LEWISTON – Sports fans in the Twin Cities area looking for more of a Boston flavor to their sports talk radio should get their wish, just in time for the New England Patriots’ anticipated post-season run.

Boston sports radio station WEEI will be launching on WLAM-AM 1470 and WHXR-FM 106.7, most likely on Jan. 1, 2008, replacing ESPN Radio on the AM station, and the classic rock format on the FM station (now known as “The Bone”).

Last August, Nassau Broadcasting, which owns WLAM and WXHR, announced a partnership with Entercom Communications to broadcast WEEI throughout New England. The original target date to begin simulcasting in Maine was Nov. 15, but that was moved back, according to Steve Stantial, who is Nassau’s marketing and advertising representative in Auburn.

“There’s a lot of technical stuff in the background that has to go on so everything lines up properly,” Stantial said.

The Boston all-sports radio station is consistently in the top two in the Arbitron ratings among 25-54 year-old males in the Boston market. On weekdays, it broadcasts 18 hours (6 a.m. to midnight) of live and local sports talk.

“In Boston, it is a monster of a station,” Stantial said. “You figure in a major metropolitan area like Boston is, they do absolutely phenomenal there and we strongly feel up here that it’s going to be a monster.”

The morning schedule features Dennis and Callahan (6-10a.m.), hosted by former Boston television sports anchor John Dennis and Boston Herald columnist Gerry Callahan, Dale and Holley (10 a.m.-2p.m.), hosted by former Maine Mariners’ and Boston Bruins’ play-by-play announcer and Bowdoin College graduate Dale Arnold and Michael Holley, a former Boston Globe columnist and author of the book “Patriot Reign.” The PM schedule features The Big Show with the Big O (3-6 p.m.), hosted by Glenn Ordway, and Planet Mikey (8 p.m.-midnight), hosted by Mike Adams.

“It’s Boston-related, which is going to be a sports fan’s dream come true,” Stantial said. “It’s going to be for the Boston sports junkie, and basically here in Maine, we’re just a northern extension of Boston.”

WEEI is also the flagship station for the Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics, but those games will not air locally because those teams already have agreements with other stations. Stantial said Nassau will be pursuing those rights for 2008.

WHXQ-FM 104.7, which can be heard in the Portland market, will also make the switch to WEEI, while WLVP-AM 870 will continue to broadcast ESPN Radio through June or July of 2008. Stantial said Nassau is considering replacing that with programming similar to the Air America format that preceded ESPN radio.