WZON pulls in broadcasting awards

Bangor all-sports radio station WZON (620 AM) and Dover-Foxcroft sister station WDME (103.1 FM) came back from the annual Maine Association of Broadcasters awards with the lion’s share of sports broadcasting honors.

Aside from second and third place in the sports feature division, WZON and WDME won all other divisions and places.

“It’s a good reflection of what we’re doing, especially if you look at the fact there are now a couple other all-sports stations in the state, so there’s more competition,” said WZON announcer Jeff Solari. “And it’s nice to be recognized by our peers.”

All Maine MAB entries for 2006 were judged by a panel of media members from Iowa. Maine judges evaluated entries from Wyoming.

The Sports Zone finished first in sports play-by-play for the broadcast of a University of Maine women’s basketball game against Clemson by Solari and Clem Labree and first in sportscast for the Sports Zone Morning Show hosted by Dale Duff and Labree. There was only one place awarded in the sportscast category this year.

Another winning entry for WZON was a third place in play-by-play for a UMaine football game broadcast against Shaw by Rich Kimball and Bob Lucy. Second went to WDME and Toby Nelson for a collage of high school calls.

Nelson also took first in the sports feature division for his Foxcroft Academy football recap used as a pregame segment before the state championship. Second and third place went to Maine Public Radio.

Also on the awards front, Fox Sports Net New England won a New England Emmy Award for set design at the recent 30th annual Boston/New England Emmy Awards Ceremony in Boston.

The award was for FSNNE’s Mohegan Sports Tonight, a live, weeknight highlights show co-hosted by Greg Dickerson and Rumford’s own Gary Tanguay.

Tanguay also received an Emmy nomination for his spot on an FSNNE promotional commercial for a network contest. It was his fifth nomination, but he has yet to win.

ESPN2 catching a draft

For the first time, the Major League Baseball entry draft will be aired live as ESPN2 will televise the entire first round today.

ESPN’s bid to air the NFL Draft in 1980 was borne more of desperation than anything else as the network needed sporting events, any sporting events, to fill a 24-hour programming schedule. Heck, they even televised tractor pulls and log rolling contests. This time around, however, it’s more of a low-risk gamble or novelty move.

It might be critical for the teams, but watching this function will be anything but critical for most people. Even some hardcore fans will probably find better use for their time, such as finding another No. 4 or No. 5 starting pitcher to fill in for an injured player on their fantasy baseball team.

ESPN ran a daily poll on its Web site last month asking fans “Will you watch the MLB draft? With 160,114 votes in by 9:30 p.m. Monday, a rousing 78.3 percent said “no” to 21.6 saying “yes.”

NESN’s new lineup

If you wondered why the white-haired guy with former Boston Red Sox slugger Jim Rice and former Portland Pirates radio voice Tom Caron on the New England Sports Network pregame and postgame shows looks familiar, it might be his Red Sox roots.

Former Oakland Athletics manager Ken Macha has joined NESN’s stable of studio analysts.

Macha joins Rice, baseball Hall of Famer and former Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley, and former Sox utility player David McCarty as a rotating pregame and postgame analyst.

Macha was also a manager in the Red Sox minor league organization for five years, including two seasons as manager of the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Another recent NESN hire is Naoko Funayama, former sports reporter for a Manchester, N.H., TV station. The Boston University and Williams College alumna is focusing on stories surrounding Japanese pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima plus their impacts on and off the field.

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