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RADIO WARS: Bill Colarulo Invites 94 WIP Listeners to “Make the Switch” and Abandon Rage and Clickbait
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One of the things that’s been recently interesting in Philadelphia sports talk radio is Bill Colarulo’s grand declaration of war on rage and clickbait. Back in June, he asked “people who consider themselves sports talk hosts” to stop criticizing Jalen Hurts for engagement. Now he’s outright calling for listeners to abandon 94 WIP and change the dial:
“I have never been more frustrated in my life, with the state of sports talk in this city. I see it on social media all the time, I see all of you saying that sports talk is insufferable, it’s unlistenable. You are spot on. That sports talk is insufferable. It is unlistenable, and it continues to this day, where they’re going to take shots at Jalen Hurts. Make the switch. Turn it off. Why do you let them get to you like this? I saw (Thursday), the question being posed, should we be concerned that Jalen Hurts is having a bad training camp? And it’s coming from people who haven’t seen a damn practice at training camp. I can’t take it anymore. I’m right there with you. We are never going to do that on this show. I will never do ragebait. We will never do clickbait. Make the switch. And if you’re listening to us, you probably already did. Tell your family and friends. Save them from it. Save them from the ragebait. Save them from the clickbait, because Jalen Hurts just won the damn Super Bowl. He was just named the Super Bowl MVP. And you’re talking about training camp, and we’re really gonna ask the question if we should be concerned that he’s having a bad camp when you haven’t even seen a damn practice. I can’t believe what goes on sometimes in this city.”
Colarulo is talking about Joe Giglio here. He’s referring to a Thursday clip in which Giglio discusses his concern about Jalen Hurts’ “rocky start” to training camp. He also suggests the rage bait is coming from people “who haven’t seen a damn practice at training camp,” which may or may not be true. WIP has a broadcast booth at camp, and Giglio and Hugh Douglas have been at NovaCare, but I don’t know if broadcasting from the premises amounts to watching enough of practice to have a real opinion on Hurts, or whether it’s based on the observations of Eliot Shorr-Parks and assorted beats.
Anyway, two main things here.
1) Appreciate Colarulo going in on this. If nothing else, it makes RADIO WARS interesting again. Things were getting really stale over here at Crossing Broad HQ. We need someone to send black roses to the other station and/or get suspended for impersonating a black caller. Let’s get it “down to the business,” as Jose from Norristown used to say.
Related, WIP has been annihilating the Fanatic for years, and neither station acts like the other exists. Colarulo going directly after them and asking people to “make the switch” is different. It’s a pivot. No clue if it will work, or have any impact at all, but there are plenty of folks out there who have been asking for 97.5 to be the “anti-WIP” and the new PM drive show is going to try this approach. It’s a bold strategy Cotton! Let’s see if it works out for them.
2) If you think about it, pragmatism is the new contrarianism. In a world of hot takes and rage bait, engagement farming and other such shite, you buck the trend by being normal instead. People will say this amounts to “boring” radio, and maybe that’s true, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough if pragmatism is marketable. It’s like the old Megadeth song. Peace sells, but who’s buying? Is there an audience for straightforward sports talk, or can the audience not help itself in reaching for the low-hanging fruit? Russ Joy, of The Russ Joy Show, would call us all cowards for sitting on the fence, but does fence sitting amount to condemnable pusillanimity or measured erudition? I would say the latter!
Of course, for all the complaints about WIP and all of the jokes and criticisms, no one can deny that what they do WORKS, because they’ve got an identifiable brand and the most important broadcast rights in the city, and they continue to hum along like a juggernaut. But it’s compelling to see at least one show on 97.5 go after them directly.
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