Philly Radio: Mike Missanelli Talks His 'Unjust' Fanatic Departure

Mike Missanelli

It’s been more than three months since Mike Missanelli abruptly signed-off the the air from his popular afternoon drive show on Beasley Media's WPEN-FM 97.5 The Fanatic and the veteran sports talker says he still doesn’t understand fully what happened and why. He’s just trying to look forward with two new jobs and a recently completed children’s book.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Philadelphia Business Journal last week, Missanelli expressed excitement about signing a deal with Chicago-based gaming and betting company Rush Street Interactive, parent of Fishtown’s Rivers Casino, to serve as a podcaster and brand ambassador for its BetRivers Network, as well as his role co-hosting an NFL Eagles postgame show for JAKIB Media.

Since his surprising final show at The Fanatic on May 31, Missanelli has had time to reflect on his departure and spent the summer considering his next career move.

Missanelli had served as afternoon drive host and ratings kingpin since joining the station in 2010. The former Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer, who also has a law degree, had previously served two stints at rival SportsRadio 94 WIP-FM. His afternoon drive show on The Fanatic took off and Missanelli usurped WIP in his time slot and fended off challengers for almost a decade before losing ground to the team of Jon Marks and Ike Reese.

He felt that history, and his role in the station’s launch and growth, should have been taken into consideration.

“I was kind of in on the ground floor of the radio station and was a major part of building the brand of the radio station,” Missanelli said. “So I thought to that extent it was kind of unjust what they did.”

Missanelli said management never gave him an exact reason for choosing to move on to a new trio of hosts — Hunter Brody, Ricky Bottalico and Missanelli’s longtime producer, Tyrone Johnson. He said he had heard people talk about his high salary at a time when media companies are looking to cut expenses. He also raised the possibility that the strong liberal political views he sometimes expresses on air could have worn on the Fanatic’s owner, Fort Myers, Florida-based Beasley Broadcasting Group.

“It doesn't seem to make any sense to me, but that's why they're the company and I'm just the employee,” Missanelli said. “And they're entitled to run the company any way they want. I just don't know what they thought they were going to gain by this.”

Beasley declined to comment on the company's decision to move on from Missanelli.

Missanelli said after his departure from The Fanatic, he decided to sit back and let opportunities come to him. He enjoyed a work-free summer, using the free time to finish off a children’s book he had been working on for the past few years.

Missanelli joins a lengthy list of veteran sports media personalities to depart from major companies in recent years to pursue more entrepreneurial options such as podcasting, YouTube and other digital outlets.