The biggest sports rivalry in Philadelphia right now might be the old guard versus the new over at SportsRadio 94WIP.
Former WIP enemies and legends Angelo Cataldi and Howard Eskin recently teamed up to bash the current state of the station where they once reigned supreme. Cataldi criticized WIP for being too soft on Philadelphia’s sports teams, while Eskin believed there isn’t enough talent to fill a successful radio lineup. Although afternoon drive on WIP is, of course, headlined by his son, Spike Eskin.
And after listening to his father and former colleague rip WIP, Spike fired back in a social media post, calling their comments “disappointing and embarrassing.”
“This is the most talented staff WIP ever, our ratings lap theirs, and we all get along instead of trying to backstab each other like they did,” the younger Eskin continued. “We showed them respect. Sad they can’t just enjoy their lives.”
After ripping WIP on Howard Eskin’s podcast, Cataldi joined Dan Sileo’s The National Football Show to do the same, while taking specific aim at the rebuttal from his former program director, Spike Eskin.
“First of all, a lot of that backstabbing and stuff we were doing was designed to create excitement,” Cataldi told Sileo. “He doesn’t know that? He’s the son of Howard Eskin, if he doesn’t know that, who does? The other thing is, oh my God, stop the presses! Two old guys got together and started talking about how much better they did their jobs than these young whippersnappers that are working today. Give me a friggin’ break will you please?”
“I’ve been communicating with Howard since our conversation. The conversation was not designed to create any sort of an issue,” Cataldi continued. “I said to him, ‘Why don’t you tell your son, Spike, and all the other people over there that they can take a bow for how amazing they are now,’ ignoring the fact that they basically built this station on Howard’s shoulders and then mine. We’ll ignore that. Come back to me in another 30 years, and then tell me how great your numbers are, or how you’re lapping people.”
Cataldi noted radio ratings are different now than when he was in his prime at WIP, claiming there’s less competition because audiences don’t tune to radio for music the way they used to.
“Please don’t hand me how great you’re doing in the ratings because frankly, the only ratings you care about are the ratings that those businesses you represent, in the case of WIP, you represent baseball and football, you represent the Phillies and the Eagles. As long as they’re happy, you’re happy. And that’s a problem! That’s not my generation of doing sports talk. My generation was at least rooted in journalism, which was rooted in accountability!”
According to Cataldi, WIP is more concerned about maintaining positive relationships with the Phillies and Eagles than they are willing to challenge or criticize a team the way honest fans do.
“They’re insecure because they have a different agenda now,” Cataldi ranted. “They’re trying to please different people. They’re really interested in pleasing the teams they talk about, which is a dumb agenda. It’s dumb.”
Cataldi used Phillies manager Rob Thomson and Eagles’ Super Bowl winning head coach Nick Sirianni as examples, claiming no one is willing to write or say a negative thing about either one of them.
“If you’re a fan of a team and you’re frustrated, that’s what you want to hear. That’s what you want to see, and they don’t do it anymore,” said Cataldi. “That to me is why they’re not doing that great a job anymore. Anywhere, not just WIP, all the sports media in Philadelphia. There are a bunch of p*ssies. Put that in your headline. There are a bunch of p*ssies.”
It continues the recent trend of older radio hosts sounding off on their former station of employment, claiming their era was better than today’s. But if Cataldi admits he went after Howard Eskin for show all those years ago, maybe part of him is relishing the ability to do the same with Spike.