Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Goodbye local programming; SR950 is now ESPN affiliate - Foley, Yannacone already fired

Compiled by John McMullen

Greater Media, Inc. unveiled details today for the upcoming official debut of 950 ESPN in Philadelphia. The station will officially kick off on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 with Mike (Greenburg) and Mike (Golic) in the morning from 6am to 9am.

“We are absolutely thrilled to bring ESPN Radio, the best and biggest brand in sports to the city of Philadelphia said station manager Bob DeBlois."Mike & Mike have the #1 morning show for sports in the country, now Philly fans can listen every day. We look forward to them joining the new 950 ESPN team."

On the local front, current SR950 morning man Glenn Foley was shown the door as was the inept and amateurish Jamie Yannacone.


13 comments:

Unknown said...

ESPN coming to Philadelphia will not be as successful as some think. Mike and Mike in the Morning is a terrible idea and will pale in comparison to 610's morning show (and I hate that morning show). Philly fans want to talk about Philly sports, plain and simple.

Anonymous said...

Jamie Yannacone was just about the only good thing on the station.
Missanelli is just awful!

Anonymous said...

C'mon, Philly Sports for Philly fans, didn't they learn anything from Tony Bruno or Jim Rome? Mike and Mike won't make it thru the end of the year. And now no Jodi Mac on the drive home, this sucks.

Anonymous said...

I only listened in the morning for Foley. He was funny. Looks like I'll have to schlog back on over to 610WIP. Or even listen to music. I agree with the previous poster, except louder, THIS SUCKS!

Anonymous said...

Haven't folks in Philadelphia heard yet? Terrestrial radio is done, finished, through, kaput. Don't let the Kool-Aid drinking executives inside the industry tell you any different. WPEN, WIP, WXYZ for that matter, the industry is finished. It isn't even worth the time it took to write about these stations, let alone analyze this move. There's so many other places for sports fans in Philadelphia to be entertained. The terrestrial radio medium truly has become a non-entity. I'm as big a sports fan in the area as anybody, and have not listened to terrestrial radio in almost three years, and I can assure you I am still in the know about what's going on with both Philadelphia and outside market sports happenings because of the abundant avenues available to sports fans who want to enjoy their passion and be entertained.

Anonymous said...

Mike & Mike are alright but I thought 950 was a local station by the way didn't a station in phily a couple of years try ESPN radio not going to work just ask Jim Rome, Don & Mike Or Opie & Anthony I am going back to 610 Wip Also if Wpen wants more sports why did they drop the phillies I give corporate 6 months before they clean house are the guys that thought this Espn the same guys that thought free fm would work

Anonymous said...

I guess I'm forced to go back to 610WIP. I've listened to 950 since it started. I loved the local programming. I thought "The Cuz" was good but found myself starting to listen to Harry & Jamie. I listened on the drive in, at lunch, at work ( when it was local programming ), and on the drive home. I'll miss SportsRradio 950:(

Unknown said...

Bradley and Foley and Co. were actually very entertaining and occasionally thought-provoking, especially during Eagles season, when Foley gave a true expert perspective. Even though Foley was occasionally a goof, Bradley did a good job of bringing out Foley's expertise, and Meredith really improved over the past year (without that weird Rhea I'm-trying-to-sound-like-a-guy voice). I can't stand the WIP idiots, who barely like sports anymore, and I'm not optimistic that a national show will be worth listening to, especially as the Phillies season starts

Anonymous said...

I will definitely miss Jodi Mac in the afternoon.Mike Missanelli must have pictures of somebody to be back on radio again.Glen Foley and Jamie are no losses.Hopefully they will realize that Jodi belongs on the 3 - 7 drive home.

Anonymous said...

Mike muss is eskin lite, and I won't listen to eskin if you payied me. Our Phila "rep" as tough hard core fans for our teams will kill this in six months. Its all true, we really do live and die with our teams. And PHILLY Fans only want to talk-- and listen to news on our teams on the drive to work and home. If your like me you get sick of the, everthing but sports 610 does but when sports talk comes around its philly sports talk, not someone burning about some far off city we careless about. If espn wants it's 950 to work in philly, They need to get philly guys to talk sports, our sports, all day. Keep jodie mac, dump mick muss(eskin lite), Get philly guys, hell steal them from 610. But if espn 950 thinks national talk will fly in philly, 610 is a good stock to invest in. Even with eskin!

Anonymous said...

I drive about an hour north each day so I start out jumping back and forth between WIP and 950 and wind up with Mike and Mike out of NY ESPN. Mike & Mike can be pretty good because they attract some interesting national interviews. The downside is they take a lot of commercial breaks and quite often spend large amounts of time making themselves the story (ie what should the March Madness bet be). Bradley and Foley kept it local and were clearly fans like us. I'll miss that.

Unknown said...

IF I wanted to listen to Mike and Mike in the morning, I would have tuned in on XM radio.

Sure Foley could be a putz, but he was at least entertaining. I think Bradley was able to keep him under control, and play off his strengths. I HATE Eskin the condescending wolfman, and Angelo's show is borderline porn at times when he oggles cheerleaders for various contests.

Philly sports are dead - at least on the radio. A sad day for a city with such great passion.

Anonymous said...

Jamie Yannacone was a goofy, self-depreciating dweeb and sports fanatic. He was knowledgeable but he was not a know-it-all, which is the default barking tone affected by most call-in sports fans. [Perhaps that is the stance one has to adopt if you have the courage to take on Eskin, the tyrant of 610.] The chemistry between he and Harry Mayes was a pleasant change of pace, with friendship and respect evident in their rapport. Jamie's voice will be missed, authentic and intelligent, he represented the anti-fan, the guy who knows that when it comes right down to it, all sports are over-hyped bullshit. So it is OK to go off on tangents and make fun of our own fanaticism, which is really an extended, seasonal discussion about male virility and insecurity. Jamie was brave enough to talk about the "man-crushes" that underlie our worship of the athlete-warrior. What goes better than sports and strip clubs? Jamie was willing to talk about the strippers, his pathetic attempts at winning them over, and then admit to his mother's disappointment after listening in on his rant. That's how it really is for me as well. I am the exception, all other fans are a cross between Stallone and Arnold, occasionally as expressive as Brett Favre, crawling out from under their brother's shadow, like Peyton and bagging [ and banging] the German supermodel. Happy landing, Jamie.