From Entercom Boston:

“Celtics Summer Cooler” to Tip Off June 8

Grande & Max team up this offseason as the C’s prepare for 2013-14 

BOSTON, MA (June 5, 2013) –WEEI 93.7 FM today announced the addition of “Celtics Summer Cooler,” a new program hosted by Sean Grande and Cedric Maxwell. Starting June 8, “Celtics Summer Cooler” will air Saturday afternoons from 1-3 p.m., running through Sept. 28. Grande and Max comprise one of the longest-running broadcast teams in NBA history, having called over 1,200 games between them, and have been the voices of the Celtics since 2001.

This new show will provide Celtics fans with the most comprehensive news and analysis of the team, from the draft to the summer league and right up to training camp. Listeners can expect to hear from Celtics front office personnel, players, beat writers and columnists, and national media members from around the league.

“This is going to be the most interesting offseason for the Celtics since 2007 when Danny pulled off the big trades for KG and Ray Allen. Celtic fans deserve a show that will be devoted to the team’s efforts this summer, and no one knows the strategy better than Grande and Max,” said Jason Wolfe, VP of Programming and Operations.

As new shows go, this one is very promising and fills a gap in the local radio airwaves. It will be great to have a show that is pretty much dedicated to the Celtics.

 

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

18 thoughts on “WEEI Announces New Saturday Show Focused on the Celtics”

  1. Great move. If it goes like most of the focused shows here do where it’s really focused on a sport/team, it should work out well. Sean Grande is always a good listen.

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    1. Interesting question. I love the Baseball Reporters. They could do something pretty interesting with the Patriots. They used to have Amendolara’s hockey show, which I thought was decent, but he’s not a journalist or on-air gamecaster so it wasn’t quite the same. I cringe to think of Zo running his own show–a football-specific show shouldn’t just be a special edition of Gresh & Zo–but he could certainly be part, because he knows what he’s talking about.

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      1. Saturday morning, TSH does “The Hockey Show”: with Goucher and Beers. I guess you could say that WEEI counters with Dale’s show Sunday (he spends the majority of time covering whatever the big sport is, though).

        As far as a pure NFL show, even though August-end of the season is usually spent 24/7 Patriots, I’m unaware of anything on the radio. I’d throw my hat in for Dale again because he has on Kevin Faulk (he moved back home to where he grew up to coach HS football), Chris Price and Matt Chatham. Maybe they don’t because, once baseball is over, is anything else really covered?

        From what Zo has said, he has to be at Gillette a good 4+ hours before the game, so him hosting a show before the Sunday slate wouldn’t work. However, there is no shortage of people who could do a show like Curran (he’s on WEEI but I’m not sure if that’s exclusive), Matt Flynn (already has a weekend show), and I have got to think that Ben Volin will be on the airwaves soon enough (he did radio stuff in his previous Miami job on Dolphins radio there).

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        1. I do enjoy Curran–sometimes his sarcasm bugs me, but he knows his material and hes generally very fair and smart in his assessments. I find his TV show a little bit hokey–it reminds me just a bit of the old Sports Machine, with George Michael walking feverishly from one point of the studio to another and always mugging at the camera–but I always enjoy what Curran has to say. And I’d forgotten completely about Gooch and Beers. I’ve heard a bit of Beers’ Kennedy impression. I like it. But who could they find to do the Celts? Marshall does a good job on Comcast, as does Scalabrine, but they’d need to pair with a broadcast pro (and the answer is NOT Tanguay).

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          1. I had reservations about Curran at one point. It mainly stemmed from Quick Slants but he seems to be more.. conforming? when he does TV/radio. It seems like the “Jim Cramer”-mode is reserved for Quick Slants. I guess he grew on me. When he does spots on TSH/WEEI/SportsTonight, maybe you’ll find what I did where he’s a good listen.

            Odd thing on Scalabrine: He’s been on ESPN2’s “Nation at Night” (It’s Sports Nation at night but they just talk.) I’ve been able to find nothing about it but it looks like the show is just for the NBA Finals. (11PM on ESPN2). It’s Sports Nation without the goofy YouTube videos and games they play. (I also wonder if they’re trying out this alternative format because Thompson is departing ESPN for FoxSports and there are rumors they’ll disband the show because they’re down 25% in ratings)

            I just had to wonder with Scalabrine because he seemed to make it clear that he loved the city and doing CSNNE work. His personality (and how he’s known) is something ESPN usually picks up on, right?

            Others for a Celtics Show: Steve Bulpett, Gary Washburn? I wish Paul Flannery would do radio here again (WEEI previously now SBNation). If you follow his @pflanns, he’s great. I’ve got to think that a producer there has a short list if they tried one out.

