WZON manager: UM sports deal handled unfairly

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Not only were radio station owners Stephen and Tabitha King disappointed with the University of Maine’s decision to move its sports programming away from their airwaves to Clear Channel stations, but station manager Dale Duff said the decision was unfair.

“We’re not going to get into a public debate over what we can do versus what some other radio station can do and provide,” Duff said Friday. “All we do is stand on what our track record is. We stand on our record that this has been unfairly handled.”

UM Athletic Director Blake James said Friday that the controversial decision was reached fairly. James said UM could not show preference to the Kings, two of the university’s most famous alumni and benefactors, even if some believed it should.

“By university purchasing [regulations], it’s against the rules to play favorites,” James said.

About a year ago, UM entered into a marketing and multimedia bargaining agreement with Missouri-based Learfield Sports.

“It’s a common model among Division I universities,” James said Friday.

For the first time, the university has bundled its television, radio and on-campus marketing rights, including signs, programs and game sponsorships, into one request for proposals. Learfield has purchased the rights to negotiate those agreements for $450,000, plus a revenue-sharing deal, James said.

Previously, radio and television deals were handled separately, and UM was responsible for its own on-campus marketing.

The announcement was made Thursday to move University of Maine sports radio broadcasts away from all-sports station WZON to Clear Channel stations for the next five years. According to Duff, WZON had been paying UM $10,000 a year for radio broadcasting rights. In addition, the station incurred all related expenses, such as salaries of broadcasters, travel and other fees, which upped the value to “six figures,” Duff said.

“As with any radio deal, I think you want as good of coverage as you can get covering as many households as possible [while] at the same time being able to generate some additional revenue for the program,” James said.

Revenue from such contracts helps fund the athletic department’s operating budget.

In the new deal, WVOM (103.9 FM) will replace Bangor all-sports station WZON as the flagship station for all University of Maine football and hockey games beginning with the 2007-08 season, while WGUY (102.1 FM) will be the home for men’s and women’s basketball as well as select baseball and softball games.

When asked about the difference in revenue that UM will receive under the new agreement compared with the previous contracts, including with WZON, James said it’s difficult to quantify but that it is significant.

“This is a new approach, so I think it’s hard to compare,” he said. “You’re really comparing apples to oranges.”

When Learfield took over about a year ago, Duff said that Learfield told him that as a third party they weren’t required to put out a request for proposals on contracts. At the time, Learfield assured WZON officials that “they wanted to deal with us because in fact the university appreciates what we’ve done, and we wanted to continue,” Duff said.

Duff said previously that his station’s negotiations with Black Bear Sports Properties/Learfield were conducted under the belief that Learfield officials would develop a statewide network that would negate the importance of a specific station’s signal strength.

Duff said negotiations with Black Bear Sports Properties had been ongoing throughout the winter. He said he sent the station’s most recent counterproposal to Black Bear Sports Properties/Learfield officials on Feb. 27, getting a return voice mail that day and another voice mail the next day, which marked their last contact until Wednesday.

“In our negotiations, we were working toward how we share what we call local inventory, in other words, local commercial content, so that we can pay the bills and then how it gets shared with Learfield so that they can pay their bills,” Duff said. “That’s where we were in the middle of the negotiations when the phone call came on Wednesday morning. How can you do that with a loyal company that has been partners with the University of Maine all these years?”

WZON is owned by Bangor authors and UM benefactors Stephen and Tabitha King and has provided UM sports coverage since 1993. There were rumors of concern Friday that the switch might discourage the Kings from donating to the university.

In a statement issued Thursday, Stephen King said he was disappointed at UM’s decision.

“We understand that monetary considerations were a prime consideration, but feel the athletic department in particular and the university in general may not understand that making money the prime consideration in any dealing is usually short-sighted,” King said. “My wife and I feel that may prove to be the case here; we feel that what UM athletics has gained for their programs may be offset by a loss in the area of community relations.”

“We’re hopeful that the Kings, as such wonderful supporters and loyal alumni, will continue their support,” said Todd Saucier, UM Alumni Association president.

Some readers who posted comments on the Bangor Daily News Web site were concerned that Clear Channel doesn’t have the ability to broadcast games on the Internet, even though they broadcast at 50,000 more watts than WZON and cover a significant geographic area with their signal.

“I’ll guarantee we’ll have radio coverage via the Internet,” James said. “We just announced the deal. We haven’t worked out all the details of those types of topics.”

The change in radio coverage isn’t expected to occur until the first Black Bears football game Sept. 1.

Black Bear Sports Properties will retain and sell nearly all commercial inventory, produce the games, assume operational expenses and originate broadcasts, including the hiring of announcers.

“I just believe that this is bad business to have this end this way,” Duff said.

University of Maine spokesman Joe Carr said Friday the entire UM community appreciates the work WZON has done for many years.

“Their efforts have helped advance the university and Black Bear sports in significant ways,” he said.