I’ll be honest with you – I have no clue who is replacing Angelo Cataldi. I should know this because it’s the one area that we spend a lot of time on, and we usually get the breaking news first, so it’s somewhat embarrassing that we’re less than 24 hours from the official announcement and have yet to crack the code. A rare L for Crossing Broad:

From talking to a half dozen people today, it would seem like Joe DeCamara is the favorite here. He’s been our frontrunner for months, but nobody can seem to actually confirm this. People have thrown a lot of names into the mix but Joe’s comes up the most frequently, and so if we had to set the odds, he’d be at the top of the list as of 10/26/22.

What I can tell you is that Rhea Hughes is staying, because she’s under contract. As for Al Morganti, Keith Jones, and producer Joe Weachter, I’m not so sure. That’s one of the most interesting parts of all of this, finding out if the rest of Angelo’s crew is going to stick around or not.

Audacy is doing a really good job of keeping this thing air tight, although since the announcement was delayed by three months (was supposed to be July), it makes me wonder if Plan A fell apart back in the summer. The whole thing has been pretty weird. That Mike Golic rumor was HOT in the summer, then he came out and squashed it. His wife later alluded to a return to morning radio. Then an Audacy executive blocked me on Twitter after I went to both Golics for confirmation or denial, which was bizarro.

For most of the year, WIP employees have been completely in the dark (outside of people under contract and directly affected). There were a bunch of people interested in the job, and there have been numerous fill-in hosts on Wednesdays, but the folks at the top are heavily involved in the succession plan, for obvious reasons. It’s their biggest show, and so Davids Field and Yadgaroff are very active here. Audacy is also in the middle of some financial struggles. The stock price is 37 cents and they got a compliance warning from the NYSE, so I’m not sure if they are in a position to replace a big salary with a big salary.

If I was running WIP, I’d look at the struggles Beasley is currently having and probably think, “hey we’re hammering them right now, let’s just play it safe here.” You don’t even need to make a big splash in the morning. You are winning across the board in all day parts in the key M25-54 demographic, so you could move DeCamara to the morning, elevate Joe Giglio or someone else to a day part, and just promote from within while continuing to post strong wins across the board. I think it actually makes sense to keep it simple here, but what do I know? Remember, when WIP and Fanatic were more competitive during the time Spike Eskin took over from Andy Bloom, they didn’t go out and make huge, expensive hires. They got Joe, they got Jon Marks, they promoted Ike Reese, they got Eliot Shorr-Parks, etc. The focus was on local talent, not reinventing the wheel.

People keep saying Ross Tucker’s name on Twitter, but Ross has college football commitments and does five podcasts. I’d be stunned if he was the guy, or if they made a HUGE move for Mikey Miss or someone like that. If that was the case, it probably would have been leaked already. Same for a Marcus Hayes or other external candidate.

Note this as well, from Jeff Blumenthal at the Philadelphia Business Journal:

Several industry sources interviewed by the Philadelphia Business Journal believe it to be someone already working at the station — with most naming midday host Joe DeCamara as the likely successor. DeCamara, a graduate of St. Joseph’s Preparatory School (1996) and Fairfield University (2000), joined the station in 2016 with former Eagles fullback Jon Ritchie as co-hosts of the show that runs directly after Cataldi’s from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. He has been on air for the past 16 years in the Philadelphia market and was a producer prior to that.

Ritchie could join him in moving to mornings, sources said.

A source said former Eagles defensive end Hugh Douglas has been contacted by Audacy to see if he would be interested in returning to WIP. It does not appear that Douglas would be part of the morning team — more likely filling another day part shift, which would indicate that the station is looking to move some combination of DeCamara, Ritchie, Marks and Reese to mornings with Douglas targeted as a replacement.

Hugh Douglas is an interesting name. Jon and Ike to mornings? Dunno. Obviously if they elevate The Hammer, then they need to rejigger the afternoon show(s) as well. Pieces would have to be shuffled.

Either way, I’m intrigued. Maybe we can sniff this out tonight. If not, credit to Audacy for keeping this thing ON LOCK. Though to be fair, my level of pursuit here was about a 5/10. I’ll “do a better job” next time, as Andy Reid once said.