Breaking news! –

I would check Spike’s social media accounts to see what he has to say, but we’ve been blocked for years now. But anyway, let’s give Spike a warm welcome back to Philadelphia. He had been running WFAN up in New York City.

In years past, Spike was on-air at WIP on various time slots. He did some solo stuff at night, if I remember correctly, then he did the short-lived afternoon show with Josh Innes and Hollis Thomas. From there, he focused strictly on being the program director, then took a promotion to go to WFAN. I’m curious to find out how much of this was Spike wanting to come back to Philly and how much was things not working out in New York. I don’t have much of a read on that, to be honest. I will say that this continues a pattern of internal movement at Audacy, with recent positions being filled by current WIP employees or folks from other Audacy stations.

EDIT – I’m listening now:

Joe Giglio (paraphrasing) –


“He is coming back to WIP to join Ike and Jack in the afternoon… we have another Eskin coming back here… it’s going to be a great show, I can’t wait for it, he left us a few years ago to go to WFAN to be the brand manager up there, he is coming back to co-host with Ike and Jack, it’s kind of crazy because part of the reason Jack and I are here is because of Spike, so we now get to have him back in a different role.”

That’s about it. They didn’t have a ton to say before getting it back to the Eagles. It sounds like nobody at WIP or WFAN had any clue what was going on, so Audacy did a good job of keeping this under wraps.

I’ve said before that Spike’s biggest contribution to WIP was righting the ship after Andy Bloom lost the plot at the end of the Josh Innes era. He brought in Jon Marks and reshuffled the daytime lineup and really just stabilized things. From there, WIP started rolling again, and he passed off the station to Rod Lakin while they were up big in the ratings.

EDIT 2 – here are some quotes from the Audacy writeup:

“I am thrilled to be able to work with Ike and Jack in afternoons at 94WIP,” said Eskin. “It’s now the third job of a lifetime I’ve had the opportunity to do. Leaving WFAN and CBS Sports Radio is an incredibly difficult decision. I’m surrounded by talented, great people, and it’s been an amazing experience.
I’d like to thank David Yadgaroff, Jeff Sottolano and Rod Lakin for this opportunity, and Chris Oliviero for my time in New York.”

“We’re very excited to bring Spike home to Philadelphia and SportsRadio 94WIP,” said David Yadgaroff, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Audacy Philadelphia. “This is a unique opportunity to add a great talent with a long history in our marketplace to one of our most popular dayparts, and we’re looking forward to having Spike reunite with his longtime friend and colleague Ike Reese and Jack Fritz to shape the future of afternoon drive at WIP.”