Friday, April 24, 2009

Missanelli tops Eskin in key demos

The behind the scenes stuff in Philadelphia sports talk radio always generates interest.

Up until now, the battle between WIP and 950ESPN has been about as competitive as the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals.

610 was the 500-pound gorilla in the room while the folks at Greater Media stumbled from program director to program director.

But, every dog gets its day. Heck, even the Generals win occasionally.

During the 1971-72 Globetrotters "season", the Generals' name was alternated with the Boston Shamrocks, New Jersey Reds, Baltimore Rockets, and Atlantic City Seagulls. It was actually the same group of players but they would change uniforms between games to give the appearance of more teams.

Playing as the Reds, Red Klotz' team halted a 2,499-game skid to the 'Trotters in Martin, Tenn. on January 5, 1971. Klotz himself sank the game-winner in overtime to give the Generals/Reds a 100-99 win.

This past week, ESPN950 stopped playing Generals to WIP's Globetrotters.

According to Michael Klein, 950ESPN has scored its first major win against WIP when Mike Missanelli capped his first year as afternoon host by narrowly beating his former on-air partner, Howard Eskin, in audience share among their target demographic - men ages 25 to 54.

Missanelli, who started at 950ESPN in April of 2008, also beat the "Mail-it-in King" in the younger-male demos.

WIP is still ahead overall and Eskin did have better numbers among males 35 to 64. Meanwhile, 610's morning show with Angelo Cataldi, its midday show with Glen Macnow and Anthony Gargano, and night-time show with Ike Reese continue to dominate and each posted their best ratings of the year.

In other words, there's still plenty of work to do at ESPN950 but it's always nice to get a win, especially at the expense of the stale Eskin.

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