Entercom, which owns WEEI-AM in Boston and its conterpart in Providence, WEEI-FM, is cashing in on the success of the world champion Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots.

01:34 AM EST on Friday, December 17, 2004

BY TIMOTHY C. BARMANN
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The stars couldn't have aligned much better for Entercom Communications this year.

Journal photo / John Freidah

``God served us up some content,'' in the championship seasons, says Julie Kahn, vice president and market manager of Entercom Boston, which owns sports talk-radio station WEEI-FM in Rhode Island.

The New England Patriots won their second Super Bowl in three seasons. And the Boston Red Sox captured their first World Series championship since 1918.

Elated fans can't stop talking about their winning teams, and that's where Entercom comes in.

The Philadelpha-based media company launched a sports talk-radio station in Rhode Island this spring, and it has quickly become one of the top stations in the Providence market.

The victories, combined with a market filled with vocal sports fans, are enough to make a radio executive giddy.

"God served us up some content," quipped Julie Kahn, vice president and market manager of Entercom Boston.

Kahn's company owns Sports Radio WEEI, a popular AM station in Boston.

In March, Entercom entered the Rhode Island market when it purchased WWRX (103.7-FM) for $14.5 million.

The company got rid of WRX's rock music format and renamed the station WEEI-FM.

In mid-April, the station began simulcasting the shows produced at WEEI Boston.

Since then, WEEI-FM has become one of the top-rated radio stations in the Providence market.

The station's ratings for the spring and summer were virtually tied with the other market leader, WPRO-AM (630), among people ages 25 to 54, according to figures provided by WEEI.

The new Providence station is now competing with the established sports stations in Rhode Island -- WSKO-AM and FM. Those two stations, along with WPRO, are owned by Citadel Broadcasting Corp.

Kahn, who was in Providence yesterday to visit the sales staff of WEEI-FM, attributed that success to the devoted following that the Patriots and the Red Sox have in Rhode Island.

"Providence is crazy about the Red Sox and the Patriots," said Kahn, in an interview in the WEEI office on Chestnut Street.

Kahn, 46, moved to Boston in 2000 from San Francisco, where she was in charge of ad sales for several major stations.

As far as she knows, she is the only woman who heads a sports talk-radio station in a market the size of Boston.

It's something she doesn't think about that much, she said. But being "one of a kind," as she puts it, does present some challenges.

"There are some people that take some time to associate the fact that I'm running a business, and they don't understand my skills," she said. "It has nothing to do with carrying a ball or a sphere around a field."

Kahn said that Entercom plans to localize WEEI-FM somewhat. The station will launch a Saturday morning show that focuses on Rhode Island sports.

Oddly, Entercom, which owns the rights to broadcast Boston Red Sox games, cannot do so from its Providence station. That's because WEEI has sold those to competitor WPRO.

That contract ends at the end of next season. After that, WEEI-FM will simulcast Red Sox games in Rhode Island, Kahn said.

Other changes will be minor, she said, because the format is working as is.

"We don't have a big design to change things for Providence," Kahn said.

"We believe the product is geared to New England and the New England sports fan."