Team Green finds Maine home on ClearChannel affiliates

The opening tipoff has come and gone, but there’s plenty of Boston Celtics regular season action yet to come and, collectively, local ClearChannel radio stations will air every turnover, free throw, 3-pointer and steal as a revamped Team Green hits the court.

ClearChannel stations WABI (910 AM) in Bangor, WRKD (1450 AM) in Rockland, WNSX (97.7 FM) in Winter Harbor and WCME (96.7 FM) in Boothbay make up the Celtics radio network lineup in Eastern Maine. WCME takes the point position as it will air all Celtics games while the other three will carry all Celtics action not conflicting with local high school sports broadcasts. Celtics games will be joined in progress after the high school broadcasts end.

WNSX is the rookie as it just joined the Celtics network midway through last season while WABI and WRKD are the veterans, now in their third year airing Celtics broadcasts.

Don Shields, a veteran himself with 18 years at WRKD, says the Celtics are a good fit for the stations, especially WRKD, which has used an all-sports format for the last three years.

“I don’t know how they do ratings-wise, but any New England professional team does well in this area,” said Shields, ClearChannel’s director of operations in Rockland. “The Red Sox are number one, obviously, followed by the Patriots, Celtics and Bruins, pretty much in that order.”

WRKD carries Red Sox and Celtics games along with Fox Sports Radio programming including syndicated shows hosted by Tony Bruno, Jim Rome and others.

“I get good feedback from people listening to the Red Sox and the Celtics and the NFL stuff,” Shields said. “I’m getting more and more comments from people about our all-sports format. I have people quoting stuff back to me that they heard on the radio.”

On television, the name has changed over the years but the coverage hasn’t. As it has for the past 22 years, Fox Sports Net New England will provide extensive Celtics coverage. This year, FSNNE is airing 78 regular-season Celtics games.

Radio pinch-hitter

Morning radio hasn’t sounded the same this week in Greater Bangor.

Longtime broadcaster George Hale has been absent from his familiar spot in the studio at Bangor station WABI (910 AM) due to gallbladder surgery.

While he is recovering, Don Shields will replace him in the broadcast booth for Friday night football.

Shields will team up with analyst Al Hackett to call the action during Bangor High School’s Pine Tree Conference Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinal playoff game against Lewiston at 7 p.m.

“I’m going to sub for him Friday and hopefully George will be back next week,” Shields said.

NESN’s breaking away

New England Sports Network has expanded its coverage of the Boston Bruins with the introduction of a new week-in-review program: Bruins Breakaway.

The half-hour show, hosted by former WVII-TV Bangor (Channel 7) sports director Eric Frede, debuts Saturday after the conclusion of the Banknorth Overtime Bruins postgame show. Both shows will follow the Boston-Pittsburgh 1 p.m. game telecast. The show will feature in-depth player profiles, interviews, and news from around the NHL.

Frede is also the intermission reporter during Bruins home-game telecasts on NESN, an anchor on NESN’s SportsDesk, host of Red Sox Rewind, and play-by-play man for NESN’s Boston College football coverage.

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