What's happening in Boston Radio?

In case you missed it, it's been an interesting week in Boston Radio.
CBS announced a shakeup on the dial that will take effect in the middle of August. It involves two current radio stations.
Mix 98.5 will be heard on the frequency currently owned by WBCN (104.1). 'BCN will be on the internet and nowhere else. Appearing on 98.5 will be a new sports station called "The Sports Hub".
The Sports Hub will carry the Bruins (previously heard on WBZ 1030) and the Patriots (heard on 'BCN since the mid-1990's). This is important for the new station because both teams bring a loyal following, especially the Patriots.
This will be important to the Sports Hub because it will be the fourth sports station to come to Boston this decade. WEEI is known all over the country for its gargantuan ratings. The other two tried and left some valuable lessons for the new station on the dial.
WWZN (1510 "The Zone") started off alright. It was owned by the Sporting News who decided it wanted to take a piece out of WEEI's share. "The Zone" was a national sports station formerly known as "One on One Sports" with Rick Ballou and "Papa" Joe Chevalier manning the mikes. James Brown, who was on FOX television, was talking to fans on his midday show.
The situation for Sporting News couldn't have been better. WEEI and its market share was there for the taking. All the "new" station needed was some viable local talent that wouldn't keep listeners on hold for hours on end.
WWZN featured veterans Eddie Andelman and Sean McDonough. McDounough was doing play-by-play for the Red Sox and also working for ESPN. Eddie Andelman was "The Godfather of Sports Radio". He had been doing it for decades.
McDonough's show was about "raising the bar" when it wasn't being hosted by Butch Stearns of FOX 25, who seemed to be in the studio of "The Zone" as much as if not more than McDounough. Andelman's show, co-hosted by Dave Jaegeler, soon degenerated into a three-hour infomercial for bookmakers from Las Vegas. A short stint by Mike Adams in the morning did little to help the station.
After the "Zone Experiment" faded, ESPN entered the scene with its sports station on 890 AM. The station featured little in the way of local programming. Michael Felger of Fox Sports New England hosted an afternoon program with Bob Halloran of WCVB-TV. Felger's show was short-lived despite bringing sports topics to the table and listeners on the line, something 1510 couldn't do.
Now ears will be on the new sports station, due to make its debut in less than a month. There will be the usual curiousity that always helps a new product but soon enough it will have to deliver something besides "newness" if it wants to take on the monster that is WEEI. Hopefully, 98.5 will not forget what makes talk radio so successful: the listeners who call in. If it can build on that, Boston fans will have a choice between two great options. If not, it will join the likes of The Zone in the history of Boston Radio.