Courtesy Boston Globe

(August 9, 2010) Rick Marotta, 33, of Wakefield, and Mike Clifford, 51, of Methuen, are both avid sports-talk listeners who for years tuned in to the only game in town, WEEI. As time went on, however, Marotta grew bored of hearing the same studio hosts with the same opinions play out the same comedy bits, while Clifford tired of ex-jocks discussing sports they knew little about. But if they were hungry for sports talk, it was 850AM or nothing.

The station’s hosts, veterans like Glenn Ordway and John Dennis, are “not very up on pop culture,’’ said Marotta. “I couldn’t relate to them. They’re all in their 40s and 50s and making lots of money.’’ As for Clifford, his problem wasn’t the hosts. He just liked having an alternative.

A year ago this week, both men got what they wanted with the launch of The Sports Hub (WBZ-FM, 98.5). Now, just as the once one-sided Yankees-Red Sox rivalry has become an annual, hard-fought battle, WEEI has gone from being the dominant player for sports talk in town to having a legitimate competitor. Clifford, who now listens to both stations, predicts the arrival of The Sports Hub will bring changes at WEEI (some say those changes have already begun) as it strives to maintain its ratings edge. “Previous rivals were no competition,’’ he said. “This one is.’’

So it seems. Interviews with listeners in the two stations’ target demographic — males ages 25 to 54 — make it clear that whatever the appeal of the individual shows, the two stations, one (WEEI) a 50,000-watt powerhouse run by Entercom Communications, the other (98.5) owned and operated by CBS Radio, are competing on a far more level playing field than a year ago.

In perhaps the clearest sign that a rivalry has taken shape, even the ratings numbers between the stations are being debated. This spring, WEEI changed how it counted listeners, and began including those tuned in to its FM affiliate in Providence, claiming its signal penetrates the Boston market enough to warrant inclusion. WBZ-FM protested that WEEI was fudging its numbers to keep its edge, and Sports Hub hosts took shots at WEEI on air.

Since The Sports Hub debuted last August, born from the ashes of rock station WBCN-FM, WEEI has retained its Arbitron ratings advantage and remains a potent, and influential, member of the local media lineup. With the Providence listeners included, for the spring ratings period (April 1 to June 23), WEEI ranked first or second in the Boston market — depending on how numbers are crunched — in the coveted 25-54 group with an overall 6.8 audience share. The Sports Hub, with a 5.0, finished fifth. WEEI also placed first in morning-drive time with “The Dennis and Callahan Show,’’ beating fifth-place “Toucher and Rich’’ on The Sports Hub, and second in the afternoon, its “Big Show’’ edging The Sports Hub’s third-place “Felger and Massarotti.’’ One big win for 98.5 was that its “Baseball Reporters’’ show before Sox games from 6 to 7 p.m. beat WEEI’s pregame show, even though the actual Sox games are on WEEI.

How the ratings numbers should be crunched by including Providence or not may be debatable. What’s not is how much of a lock on the pro sports landscape the two stations have today. Sox and Celtics games air on WEEI and its affiliates, the Patriots and Bruins on 98.5. Each has contractual arrangements with prominent team officials and deep ties to other media entities, including The Boston Globe and Boston Herald. Sports Hub hosts Dan Shaughnessy and Chris Gasper are Globe sports columnists, for instance, as is Bob Ryan, a frequent guest host on WEEI when Herald columnist Gerry Callahan is away. Rob Bradford, a WEEI host, is a former Herald sportswriter, while Michael Holley, another WEEI host, is a former Globe columnist. Longtime former Herald sportswriter Michael Felger hosts a show on The Sports Hub with Tony Massarotti, a freelance columnist for the Globe’s website.

“WEEI is clearly terrified of the competition,’’ said Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch, a website covering the local sports media. He listed several moves, including Entercom shifting Red Sox broadcasts back to WEEI from WRKO, shortening commercial blocks, affiliating itself with ESPN Radio, and tweaking its Sox pregame programming to feature more caller interaction. He said WEEI for years had resisted any major changes, “because they had their ‘formula’ and it worked.’’

