Philly Radio: WIP Bugs Out, When Rivals Show-Up At Remote

Anthony Gargano

SportsRadio WIP 94.1 FM's Anthony Gargano and Rob Ellis left their broadcast spot Friday at Chickie's & Pete's due to "technical difficulties," forcing the relatively new partners to head back to their Old City studio.

But I heard it wasn't technical difficulties at all, according to philly.com.

Apparently, operations manager Andy Bloom was not happy when he found out that personalities from rival media conglomerate Greater Media, including WMMR 93.3 FM's Matt Cord and, more interestingly,  WPEN 97.5 FM The Fanatic's Jon Marks, were at the noted South Philly eatery's main bar area doing promotional appearances for a $1,000 MetroPCS giveaway.

WIP 94.1 FM 54dBu Coverage

Rob Ellis

Greater Media also owns WBEN 95.7 FM and WMGK 102.9 FM in the Philadelphia market. WIP is owned by CBS Radio.

The rivalry between WIP and 97.5 The Fanatic is quite storied. The hullabaloo did not start until Marks showed up about 3:30 p.m., according to sources. At that point, Chickie's & Pete's reps tried to get the promotion moved from the VIP area to the back of the space to appease WIP bigwigs, but Greater Media refused. WIP packed up and went back to the station, forcing someone from WIP to get on the air until Ellis and Gargano could make it back to Old City.

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