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RADIO WARS: John Kincade Leaving 97.5 the Fanatic

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jun 3rd, 2026 · 10:13 AM EDT

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This is from John Mamola at Barrett Sports Media:

John Kincade has announced he is leaving 97.5 The Fanatic after five years with the radio station. His final on-air day is July 31, 2026.

What We Know: Beasley Media Group confirmed Kincade will exit the Kincade & Salciunas Morning Show at the end of July. He joined The Fanatic in 2021 after returning to Philadelphia, becoming a fixture in the station’s weekday morning lineup. Beyond hosting, he contributed as a digital content creator covering the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers. His broadcasting career spans more than three decades, dating back to 1992. Andrew Salciunas will remain as morning host from 6–10 a.m.

Kincade noted later in Wednesday’s show that he “couldn’t commit to doing this – getting up at four in the morning and everything for another 2, 3, whatever-some years, and so I just said ‘I can’t do it.’ So this is what we’re gonna do. And I didn’t realize at the time we were going to take such dramatic, that my wife and I were going to take such a dramatic idea of changing things up, but we’re gonna see where it leads us. I have no idea. I have no idea if the phone is going to ring. And if the phone doesn’t ring, I’m going to play a hell of a lot of golf, and lay by a pool.”

Barrett also has this quote, which I believe is from earlier in the show. I’ll go through the YouTube clip and see if I can find it:

“John Kincade on the decision to step away: “After a great deal of thought, I’ve decided that this summer will be the right time for me to step away from mornings at The Fanatic. This decision comes after a lot of reflection. Following my cancer battle and thinking carefully about what’s best for me and my family moving forward. I’m incredibly grateful to Beasley, to my teammates, and most importantly to the Philadelphia listeners who welcomed me back home in 2021 and supported me every step of the way.”

Kincade was always an interesting radio personality because he was connected to his native Philadelphia even though much of his career was spent in Atlanta. He did regular hits with Angelo Cataldi and became familiar to Philadelphia sports fans, to the point where every time somebody departed one of the local stations, his name was thrown into the mix as a possible replacement. It was the old “time to bring John Kincade home” thing, and it finally happened in 2021 when he replaced Marc Farzetta on the Fanatic morning show, joining a crew of Jamie Lynch, Bob Cooney, and Pat Egan. Eventually the supporting cast was re-assigned and then laid off one-by-one, and 97.5 restructured the show with Kincade pairing Andrew Salciunas, the latter steering the conversation despite the title of the program being Kincade and Salciunas. Now it’s just Salciunas and whomever they decide to replace Kincade with.

I think Kincade was always in a difficult spot going up against Cataldi, and then the reimagined WIP morning show with Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie. They could have put anybody up against WIP and they weren’t going to win. But I don’t think you take that job with the mindset of “winning,” I think you take it with the mindset of carving out a listenership and trying to put a respectable show on the air and build some relationships with sponsors, considering you have half the resources of WIP and no Eagles or Phillies radio rights. It was refreshing, separate thought, to not hear myriad jabroni callers on Kincade’s show, which was a total 180 from the WIP morning show. That’s my main takeaway. It was different, but also hard capped. I think anybody who works at the Fanatic right now has a very low ceiling just based on how lopsided the WIP battle is, resources and rights and ownership and whatnot. And then you throw in the strength of Preston and Steve and the other Beasley stations and morning terrestrial radio in Philly is a pretty competitive space.