Radio coverage of Harvard football games this fall will be sharply curtailed because of the failure of the University to renew its contract with Boston radio station WBZ, which has covered Crimson home and away games for the past three years, it was learned yesterday.

Only the Yale game in New Haven will be radio broadcast in the Boston area.

Disagreement over fees and general Harvard dissatisfaction with the quality of last year's WBZ broadcasts produced the stalemate. Attempts to come to terms with station WEEI also failed because of that station's inability to find a sponsor.

As a result of these negotiations and those with CBS-TV over television coverage of the Dartmouth and Brown games, the stay-at-home Crimson fan will find himself in something of a muddle when it comes to following the games play-by-play.

He will need either a powerful radio which can pick up New York stations or a television set. And for three games he must wait until Sunday before watching motion pictures of Saturday's action on television.

At the moment, this is what he can expect in the way of TV and radio football coverage this fall:

Massachusetts: WBZ-TV will show complete game pictures Sunday beginning at 12 noon. The early hour is due to that station's coverage of the World Series later in the day. No play-by-play radio coverage for Boston.

Cornell: WBZ-TV will show game pictures beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. In the New York area alone WCBS may cover the game on its "Ivy Game of the Week' 'series.

Columbia: WCBS will probably report this game for the New York area only on its "Ivy Game of the Week" series. No play-by-play radio coverage for Boston.

Dartmouth: In the Boston area, CBS-TV will show this game through WNAC, its local outlet. No play-by-play radio coverage for Boston.

Bucknell: No coverage, radio or TV.

Princeton: WBZ-TV will show game pictures beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. WCBS will broadcast this game on its "Ivy Game of the Week" series in the New York area only. No play-by-play radio coverage for Boston.

Brown: In the Boston area CBS-TV will show this game on WNAC-TV. No play-by-play radio coverage for Boston.

Yale: Boston radio station WNAC is scheduled to report this game in the local area. WCBS will broadcast the game in the New York area on its "Ivy Game of the Week" series. And WBZ-TV will show game pictures beginning at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The CBS radio broadcasts of Harvard games are not being carried in the Boston area due to a change of policy by the network's local affiliate, WEEI, which is programming music with spot news and football scores on Saturday afternoons this fall