WVII’s Frede heading to N.H.> MPTV to air show on Ali-Liston fight

It’s not quite the great television station sports reporter shuffle of 1993 – when two of the three sports directors at local TV stations resigned – but a couple of faces on Bangor’s TV sports scene will change this summer.

WVII sports director Eric Frede is leaving Channel 7 for a job as weekend sports anchor and weekday sports reporter at WMUR in Manchester, N.H., and WABI (Channel 5) is close to a decision on Brian McCoy’s replacement.

Frede’s last sportscast will be Friday night. He’s leaving the 155th-ranked television market in the country for one ranked in the mid 70’s.

“It’s comparable to moving to the Portland market,” said Frede. “Officially (WMUR) is in the Boston market.”

Frede said the timing was good for a move since he plans to get married in two weeks, and both he and his fiance, Beth Solomon, wanted to live closer to the Connecticut-New York area.

“It’s good because I’m from Connecticut and she’s from New York,” Frede said. “And she just got a job in New Hampshire.”

The 28-year-old Frede interviewed at WMUR in April and was offered the job May 1.

“If you look at the career path ladder, this is the next rung,” he explained. “I’d love to eventually work for ESPN or some national broadcasting network.”

Frede, who started working at WVII in September of 1993, said it will be a whirlwind three weeks for him and Solomon.

“We’re moving this weekend, getting married May 27 in New York, and we’re coming back from our honeymoon June 6 and starting work,” he said. “It certainly makes everything more exciting.”

WVII news director said the decision on who will replace Frede “hasn’t been officially announced yet,” although he did say current assistant sports director Dan Hannigan “is an asset to the station and is a finalist, certainly.”

“A final decision won’t be announced until tomorrow,” added Resnick.

No official announcements have been made over at WABI either, but assistant news director Jim Morris said the list of finalists has been narrowed considerably and he expects to make a decision soon.

“We’re pretty close. We’re down to three finalists from a field of over 60,” Morris said. “I’d be shocked if we don’t know something this week.”

Maine Public Television will air a locally produced documentary on the controversial Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston fight held in Lewiston thirty years ago next week.

MPTV (Channel 12 in Bangor) will air the show titled The Phantom Punch at 10 p.m. Wednesday, May 24.

The half-hour documentary – which has been co-produced by Bob Kaplan, a graduating senior at Bates College in Lewiston, and Bates rhetoric professor Robert Branham – examines the one-minute fight, and its immediate and lasting significance on the boxers themselves as well as the area where it was staged.