantly booted in lieu of Sox/ Celts/ BC bball/ Revolution games.
      I'm sure the station is saving a bit of cash on this, as they no longer have to outsource the sports updates for the afternoon show.
      Quality content though this is a real head scratcher. I happened to be listening when they teased the new flash guy news and when Mike came on I shuddered. It was painful to listen too.
      I wonder how much heat Jason Wolfe is feeling these days, the station is still raking in the cash in billings, but they can't be happy with how unhip their station is viewed as now.

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      1. When I was typing I wondered if Mikey was getting more money for the extra hours or if they were trying to get more work out of Mikey…my thinking being if they were unhappy with the quantity of work he was doing why not fire him and put the rest of us out of his misery…but of course that can't happen. Anyway…good point by you!

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    2. How was getting rid of Pete in the middle of a contract a cost cutting move? They had to pay him either way. Pete was 86'ed for some other reason.

      Also, the Revs are on 98.5.

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      1. I have been trying to get an answer to that since it happened. It is why I have maintained all along that there was more to that story.

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  10. I think this exactly the way to appeal to younger listeners. After all "Mikey" is sophomoric and I never get tired of bathroom jokes.

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  11. I agree with all posters, I find myself listening more and more to Bill Simmons podcasts while at work, even if I have to listen to repeats, anything is better than Mut and merloni and gresh and zo. Gresh and Zo is the 98.5 version of Fred and Steve. Mutt and Merloni is the equivelant of classical music

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  13. So it's not enough that I just not listen when that dolt Mikey is on HIS timeslot… Now if it's not bad enough that Big Mouth drags Holley down with the talking-over-and-yelling style, now I can't listen to the Big Show either.

    It took about 32 seconds of his first Sports Flash slot before I changed the station. I swear that WEEI is *TRYING* to kill it's listener numbers.

    If anyone on the Sports Hub is reading this, I IMPLORE YOU: GET A WESTERN MASS SIMULCAST **NOW** so we don't have to endure this trash…. I'd much rather listen to hours of Felger every day of the week and twice on Sunday that have to endure Planet Fuckup, er… Mikey Show/Big Show crud now……

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  14. The Big Show change has me preferring to now drive in silence than listen to his dumbass drivel added to an already declining product..

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  15. What an unmitigated disaster. I turned on EEI yesterday and heard Adams and was thinking that Holley must be on vacation. I thought it was a bizarre move to have Adams as a fill-in but then I heard Holley. Ok, there had mentioning of occasionally having a "third wheel" in the studio but was left scratching my head as wondering how could having Mike Adams as a 3rd co-host being a good idea. Then I read that it was going to be a full-time gig??!! WTF??!! I refuse to listen to Felcher and YARM and all of their uninformed, sky-is-falling, Boston sucks, etc… mantra. At least I could listen to the Big Show and occasionally find something listenable. If Mike Adams is a full-timer, then all hope is lost for afternoon drive sports talk. Audiobooks and music it is.

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  16. WEEI has totally lost sight of what made the Big Show good to begin with… Solid mix of opinion and insight from guys who actually spend time with the subjects they are discussing (i.e. Beat guys/ columnists) mixed with self-deprecating humor and conflict… Now all they have is two detacted hosts who have zero chemistry… See the Whiner Line… It has been stale for a long time and now it’s on par with Howie Carr’s Chump line for laughs… I’ll agree Steve/Fred needed to be given less time but losing talent like Tom Curran, Cedric, McAdam or even Butch is not a recipe for success… 98.5 cannot lay claim to being any better, actually with Mazz’s / Gresh’s voices they actually might be worse… What used to be strng radio market we now have been reduced to two weak products and struggling formats!!!

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    1. Couldn't agree more. The only time I listen to EEI is when guys like Adam Schefter, Boomer Esiason, Peter Gammons etc are on. I used to enjoy McAdams, Maz (when he was a columnist), and other beat writers as well. They they replaced them with jocks like Steve/Fred who added nothing.

      And Mut/Merloni…is that the best they could come up with? That show should be cutting their teeth in Augusta ME, not Boston.

      I can't believe how much music I'm listeing to now. Tha's how bad it is.

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  17. Totally unrelated to anything, caught a couple minutes of Dave Winfield on ESPN yesterday. When trying to describe a player having a mental error, instead of using 'brain fart' or even 'brain burp', he stumbled his way into 'brain aneurysm', like that wouldn't offend anyone…wow. Stay classy, Dave.

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  18. I agree with everyone that has said adding Adams is an unmitigated disaster. Holley, who has been overwhelmed by the great white blowhard, Ordway, now must contend with Adams, who as Doc Michaels so aptly put it, has no idea what is going on in present day sports. Holley will be heard from less and less.

    The big issue in all of this is once again Entercom management, especially Jason Wolfe. Julie Kahn may think the same way but as usual the only time she speaks is when she has something snide to say. Wolfe still will not listen to the complaints of listeners. Last month he did a live chat on WEEI.com. He basically said that if 850 was an FM station they would be beating 98.5. He seems to believe that people, like D&C, Ordway and Adams, are amazing talents that are way better than the competition. Of course, he does not explain all of the major changes in programming. WEEI will continue to have issues because their management continues to be tone-deaf to what listeners want.

    I know there have been a lot of complaints with regards to Mut and Lou. Some find them bland and dull. I certainly do not think they are perfect but just listen to the horrendous Andy Gresh and I believe Mut and Lou should receive Marconi's. Gresh, who believes he speaks for the common man, threw this zinger at Tony Marinaro of TEAM 990 in Montreal. He called him vag boy. Andy needs to realize that he does not speak for me because I am older than nine.

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    1. "He basically said that if 850 was an FM station they would be beating 98.5."

      He has both 103.7 and 105.5 .. and he STILL can't beat them.

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  20. I do not understand how a guy like Mike Adams has any kind of job in radio. He not that bright although that's not a major criteria, he's abrasive and annoying to listen to and he seemingly only appeals to a rather small, but apparently dedicated evening audience. I used to be a fairly frequent listener when Ted Sarandis was the host. He was far from perfect and went off on tangents which I can appreciate irritated some listeners. That being said, he was intelligent, knowledgeable, respected callers by actually listening to them and if I recall, attracted more quality guests and callers than those of any of the other segments combined. I used to be an avid listener whenever I travelled, but like some have mentioned I now prefer to listen to classic rock or books on tape.

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    1. "He not that bright although that's not a major criteria"
      Hmmm –who is not that bright? Knucklehead wilcymoore!

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  21. Ramone, this move will continue to drag down the Big Show to new lows.

    Ramone, Mikey Adams hasn't had an entertaining thought in years.

    Ramone, this won't really impact my day in any way though, since I've shut off the Big Show entirely since the Sports Hub premiered.

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  22. Mike Adams is the sports version of Dr. Demento…Both of whom I don't enjoy.

    Would it hurt someone on the local radio scene to discuss some national sports stories or teams every now and then? I enjoyed Mike & Mike when they were on because rthey did just that. Especially during football season. There are times when heading up Rt. 3 in Burlington/Bedford that WFAN (660 AM) in NY comes in better then EEI (how sad is that?). It's a nice break to hear the NY'ers gripe when NYY or Jets are struggling.

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  23. most if not all these comments about the Big Show are limited in scope by the narrow view on the posters. i have an expansive, informed and uniquely insightful view of radio and the psychology of sports radio. the WEEI suits have failed miserably, ordway is only good when he has formidable foils (look it up you knuckleheads). holley is inept at best, its a matter of time before the BS is history along with wolfe. you boneheads will be praising me in few months. goons.

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