On Tuesday, I spoke to someone with very intimate knowledge of everything that led up to the Mets severing their relationship with WFAN and shifting to the conservative talk-show channel WOR 710 AM.
By now, many of you have experienced the stark differences in sound, reception and quality. There is no FM version and what you hear is what you get.
Leading into the last Mets broadcast on WOR 710 AM was famed loudmouth Rush Limbaugh, who reminded everyone that he is still the king of talk radio all over the world. Sean Hannity did the post game. The way WOR cut into the game and out of it, was like carving your Thanksgiving turkey with a chainsaw. It was brutal, folks…
There were no Met fans calling in before and after the game, and we still do not know who will actually be doing the Mets pre and post game show during any of the Mets radio broadcasts. I can confirm that still no decision has been made as of 11:00 AM this morning.
So how did the Mets get embroiled in this debacle? Quite simply it came down to money – what else?.
After the decision was made to bring the New York Yankees to WFAN, CBS Radio Inc. who owns the station, still wanted desperately to hang onto the Mets and have them switch to the Yankees’ previous home WCBS 880.
However, WOR, still fuming that they couldn’t sway the Yankees to go with them, set their sights on the Mets and they didn’t care how much it would cost them. They made an offer that Fred Wilpon couldn’t refuse.
When CBS put their final bid on the table, it was for $6 million dollars guaranteed plus a whopping 50% revenue share on all advertising. The brass at CBS thought they had clinched the deal.
However, WOR swooped in with a counter-offer estimated to be around $9 million guaranteed, but without the revenue sharing. Given their still unstable financial state, the Mets simply couldn’t resist the extra $3 million in guaranteed money. It was that whole bird in the hand thing…
The numbers were told to me by a very reliable inside source and was confirmed by another. Take it with a grain of salt, but I’m inclined to believe both of them.
CBS believes that the Mets walked away from a much more lucrative deal. This is not my area of expertise, so I can’t tell you if that’s true or not. But I can tell you they are still hot over the Mets’ decision.
The bad news for us is that WOR has been worse than we all imagined, and I’m being very conservative here.
WOR needs to start getting their act together and fast. Opening Day is quickly approaching, Spring Training games are already on the air, and the Mets still don’t know who will be doing their pre and post games on the radio. I don’t want to Rush them… But come on already…
