As this newspaper’s TV-radio sports columnist, I’ve already told one co-worker: You don’t have to move out of the state to continue watching NFL and World Series games on television.

So move your hand away from the panic button. The news is not as bad as it sounded last week when Portland Fox Network affiliate WPXT (Channel 56) announced it was going with a demographic youth movement, away from Fox and over to the WB (Warner Brothers) Network.

The news sent Portland sports fans into a frenzy as Fox is the official network of the NFL’s National Football Conference (New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, etc.) as well as Major League Baseball’s primary network for regular season, wild card, divisional playoff, league championship series, and World Series games.

“I saw a news report this [Friday] morning on WLBZ News that no one in the state of Maine is ever gonna see Fox Sports, but that’s just flat-out not true,” said Mike Palmer, director of sales and programming at Bangor ABC television affiliate WVII (Channel 7).

Fox sports events will still be available in various outlets within the state, primarily the Greater Bangor broadcast (regular TV) and cable TV market as Bangor UHF station and UPN affiliate WCKD (Channel 30, Adelphia Cable channel 10) has a contract with the Fox Network to carry its sportscasts.

WVII operates and programs WCKD under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with WCKD’s creator, Bangor station and PAX Network affiliate WBGR (Channel 33, Adelphia Cable channel 9).

“Without looking it up, the contract runs at least three or four years, although it could very well be five,” Palmer said. “We can take any sporting event that Fox broadcasts, from This Week in Baseball to pregame shows to games … even a weekend kids show that’s sports-related.”

Palmer went on to say that WPXT’s move is actually a bonus for WCKD as it will no longer be one of two stations in the Bangor cable lineup airing the same NFL and MLB games at the same time.

“Now we’re the only ones who have them,” Palmer said.

And WCKD’s rare standing may become rarer still as, aside from satellite systems, there’s no access to Fox Network programming in areas like Aroostook County.

Presque Isle station WAGM, a primary CBS affiliate which can also take programming from the other three major networks due to its status as the lone station in the area, used to air Fox NFL games, but hasn’t since 1999.

“Once CBS got football back, we stopped with Fox. We take Patriots games from CBS,” said WAGM program director Linda Connolly. “The only Super Bowl or World Series games we carry are when CBS has them. We tried to negotiate with ABC when they had them, but they asked too much money for us to be able to take them.”

WAGM, whose viewer area covers most of Aroostook County and western New Brunswick, also owns Houlton Cable – one of three cable networks servicing Aroostook County. The other two are Time-Warner and Adelphia. None of them carry a Fox station.

“If it’s on ABC, they can watch it on cable or satellite. If it’s on Fox, they’ll have to find it on satellite,” Connolly added.

Officials at WPXT are trying to negotiate with Fox to still take Fox sports programming either on WPXT or WPXT’s LMA station, Lewiston’s WPME (Ch. 35).

The biggest impact from WPXT’s decision to pull away from Fox will be felt by loyal viewers of Fox prime time shows such as “X-Files, Ally McBeal, or Boston Public,” which will be very difficult for anyone – Bangor market residents included – to see on anything other than satellite TV.

Pirates set sail for radio waves

Four Western Maine stations have rejoined the fold to give Portland Pirates radio flagship station WJAB (1440 AM) a five-station radio network.

After a one-year hiatus, Gleason Radio Group stations WOXO in Norway (92.7 FM), WTBM in Mexico (100.7 FM), WKTQ of South Paris (1450 AM) and WTME of Rumford (790 AM), are back on deck with the Pirates for the eighth time in the last nine seasons.

WJAB’s two-year contract with the Pirates begins on Friday, Oct. 5 with Portland’s first game. “The Big Jab” will air all 80 Pirates regular season games along with their 15-minute pregame shows.

Andrew Neff’s On the Air column is published each Tuesday. He can be reached at 990-8205 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net.