It will be announced sometime in the near future that WYSP, Philadelphia’s top rock radio station for many years, will be abandoning their current format and going to be simulcasting sports talk radio from their AM sister station WIP. Apparently meetings are being held to discuss the turnover as I am writing this.
What does this have to do with Howard Stern? Well, the “top” station in Philly has been on a swift downward spiral ever since Howard left terrestrial radio to go to Sirius Satellite. It is obvious that Stern carried the entire day of YSP programming even though he was just the morning man. Attempts to replace his spot with the likes of David Lee Roth and Opie and Anthony quickly went down in flames each time. A suitable answer was never found.
We saw similar, and quicker, destruction in Boston as their legendary rock station, WBCN 104.1, called it quits over two years ago in July of 2009. The Stern effect only took three years there.
In recent years, WYSP, who had exclusive rights to broadcast the Philadelphia Eagles games, decided to share those football broadcasts with WIP. Now WIP will be completely taking over their FM sister station and broadcasting on both bands simultaneously. Sports talk competitor “The Fanatic” 97.5FM/950AM has been doing it with great success recently and has won every ratings battle since going to the FM/AM format.
The death did not go unnoticed as Stern discussed it on his radio show already today, saying meetings were going as he spoke regarding the format change. He then used that ammunition to shoot at SiriusXM, who he claims still owes him bonus money for reaching certain subscriber milestones.
WYSP in Philly was Stern’s first “takeover” nationally as he syndicated his show out of New York and he recognizes it as the springboard to his national infamy. He quickly became the #1 morning man and drover the station to #1. He set his sights on destroying 93.3 WMMR and their morning zoo man, John DeBella. WMMR has been crushing YSP as of late in almost every ratings category.
RIP YSP
