WIP announced Wednesday that Hugh Douglas is coming back to Philly to join Joe Giglio on the new midday show. That means in 2023 we’re going to have an Andy Reid-era Eagle on all three of the main radio day parts broadcasting from 2400 Market.

It immediately made me think of the video clip that picked up steam on Twitter earlier this week, from the Ah Jeez podcast hosted by former Philly radio guys Jason Myrtetus and Harry Mayes:

The timing of this drop is certainly apropos, if nothing else. Jason shares an opinion on Eagles-driven radio, the clip circulates on Philly sports Twitter, then Audacy goes out and announces the Hugh Douglas hire a few days later, adding him to a staff that already includes Jon Ritchie and Ike Reese. On mornings, midday, and afternoon now, it’s the same design – pairing a lead host with a former Bird.

On one hand, the strategy makes obvious sense. WIP holds the Eagles’ broadcast rights, the Eagles are the biggest team in town, and bringing in former players gives you a stranglehold on the market, with credibility to boot. WIP wins across the board with their strategy of hammering football and hiring guys like Ike and Hollis, who played the game at the highest level and can speak to the experience of being in locker rooms and going through NFL seasons. There is certainly something to be said for the concept of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and what WIP does requires no repair.

On the other hand, the question is whether or not former athletes can talk about the sports they didn’t play. Does Hugh Douglas know anything about baseball? That’s a rhetorical question. I’m not sure, but we’ll find out soon enough. Likewise, when 97.5 tabbed Ricky Bo for The Best Show Ever?, we wondered if a baseball guy could talk Eagles.

Truth be told, you’re not going to find a lot of media members in Philly, former players or not, who can speak on 4-5 sports or teams with the requisite depth and competence. Typically you’re strong with 1-2 sports, then there’s a drop off after that. Finding a jack-of-all-trades is exceedingly rare these days.

From a macro-level type of perspective, I think Myrtetus makes a good point here. Sports talk radio is wise to “play the hits” to ensure consistency in listenership and profitability, but the medium does become exhausting when we get to May and we’re still shoving the square Eagles peg into the round hole, eschewing other legitimate topics in the process. In the mind of programmers, they’re okay with sacrificing fringe possible listeners if it means they hold on to their core of hardcore Eagles fans. But to this creates “redundancy in topic,” as Jason points out at the end of the clip.

Anyway, it’s interesting stuff. I’m intrigued to see how WIP sounds when the new lineup begins in February, but they may have to rebrand as “Eagles Radio 94 WIP” at some point in the near future.