Over the weekend, WIP celebrated the end of the 31-year radio career of host Glenn Macnow. According to a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer, that celebration may have been why Howard Eskin missed his second Saturday show in a row. Eskin was in the news recently for being banned from both Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies play, and from the Sixers’ practice facility after an investigation found he made an unwanted advance toward a female Aramark employee in May.
Sources from the station told Rob Tornoe of the paper that the station did not want to have Eskin on right before Macnow took over the airwaves for his farewell show. It was reported that last week Eskin was off due to a preplanned vacation.
Eskin has not appeared on any shows since the news was reported on July 2 nor has he made any public comment.
Former WIP host Angelo Cataldi wrote on a blog post about the matter, “…An even bigger mistake in judgment is WIP’s current position not to discuss the matter on the air. It violates the basic principles of talk radio, and – even more important – it is disrespectful to the audience.
“I have always believed media organizations do not have the option of saying “no comment” because of the very nature of their work. They depend on everyone to comment, and even more so during crises. If WIP won’t discuss its own scandal, why should the next team or player do so when it’s their turn?
“The entire city is talking about the Eskin mess right now, but not the station where he developed his reputation? It’s a place where people talk, non-stop, 24 hours a day. The dumbest thing a talk station can do is not talk.”