Josh Innes’ time has expired at Sports Radio 94 WIP in Philadelphia. The talented and polarizing sports talk show host was fired prior to his afternoon program on Wednesday.
“We can confirm that Josh Innes is no longer with WIP,” said a WIP spokesperson said in a written statement. “Various station personalities will fill in during the afternoon show until a new host is announced.”
Marc Farzetta and Hollis Thomas hosted Wednesday’s show. No announcement has been made regarding the rest of the week.
The decision to drop Innes came the day after the afternoon host verbally criticized competitor Mike Missanelli and 97.5 The Fanatic for their participating in a story involving a white producer creating a black character to call in to their show.
Innes drew the ire of some listeners after sharing a photo on social media of a performer in blackface. He posted the image in response to the controversy over the incident at The Fanatic. It wasn’t the first time Innes came under fire. He was previously suspended in January after using a racial epithet to describe Philadelphia Eagles Center Jason Kelce.
David Brody, Innes’ agent, blamed WIP program director Spike Eskin for the relationship with Innes becoming sour. Eskin moved from hosting alongside Innes in afternoons to managing him when former boss Andy Bloom (the man who hired Innes in Philadelphia) lost his job due to CBS layoffs.
“Josh didn’t forget how to attract an audience in January 2016,” Brody said of his ratings decline after Bloom’s departure. “He lost a manager who knew how to manage him. He was suspended within 30 days of that managerial change. That has brought us to where we are today.”
Innes’s tenure in Philadelphia provided mixed results. Although he had his run ins with management and paid the price for a few on-air mistakes, he also recorded high ratings when paired with Tony Bruno. From February 2015 to July 2015 the duo gained the upper hand on Missanelli, beating him head to head in the ratings. When Bruno departed though after six months, the program went through a series of changes which eventually reduced the show’s momentum.
Following Bruno’s exit, Innes was paired with former Eagles defensive tackle Hollis Thomas and Eskin. Ratings for the show were strong out of the gate. But when Eskin left the show to become the station’s head programming boss, the decline began to take place.
The inconsistency with the show, combined with Innes’ love/hate relationship with local listeners led to the show experiencing a big drop in the numbers. For the past nine months, Missanelli has won the head to head battle against Innes consistently, leading to speculation that WIP wouldn’t retain him when his contract expired at the end of 2016.
With Josh now out of the picture, the big questions become, who fills his vacancy? Does the new afternoon show follow Innes’ playbook or explore a different creative direction? And which radio station will take a chance on adding Innes?
Making things more difficult for WIP is the fact that Missanelli has been on fire at The Fanatic and shows no signs of slowing down. To unseat him in the top spot won’t be easy but Eskin now has an opportunity to add someone who fits his vision, and demonstrate that he has the right blueprint to lead WIP to a stronger tomorrow. What happens next will tell us a lot about the future state of the afternoon sports radio battle in the city of brotherly love.
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
