WNSX ditches all-sports format for classic rock

When it came to all-sports programming, Winter Harbor radio station WNSX just couldn’t get in the zone.

After 12 months of deteriorating ratings, the Clear Channel Network station has junked its all-sports format and switched back to classic rock.

Local sports fans need not worry, however, because the format change doesn’t mean WNSX (97.7 FM) will scrap all of its sports programming.

“We’re still carrying MDI [Mount Desert Island High School] basketball and we still have NASCAR Busch Series racing,” said Clear Channel director of operations Jeff Pierce. “And we’re still doing all the tournament games.”

What WNSX is not doing is taking Fox Sports Radio Network programming like the Jim Daniels, Jim Rome and Steve Czaban shows from 10 a.m. through the evening.

“We stopped about a month ago. It just wasn’t working from a ratings or sales standpoint,” said Pierce. “We had more success with our classic rock format.”

The 50,000-watt station – which covers Bangor, Ellsworth, and Bar Harbor – will continue with MDI Trojans basketball next season and is in the first year of a two-year deal for NASCAR Busch and Indy Car racing. The nationally syndicated Bob and Tom morning show will also remain from 6 to 10 a.m.

The return to the classic rock format, which WNSX adopted in 2001, has drawn little reaction thus far, but Pierce says that’s a good thing.

“It’s been very sparse, which tells me – generically – that we have some rebuilding to do,” he said. “But we had a lot of negative reaction when we dropped classic rock for all sports.”

That negative reaction showed in both ratings and ad revenue.

“I can tell you we experienced a 40 percent loss in revenue with that station over the last year,” Pierce said. “When you see that kind of drastic decrease, you have to make a change, and it seemed like the best thing to do was go back to what worked before.”

One likely reason for the lack of success with WNSX’s all-sports foray is direct competition from a more well-established station like Bangor’s WZON (620 AM). “The Sports Zone” has been an all-sports station for almost 11 years and has a loyal following.

Trading heavy socks for Red Sox

Need another sign that winter won’t last forever? Sick to death of all the Alex Rodriguez/Yankees talk?

Fear not loyal subjects of Red Sox nation. The Boston Red Sox spring training television schedule begins in less than two weeks.

New England Sports Network is scheduled to air the Minnesota-Boston preseason game on March 4 live at 7 p.m. This is the first of 10 preseason broadcasts, nine of which will be live.

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