If you missed it Sunday, legendary local media personality Ray Didinger announced his retirement. He’ll be stepping away from both 94 WIP and NBC Sports Philadelphia at the end of the month. This is totally his decision. He decided to call it quits at age 75 and focus on family moving forward.

I realize the title of this article amounts to a rhetorical question of sorts. Who replaces Ray Didinger? You can’t replace somebody like Ray in terms of quality, but both outlets are going to have to put somebody else in the chair that he’ll be sitting in for a few more weeks, so I did some brainstorming and came up with a few ideas:

94 WIP

Here are three thoughts on a possible direction for Rod Lakin and David Yadgaroff:

  1. call upon Jody McDonald for a “Mac and Mac” reunion
  2. Glen Macnow goes solo
  3. keep the old school vibe with a former Inquirer writer or part time WIP guy

My immediate thought was that Jody Mac comes back and does a permanent weekend reunion with Glen Macnow. There’s built-in chemistry and familiarity, institutional knowledge and the old school, straightforward sports talk vibe. Jody currently does a variety of gigs, including various radio time slots and the Monday to Friday Birds 365 show, so you’d have to ask if he wants to do more radio, and if both guys would be open to reuniting for two shows per week.

My second thought is that Glen goes solo. He could probably pull it off, though I’m not sure he’s looking to do that. You probably want a co-host to play off of. They do take calls on the weekend show, but it’s not the same volume as a Monday —> Friday daypart show, and that’s a lot of time for Glen to fill on his own.

Third idea –

I’m thinking they could try to find another veteran to replace Ray and replicate the current model. There are some guys who are peripheral WIP contributors that might fit in nicely here, like a Reuben Frank or Ross Tucker. You could pull from the Rickie Ricardo nights/weekends tree, and match Glen with someone like that.

The other idea I had was to pull in maybe one of the recently retired or bought out Philadelphia Inquirer guys, if they’re interested in doing radio. Or even get a current writer and ask them if they’re down. I’d listen to a Glen Macnow show with Bob Ford, Les Bowen, Mike Sielski, Mike Jensen, or somebody like that. I just think the question is whether or not you can survive with an Eagles-only guy, or if you need someone who can do basketball/hockey/baseball, too. Ray was mostly a football guy but knew enough about the other sports as well to speak with credibility.

I’d also keep the Tell Us Your Story segment, since it’s unique and works on the weekends. My take is that the weekend morning/midday show should keep that traditional journalism vibe and stay away from the hoagie mouth callers and hot takes. That’s what makes it good in the first place, because it’s a departure from the standard weekday WIP model.

EDIT – just had a stupid idea, but what if Jim Gardner co-hosts a weekend show or two? Guy has been itching to drop his sports takes for a long time now. Make it happen!

NBC Sports Philadelphia

Ray and his notepad are going to be missed on the Eagles pregame and postgame shows. You’re left right now with a group that includes Mike Barkann, Barrett Brooks, and a mostly-angry Seth Joyner. If NBCSP goes internal, you could throw Roob up there as a viable replacement, but he’s at the games getting quotes and doing the press conferences, along with Dave Zangaro. Ross Tucker could work here as well.

Going along with my earlier thought, I think you could turn to one of the former Inquirer guys as well. What’s Paul Domowitch up to these days? Would he do Eagles pregame and postgame? I think he’d be adequate in the role. It’s curious to think about because when you go through some of the younger guys on the Eagles beat, can they make the transition to television? I think a guy like Sheil Kapadia or Jeff McLane could do it easily, but like Roob, they’re at the games and have responsibilities in the locker room and at the pressers. You’d need someone without that first responsibility who can commit to being in the studio instead of in the field.

EDIT 2 – some people are mentioning Derrick Gunn, which is a good idea for WIP, but he can’t go back to NBCSP after they got rid of him for no reason

As a final thought, I agree with Kev on this 100% –

Put up a plaque on the wall, or even name the workroom behind the press box after him, etc. Something along those lines would be really cool, and easily justified. “Ray Didinger Eagles Press Box” or something that sounds cool. I’ll call Eagles public relations and get the ball rolling. Let’s #DoTheDeal.