97.5 the Fanatic teased a big announcement for 8 a.m. this morning, which turned out to be the 2022 Fan Fest reveal. Obviously they weren’t going to announce the Mikey Miss replacement lineup on John Kincade’s show, and they usually do the Fan Fest news in the summer anyway, so it was pretty easy to put two and two together here.

Details for Fan Fest:

It’s the return of 97.5 The Fanatic’s Fan Fest.

Saturday, October 1st at Xfinity Live.

The biggest party of the year for Philly sports fans is a FREE EVENT but you WILL NEED A TICKET to attend. It is a 21+ event.

Listen for your chance to win tickets and stay tuned for details on special guests!

This event existed as “Fantasy Fest” for some time, then was re-branded to “Fan Fest” at some point. It didn’t take place during COVID, but then returned last September and it seemed like people had a good time. They always get the hosts up on the stage and have special guests and whatnot. Tyrese Maxey got a really nice ovation before embarking upon his breakout season.

I wrote this about Fan Fest last year at the end of a listicle shit post:

“On a serious note, I kind of like Fantasy Fest. It’s just a bunch of people from the 97.5 and Philly sports community coming out to have a good time, connect some names to faces, etc. Totally harmless. It gets ripped for some reason, and carries the “Frankfurter Fest” nickname because it’s 99% dudes showing up, but I dunno, seems like the people who go always enjoy it. Maybe we should not “knock it until we try it,” as they say.”

One of my all-time favorite Crossing Broad stories involves Fan Fest. It was back in 2018, when there was a rumor going around on Twitter that women weren’t allowed to attend, like this was The Handmaid’s Tale. We were shown a ticket by a reader and there was nothing on there about women being barred. All it had was the 18+ age designation. So Mikey Miss went on his show to say that the rumor was false, and then pivoted to accuse 94 WIP and Jon Marks of using burner accounts to spread the “no women” rumor, which was hilarious. He called Marks a “VLT” (very little talent) and said this:

“I guarantee you that was started by the other station and their insecurities, because I have seen fake Twitter accounts that rip this show and laud that other show, little Skippy over there that used to be my producer, I’ve been told is behind some fake accounts.”

We reached out to Audacy, who never comment on anything, and they said this:

“The allegation that Jon Marks or anyone at WIP would create fake Twitter accounts to spread misinformation is false on every level and totally baseless.”

Anyway, it was a pretty good one. Classic RADIO WARS.

If you want to get Fan Fest tickets you have to listen to 97.5 and call in. It’s pretty easy to get the tix. I’ve never been, but maybe we’ll send Pagan down there to do a man on the street video. And if there’s an opportunity to put Ingy or Mike from KOP in the bagster or dunk tank, I will be the first in line.