Now some listeners say it no longer does, or not as effectively as a few years ago, anyway.

Matt Gervais, 29, of Lowell, thinks the age gap is widening between the stations’ audiences. “The Hub’s positioned itself to grab guys like me, heading into our 30s,’’ Gervais said. WEEI’s “Dennis and Callahan’’ morning show, where political discussions often trump sports talk and the politics lean heavily right, “is more for my father’s generation,’’ he added. He now tunes in The Sports Hub’s morning show, hosted by Fred Toettcher and Rich Shertenlieb, which features more pop-culture riffs and comedy bits than its WEEI competitor.

To Pastor Timothy Horton, 53, of Douglas, The Sports Hub’s youthful touches are at best a mixed blessing. “Toucher and Rich don’t have a handle on the sports stuff, and their sophomoric humor doesn’t work,’’ he said. An industry consultant with 25 years’ experience as a station owner and broadcaster, Horton said having two stations to get his sports fix from “is like candy,’’ and that with CBS’s power behind it, he predicts, The Sports Hub should be around for the long run.

Another plus cited by Horton and others is the station’s FM signal, which many say is clearer and less static-plagued than WEEI’s AM signal.

As for executives at both stations, not surprisingly they emphasize their own strengths, rather than any perceived rivalry. CBS radio executive Mark Hannon said his company’s goals in launching The Sports Hub were holding on to WBCN’s listenership in the 18 to 35 demographic and retooling sports talk for a hipper, more rock-savvy FM radio audience.

“This town is so sports crazy, we felt there was definitely room for two [stations] and yet us be different,’’ said Hannon.

WEEI program director Jason Wolfe agrees that Boston fans are uniquely passionate, yet he downplays any notion of a head-to-head rivalry. WEEI has employed an aggressive, expand-the-brand strategy for years, Wolfe maintains, one that has reached not only into other markets like Worcester and Providence but has raised its profile on the Web, where the real competition is headed.

“It’s no longer just about share points,’’ said Wolfe, “it’s about accumulating a mass audience.’’ That explains why WEEI is positioning its website to compete against the likes of ESPN.com, which has launched a local Boston site, and the Globe’s website, Boston.com, which responded to ESPN by ramping up its own sports Web coverage. In addition, New England Sports Network (NESN) and Comcast SportsNet New England have both stepped up their Web efforts.

As for radio, though, Wolfe acknowledges that WBZ-FM has proved itself to be more viable than previous challengers. “This is a little different situation, I’ll grant that,’’ Wolfe said. “But we’re always reacting to market forces. We have to. And that includes what listeners tell us they want.’’

What Sutton resident Mike Catoia, 39, said he would like from WEEI is a little less complacency and more focus on sports talk. “They started losing me a few years ago,’’ said Catoia, who now listens mostly to 98.5 while driving around. “They definitely have to make some changes.’’

Greg Katz of Swampscott does not fully agree. Katz, 49, dials in to sports talk in his car for hours a day, and after 15 years with WEEI remains a fan of “Dennis and Callahan.’’

“I love Gerry’s whole perspective; I’m a sour guy, too,’’ he said. The morning hosts on 98.5 “I don’t find interesting at all,’’ he added. “They’re like talking deejays without the music.’’

Starting and ending his listening day with WEEI “is part of my little routine,’’ Katz said, and while he switches between stations and shows, he still counts himself a loyal ’EEI listener.

But Jack Ryan, another sports-talk consumer, cautions against WEEI changing too much. He says while WEEI’s “Whiner Line’’ at the end of “The Big Show’’ may be “stupid,’’ he also says it’s “funny and entertaining — maybe the best thing on radio.’’ Still, the 70-year-old North Shore resident said he has acquired a taste for The Sports Hub, where callers seem freer to express their opinions and relatively few traffic in shtick, the way many WEEI callers seem to.

“I haven’t heard Frank From Gloucester on The Sports Hub,’’ Ryan said. “And that’s a good thing.’’

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