Mic Drop: Angelo Cataldi Looks Back at His WIP Career and Forward to More Sea Isle Days
Angelo Cataldi gestures during his final show.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Almost everyone in the Philadelphia area has heard by now that Angelo Cataldi has retired from 94WIP. Given his enormous and
enduring popularity we’ve decided to bring you this feature, from our sister publication The Sea Isle Times. It’s a fascinating look at Angelo and his career.
Sometimes you get a storybook ending.
This was not one of those times.
For months, listeners knew that Angelo Cataldi, the firebrand host of the SportsRadio 94WIP morning show would end his 33-year broadcasting career when the Eagles’ 2022 season ended. And for a while, it seemed Cataldi and The Birds were destined to share a storybook ending. Until they didn’t.
“They lost,” he says. “So that I could bitch right to the last day.” Perhaps this was the most fitting ending for this particular storybook after all.
For 33 years, Angelo Cataldi carved a divisive path through Philadelphia‘s sports media landscape. His opinions were sharp and unwavering. His fans loved him, critics hated him. Athletes and coaches revered … and rebuked him. Along with a cast of co-hosts, who each tempered him in their own way, Cataldi‘s morning show mixed broad humor, sound reason, cutting wit, and utter passion for Philly sports. He not only changed sports-talk radio in this town, he practically invented it.
This destiny was not obvious in the shy, nonathletic kid who grew up in Rhode Island, as a good writer and a huge sports fan. Determined to make it as a sports journalist, Cataldi earned a master’s degree from Columbia University and worked his way into the sports department at The Providence Journal, before leaving his hometown to write for The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1983. Five years and two Pulitzer Prize nominations later, he unexpectedly landed at a sports radio station.
“In 1988, Al Morganti conned Tom Brookshier into giving us a job at WIP as part-timers,” he explains. “They were just starting the format and didn’t have enough broadcasters to make it around the clock, so they went to writers. We had no training; it was a nightmare! But Brookie had faith we would figure it out. Two years later, he gave me a chance to work with him and to completely leave journalism in 1990, and that’s when I did it.”
What started on a whim would become an unprecedented run of success in broadcasting. In a field where success is measured in months, Cataldi’s three decades as the lead personality and driving force behind a morning program that was consistently ranked as one of the highest rated in a major market is more than rare. It is practically unheard of. The longevity and popularity of Cataldi’s morning show speaks to the charisma, dedication, and drive he brought to the airwaves every weekday morning.
Today, Cataldi can look back with appreciation for both the wild ride, and his decision to step away from it. After 33 years, Philly sports’ loudest malcontent, is in fact, content.
“I love it,” he says of retirement. “The No. 1 thing is that I don’t feel the pressure I felt, having to perform every day. I knew it was getting harder and harder, but when I finally got to shut it off and I could just live a life, it was like, wow, what a relief! I’m very happy so far.”
But don’t mistake retired for idle. His last day at 94WIP was a Friday, he started writing a book “on Saturday.”
“I threw myself into writing a book about my experiences right away,” he says. “It was on my mind the last several months. And the minute I commit to something, it becomes an obsession to me, so I’m immersed in this project. I want this to be a really good record of what happened. I want it to be accurate. So far, most of what I’ve written is about the process of being a serious journalist, who at 38, just cashed in all his chips, and said, ‘Now I’m going to act like a buffoon for the next 30 years.’ And so far in the book, I’m coming across as kind of a moron, which may be accurate.”
Beyond the stories and the humor, Cataldi’s book might also stir the pot just as much as his radio show once did. “It’s going to be controversial,” he says. “There’s stuff in the book that I’ve never shared. Some of it’s personal, different things that went on during that period of time that you just wouldn’t share on the air.”
At the end of the project, though, he’s hoping to produce a book for friends, fans, and ultimately … family. “I want this to be something my grandkids read someday and say, ‘Oh, that’s who that guy was.’ I want people who followed our show to read it, enjoy it, and learn a lot of things about our show they might not have known.”
Sharing other sides of himself in retirement, Cataldi is also focusing on his role as a regular guest on “The TV Show” podcast. Hosted by comedian Jay Black, the podcast also features Cataldi’s former WIP co-host, Rhea Hughes, and allows him to indulge in his fascination with all things television.
“TV is the other major interest in my life,” he shares. “I’ve watched it from when I was a tiny little kid. It’s a total preoccupation for me. I have to do very little research for the podcast because I watch so many shows all the time. I think it’s been underrated by people since its invention. So, for half an hour every week, it’s a great way to break up the monotony and talk about something I care a lot about.”
If listeners tune into the podcast expecting the bombastic radio personality they’ve come to know, they might be a little surprised to hear a more soft-spoken Cataldi discussing the latest episode of “The White Lotus.” However, his signature wit still bites at times, such as during a recent podcast when he predicted Tom Brady’s venture into standup comedy would “be as funny as an open wound.”
Between projects and rediscovering life after radio, Cataldi is very excited to spend more time in Sea Isle City. Since buying a property in town with his wife, Gail, 25 years ago, his affection for the town has only grown.
“We ended up on a great street in Sea Isle with so many real close-knit people, and we never looked back,” he says. “We’re lucky because Sea Isle is exactly what we want. The people are very down to earth. It’s perfect for us.”
Asked to describe his perfect day in Sea Isle, Cataldi doesn’t hesitate: “It starts with a ride on my stationary bike with the windows open, with a nice breeze coming in off the water. It’s crystal clear. I’m out on the beach by 10ish. I go in for lunch maybe 12:30. When I come back out, there’s a ballgame on the radio and the breeze is blowing lightly, it’s not too crowded, and I stay ’til 5. Then I come back to the house and go to one of the great restaurants in Sea Isle. I come back at night and open the windows, feel the breeze, go to sleep. That’s a perfect day in Sea Isle.”
Usually, that perfect day also includes family time. “We have the grandkids down a lot. They’re such beach bunnies,” he says. “They’re running around, it’s just great. We’re closer to our families in the summer because we’re bonded by Sea Isle.”
He also shares a bond with the thousands of listeners who made him a part of their daily routine for so many years. If they see him and still want to talk to him about Philadelphia sports? “I welcome it,” he says. “I have a debt that I feel I have to pay to every single person who wants to talk to me about it. I would never discourage somebody from doing that because that means they listen. That means I owe them for the career they gave me. I’m in my house because of their loyalty and I’m never going to forget that.”
With so much to appreciate about his broadcasting career, Cataldi is most proud of the longevity of the show: “The fact that we were able to do something that was so much fun for so long, and that when it was over, people said, ‘You did a good job.’ That was all I was trying to do. That’s all I needed to know. Thank you.”
