A little over a year ago, former Eagles star Hugh Douglas was getting ready to make his return to Philadelphia to host the midday show with Joe Giglio on 94WIP. After eight years doing radio in Atlanta, Douglas is thrilled to be back “home” in Philly, even if he still hasn’t found a home in Philadelphia.
“It’s hard to believe that it’s been one year,” said Douglas. “It’s like I just got here. I can’t believe it so much that I still haven’t found a place to stay yet. I’m not complaining because it’s great being back in Philadelphia. I think the show is going great.”
The pairing of Douglas and Giglio has worked out very well. They are similar in many ways in that they both want to do good radio every day, they want to be entertaining and they want to be thought-provoking.
From an entertainment standpoint, Douglas learned that during his first stint at 94WIP from legendary host Angelo Cataldi.
“One of the things he would always say is that you have to be entertaining in this business,” said Douglas. “Nobody wants to talk about stats all of the time. Nobody wants to listen to boring radio. Joe gets that and he’s fun to work with.”
And the fans are enjoying the product.
What Douglas and Giglio have been able to do is create a community within their radio show where it’s an outlet for passionate fans and friends to talk about sports.
It’s like being around the water cooler at work or at a local establishment.
“I think people interact with us because I like to equate it to a barroom conversation,” said Douglas. “You’re sitting at a bar with a bunch of guys and they’re talking about sports. Sometimes, Joe will have a take that I wholeheartedly won’t agree with but I respect his opinion, we’ll talk it out and we’ll talk about the different bullet points and the great part about it is we’ll have a caller come in and he’ll have a different perspective and the next caller comes in and he gives his perspective. It’s like a town hall community-type feel doing radio back here in Philadelphia.”
Douglas and Giglio created instead chemistry from the start of the show. While there’s not much time off the air to socialize, they take advantage of every opportunity to continue to strengthen their bond, not only as partners but also as friends.
Whether it’s a show remote, a road trip or a visit to a local establishment, Douglas and Giglio are finding as much time, away from the show, to hang out and interact with fans.
“We’ve been on trips,” said Douglas. “We went to Phillies Spring Training and we went to Atlanta when the Phillies played the Braves so we’ve had times when we got to hang out with each other. I have a video of me and Joe when we went to an Eagles bar. Joe was like a fish to water. He had a ball and it was like two bros hanging out having a couple of brews watching the game.”
There is one trip that Douglas is hoping to take with Giglio and that’s to Las Vegas to their show should the Eagles get to the Super Bowl. It would be a week of doing shows at Radio Row, but it would also present the opportunity for Douglas to check off two things on his to-do list.
One is to go see “The Sphere”, the new concert venue in Vegas that everyone is talking about.
The other would be to meet a legendary pop icon.
“I want to hang out with Britney Spears,” said Douglas. “I want to hang out with her. She knows all the cool spots to go in Vegas.”
Hugh Douglas doesn’t have a hookup to meet Spears, but he’s hoping that the singer, who is doing a residency in Las Vegas, is a reader of Barrett Sports Media.
“I’m assuming that if she reads this story, then maybe who knows,” said Douglas. “Maybe we get to the Super Bowl and maybe she’ll want to hang. Maybe she’s an Eagles fan. You never know.”
What we do know is that Douglas is beloved by the Eagles fans in Philadelphia and despite being away for so long, his return was met with a lot of excitement from the listeners. The reaction that he’s received in the last year was not something he was used to in Atlanta.
It’s almost like he never left.
“I’m definitely overwhelmed,” said Douglas. “Eagles fans are passionate people. Being in Atlanta for eight years, I never played for the Falcons so it’s a different vibe. I was Hugh Douglas the radio guy that just happened to play football somewhere else.”
For Hugh Douglas — who played six of his ten NFL seasons in Philadelphia and is in the Eagles Hall of Fame — there was a bit of anxiety for him upon his return.
He wasn’t completely expecting the love affair to still be there so it took some time to get used to it.
“It took me a while to adjust to all the adulation and all of the attention that I was getting from the fan base and from the listeners,” said Douglas. “It took a while for me to get used to that once again. To be honest, it still kind of blows my mind when I go to different places how people react because I haven’t played football in damn near 20 years.”
For Hugh Douglas, coming home to Philadelphia was a special opportunity of him and he has seized the moment. Now all he has to do is find a place to live and, if the Eagles get to the Super Bowl, get that meeting with Britney Spears.
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.
