Auto racing fans who were listening to NASCAR action on Howland’s WVOM (103.9 FM) have had to tune in to a new station this spring.

ClearChannel Radio has changed its station programming lineup a bit, switching the 2003 NASCAR 39-race schedule from WVOM to Belfast’s WBFB (104.7 FM).

Director of operations Jeff Pierce said it wasn’t that the race programming wasn’t popular. It was more a case of finding a more appropriate station – programming-wise – into which it could plug NASCAR racing. Regular WVOM listeners preferred the station’s regular news/talk format to the racing. WBFB’s country music format has proven to be much more complementary.

“It just wasn’t the right fit, especially now that the war is on,” said Pierce. “We put it on WBFB because it’s a much better fit for that radio station and so far, we’ve had zero complaints and some positive feedback.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is the dial location for NASCAR fans and listeners in the coastal area. Rockland’s WMCM (103.3 FM) is carrying all the NASCAR races for a second straight year.

“The country audience has always been a primary listener or NASCAR fan,” Pierce said. “Those that aren’t country fans, but follow NASCAR would hopefully know about us carrying the games because we promote it on all our other radio stations.”

Both WMCM continue their live NASCAR race coverage by broadcasting the Virginia 500 from Martinsville Speedway Sunday at 12:30 p.m. All of the Fox Network’s live NASCAR telecasts are also aired by Bangor television station WCKD (Channel 10).

Sea Dogs reel in another one

The Portland Sea Dogs have added another affiliate to their statewide radio network.

Bangor’s WABI (910 AM) is the newest member of the network and will air almost all of Portland’s 142 games this season.

WABI also airs all Boston Celtics games that don’t conflict with local high school or college broadcasts, but the station’s programming pecking order has changed this week, due to some technical problems at sister station WNSX (97.7 FM) in Winter Harbor, a Sea Dogs radio network affiliate.

Pierce said the problems should all be solved this weekend, but until they are, Sea Dogs broadcasts will take precedence over the Celtics whenever there’s a schedule conflict.

“Normally, the way it would work is we wouldn’t pre-empt the Celtics for the Sea Dogs on WABI,” Pierce explained.

Pirates transfer flag to new ship

The Portland Pirates will be sailing into the postseason on a different radio station.

Portland station WLOB (96.3 FM and 1310 AM) will take over broadcasts from sister station WJAB (1440 AM) in order to allow WJAB to carry all Boston Red Sox broadcasts. The change will only affect listeners in the Portland market as the other members of the Pirates radio network – WKTQ (1450 AM) in South Paris and WTME (780 AM) in Rumford – are still carrying all Pirates games. Games may also be heard on the Internet at the portlandpirates.com web site.

Play-by-play man Dave Ahlers is in his eighth season with the Pirates and Brian Demoree is finishing up his first season as studio host.

Pirates playoff action began Thursday night against Manitoba. The second game of the best-of-three series is Friday at 7 p.m. The “if necessary game” will be Sunday at 6 p.m.

‘Jacks shaking broadcast trees

The Bangor Lumberjacks, Maine’s newest minor league baseball team and a member of the independent Northeast League, is actively searching for broadcast partners.

Lumberjacks general manager Curt Jacey confirmed Thursday his team is involved in ongoing talks with local radio and television station officials in hopes of broadcasting Bangor games on radio, the Internet, TV, or any combination of the three.

Jacey said he hopes to have something settled by next week.

“I’m 50-50 on it right now,” he said. “It’s got to be economically viable for us to do it, so we’re still trying to work out a few kinks.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or aneff@bangordailynews.net