Mirakian, who began working at NESN as a receptionist in 1984 and is now the senior director of Bruins hockey, knows how things have changed - on the air and behind the scenes - as well as anyone.
“It was such a special feeling to be a part of that, one of the first big moments.” “I remember call, and Ned Martin, who was still the voice at that time,’’ said Rose Mirakian, who was part of NESN’s crew that night. Roger Clemens would provide the first unforgettable NESN moment, striking out 20 Seattle Mariners on April 29, 1986. I don't know anybody who had NESN that first year (1984) but the old Warner Cable north of Boston picked it up in 1985 and Cablevision in Boston proper finally added it in 1986. On average roughly 30% of people who had cable signed up. With half-a-million premiums, you’re not going to garner enough audience to support anything but the core telecasts.” “It really allowed us to become a player in the marketplace. They just didn’t understand it and hadn’t really embraced that as a transitional method for NESN to really expand our reach. “The old ownership group wasn’t in love with that idea. “We were late to that game, frankly,’’ McGrail said. It was something many around NESN believed for years to be necessary, particularly Nate Greenberg, the longtime Bruins public relations director and executive. It all changed when NESN went to basic cable, completing the transition in July 2001 with the move to AT&T Broadband in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
And he would wait until June to see if the Red Sox were going to be worth his investment.” ‘You want the Bruins, you pay for it,’ he’d say. There were years where we subscribed to NESN in the summer and got rid of it in November. “When I got this job in ’95, first thing my dad said was, ‘Isn’t that 15 bucks a month?’ ’’ said Caron with an exaggerated growl. That particularly applied to premium cable. That reaction may be hard to fathom now in a world in which you can watch what you want when you want on the device of choice, but there was natural skepticism regarding cable television in general during NESN’s early days.
From 1984-2001, NESN used to be a $10 a month ( $24.73 today) add-on like HBO or $15 ($37.09) if bundled with the old SportsChannel.
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