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Before we get to the RADIO WARS portion of this post, let’s quickly call attention to comments made by Howard Eskin, who got three whole segments(!) on the Josh Innes Show last night, about bloggers and “all this nonsense”:

“In this world of social media and bloggers and all this nonsense… the world is different in our business… it’s different because you almost don’t have to be right anymore. You don’t care if you’re right. You should be right. It’s all about clicks on the website.”

Eskin was talking about the report – from his colleague Marc Farzetta on CBSPhilly.com (not a blog) – that Chip Kelly would be contacted by Florida. Blogs, to my knowledge, were the specific outlets that (for once) stood with Eskin in their laughing off that particular matter:

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me

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The entire text following that last headline, courtesy of Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation, was “NO.”

So I’m not sure why Howard felt that this would be the best time to criticize blogs, especially when you consider that him criticizing others for sometimes not being right and for generating clicks (or ratings) is so, so rich, creamy and soupy that it comes with a warning label for those who are lactose intolerant.

Anyway, Eskin continued and responded to a comment, brought up by known Mike Missanelli basher Josh Innes, that Missanelli apparently made yesterday when he referred to Eskin as Andy Reid’s former lapdog (not a direct quote). Here’s what Eskin had to say about that:

“Is that guy (Mike) still working? He’s been fired like four or five times at this point. He’s got to get some new material. I’ve never listened to him, I don’t even know why you’d waste your time. He is old, he’s tired, he’s a psycho. He’s been fired so many times for stupid things. He writes emails to a guy for two years and then he accuses him of being gay. I mean, all these things he does, so I don’t even bother with him.”

“Why would he even worry about me? He is so insecure that he can’t let me go. Hey Mike, just to let you know, I’m not on against you anymore. I’m not on.”

There are a few things here:

1) Mike is still working, in one of the two or three most desirable local sports talk radio time slots. Eskin knows this, presumably, because he used to be on during one of them and now isn’t, at least in part because Missanelli still is. Get all that? Some might say Missanelli… you know what? I’ll just let Mike say it:

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Bum rush. Nice. Did you know LEN once had an album entitled You Can’t Stop the Bum Rush? You could, of course, throw them some shade:

[Side note: I FEEL LIKE I WAS JUST PUNCHED IN THE COLON BY “TRL”!]

2) He is so insecure that he can’t let me go. Maybe. But there is a pot and kettle in this situation, and I believe one of them just called the other black.

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All this Missanelli bashing on Innes’ show, while fun and highly entertaining (I truly enjoy Innes’ ohhhh Mikey Miss caller impressions), may be becoming too much. I don’t have a dog in the fight, and I truly, deeply, dearly am thankful for the page views that come from posting the transcript of these rants, but there’s a fine line between funny and swinging up. We may be approaching it. For Mike’s part, firing back at Innes doesn’t do him much good, but refusing to acknowledge his existence might not be a better tactic either. He’s mostly in a no-win situation. A spat between Innes and Missanelli is better for Innes than it is for Missanelli at this point.

I don’t know the ratings, because local radio stations treat them like nuclear launch codes and don’t release “the numbers” regardless of what they may say. A little birdie keeps telling me that Missanelli has been number one in sports talk radio’s most coveted demo – 24-54 males – for five years, and while I don’t necessarily doubt that, I wish I could tell you with certainty if that is or isn’t the case. Hell, I’d wish I could tell you who beats who locally. So consider this my public request for someone at one of the two stations to send their obtained numbers this way– with full anonymity assured.

Anyway, Missanelli keeps taking the grammatical punches (Innes, Barkann, Eskin), but for now he’s winning the war. What would be a fun battle, though, is if Innes was ever moved to the afternoon slot on WIP and went up against Missanelli…

You can listen to Eskin on Innes’ show here.