John Kincade battled Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 1995 and 1996.
He won that battle.
In 1997, Kincade went up against Testicular Cancer.
Another win for the veteran sports radio host.
And now, Kincade is in another battle. This time with colon cancer.
The plan, as he would want with for any player on his beloved Philadelphia Flyers, is to complete the hat trick. He wants to beat cancer’s ass once again.
“My slogan is there is only one acceptable outcome,” said the host of The John Kincade Show on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia. “I can’t accept anything else than survival. My daughter is going to be a junior at Temple this year. I gotta be around for her. I have to be around for my wife. I’ve got so many things I want to do.”
In a social media post after his show on May 12th, Kincade announced that following a brief period of illness, he went to the doctor and underwent an endoscopy and colonoscopy. As it turned out, Kincade had internal bleeding and was diagnosed with colon cancer. In that video, Kincade said he expected a “fantastic outcome, because that’s the attitude I have.”
Kincade underwent surgery on May 15th and took some time off from work as he recovered. He returned to work last Tuesday, 16 days after the surgery and he couldn’t be happier to be back on the air.
“I’m stronger every day,” said Kincade. “(Being back on the air) honestly has been as good a medicine as anything I could ever receive. It has been great therapy to be able to get back behind a microphone and feel like I’m living somewhat semblance of a normal life.”
However, Kincade’s life will soon include a rigorous schedule of chemotherapy as a result of what was found during his May 15th surgery.
The entire tumor was removed but doctors found that the cancer had invaded the lymphatic system in what they hope is an obscure fashion but the discovery made Kincade a stage three colon cancer patient.
Kincade will have a port installed next week and then he’ll begin a very aggressive protocol when his chemotherapy begins on June 14th. It will be a twelve-treatment regiment that will take place every other Wednesday. A booster pack attached to the port will keep him going through his treatment into midday on Friday. Following his show, Kincade will go to the cancer center to have the booster pack unhooked and will have the weekend to recover from the chemo.
The thought of not working through the treatment schedule never entered Kincade’s mind.
“I strategically put it where I would have weekends to recover from my chemotherapy so I can work,” said Kincade. “I know that working part-time or not working at all was not an option. A leave of absence was not an option. That doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be days where I just have to wave the white flag and say I can’t work today and I expect that that will come about.”
Since the announcement of his diagnosis, Kincade has been overwhelmed with an outpouring of support from the Philadelphia sports community including his listeners, the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers.
He’s also received a tremendous amount of support from his co-workers as well as his employer Beasley Media Group.
“Beasley has been absolutely amazing working with me to do whatever I want to do,” said Kincade. “They were like you ‘tell us what you want to do’ and I’ve really appreciated that because that’s not common. I marvel at the way that they have handled this with me in being so supportive but also so flexible.”
Kincade, a Philadelphia native and graduate of Temple University, spent a good portion of his career working for 680 The Fan in Atlanta and also had a couple of national radio gigs with ESPN Radio and CBS Sports Radio.
Those listeners, as well as some of the teams he used to talk about in Atlanta, have reached out as well.
“It’s been absolutely fantastic,” said Kincade. “I’ve been off national radio for a few years now. I’ve had executives from sports teams in Atlanta reach out. Almost all of my radio peers who I know in my market here in Philadelphia, have reached out. It has been incredible.”
And that includes almost the entire crew from WIP, the rival sports radio station in Philadelphia.
There is competition in sports radio, but it’s also a very tight-knit fraternity so Kincade appreciates the support from the very people he’s competing with for ratings.
“It means the world to me because I don’t play any old school radio games,” said Kincade. “I don’t play like ‘They’re bad guys. Let’s bad mouth them.’ I respect the hell out of them just as I respect the hell out of my teammates here.”
Being back on the air was not only important to Kincade for his recovery, but let’s be honest – there’s a lot going on in Philadelphia sports and it’s therapeutic for him to talk about it.
The Eagles are getting ready for training camp after a run to the Super Bowl. Once again, there’s plenty of drama surrounding the 76ers, there’s a new regime in charge of the Flyers, and the Phillies trying to get back to the World Series. There’s even a lot of interest in Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union.
“There’s been no shortage of storylines, which is so much fun. That just makes it fun to come to work,” said Kincade. “I think it’s going to be a big part of my recovery. I want to inspire myself because if I’m able to work and I’m able to push through this and I’m able to battle, that’s going to give me all the confidence in the world that I’m going to survive.”
Kincade is not alone in his optimism for recovery. That’s because his team of doctors have painted a positive outlook as well.
“They are optimistic for a full recovery based on this protocol that they’re going to put me through,” said Kincade. “They believe that it has the chance to eradicate everything and give me a clean bill of health.”
Kincade acknowledged that his optimism in battling cancer again could be construed as “cocky”, but that’s just how he lives his life. He does things his way and it’s worked for him throughout his professional career both at the local and national levels. He waited a long time to return home to Philadelphia and that dream was realized when he arrived at The Fanatic in 2021 and he’s not about to let cancer take this away from him.
“I’m a selfish bastard,” said Kincade. “I am out for one thing, and it’s my success and my survival, because I don’t want to have anything else potentially derail this. I’ve had a great career and I’ve always wanted to be in Philly and it’s so great to be home. I’m surrounded by my family and my extended family. Having that support system in place honestly makes me feel bulletproof. It makes me feel like (the treatment) is going to be crappy but I got this. I can do my part. I can do whatever it’s going to take to make sure I succeed.”
John Kincade, as great of a person as there is in the sports radio industry, is out to prove that cancer sent the wrong batter to the plate with the game on the line. Cancer is already behind in the count 0-2 and now Kincade is ready to put a K in box score of life.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
