The summer of 1993 has seen a whirlwind of activity on the once solidly anchored local sportscasting scene.

Ron Lisnet started the sports personality shakeup in May when he decided to leave WVII-TV (Channel 7, Bangor) after nine years of service as sports director and take a post at the University of Maine.

Lee Goldberg was then hired to replace Lisnet. But that was just the beginning of the sports anchor shuffle.

Barely three months later, Dale Duff – the dean of local sports anchors with 15 years tenure at WLBZ-TV (Ch. 2, Bangor) – surprised a lot of people with a move to WZON radio (620 AM, Bangor) to become sports and programming director.

Duff’s vacancy was quickly filled by Goldberg – creating another opening at WVII – and Dan Hannigan was then named interim sports director at WVII.

Confused? Well, the shuffling is still going on as Jim Parisi, WVII’s news director, has been sifting through at least 40 audition tapes in his search for either a new sports director or weekend sports anchor.

Why the either-or?.

“I’ve narrowed the list down to about 10 finalists,” Parisi said. “From there I’m going to be evaluating the finalist and Dan on two main points: which is the better manager of the sports department and which is the better sports anchor.

“Whichever person I think will do the best job will be the new sports director. The other will be weekend sports anchor.”

Parisi said he plans to make his decision on which job the finalist is offered by Monday.

“That way, when I call him or her, they’ll know which job they’re being offered: the director’s job or weekend anchor job,” Parisi said.

Hannigan, a former Boston insurance agent, came to WVII as a photographer and jack-of-all-trades in February.

“I’ve always been interested in sportscasting, and my wife and I decided to move here,” said Hannigan. “She got a job teaching and I got my foot in the door at WVII.”

Hannigan comes from a strong sports background. He played two years of varsity football and two years of rugby at Dartmouth College before graduating with a degree in history in 1988.

He took over assistant sports director duties from Nick Toma in April, three weeks before Lisnet left for UMaine, and has been getting on-the-job training ever since.

The only TV station unaffected by the sports anchor scramble has been WABI-TV Bangor (Ch. 5). That makes Tim Throckmorton the new dean of local TV sportscasters.

Ron Lisnet is now the TV-radio producer and broadcast news coordinator for the UMaine public affairs office.

In his new capacity, he helps publicize projects or news associated with the university though radio reports on the UMaine Radio News Service and the “Snapshots” TV program seen on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

“I really enjoy my job at UMaine, but I do miss the action I covered at WVII,” said Lisnet, “especially around tournament time and playoffs. I was basically being paid to be a fan.”

Goldberg pledges to continue Duff’s tradition of local sports coverage at WLBZ.

“Local sports is my priority,” said Goldberg.

Goldberg is familiar with the Maine scene. He played varsity soccer at Deering High School and grew up watching Duff on WCSH-TV (Ch. 6, Portland).

“That’s also part of the reason I took the job, he said. “It’s a big challenge to follow Dale Duff and, hopefully, continue the tradition he started.”

Goldberg graduated with a telecommunications degree in 1990 from New England College in Henniker, N.H., where he also played varsity soccer.

Before coming back to Maine, he worked at WBOY-TV in Clarksburg, W.V., for two years.

New England Sports Network (NESN) recently recorded its highest rating for a Boston Red Sox baseball game since it began broadcasting in 1984.

According to a telephone coincidental survey by the A.C. Nielsen Company, 43 percent of NESN’s subscribers tuned in to the Boston-New York game on Aug. 10. The figure translates to viewership in approximately 147,000 homes.