Philly Radio: WPEN's Mike Missanelli Back On top

Mike Missanelli

After finishing behind 94.1 WIP’s duo of Jon Marks and Ike Reese for three consecutive quarters, Missanelli and his WPEN 97.5 The Fanatic cohosts Tyrone Johnson and Natalie Egenolf retook the No. 1 spot in the afternoons on Philly sports talk radio, according to Nielsen numbers obtained by The Inquirer.

Missanelli finished nearly two full ratings share ahead of Marks and Reese among male listeners between the ages of 25 to 54 in the fall book, one of four quarterly rating summaries used to determine bonuses, advertising rates, and bragging rights.

Both shows managed to grow their ratings significantly compared to last year’s fall book, with Marks and Reese up 20 percent and Missanelli up nearly 32%. But Missanelli’s show also draws a second audience on NBC Sports Philadelphia, which doesn’t appear to be stealing away many radio listeners (the network has declined to provide ratings information).

The ratings win is welcome news for The Fanatic, which lost station manager Eric Johnson to layoffs by parent company Beasley Media Group back in November. Stepping up in place of Johnson has been assistant program director Eric Camille.

Outside of afternoons, WIP continues to dominate. The station’s morning show team of Angelo Cataldi, Rhea Hughes, and Al Morganti remains a ratings force, defeating The Fanatic’s Marc Farzetta and Tra Thomas by more that five ratings share. Cataldi told the Inquirer back in November he was motivated to sign a new multiyear deal with WIP in order to defeat Farzetta, a former colleague who left WIP in 2018 to host a competing morning show at The Fanatic.

During middays, WIP hosts Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie finished in first place for the first time during their three-year run. They easily defeated The Fanatic’s Anthony Gargano, who finished in fourth place and is now hosting solo since his former cohost, Jason Myrtetus, was laid-off back in October.