Feature: Media: Game On

Not long after Jeff Lurie first purchased the team in 1994, he played touch football with some WIP employees. Cataldi’s co-host, Al Morganti, has a theory as to why Lurie stopped coming around: “I think he started listening to the station.” Years later, Lurie approached Douglas, by then at WIP, at a practice. “I can’t believe you said we’re not passionate about wanting to win,” Lurie told him. Around that time, Banner also ran into Douglas at the Linc. “I can’t believe they still let you in the building,” Banner said. Douglas thinks he was kidding. If The Fanatic is going to prevail, it will have to lure a broadcast deal away from WIP. A few years ago, the crown jewel would have been the Eagles. But today, stealing the Phillies from WIP and sister station The Big Talker 1210 AM is The Fanatic’s top priority. Prior to this season, the station made a pitch to Phils broadcast reps that one source called “an offer they couldn’t refuse,” but the Phillies got cold feet, and renewed with WIP and The Big Talker — albeit for this season only. “They gave us a lot to think about,” Phillies broadcasting manager Rob Brooks says of The Fanatic’s efforts — and what 2011 may bring. “There’s a new energy, a new commitment there. The fact that they [now] have an FM station, that has a great impact.”

LOST IN ALL of this “Who’s number one?” machismo is an alternative reality, one in which Philadelphia has not one, but two sports-talk stations, ones that (semi-peacefully) coexist. Radio analysts estimate there are 4.5 million sports fans in the region — more than enough ears to keep two jock talkers afloat. The numbers bear this out. From January 2009 to January 2010, WIP’s overall ratings among men ages 25 to 54 went up slightly. The Fanatic’s AM station listenership declined slightly, but ratings for its FM station more than doubled. “From WIP’s perspective, it’s like their competitor opened a new store in a different mall, with more foot traffic,” says Paul Heine, of radio trade publication Inside Radio. “[The Fanatic’s] growth doesn’t come at WIP’s expense. They’re attracting new people to the sports talk-radio pie.” Radio analyst Bob Snyder compares Philadelphia to other markets like Boston, which has two quality sports-radio competitors catering to a passionate fan base. “The sea has risen,” Snyder says. “There are more people listening to sports radio than at any other time.”

Perhaps the only certainty is that until Cataldi retires, WIP will own sports talk in the morning. But his contract expires in 2014 — as does Missanelli’s. So there could be another shake-up on the sports-talk horizon that would make the smackdown at Brownie’s look like a hiccup. And in the meantime, the retirement threats, station-swapping scenarios, big egos, bad attitudes, name-calling and in-fighting will continue. John Gonzalez, who’s worked in the Inquirer newsroom, on NBC 10, and now at The Fanatic, says the one common denominator among print, TV and radio jocks is their penchant for the kinds of petty drama usually reserved for Spanish telenovelas. “People say the sports media in this town is a fraternity,” Gonzalez says. “It’s really a sorority. We’re a bunch of pussies.”