94WIP’s Howard Eskin and Angelo Cataldi are frustrated with the station they helped shape

94WIP, for better or worse, has always been about driving outrage engagement. Howard Eskin and Angelo Cataldi were instrumental in creating that monster. Now, in retirement, they seem to hate what they helped build.

Cataldi hopped on Eskin’s podcast over the weekend, where the two former hosts shared their dismay with the current state of 94WIP. Frankly, the whole conversation came off as tone deaf and wildly egotistical, like radio hosts actually matter when it comes to the sports in this city.

Cataldi’s quote says it all:

“The Phillies would lose a big playoff game, and the next day the host would talk about how nobly they fought. That’s not the Philadelphia I was in. When you don’t win here, you should pay a price.”

Pay a price to who? Angelo Cataldi?

These players don’t owe sports radio hosts anything. If anything, the hosts should be thankful when athletes give them the time of day to come on their shows and answer questions.

That same God complex is part of what drove the station into the ground in the first place. The irony here is that both Eskin and Cataldi helped create the exact environment they now claim to dislike.

94WIP has always been a shit show

When people talk about the golden age of 94WIP, a few things come to mind. Wing Bowl. Ed Rendell calling in every week. Chris Christie coming on the show and falling out of his chair because he couldn’t fit in it.

That was peak sports radio chaos.

But that doesn’t seem to be what Eskin and Cataldi are nostalgic for. What they really want is more rage from the current generation of hosts.

If anything, the rage baiting has only increased since their era. The difference now is that today’s hosts don’t take things nearly as personally. Eskin and Cataldi often pushed things much further than they ever needed to.

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Eskin was sued in 2004 for falsely reporting details about Allen Iverson’s domestic dispute case. Cataldi routinely got into screaming matches with coaches who called into the show. Eventually, two of them, Gabe Kapler and Chip Kelly, stopped calling in altogether.

That kind of stuff doesn’t really happen anymore, and honestly, that’s a good thing.

That said, modern sports radio can get stale. The same cookie cutter questions get asked every week, and none of today’s hosts ever seem to get anything interesting out of coaches when they come on. At least Cataldi did occasionally stir something up, even if it could be uncomfortable to listen to.

To his credit, Eskin did make one valid point during the podcast.

“I found out within the last week that 94WIP pays a lot of producers $13 an hour. Nothing against McDonald’s, but you can make more money at McDonald’s. The kids want to get into radio, and I understand that, but that’s so unfair to them. Just be fair to him. That’s all. Just be fair.”

It’s rare these days to see older media figures advocating for better pay for younger workers, so for that, I tip my cap to Howard.

And he’s not wrong about the bigger picture either.

There’s simply no money in radio anymore, especially at 94WIP. The entire industry is trending toward podcasts, social media, and independent platforms.

Why work for a corporate station like 94WIP that barely pays its producers when you can start your own show and keep the revenue for yourself?

I’d bet a huge percentage of the sports podcasts you see today were created for that exact reason.

That’s also why The Liberty Line exists.

We can say whatever we want, cover the teams the way we want, and build something of our own. In today’s media landscape, that’s a lot more appealing than chasing a radio job that barely pays the bills.

And that’s the real irony in all of this. The future of sports media isn’t happening on AM radio. It’s happening everywhere else.