Big sports talk radio news in Philadelphia. WIP, WFAN’s sister station, has tabbed midday hosts Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie to take over its morning show from the retiring Angelo Cataldi.
From Crossing Broad (our sister website):
After a three-month delay, 94 WIP finally has a replacement for the retiring Angelo Cataldi. It’ll be the current midday show moving up a slot.
(…)
So in the end, our hunch was right. The frontrunner ended up getting the job. I don’t know if Joe was the first choice this entire time, but kept hearing his name over and over again.
WIP had a long, drawn-out search process to replace Cataldi. Which makes sense, because he is a Mike Francesa equivalent in Philly. There were initially rumors flying about Audacy (the parent company) swinging for the fences and bringing Mike Golic in. And it seemed like there was enough smoke for there to be fire on that front. But obviously it did not come to pass.
Anyway, DeCamara was on the short list from the start. An internal promotion situation also likely appealed to Audacy during its current turn in the economic barrel. And WIP now has a similar host profile setup in the mornings as WFAN: Ritchie is a former NFL player (albeit not of Boomer Esiason’s stature) and DeCamara is a regular sports radio guy like Gregg Giannotti.
The Philadelphia market has seen a lot of upheaval recently. Cataldi retiring, Mike Missanelli forced out at The Fanatic and now WIP will need to find a new midday program (likely more internal moving and shaking). New York’s sports talk scene is pretty stable, on the other hand. At least for now. The first month of the fall ratings book should be coming out soon. If WFAN’s Craig Carton and Evan Roberts continue to steamroll ESPN Radio New York’s Michael Kay, speculation will continue about Kay hanging it up when his contract expires next year. And that would be a heck of a story around town.
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James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com
