Sports Media

[julio]

Who will sponsor this man's podcast?

Howard Eskin Announces Departure From WIP | OnPattison

Not I, said julio.

[bkeich]

Congratulations to WIP. I will still not listen

[andyb]

How popular is local sports radio these days with all the competition between satellite radio and podcasts? Like broadcast and cable TV one wonders if it is a dying industry that cannot afford expensive star anchors outside of live sporting events.

[zambonir]

I think this is partly to do with Howard being banned from CBP and Sixers games. WIP and the Eagles stuck with him and his kid runs the station again, but I feel like he's not an asset to sponsors and advertisers anymore. In theory he could find his own Joe Rogan or Barstool-like thing (on a local niche level) but are young listeners into him?

[saycheese]

Howard was one of the best. I remember listening to on WWDB back in the day. Met him and spoke to him several times. He always was cordial and nice. His off the Mike issues though really hurt his legacy.

[schillingfan]

These days sports radio is into podcast like experiences. Most Fox sports guys have their shows as a podcasts. Audacy application has WIP and other local sports stations. I admit to listening to WIP when I: driving down to Philly and crawling on the Schuylkill. It’s much improved since Angelo Catwldi left. Spike Eskimo is on the late afternoon show and he is more tolerable than his father.

Phillies related I heard on one for my forays down Howard talking complaining that the Phillies didn’t get Soto and he wore a New YorkJerseyn(don’t remember what team ) in protest.

say cheese, I have heard other people say how nice he was when he met them. Good for him, but his journalistic aim was to stir up controversy, and be obnoxiously and arrogant about it.

[andyb]

One of the big reasons I listed to podcasts and almost zero radio is the commercials. They are like 5-8 minutes an hour and skippable if you are not live on podcasts. Close to 20 minutes if not more on regular radio.

I think the call-in shows are dying now too with more podcasts that are sampled on delay rather than live. Not that call-in shows are usually any good of course.

[zambonir]

Unsurprising. And then on the day of his departure the Eagles kept him from accessing the Novacare complex, since he no longer has an affiliation/credential. He says he's starting a podcast but had to buy a ticket to the last game.

Sources: Howard Eskin’s exit from 94.1 WIP came after he shouted at a female...

[schillingfan]

If people don’t listen to commercials, how do podcasts survive?

[zambonir]

Well, you can't skip them, or repeated mentions/branding of sponsors. But the big ones are basically driving subscriptions (to Spotify etc) just like sports was for Comcast.

I will just be curious to see who "steps up" to support Philadelphia's leading sports clown, egotist and now, two-time sex pest.

[zambonir]

The Inquirer has finally introduced gift links. Only five a month (NYT and WaPo both 10 last I checked).

[phillychuck]

I will just be curious to see who "steps up" to support Philadelphia's leading sports clown, egotist and now, two-time sex pest.

The incident at Chickie and Pete's wasn't sexual according to inside sources. He was allegedly trying to hustle Brandon Graham out of the restaurant after he spoke about Jalen and AJ (allegedly honoring a request from Lurie), the woman said no, he has to fulfill his contract, and Eskin grabbed her twice to try to get her out of the way, once after she had said "do not touch me". This does NOT exonerate Eskin, his behavior is still ridiculous, just context to the incident. He did more than "shout" at a woman.

Howard should have been off the air long, long ago. Good riddance.

[zambonir]

Fair enough, so just assault then, not sexual assault or sexual harassment (but I bet he wouldn't have put his hands on a man).

[phillychuck]

Agree. Howard seems to be a lowlife and a coward. I haven't heard anyone defending him, but a couple of people have tried to clarify, I think more to defend WIP for firing him (since firing someone for "shouting" seems excessive...).

[zambonir]

He probably would not have gotten fired for this if the first incident hadn't already occurred. Of course the only reason he didn't get fired that time is because the Eagles (and the station) had his back. I'm sure the Phillies and the Sixers were absolutely delighted to be able to ban him, whereas the Eagles have always given him the royal treatment (and vice-versa).

[phillychuck]

Given Lurie's apparent classiness in other respects I'm totally at a loss as to why he and the Eagles would have EVER had Eskin's back. I guess Eskin is Lurie's blind spot.

[zambonir]

Yeah. He was just insulated by the team's relationship with WIP, and by the way he mostly pumped up the Eagles. He probably did get along with Lurie (and Reese and Quick). They all work for WIP not the Eagles. So Howard really tripped on his own stuff to finally get himself booted (and from a station where his son is the PD too).

[phillychuck]

I don't think Spike Eskin is in management at WIP anymore Rod Lakin is the Brand manager and Tom? Lee is the PD.

[zambonir]

Ah, interesting. He had the top job in NY (as well his previous WIP stint). Either way, he has juice (but clearly knew this was not a battle to fight).

[andyb]

The Dominos are starting to fall:
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/disney-nears-deal-merge-hulu-live-tv-business-into-fubo-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-01-06/

I think Disney moved on from Venu months ago and will now offer other sports (Fox, RSNs) through their ESPN Flagship service. Nobody really wanted the actual channels from Venu since they could see the scripted programs elsewhere or over the air.