After over three decades on the air, host Glen Macnow has announced that he will be retiring from SportsRadio 94WIP over the summer, hosting his final show on Saturday, July 13. Macnow revealed the news as he was hosting programming this Saturday alongside Mike Sielski, explaining his decision within a 6-minute soliloquy during which he also thanked a variety of people for helping make his career possible.
“For more than 31 years – 20 of them as a full-time host and the last 11 of them on weekends – I have had the pleasure of sitting in these studios sharing my thoughts on Philadelphia sports, celebrating and suffering with this marvelous fanbase,” Macnow said. “I worked with talented partners and producers, I have wrestled with bosses and always tried to be honest in my opinions. I’ve had the privilege of seeing amazing performances on the field, on the ice [and] on the court. I got to broadcast two championship parades – and to be honest, I thought there were going to be more of those, but I’ll take two – and now it’s time to put down the headset.”
In addition to hosting weekend programming, Macnow has been the host of the Philadelphia Eagles pregame show on the station for the last 17 years. The Boston University graduate began working as a full-time host at WIP in December 1993 after beginning his career as a journalist working for newspapers, including the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and the Detroit Free Press. Macnow was hired by The Philadelphia Inquirer in November 1986, and he states that he got his job at the station because Cataldi vouched for him. Macnow is currently the second-longest tenured member of the station after Al Morganti, who agreed to a new role upon the retirement of Cataldi last spring.
“Special appreciation has to go to Angelo Cataldi,” Macnow said. “Angelo helped me land this job in the first place. Angelo was the backbone of this station for three decades, and I hope he is enjoying his retirement. I may have to get some tips from him; hell, I may have to hang around with him in retirement. That’ll be fun.”
Macnow was offered a new contract by SportsRadio 94WIP, but he ultimately made the decision to walk away from the station. During his tenure with the outlet, he hosted across various dayparts both on weekends and weekdays, including four years in afternoon drive with Anthony Gargano. Over the last several years, he has been hosting on weekends with Mike Sielski on Saturdays and Jody McDonald on Sundays. Weekend co-host Ray Didinger retired from the station in 2022, but he still makes occasional appearances on WIP and NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“Glen Macnow joined WIP when the sports talk format was still early days, and before there was an obvious business to be built,” Rod Lakin, brand manager of SportsRadio 94WIP, said to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “His addition was the next part of the critical path that helped WIP become one of the biggest sports brands in the country. In the view of a world where we’re looking for special and different, Glen is in a class of his own – exceptional author, host, and theatrical performer.”
“I’ve been so fortunate throughout my career,” Macnow expressed. “I literally get paid to talk about sports and TV, to write about movies and to drink beer. That is my job; that is my profession. I could not have written it up better as a 21-year-old.”
In whatever way the next chapter of his career unfolds, Macnow has gratitude for his colleagues and the listeners of SportsRadio 94WIP by making him a part of their days. Before his announcement, Macnow calculated that he has hosted approximately 6,5000 shows on WIP and spoke into the station’s microphones for more than 25,000 hours, a duration he believes is enough for anybody.
“I’m just going to wrap by saying – now I’m going to get choked up – it has been my privilege for 31-and-a-half years to spend this time with you,” Macnow said. “We all need to know when it’s time to leave the stage, and for me, that is going to be this July, so I love you and I thank you.”
