Boston Radio: WEEI Rival Hopes Audacy Will 'Make It'

98.5 Sports Hub's Mike Felger

As WEEI’s owner emerges from bankruptcy, the leading voice for the dominant rival in town says he hopes the sports talk competitor will “make it.”

98.5 The Sports Hub’s Mike Felger addressed Audacy’s bankruptcy and WEEI this week, saying he’s “rooting for them big time.”

The Boston Herald reports Felger on Wednesday during the “Off Air Show” asked ex-WEEI host Mark Dondero about his former employer’s situation. Dondero is the newest member of the 98.5 on-air team.

“So what’s the word over there?” Felger asked Dondero. “Are they going to make it?… I hate the bankruptcy (expletive). I hope they make it. I’m rooting for them big time.”

Dondero — who joined 98.5 as a part-time, on-air host, mainly on weekends — said he imagines that WEEI will continue to exist, but he said multiple times about WEEI’s future, “I don’t know.”

“You should be able to have two stations in Boston,” Dondero said. “It’s ridiculous with the amount of passion that’s in the area for the teams.

“I don’t see them going down,” he added. “I hope they’re fine, but I don’t know. They didn’t talk to me all that much with certain things, so I don’t know.”

Felger compared the Boston sports talk competition to the soda rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

“I’m sure Coke wants to beat Pepsi, but if Pepsi went out of business and that meant that fewer people were drinking cola… you want the space to be healthy,” Felger said. “You want the business, the space, the product itself, whether it’s your brand or not, to be widely consumed and healthy.

“And I would be worried that if EEI didn’t make it, it’s like sports talk was declining, not an EEI thing, it’s a sports talk thing,” he added. “So I (expletive) hope they make it. They should be able to.”

Audacy had filed for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the start of the year following a drop of several billion dollars in radio ad spending.

Then last week, the owner of WEEI and other Boston radio stations received court approval to emerge from bankruptcy, with George Soros’ firm set to become the largest shareholder of the radio and podcast company.