Another heritage rocker bites the dust: CBS Radio’s Sportsradio WIP will also be heard on Classic Rock WYSP-FM 94.1, beginning on 9/6 (the day after Labor Day). “SportsRadio 94 WIP” will launch a new line-up to coincide with its debut on the FM dial.
“WIP has a 25-year track record of being the premier sports station in Philadelphia and the move to FM is part of a natural evolution we’ve seen successfully work in several major cities across the nation,” said Marc Rayfield, SVP and Market Manager, CBS Radio Philadelphia. “We’ve always been a great sports talk radio station – now we’ll be located on a much busier corner in a larger neighborhood. One of the best years in Philadelphia sports has just become better.”
The station’s new weekday programming schedule will be highlighted by WIP veterans and the addition of Philadelphia sports broadcasting icon Michael Barkann.
5:30-10:00AM
Angelo Cataldi and the Morning Team with Rhea Hughes and Al Morganti:
Each morning a Philly favorite former athlete joins the show for unique insight into sports. Among the guests include Keith Jones (Flyers) and Ricky Bottalico (Phillies), as well as a Philadelphia Eagle to be named at a later date.
10:00AM-1:00PM:
The Mike and Ike Show:
Featuring current Comcast SportsNet host Michael Barkann and former Eagle All Pro Ike Reese, this show will provide listeners with unparalleled analysis, and opinions from the biggest names in sports.
1:00-6:00PM
Anthony Gargano and Glen Macnow:
WIP’s highly successful midday show moves to late afternoon. The duo has consistently been Philadelphia’s No. 1 most listened to sports show in their current timeperiod.
6:00-10:00PM:
Rob Ellis or sports play-by-play
Overnights will be handled by Big Daddy Graham, broadcasting from 2:00-5:30AM.
RBR-TVBR observation: Obviously, the trend of placing AM signals onto an FM HD-2 or HD-3 channel is declining. There just aren’t enough listeners out there with HD Radios to make it a viable option. But the bigger threat is music formats on FM are disappearing in general. Because programmers have all but given (heck they never really tried) up on offering new music targeting 18-34 Men and Women (read: Indie Rock, not simply hard-edged Alternative), the Rock format is dying. You can only shove so much of the same decades-old songs over and over again down the throats of listeners before they’re driven to iPods, the internet and satellite. This is still not so much the case with CHR, thankfully, because the big labels still have plenty of talent rolling out.
