The Talk of the Town

'PEN to Switch Format, Take on 'IP

The news from this morning's papers (Inquirer; Daily News) that WPEN/950-AM will switch from its oldies format to sports talk in early October is an interesting one. 'PEN will be taking on WIP, which from a purely sports perspective seems ripe for the picking. What 610 does it does well, but its overreliance on frat-boy hijinks and a handful of hosts who are more interested in berating listeners than engaging them in conversation leaves the hard-core sports fan stuck trying to pull in New York's WFAN or Trenton's 920-AM. 950 will not be an ESPN Radio affiliate, which means that 920 is still the only place locally to find the Worldwide Leader. Thus far the only announced on-air talent is 'IP expat Jody McDonald and, sigh, Jim Rome, whose big claim to fame is calling former Rams quarterback Jim Everett "Chris Evert" on a TV show a while back, eliciting a predictably violent reaction. If this is the kind of dialogue we can expect from the new station, the folks at 610 are probably safe.

Comments

[Tom G]

I agree with what Conlin has said many times....why does sports talk radio have to be shout radio?

[Tom Goodman]

Sports Radio: the smug talking down to the uninformed.

[Brian]

Howard Eskin really has a personal beef with the Phils -- his immediate response to any caller who wants to talk Phils is "They're still playing". None of the callers seem to have much to say anyway, they usually just beat on Bell, Lieberthal, Rollins, and the starters. I'm sure if Eskin knew Tejeda existed, he would call him Tejada just like he calls Vicente Padilla Vincente.

Jody Mac has good baseball knowledge and a laid-back demeanor so I look forward to any alternative. Of course I guess I could go the satellite radio route.

[Bill]

Rome is much more listenable on the radio then he is watchable on TV...I've caught him on 920 AM from time to time.

It would be nice if this works out for PEN...it's hard to find the right chemistry as evidenced by the terrible broadcast on 920 from 3-7.

[JB]

We can only hope this new radio station will thrive. There is some good content on WIP but one has to sort through so much #$@% to get it, it's frustrating. They create sports "news" by using low journalism tactics and then profit by it. Shamefull really, but it's the real world.