Mike Missanelli had Angelo Cataldi on his new podcast. We’ve reviewed a couple of the recent appearances Angelo has made, and they are all intriguing because there is no shtick and he speaks honestly and openly.

Same deal here. This was a very good interview. I took notes:

  • “My tank is just about empty,” Angelo said about retirement and finally calling it quits.
  • Angelo noted that his first marriage ended because of his radio work schedule. “It had major repercussions on my private life.”
  • Cataldi hated his boss at the Inquirer, some guy I’ve never heard of named David Tucker, noting that this person was always butchering his work and editing it down. That was the main catalyst for leaving print in the first place, to make the switch to radio. He got a $20k bump in pay to leave the newspaper business and the rest is history.
  • There are some good stories in this podcast about the early days of radio and how these guys made the transition out of print.
  • This story is not new, but Angelo reiterated that Tom Bigby is the guy who basically killed the journalist in him and turned him into a radio entertainer instead. Honestly, we can all blame Bigby for the WIP Morning Show.
  • Mike had an interesting story about how Bigby basically worked the WIP hosts against each other in order to create competition and motivation.
  • TREMENDOUS stories about The Great Sports Debate and Jim Fregosi.
  • Both guys noted that they reached a point where they had no interest being in the locker room ala beat reporters.
  • Angelo is 100% correct when saying “there isn’t much of a market” for journalism these days. Ding ding ding! I always knew he was very smart.
  • Cataldi threw shade at The Best Show Ever? and thinks that Beasley screwed Mike at the end.
  • They do get into the Beasley missteps a bit, talking about “bean counters” and whatnot.
  • Missanelli admitted that talking about politics probably came back to bite him in the ass. Cataldi noted he got a ton of pushback from the vaccination talk during the pandemic.
  • Angelo admitted the theatrical element of radio resulted in him amping things up, but he doesn’t offer fake opinions.
  • Cataldi is going to write a memoir.

It’s a really good podcast. Listen to it here, it’s worth your time: