Philly Radio: WIP Producer Hospitalized Following Airplane Incident

Joe Wechter, Angelo Cataldi’s longtime producer on the 94.1 WIP morning show, is recovering in a Tampa, Florida hospital after losing consciousness on an airplane Wednesday afternoon.

Joe Wechter

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Cataldi, Wechter and fellow WIP personality Ava Graham were on an American Airlines flight to Florida Wednesday afternoon en route to broadcast Thursday morning’s show from the Phillies’ spring training facility in Clearwater. According to Cataldi, once the plane reached around 10,000 feet, he noticed people sprinting to the back of the plane where Wechter was seated.

At first, Cataldi said he didn’t know what was going on. But he quickly learned Wechter had a seizure after standing up to use the restroom. Fortunately, Dr. Edward Dickinson — a professor of emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania — happened to be on the flight and administered care to the longtime radio producer alongside an unnamed paramedic.

“It was harrowing,” Cataldi told his listeners, adding that Wechter was unconscious for nearly 10 minutes before doctors revived him. It’s unclear what caused Wechter to have a seizure, but the producer eventually stabilized and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa after the plane landed, where he remained overnight and is currently recovering.