It may not seem like a big change at first glance, but one of the big pluses of FrontierVision’s upcoming cable channel expansion for sports-minded Bangor customers is the debut of Lewiston United Paramount Network affiliate WPME (Channel 35).

WPME will officially replace fellow UPN affiliate WSBK in Boston (Ch. 38) on Monday as FrontierVision debuts its new expanded channel lineup for Bangor customers.

What appears a simple swap of cable channels actually brings with it a bonus to sports fans in that WPME, a station operated and programmed by Portland Fox affiliate WPXT through a local marketing agreement, specializes in sports programming.

“I think last year we had over 220 sporting events on UPN 35,” said WPXT general manager Doug Finck. “We have UMaine games, Celtics from WABU in Boston, Bruins from WSBK, Red Sox, Big East basketball and football, five high school basketball or football championship games from (Bangor’s) WABI, and whatever else we find out is available that the local network stations aren’t taking.”

As an example, WPME has aired CBS’ late-afternoon (3:30 p.m.) Saturday College Football Association telecasts not taken by either of Maine’s CBS affiliates, WABI and Portland’s WGME, the last two years.

“It’s my understanding WGME is going to take those games this year, so if that’s the case, we won’t be doing that again,” Finck said.

Another plus will be a stronger signal and better picture for those sporting events, given WPME’s geographical closeness vs. WSBK’s and WPME’s increased signal strength, which will be boosted by a Waterville tower FrontierVision purchased when it bought out State Cable.

With so many sporting events already crammed into the schedule, Finck said it’s unlikely WPME will add anything major.

“Like I said, we’re always looking for stuff other stations are passing on, but we don’t have as much programming time available as we used to,” he said.

One thing they are looking upon more eagerly is high school sporting events, especially after WPME’s joint broadcast of the Class A state championship football game with Bangor’s WABI drew a 7.0 rating among male viewers ages 18 to 34, 6.0 with men 18-49, and 5.0 with men 25-54. These numbers were for WPXT alone, not both stations.

“Most of the time, those types of sporting events aren’t done during ratings periods so we don’t usually know exactly what the numbers are,” Finck said. “But those are great, great numbers.”

Fox Sports New England will start its live game coverage of the Boston Celtics Friday with the Celtics’ preseason game against Toronto at 7 p.m.

FSNE will also broadcast 24 regular season home games starting with Boston’s season-opener against Toronto Friday, Feb. 5.

WPME will also air Celtics (away) games, but the broadcast schedule hadn’t been released by press time.

Congratulations to longtime Bangor broadcaster George Hale, station manager and still the morning disc jockey at Bangor radio station WABI (910 AM).

Hale was voted Maine’s 1998 Sportscaster of the Year by members of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA). This is the second time in Hale’s 46-year broadcasting career that he has won the award.

It’s still in the exploratory stage, but officials at Bangor TV station WVII (Channel 7) are kicking around the idea of picking up the local rights to a couple of New England Patriots highlights and/or pregame shows from Boston stations. Some possibilities include Pete Carroll’s Coach’s show and WCVB’s Patriots GameDay.