97.5 made a somewhat unexpected announcement today, going outside the box and injecting some new life (…) into Philly sports talk radio by naming Bob Cooney, seen here during his Marshall Applewhite phase, as the new full-time co-host of their morning show. Eytan Shander and Brian Baldinger will remain as part of a rotating cast. Jamie Lynch will continue to serve as on-air producer.

Here’s the audio from the announcement:

I think there was some conjecture – perhaps generated by Tony Bruno – that Bruno would return to 97.5 and join Gargano in the mornings for what would’ve certainly been an over-the-top show. Rather, 97.5, which currently doesn’t have a program director after Matt Nahigian was let go last week, went with Cooney, who it sounds like will continue to cover the Sixers for the Daily News [update: he will not remain with the Daily News]. It’s a reasonable strategy, one that everyone else is using: double-down on the Sixers. My guess is a consortium of market managers and Beasley corporate overlords made the decision.

Cooney had been picking up fill-in shifts throughout the summer, and from what I’ve seen got generally favorable reviews. It’s maybe not a headline-grabbing addition, adding a newspaper beat writer, but that’s the tactic WIP used back in the day and obviously it worked out quite well for them. At the very least, 97.5 will have a competitive advantage when it comes to Sixers talk.

I would suspect a move like this doesn’t sit too well with Shander, who has essentially been the co-host all year and works, like, every day. He’s clearly the odd man out here. Meanwhile, no news – yet – on a new mid-day show, but I still wouldn’t be shocked to see Jason Myrtetus wind up with an on-air role.

The winds of change, they blow. TONES: