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RADIO WARS: What Should 97.5 the Fanatic Do With the Morning Show After John Kincade Leaves?
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John Kincade announced on Wednesday that he’ll be leaving the Fanatic at the end of July:
Kincade replaced Marc Farzetta on the Fanatic morning show in 2021. He worked originally alongside Jamie Lynch, Bob Cooney, and Pat Egan, three hosts who eventually were reassigned or let go, then the show shifted to Kincade working with Andrew Salciunas and Connor Thomas.
So what now? Gut instinct, I don’t think the Fanatic does much at all. I think they leave The Choonis in place. He was driving the show, i.e. steering it topically and being the “lead” voice even though the name of the program was Kincade and Salciunas. Andrew has a lot of experience hosting anyway, for instance, stepping in for Anthony Gargano after The Cuz left for PHLY, and working alongside Lynch for a while. It gets a little fuzzy, trying to remember all of the different talent combinations the Fanatic has had over the years. But Choonis is capable, and I think Fanatic management believes that as well. Obviously Kincade was a sports talk radio veteran and did a lot of different things over the years, so they will lose some institutional knowledge (everybody’s favorite phrase) when he leaves.
That’s guess #1. They keep Choonis where he is and give him a new partner.
Another option would be to take one of the midday hosts and move them to mornings. Jon Marks has said publicly that he wants to work middays because it fits the ideal family schedule, but if that mindset ever changed, he could anchor AM drive while Bill Colarulo anchors PM drive. Then Choonis goes back to middays, or you can pair Marks and Choonis together and leave Sean Brace on middays with Ray Dunne.
A third option is totally unrealistic, but could you imagine if WPEN-FM decides to go the fast food route and have it their way? What if they bring in the Burger King, Howard Eskin? He’s been doing some hits with Marks on the midday show and he still has his followers in this area. I just can’t see The King waking up at the ass crack of dawn to do four hours of radio every day, especially with the Fanatic not taking a lot of phone calls. Can Eskin do radio without the ability to yell at callers and label them nitwits, morons, and dopes?
Otherwise, P.D. Scott Masteller could look to the NBC Sports Philadelphia partnership. Amy Fadool appears on the Fanatic. Maybe they can replicate the Ricky Bo setup with her, or someone else. It seems like people enjoy Unfiltered, so there might be something there they can duplicate.
The 5th option would be to recycle talent and/or go grab someone from WIP. Could do the ole’ radio shuffle and play musical chairs with the other station. I just don’t see Beasley spending big money, or much money at all, on a Kincade replacement.
We’ll see. My instincts are telling me it’s Choonis running the morning show now over there. That’s going off at -275 at the Crossing Broad Sportsbook.
But for now, we play the song:
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