            Still, since the Celtics are a clear and distant 3rd in this town, having a show (two if TSH does it) can’t hurt, right? I don’t know the costs, so no way to tell if its something they’d do.

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          2. I think a few hours a week, on either station, devoted to a specific team is a good idea. Especially in the off-season, there are lots of unusual angles to look at and discuss, from scouting, to the draft, to player development, not just the ordinary game strategy-tactics-execution (which are still interesting).

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    3. I have wondered for a while why 98.5 when baseball season ends does not have Mazz and rotating football people (Flynn, Gasper, Reiss, Zo, etc) do a football reporters show. Same format. Same focus. No Felger yahooism or contrarianism. Mazz for that show would have to be more of a moderator but he could do it.

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      1. Yeah, I like how he has plenty of energy and still keeps a mild disposition in general. But I think the fact that he really knows baseball is very important. I trust his observations on that game a whole lot more than I would on football or some other sport.

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      2. If on TV reruns of Patriots Wednesday press conferences get 1.2s on a Wednesday afternoon that isn’t a holiday, you have to think that a 6pm
        radio show would do well. I’d tune in from 9-12 on a Saturday where I’m normally watching Premier League before CFB. Dream scenario would be a show that mentions strategy like the Doug Farrar/Greg Cosell podcast but I think that’s too hardcore for casual fans on the radio.

        I think you were lukewarm to Bedard but I’ve wondered forever why a Bedard-like person isn’t doing a show with a set number of guys or rotations. Have it when baseball ends at 6pm or do something on the weekend. It would be nice to have something outside the Felger vacuum because the gravitational pull from that is huge. The blueprint is already there with what Dale/Chattham/CPrice/Faulk do Sunday mornings.

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  2. I’m very extited about this! I’ve been saying for years that there should be a celrics show on weekends, maybe john ryder can join them

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  3. It would be cool if they bring in Donny Marshall and Greg Dickerson as guests on the show

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  4. This is such a stupid move. Think about it. The Celtics are 4th on the team rung in this town right now. You are in the middle of a big push for the Cup by the Bruins. Now I am no business genius, but what do you think the best way to generate ad dollars for WEEI is? This is why this station is going down the toilet. They have gone the ESPN route of dictating to us what is news. This station needs to be blown up and started over. Clueless.

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    1. It was dubbed good because its mainly a low risk opportunity that services a somewhat neglected contingent of the fans here.

      1.) Buku Ad Bucks are made during weekdays afternoon drive. Weekends are for where you stash the flash people’s shows, fill-ins and extras. Stations ignore the weekends for the most part.

      2.) Max/Sean are most likely already under contract to do this or having them add an extra show on costs next to nothing.

      3.) They’re only doing the show until the end of the Summer. No guarantees after. It’s not like they are bringing someone on and have to sign a contract.

      4.) WEEI is all too familiar with ignoring a fan contingent, even though they are 4th in terms of ratings and popularity right now. You own the radio rights, so why not service them?
      Again, little risk with possible reward.

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  5. Pathetic, WEEI had a mid-day host in Dale Arnold that was qualified to discuss the Bruins run to the Stanley Cup in 2011 and they canned him. It would be great to tune in from 10-2 and listen to intelligent discussions about hockey but no, they decide to replace a true professional with the miserable, unlistenable M&M during a great time in Boston hockey…so now let’s add a weekend show about the aging Celtics quest for the lottery…no wonder WEEI is falling so far so fast…

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  6. while B-ball aficionado’s will enjoy this. I still see it as a flub when it comes to ratings, but what the hell?….run it up the flag pole and see if it waves. We’re talking Saturday afternoons in the summer, (garbage time) that’s why Mustard and Johnson usually get it.

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  7. I think everyone needs to relax, we’re talking about a Saturday afternoon show where you’re lucky to get a quarter of the audience you get on a weekday. My guess is WEEI needed to give Grande something else to do in order to justify paying him the higher salary he likely demanded when he was asked to replace Rish on Sox PbP.

    I’ll give EEI credit for actually talking Bruins for a majority of the time the last few weeks, although they’re still clueless and it’s hard to take anything the say regarding hockey seriously. Except for Salk of course, who apparently invented the game and wants to make sure everyone knows it by talking over everyone, cutting off callers, and acting like a patronizing dink to every hockey analyst they invite on the air.

    Speaking of condescending dinks… did anyone hear Larry Lucchino chastising EEI during his D&C interview this morning for talking too much Bruins at the expense of the Sox? Pretty sure it wasn’t a joke either, he was legitimately peeved. Seeing that the Sox are just about the only thing keeping EEI afloat these days, will be interesting to see if they’re willing to kowtow to Sox ownership.

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