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Some Thoughts on Mike Missanelli’s Second 97.5 the Fanatic Departure, Plus a Few Related RADIO WARS Nuggets
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Big news on Friday afternoon, as Mike Missanelli was let go from 97.5 the Fanatic for a second time in a RADIO WARS stunner. Here are some follow up thoughts and related nuggets:
1) Sources we spoke with were unanimous in their belief that Mike was going to retire at the end of his contract, which runs through football season, so a little less than half a year in salary. The contract is fully guaranteed, and Beasley will pay it out in its entirety, so what was the point in axing Mike early instead of just letting him finish up? You’re now paying him the same amount not to work and the Eagles opener is in less than a month.
It seems as though the decision was made at the corporate level and not at the local level, so Mike was swept up in yet another round of Beasley cuts. They trimmed staff in Boston and New Jersey as well, following up on what feels like almost double-digit layoff rounds at this point. They’ve cut heavily in Philadelphia, moving on from veterans like Kathy Romano, Paul Jaxon, and Andre Gardner in recent years.
One of theories floating around out there, RE: Mike, is that Beasley was simply looking for a way to make the balance sheet look better ahead of Tuesday’s earnings call. I guess that means the remaining salary is dumped into a different bucket, since there’s no cost savings, but who knows at this point. Maybe it’s like Howie Roseman figuring a way to move money around and manipulate the salary cap. People keep saying that Beasley is positioning for a sale, but who are they selling to? iHeart? Who’s lining up to buy a bunch of radio stations in 2025? They could feasibly sell off a couple of stations here and there, but not the entire operation.
For what it’s worth, the Fanatic had Ray Dunne paired with Connor Thomas on Monday, so you’d assume that’s the case until a replacement is found. I still think it’s going to be Jon Marks, but that’s my gut talking and I don’t have any hard information on that yet. “
2) Mike got pretty much dicked here, for a second time. Twice now he’s left on unceremonious terms and been denied the farewell that he deserved. Whatever you think about Mike or his show, or his politics, you can’t deny that when you go way back to the beginning of WPEN, Mike was the key guy at the Fanatic who took that station to the next level. He was the one on the billboards, the guy who came in and took out Howard Eskin in less than a year. It was that early success that forced a response from CBS Radio, which decided to axe 94 WYSP and flip WIP to the FM dial. The stations aren’t even close to being competitive now, but it was tight back then, and Mike headlined a really solid lineup that included guys like Tony Bruno, Harry Mayes, midday shows like Marks and Brace, Gonzo and Vai, and then the national Mike and Mike morning show. This is back when Matt Nahigian was PD and Joe DeCamara assistant PD, and they had talented nighttime guys as well, like Dan Schwartzman.
Mike’s Fanatic return happened after the Anthony Gargano lawsuit left a huge void in middays and put Bob Cooney and Andrew Salciunas in tough spots. A bunch of guys left for PHLY at that time, and the roster was looking pretty lean. So the thought was that Missanelli comes back, helps stabilize things, finishes his contract, then rides off into the sunset the way he initially wanted to. Instead, he barely made it a year before they decided to axe him, so I think most people would agree it was kinda shit. Makes it look like there’s no plan, and maybe there isn’t.
3) If you’ve listened to the Fanatic at night over the past week or so, you’ve probably heard ESPN programming. They have always had ESPN programming on 97.5, but we’re told that they are going to cut short local evening programming, ending at 8 p.m. on weekdays and 6 p.m. on weekends. So whomever comes in after Bill Colarulo, say Kevin Cooney, he’d only go up until 8 p.m. now, then they flip it to the national guys. On the weekends, I guess they’re going to run Brendan Gunn, Dei Lynam, and/or Cooney up to 6 p.m., and then flip it.
Veteran Fanatic listeners will probably agree that the station had some solid night programming back in the day. The aforementioned Schwartzman, for one. There were solo shows with Nick Kayal and Tom Byrne, and DeCamara was very good solo in his pre-WIP days.
4) One of the Boston cuts was program director “Cadillac” Jack McCartney, who had been there since 2013. Coincidentally, some of their guys went on the air last week to say they hadn’t been paid their quarterly bonuses:
That’s Fred Toucher, who is an idiot. He’s the jamoke who hung up on the Carolina Hurricanes beat reporter because he didn’t like his southern accent. In an ideal world, he’d make $0, but if the guy earned his bonus, you have to pay him.
5) Beasley’s stock price increased about 35 cents since Friday, going up to $4.35 a share. It’s fallen from a number around $11 going back to August of 2024. (EDIT – I completely forgot that they did the reverse stock split, in order to get above the $1 required for stock exchange listing. It was a 1-for-20 split, the same thing Audacy did. The numbers are worse than they actually look.)
6) One of the guys in our Slack asked if, in hindsight, the Fanatic should have kept Gargano and allowed him to do both PHLY and 97.5 at the same time. He mentioned that PHLY simulcasting would be a win/win for both organizations, and it’s hard to disagree with that. The NBC Sports Philadelphia simulcast, using Ricky Bo on PM drive, seems to have worked out well, so if you carve out slots for the PHLY Eagles show with Fran Duffy and Bo Wulf and EJ Smith, and maybe find some time for the Sixers and Phillies shows, that could be a quid pro quo-type of way to fill the void.
It’ll never happen now, because the ship has sailed, and it resulted in litigation between the sides, but it’s an interesting hypothetical.
7) A recent reader email noted that he’s switched over to 97.5 from WIP because there’s been “way too much” talk about the Jack Fritz vs. Joe DeCamara athletic competition. I’d imagine that will dwindle with Eagles season approaching.
8) Updating the list of talent to depart the Fanatic:
- Mike Missanelli (twice)
- Anthony Gargano
- Tyrone Johnson
- Jen Scordo
- Devon Givens
- Pat Egan
- Tony Bruno
- Harry Mayes
- Jason Myrtetus
- Jon Marks
- Joe DeCamara
- Sean Brace
- Nick Kayal
- Tom Byrne
- Dan Schwartzman
- managers Matt Nahigian, Eric Johnson, Eric Camille, Chuck D’Amico
- Jamie Lynch
- Hunter Brody
- Natalie Egenolf
- Bob Cooney
- Tom Alvord
- Marc Farzetta
- Tra Thomas
- James Seltzer
- Phil from Mount Airy
- Vai Sikahema
- John Gonzalez
- Rob Ellis
- Jody Mac
- Pat Gallen
- Eytan Shander
- Matt Lombardo
- Sam Wilson
- Joe Staszak
- Kevin McAlpin
- Rob Maaddi
- Tyler Zulli
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com